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“Okay, Coach, if we’re here to sabotage your happily ever after and I’m going to break Logan’s heart, then why are you allowing this to continue?”
“I’m not sure that I’m going to. I’m not worried that Jack’s going to leave me, but I don’t want Logan getting hurt.”
“Even though he’d be delighted to see Jack in my arms?”
Mercy rolls his eyes. “It’s a juvenile plan and I think it’s kinda sweet in an evil way, I guess. He’s doing exactly what I’d expect a teen who finally found the rock he’s been looking for would do. I am something called an adult. We don’t take stuff like that personally. I’m kinda honored, to be honest. Besides, the guilt is eating him alive. It’ll be good for him. Sometimes I worry I’m too hard on him, but that he wants to stay here so badly says my ways make him feel safe. I’m doing my job as his guardian well and I’m going to keep doing it well.”
“Some might say you’re a pushover, Meyer. A doormat for your family.”
“What I have is called compassion, ever heard of it? Fuck around with my family and find out how much of a doormat I am, Rhett.”
Puhlease.There’s nothing he could do to me, but there’s plenty I could do to him. I’ll allow him to live under the illusion that he has any control over the matter at all. “I’m not going to fuck around with Logan, but we do need to act like a couple. Couples kiss.”
“That better be all you’re doing.”
Oh, brother. “It’s all we’re doing. Have I been sufficiently threatened?”
“Yeah, get the fuck outta here, Elkington.”
I’m all too happy to leave, but too many things about the night eat at me. Is Logan as vulnerable as Mercy claims? I didn’t think so, he’s fearless when he’s with me. None of my usual bullshit gets by him and seeing what I can get by him is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes.
But I do keep my word. I think I’ll do a little something to prove to both members of Team We Hate Rhett that I’m not here to harm the innocent. I dial my PA, Alan, hands-free, of course.
“Alan, I need you to arrange a money transfer for me.”
Oh sure, Mercy and Logan will be pissed at first, but I’ll be long gone with Jack by the time they’ve figured out that I’ve covered Logan’s housing fees. No one will be able to say that I had any other motive than collecting what was truly mine.
* * *
Idon’t know what possesses me, but I show up early to the rink the next morning. It’s torture watching Logan almost kill himself several times, blazing across the ice and jumping around like he is. Eventually, he falls and without thinking about it, I race down the stands and onto the ice. I don’t have all my gear on today. Just a tracksuit and skates. Jack’s meeting me at five-thirty, I want him to see as much of my body as possible. This tracksuit is fitted and makes my chest look wider than it is.
Before I can reach him, Logan’s already up. He catches sight of me and scowls.
“I’m not here to take ice time back; I saw you fall. Are you all right?”
“I fall a lot when I’m practicing something new.” I don’t like hearing that so much. “Stop looking at me like that. It’ll be better when I’m assigned my partner. It is ice dancing after all.”
Is there a difference between ice dancing and figure skating?
“Then maybe you should wait for your pair.” It’s not a suggestion and he catches onto that, furrowing his brows deeper.
“You can fuck right off, Rhett. If you don’t like watching me fall, all you have to do is wait in the locker room until it’s your turn.”
“Only to come out here and find your broken body on the ice? No, thank you.”
“Didn’t know you cared, Elkington.”
“I don’t feel like finding a new fake boyfriend so soon.”
He skates away backward, laughing. “You’re just going to have to suck it up.”
The little fucking brat. I throw my stick down and chase after him. I don’t go full hog like I did the other day, so I don’t scare him. As I skate, I get an idea. “Let me help you,” I call after him.
He slows to a backward glide, slapping his thigh, cackling. He meanders to a stop just before he hits the boards and I trap him there, fencing him in against the plexiglass with a large arm to each side of his shoulder girdle. He smells really fucking good. Tropical. Is it his shampoo?
“I’m serious.”
“You don’t know the first thing about ice dancing, Rhett.”
