Ice Games (Games #3)(25)
Author: Jessica Clare

My stomach was fluttering with nervous dread as the car pulled up to the Ice Skating with the Stars studio-slash-ice-rink. The parking lot was empty—the big show wasn’t until tonight, and the finale show wasn’t until tomorrow. The only ones here would be the skaters and choreographers practicing for the show.

I thanked the driver and hefted my bag over my shoulder. In it were my skates, a change of clothing, and my makeup bag. I hadn’t packed more for LA since I wouldn’t be staying long. Get in, get out, try not to let my heart get more wounded in the process.

The auditorium was nearly deserted, just as I’d suspected. Five people were on the ice, dressed in their costumes for the finale. It wasn’t hard to pick out Ty amongst the others. He wasn’t the tallest, but when it came to builds, he was impossible to miss. I’d recognize that brawny pair of shoulders anywhere. A faint smile touched my mouth as I looked at his costume. Black pants, tight black t-shirt. I knew what mine would be—a sleeveless peachy pink dress with a full skirt.

Perhaps the producers could see into my heart and sense how much I was aching. That was the only reason I could see that they’d gone with ‘romance’ as a routine, picking more movie soundtracks. The skate from the eliminated contestants was a montage of famous films that involved dancing, and Ty and I had been stuck with Dirty Dancing. I was dressed as Baby, and from his outfit, he was clearly Johnny. We’d be doing a truncated version of the final routine from the movie to the song “Time of My Life.”

It was wildly romantic. It made me ache like mad every time the music keyed up. He had given me the time of my life. To make matters worse, in that movie? Baby and Johnny went their separate ways. No happy ending for them. I thought of that every time the music keyed up. They’d parted at the end of summer and went their separate ways.

Just like me and Ty.

My gaze lingered on Ty as he skated a circle, still practicing his outside edge. His moves were as clean and crisp as when I’d left, which meant he’d been practicing with someone. Annemarie skated up to his side, dressed in a spangly flapper costume from the movie Chicago, and put a hand on his shoulder, saying something to him. I stiffened, and my back went up when he replied and Annemarie tossed her head back, laughing as if he were the funniest thing on Earth.

Well. I could guess who he’d partnered with. Ignoring the sour pit of my stomach, I headed to the back and the costume-fitting area.

“Good, you’re here,” said the wardrobe assistant. “Come try on your costume, and let’s get you out there so you can practice with the others.”

“Sounds good,” I said automatically, even though it didn’t. I was fighting the very real, very strong urge to run away. So Ty had been paired up with Annemarie? I knew she’d been voted off after us. The finale was Emma and Louie Earl versus young starlet Victoria Kiss and her partner, Toby. The two most likable teams left. It made sense, of course. Still, for a flashing moment, I’d have rather had Annemarie in the finale instead of Victoria Kiss, just so she wouldn’t have been hanging on Ty.

Not that I had any reason to be possessive. We’d had nothing but no-strings-attached sex, right?

A half hour later, I was fitted into my costume and all the adjustments had been quickly made by the seamstresses, and I re-approached the ice, where the others were still practicing. I knelt and kissed it as tradition, thinking of the handshake I’d done with Ty in the past. That was over.

Then, I skated in.

The others didn’t greet me with enthusiasm. Instead, they cast a few sullen looks my way. That was fine. I wasn’t here for them. I was here because I had to be. I skated over to Ty and gave him my most cheerful smile. “Long time no see, stranger.”

He gave me a narrow-eyed look. “You’re finally here.”

That… wasn’t a friendly tone. “Yeah. I am. Shall we go over the routine?”

“Why not,” he said in a brusque voice, gesturing for me to move into position.

I did so, fighting an uncomfortable mixture of irritation and guilt. Ty was mad at me. I wanted to say something, but the lights went down and the others skated off so we could practice our routine. So I swallowed my words and got ready for the music.

Our routine started out the same as the routine in the movie. In the classic scene, Baby puts her arm on Johnny’s neck and he runs his hand down her arm. It’s an incredibly tender, touching scene in the movie.

It was nothing like doing it in person. Shockwaves skittered through my body as I felt Ty’s bigger form press against me, and I put my hand to his neck. His fingers trailed down my arm, and my n**ples got hard, my panties getting wet as I thought about the last time we’d been together.

You have such soft, sweet little ears that it makes me want to suck on them.

I guarantee you won’t be thinking about much when my mouth is on your p**sy and you’re coming.

I shivered, full of wild, wanton thoughts, remembering when we’d been together in bed.

Then his hand took mine and the music started, a quick-stepping routine that involved lots of footwork and turns. To my surprise, Ty executed it flawlessly, his movements sharp and on the beat.

We quickly paced through the routine, doing a dual spin in the chorus. The ending was a lift similar to the one in the movie, except I didn’t have to get a running start. This had been the part that I knew we’d need the most practice on as a couple, but I’d been stubborn and insisted on staying out in Ohio until dress rehearsals.

