Ink and Ice, Erin McRae [primary phonics .txt] 📗

the way you are,” Brendan was saying, his voice low and with a note of urgency to it. “And he has the potential to be miserable the way you were. This season, the stakes for him, they’re not going to help.”

“He’ll be fine,” Katie retorted.

“I’m just saying—”

“I watch out for all our skaters.”

Her voice was sharp. If Zack hadn’t known Katie and Brendan were married, he’d be wondering when they were finally going to hook up. They had the vibe some couples had where conversations that seemed like arguments were just things that happened so they didn’t fuck in public. He suspected they were absolutely crazy about each other on top of being endlessly exhausted... and not only by skating hours.

Zack would have felt bad about the whole eavesdropping thing, but he was sitting in plain view and was overhearing only by an accident of acoustics. It wasn’t like he was going to quote random chatter in his article anyway.

“I don’t worry about all of our skaters. I worry about him.” Brendan said, folding his arms over the boards and frowning as Aaron set up for a jump, went up into the air, and missed the landing. He fell with a hollow boom that made Zack hold his breath. But unlike Zack’s agonizing climb back to his feet, Aaron picked himself up instantly.

Zack exhaled.

“Why?” Katie asked. “He tells us what he needs, and he does what he says he will. He’s fine.”

“He’s not...” Brendan’s voice trailed off. Frustration.

“He’s not what?” Katie prompted. Zack’s gaze moved between Katie and Brendan and their magnetic energy, and Aaron, who was setting up the jump again.

“Like other people.” Brendan threw his hands up in the air for a moment and paced a tight circle. Zack recognized the impulse. This conversation was likely an old argument in a new frame. “Do you remember when you made me cut your hair? With the knife?”

Zack blinked, Aaron forgotten for a moment. Sammy had said skating was all drama all the time, but yikes. That was a lot by any standard.

“Yes?” Katie said. Still calm, still amused. A little defensive, but probably not as much as she should have been.

“You scared the shit out of me,” Brendan said.

“Why?” She chuckled. “Because I was handing you a knife?”

“No. Because you didn’t seem human. You seemed like the storm. Or a witch. Or a beast.”

Katie looked at him, silently, and while Zack had no idea what Brendan was referencing, somehow he could see in her implacable face exactly what Brendan meant.

“Aaron’s like that,” Brendan said.

Katie gave a little shrug.

Zack suddenly had a lot more questions. Along with a sense he might have accidentally wandered into an even stranger group of people than he had thought. That sense was one that had never led him astray before. Into danger, many times. But there had always been a good story on the other side. And story was what he was here for.

BY THE TIME ZACK GOT his skates off and his shoes back on, Brendan had disappeared somewhere and Katie was talking to Aaron across the boards.

“See?” Aaron said, pointing over Katie’s shoulder at Zack as he approached them. “Told you he survived.”

Katie glanced at Zack. “Make sure you drink plenty of water today. Heat and arnica gel are your friends for the bruises you’re going to have.”

“Thank you.” Zack was, unaccountably, touched by the simple gesture of care.

“You won’t thank me tomorrow morning. Or him,” Katie said.

“Don’t scare him,” Aaron protested. But he shot Zack a conspiratorial smile, which Zack returned.

“I’ve had rough workouts before,” Zack said.

“Mmm.” Katie looked at him consideringly. She was, he realized, sizing him up. For what, he didn’t know, and the uncertainty left an uncomfortable prickling sensation at the back of his neck. Did she know he’d been eavesdropping on her and Brendan?

“Hey,” he said to Aaron. “As a preemptive thank you for the lesson. Before I regret it too much, can I buy you a coffee?”

Aaron’s face brightened and he opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Katie cut in.

“No, you cannot. Unless you want to grab him something from the vending machine. We have ice time right now and a lot of work to do.”

It was clear we did not, in this case, include Zack. Aaron looked crestfallen, but didn’t protest.

“You two have thirty seconds,” Katie said as she strode away to fiddle with the rink’s sound system.

“I do have to interview you at some point," Zack said.

“Is that what the coffee is?” Aaron asked.

“No.”

Aaron reached for his phone, sitting next to a box of kleenex and a water bottle on the boards, and handed it to Zack. “Quick,” he whispered.

Zack quickly texted himself from Aaron’s phone and passed it back.

By the time Katie turned back around, Aaron was scrolling through a playlist with a reasonable air of innocence. Zack had to admit he was impressed.

Feral indeed.

Chapter 5

LATER THAT MORNING

Twin Cities Ice Arena

DONE WITH HIS OWN SKATING for the day, Aaron dug in his bag for a clean pair of socks. He’d have to be back at the rink later to teach, but for a few hours at least, his time was his own.

His phone barked with an incoming text.

Zack: Hello, Aaron.

Aaron wondered where Zack was right now. For people who didn’t live and die by the ice, the work day was just beginning. Perhaps he was holed up somewhere writing. Or recovering from whatever bruises he’d earned in his lesson. Aaron wasn’t sure what journalists did when they weren’t doing interviews or typing things.

But he wanted to find out. Zack had shown up yesterday, and this morning had submitted himself with a surprising willingness to Aaron’s instruction. Aaron approved of that nearly as much as he approved of his tattoos, sadly not seen since yesterday’s introductory meeting. Also his general physique, which Aaron had gotten to spend a lot of time assessing while Zack grabbed on to him and tried not to fall over.

Aaron: You still