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Quilo
“Yo, dude! Chaz!” I call out to my colleague who’s cleaning skates out the back. “Can you cover for me? I want to take my break.”
I feel compelled to follow that woman. As she walked away I felt like I was being pulled by a giant magnet, unable to sever the connection between us. Sure, I’ve fancied chicks before, but I’ve never felt attraction like this at first sight.
“Now? Didn’t your shift just start?” The new vampire recruit asks with a raised brow and no small amount of sass to his tone. The guy’s impossible to get a smile out of—I should know, I’ve been trying all damn week. I mean, I’m pretty charming, but I can’t seem to crack this guy at all. Although, given that he’s a gay vampire and I’m a heterosexual hemophobic, it’s probably best that we’re not a match made in heaven.
“Yes, now,” I insist. I don’t want to lose her.
I’m already out from behind the counter and approaching the ice, though I won’t actually go out on it. I need to watch the new skater in the red coat. We’ve been open a while now and have a lot of return customers, but I know I’ve never seen her before. I definitely would have remembered. I would have felt it in my chest. There’s a damn connection there, no matter how clichéd that sounds.
Leaning on the barrier surrounding the rink, she’s easy to spot in her bright coat. My eyes track her every moment as she zips around on the ice like a professional. In fact, she could give our professionals a run for their money. Damn, I was hoping I could offer her a private lesson or two as an excuse to talk to her again, but it looks like that won’t be happening now because it certainly isn’t necessary.
“Hey bro, shouldn’t you be working?” Yas asks, sidling up to me.
“On my break,” I grunt back. I love Yas, like a brother, but I don’t want to talk to him right now. I want to stare at Red Coat Hottie. Damn, I should have at least gotten her name.
“You seen Whit?” He’s referring to the rink manager, our partner in crime, the other bestie I love like a brother.
“Nope. Probably with the damn dog or sulking in his office, pretending to do paperwork.”
“Who’s caught your eye this time?” He smirks knowingly at me. I resent that. I do not use my position at the rink to hit on chicks. I don’t.
Well, not anymore.
Obviously, when we first opened I was...friendly...which may have got me a few dates, but I quickly lost interest. Better to keep a low profile I soon discovered. Too many times a gorgeous girl would cock her pretty little head at me on a date and say those dreaded words: ‘you look familiar’ or ‘have we met before?’ and I’d instantly know it was time to end things. Apparently even with the anonymity Silver Springs affords me, being something of a rock star—even one in hiding—still attracts a certain level of recognition. Not to mention a specific breed of crazy. Jeez, if the whole Black Wings band were here, all hell would break loose.
“No one.” I shrug, not wanting to give away my interest in the elegant skater currently spinning on the ice. I don’t want to share. I’m not competing against one of the two people in my life that I love like a brother. What woman in her right mind would choose the skate rental attendant over a medic? I’m not even sure she’d choose the real me over a medic—if I were inclined to reveal my identity. Which I’m not. No matter how easily it might help me get a date.
“Ha. Yeah, a likely story!” Yas laughs and follows my line of vision, whistling lightly through his teeth when he spies her. “Ah, I see.”
“She’s here on a date.”
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Probably some douche canoe. Reckon it’s the prick in the Lambo?”
“Ugh, I hope not. Would have hoped she’d have better taste than that.”
“She said it was a blind date. She wouldn’t have known what she was getting into.”
“Well, hopefully she’ll be as impressed by the car as we are.”
“Won’t matter. I didn’t get her name. She’s not been in before.”
“Doesn’t mean she won’t return.”
I shrug, wanting Yas to be right, but not daring to get my hopes up. As I watch her skate, the feeling inside my chest intensifies, even as I fail to name it. “You could go over to her.”
“Nah. She’s on a date. That’s creepy.”
“Reckon that’s him?” Yas smirks, pointing across the ice to the guy making a very wobbly beeline towards my girl. He’s ridiculous. I’m not dressed for the ice because I don’t really feel the cold—none of my species do —but he’s just...what a prick. And very clearly human too. My brothers and I have an almost sixth sense for these things. But the girl in the red coat...I don’t know what she is. She’s blown me away so hard, all my sensors have gone haywire. But I suspect she might be some sort of supe. She skates too well to be human.
Humans are the worst on the ice. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against them as a species, but they’re just so...fragile. And on the ice? Skating against supes they don’t even know exist? Absolute carnage.
Which is precisely why the woman’s poise and grace makes me think that she might be more than just human and sexy as hell.
“Those chains are a health and safety hazard,” I murmur darkly.