When I launched into the air, Ty grabbed me, planting his hand at my waist and lifting me overhead. But as soon as I felt his hands on me, I lost my concentration. My form got loose, and it caused his hold to break. I crashed into him, knocking us both to the ground.

So embarrassing. I landed, sprawled, atop of Ty. Once I caught my breath, I gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. I just got…startled.”

He gave me another slit-eyed look. “Whatever. We can take the lift out, if it bugs you.”

I blinked at him, wide-eyed, and got to my feet. “We don’t have to take it out. I just need to practice it again. I’m sure I can get it.”

He gave me a wintry look. “So now you’re ready to practice? What about for the last two weeks when I was here busting my ass and you ran home?”

He was really mad at me. “I told them to have you practice with Svetlana. She’s the real ice skater on the show, remember? I’m just the seat filler.”

“Svetlana’s not my partner,” he hissed at me. “Mine f**king ran away.” He started to skate away.

I skated after him, ignoring the others that were staring at us. “Why are you mad at me?”

“Why shouldn’t I be mad at you? You ditched our team. At least if I had to be stuck here, I was here with you. I’ve been alone for the last two weeks.”

“Really?” I snapped back at him. “Because Annamarie sure looks like she was getting cozy with you.”

“She was my practice partner this last week. You know, that thing we’ve been contracted to do? That thing you were supposed to do with me but ran away from instead? But I guess I wasn’t important enough for a piece of Zara Pritchard’s time. I’m just a big, dumb fighter, right? Not important enough to keep in the loop for this piss-ant shit.”

Wow. He was really mad. “What the hell, Ty?” I followed him off the ice, snapping on my blade guards. He didn’t even bother; he just sat down and started unlacing his skates. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here, but I had important stuff to take care of.”

“Important stuff.” He looked up and sneered. “Nothing more important than avoiding me, right? Can’t be seen with Ty the MMA Biter. Heaven forbid.”

My brow wrinkled. “What are you talking about?”

He ripped at his laces, and then stood up, one skate halfway off. “Quit acting like this, Zara. We both know.”

“Actually, I don’t know,” I told him. “So why don’t you go ahead and share with me?”

“You snuck out of my bed that night. I didn’t hurt you. We didn’t fight. So the only thing I can think is that you’re embarrassed by the fact that you let a guy like me into your pants.”

My jaw dropped.

“Yeah. I’ve heard it all before. Gee, I like you, Ty, but you’re one of those guys. I can’t be seen with them. Gee, Ty, not right now. Gee, Ty, can you go stand over there on the red carpet?”

“Are you kidding me? You think I’m dissing you?”

He gave me a fake smile and spread his arms wide. “You tell me. You’re the one that ran away and refused to come here even though you knew I was here, all alone and without a partner. I must really embarrass the shit out of you. Why else would you nail and bail?”

“That’s not it at all,” I choked out, horrified.

“Then maybe you tell me what it is,” he said caustically, and he bent to rip at the laces on his other skate.

Nail and bail? I’d tried to make things easier on him. The last thing a guy needed was an emotional virgin falling all over the dude that took her virginity. And Ty had said he didn’t want more than a casual relationship. How could I possibly assume anything else? I left because I was in love with you, I wanted to say. And you didn’t want that, so I thought I’d spare us both.

But the words stuck in my throat.

“Got nothing to say?” Ty glanced up at me and yanked at a knot on his skates, and then cursed.

“You want to hear the truth?”

“I think I deserve it, don’t you?”

The truth is that I fell for you, Ty Randall. That’s right. I fell hard. The stupid, naïve virgin fell for the big, sexy jock. Her partner. Stupid, huh? That’s rule number one that you don’t break in skating—you don’t fall for your partner. It was more than just sex to me, and so that’s why I snuck out and I left. All because of your stupid ‘no-strings-attached’ concept. Me being a virgin just made it ten times worse. So I left, because that’s not fair to you and what you want.

But none of that escaped my throat. Instead, big, fat tears began to slide down my face. Horrified, I swiped at them with the back of my hand.

He stood up now, wobbling on his skates. “Don’t cry, Zara—”

I shook my head. “The routine’s good enough. I have to go.”

“Zara—”

“Nope,” I said, tears sliding down my face. I pushed away from him. “I don’t want to talk. I just want out of here.”

And I fled the room.

“Zara, wait,” Ty called after me. But he didn’t come after me. He couldn’t—he was stuck in a pair of half-laced skates. Which was fine with me.

I raced out of the building, my bag retrieved from the costume room, and hailed a cab. If the cab driver thought it was weird that a chick was hailing a cab in a poofy dress and a pair of skates? He didn’t say a thing.

This was Hollywood, after all. Weirder shit happened every day.

I could have gotten the taxi-cab driver to take me back to the cottage I’d stayed at with Ty. That would have been a free room and dinner…but it also would have meant staying in a private cabin with Ty, and I didn’t want to hear him apologize for hurting my feelings.