I try not to focus on the crack in her voice when she says it.
TWENTY-FIVE | ANASTASIA
“What’s taking so long?”
I can hear him stomping around on the other side of the locker room door, but he hasn’t materialized yet. It’s our first session, and we’re going to be getting on the ice late, which doesn’t bode well for the next two months, or for Nathan retaining his life.
“Nathan!” I yell, banging on the door.
“I can’t come out.”
I’m scowling at the door, knowing I look ridiculous, but I can’t scowl at him since he won’t come out. “Why?”
“The leggings. They’re too tight. You can seeeverything.”
“If you don’t come out, I’m coming in!”
His head pops out, body shielded by the door. “I’m being serious. They’re, uh…You can seeeverything.”
“Yes, we all get it. You’ve got a big dick.Blahblahblah, ego fed? We’re late. Come on, let’s get started.” Brady approaches as Nate pulls back the door, wearing what are quite possibly the most revealing leggings I’ve ever seen. They look like they’ve been painted on, and you can see outlines. Very, very detailed outlines. “Oh myGod.”
Brady surveys him head to toe, then once more for good measure. Her hand lands on her hips and she shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hawkins, but I cannot let you wear those.” Nate looks like a rabbit in headlights, hiding behind the door again. “Do you have anything else with you?”
“I have shorts in my locker I could put on over the top?”
“I think that would be a wise choice.” Nate disappears back into the locker room and I feel Coach hovering behind me. Turning to face her, she shakes her head. “It’s a slippery slope, Anastasia.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lie. Big lie.Hugelie. “Should I get warmed up?”
“Use protection. Ask Prishi. Your bladder is never the same.”
“We aren’t d—”
She interrupts me with a flippant wave of her hand. “We’re both adults. Don’t insult my intelligence; I see how that man looks at you. I want to see my best skater on a podium, not a birthing ball. Clear?”
“Couldn’t be clearer, Coach.”
What she didn’t consider with her little speech is the probability of herbest skaterdying of embarrassment.
And why does she only call me her best skater when I don’t have witnesses?
Finally emerging from the locker room, Nate lightly nudges me in the ribs. “You ready to do this, Allen?”
“Nope, don’t crash into me.”
“No crashing into you, no birthing balls…So many rules, Anastasia.”
My eyes widen as I look up to meet his, his smug grin smiling down at me.His happiness is a comfort and it’s proof he isn’t feeling nervous like I am. Proof that he doesn’t realize that if this little experiment fails, I might finally break.
I’m lost in my thoughts when fingers weave through mine. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispers as we approach the warm-up area. “It might even be fun.”
I tut loudly. “If it’s fun, you’re not working hard enough.”
He laughs, earning a hiss from Brady. “Spoken like a true tyrant.”
After warming up, it’s finally time to find out if this was a horrible idea.
“If this is going to work, I need you to remember the routine, Nathan.” Coach tightens her faux fur, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. It never occurred to me that it might not be me that Nate can’t cope with. “I’m not sure whatshenanigansCoach Faulkner lets you get away with, but you do what I tell you in my arena.”