Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“Should we run through the routine once more?” Adele asks.
BJ shakes his head. “I almost rolled my ankle that last time, and my arms are tired. It’s better if we start fresh tomorrow.” He shoves the rest of the second muffin in his mouth.
“I’m sorry.” Adele ducks her head. “That was my fault. I missed the cue.”
“It’s all right. It happens, but better to call it a day.” He turns to me. “Can you give me fifteen? Just gonna shower real quick.”
“Yeah, for sure. I’ll wait in the lobby.” I thumb over my shoulder.
He holds the gate open for Adele and follows her off the ice, kissing my cheek as he passes.
I take a seat on one of the benches in the lobby and check my messages. I’m unsurprised to find new ones from Lovey and Rose, asking how it’s going. I tell them the plan worked and BJ’s in the shower.
Rose sends back a thrusting gif followed by a cheerleader shaking her pom-poms. Lovey sends a slew of hearts and a you go girl.
Adele passes through the lobby before BJ. When she sees me, her expression flattens and she heads in my direction. “Look.” She flips her hair over her shoulder. “I know you and BJ have this thing going on, but he’s been my skating partner for four years. We have a lot of history, and this competition is important. We need to place if we’re going to move on, and you showing up here is a distraction he doesn’t need. Don’t you get enough time with him already? Or are you pulling the jealous-girlfriend card?”
“Flip the mirror around, Adele. Maybe you should be asking yourself that question.”
She crosses her arms. “This is about getting in enough ice time so we perfect our routine. If we don’t place, we don’t move on. I haven’t spent the last four years not having a life for you to come in as a fun, new pastime and fuck it all up for us.”
BJ enters the lobby, and I stand. I have a lot of height on Adele, so she backs up a step. “He’s been exhausted lately.”
“Whose fault is that?” she hisses.
“Running him into the ground won’t help either of you,” I mutter, smiling as BJ approaches.
“Hey, you ready to roll?” He kisses me before he turns to Adele. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay?”
“Yeah, of course.” She adjusts her bag, looking unsure of herself now. “Have a good rest of your night.”
“You too.” He laces our fingers together and tugs me toward the exit. “Thanks for bringing me a snack. It really helped take the edge off.”
“No problem. I know you don’t like to fill up before you get on the ice, so I figured you’d be hungry. There’s leftover pasta with homemade marinara sauce and meatballs at home.”
“That sounds like magic. I need to carb-load like nobody’s business.” He passes me the keys. “Do you mind driving? My arms feel like Jell-O.”
“Not at all.”
I get behind the wheel, and BJ climbs into the passenger seat. “I hope it was okay that I stopped by. I don’t want to interrupt your practice. I know this is a big competition.”
“It’s more than okay. I love that you showed up. I totally lost track of time, and honestly, I was getting sloppy. We weren’t making progress. Maybe we can work it so you stop by once a week like that? We can even make a date out of it—go for dinner after so we get some hangout time. We’ve both been super busy lately, and I feel like all I get to do is sleep next to you.”
“I could do that for sure.”
“We’ll pick a day a week so we get in us time. Sound good?” He sets his hand palm up on the center console.
“Yeah. That sounds great.”
“Perfect.”
When we get back to his place, I heat up the pasta and meatballs while BJ sets the table. Quinn’s car is gone, and so are he and Rose. There’s a note on the fridge saying they went on an emergency chocolate run.
BJ shovels food into his mouth like he hasn’t eaten in days and slouches in his chair with a groan when he finishes. “That was freaking amazing. You are a wizard in the kitchen.”
“I had loads of help.” I love that meal-making around here can be a team effort. Everyone pitches in, and most of the time we try to eat together.
“Wanna cuddle in my bed?” BJ’s eyelids are droopy.
“Are you hitting the food-coma stage of the evening?”
“I might need a ten-minute nap before we get to the good stuff.”
I think he needs a ten-hour nap, but I don’t argue. I follow him to his room and snuggle into his side. He falls asleep in seconds. I lie here for a few minutes, just enjoying the closeness. There’s no way I’ll wake him in ten minutes though, so when I’m sure he’s out cold, I slip out of bed, cover him with a blanket, and close his bedroom door.