Chapter Five:Fire and Ice
1231 Words
"You're late."
Alexei's voice sliced the vacant rink like a knife. I checked my phone. 6:02 AM.
"Two minutes isn't late," I brusquely answered, slinging down my skate bag onto the bench with extra stress.
"In my world, two minutes could kill you."
I tilted my head back to see him already gliding, gliding with the smooth effortless smooth ease of someone who has been born to glide onto the ice. All black was his outfit - closefitting training trousers and an oversize sleever shirt that showed each outline in his chest and arm muscles. His black hair was handsomely rumpled, as if he'd been playing with his fingers.
You were ‘bad news,’ ‘handsome,’ and strictly off-limits.
"Aren't we talking about punctuality here, or are we going skating?" I inquired, sitting down to put on my skates.
"Hang depends. You want to take orders?"
My laces grew rigid in my hands. "Orders?"
Alexei stepped over to the boards and was right in front of me, in my face. "I'm the wild card in this mission. That means what I say becomes code. On the ice, off the ice."
"I've been figure skating since I was five. I don't need you to—"
"You've been skating with your man, and he has been cheating." He spoke in an icy tone. "Seems your judgment isn't better than you think it is."
They hurt because they actually occurred. "That's different."
"Is it?" Alexei leaned with his shoulders against the boards, his emotionless eyes studying my face. "David Chen played the loyal partner for three years. Smiling in your face, telling you what you wanted to hear, getting you to trust him. All the while, thinking about how he could murder you."
My breast tightened. "Why are you saying this?"
"Because I need you to see something." He moved in close, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not David Chen. I'll never be your buddy. I'll never give you sugar-coated truths just so you'll feel better. But you'll never be deceived."
"How do I know that?"
"Because it's an honest hatred. Your brother's loyalties were false." Alexei's lips had twisted into a cruel but reassuring smile. "I'd rather be an honest enemy than be a false friend."
I gazed up at him, my breast heaving with emotion. There was something in his rough honest face that reassured me like nothing ever had David's false smiles.
".done with your skates?" he asked.
I nodded and rose to my feet, setting mine firmly on the ice. The sure comfort of being on my second home surrounded me. Not this time. This time, I could sense Alexei's presence as an electric charge in the air.
"Show me your warm-up," he ordered.
I had been stroke-testing myself gradually, gaining speed little by little as I glided around the rink. I could sense Alexei approaching close to me, his blades moving into the ice with knife-like slowness. Casting glances over his shoulders, he was examining every stroke that I took with utmost concentration.
"Faster," he called out.
I strained with every ounce I had, my seared-off legs propelling me harder.
"Higher cros
I changed my approach, loosening my muscles and getting warm.
"Again. And this time, pull your punches."
It was his voice that made my's-heart-race. I concentrated on what was occurring, skating as if it was as important as remaining alive. By the time finally I relaxed, I was panting, both cheeks flushed.
"Better," Alexei said, skating along beside me. "Now, let's have you do your jumps."
I stepped down to center ice and put myself in position for a triple lutz. When I became airborne, I could sense Alexei's gaze upon me as if his look was a real presence. I landed well and went right into positioning myself for a triple flip.
"It's lovely," he said when I'd finished. "But you're shortchanging yourself."
"I'm not saving anything."
"You are." He stepped close, circumventing me once, intentionally. "You're afraid."
"I don't care to jump."
"Not. Youre afraid of me."
They seared like hurting your stomach because they were true. I was afraid of him. Afraid the way he looked at me like he desired me. Afraid the way my body flared up when he moved in close.
"I'm not afraid of you," I lied.
Alexei froze in front of me, close enough that he could see individual specks of silver in his white eyes. "Then show me."
"How?"
"Trust me." He flung out his hands. "I'll come to get you."
My heart was immobilized. It was the risky factor most prevalent in pairs skating. The man literally tossed the woman into the air with his arms and received her. It required complete faith among partners.
"We've never hoisted anything. We don't know our timing—"
"Terrified?" The question as he spoke caused my back to stiffen.
"Not."
"Come here, then."
Even though each limb of my body was screaming in my mind, I edged forward. Alexei's arms came around my waist, and I could sense heat ignite all over my body. His grip was tight and confident, as if he'd been holding me for years and not seconds.
"Three," he exhaled, his lips warm against my ear. "One."
I placed hands on his shoulders, where the tense muscle under his collar.
"Two
It was tightly wrapped around my waist. I could feel this energy in his arms, tensile energy in his body.
"Three
I was soaring despite the ice, and truly, I was flying for a moment. It was like I was held ten feet off the ground with nothing except Alexei's muscles and I's faith. The whole world spun around me, but I was blissfully secure in his arms.
It pulled me down slowly, and when my swords hit the ice once more, wed were stuck chest to thigh. We didn't breathe. We didn't move.
"Listen?" he whispered, his voice raspy. "You do trust me."
I looked into his eyes and, in them, I found something that made my knees tremble. Heat. Hunger. And something else that was just beyond my capacity to define.
"This is dangerous," I gasped.
"The most valuable things always are."
His arms remained around my waist. My arms remained stable upon his shoulders. We were this close, yet I could number his eyelashes, see the tiny scar almost directly over his left brow.
"We should do something less fundamental," I muttered half-heartedly.
"We should." He wouldn't budge, though.
I didn't either.
Space between us filled, electrified with something that had nothing what-so-ever to do with skating and every thing with the man he looked at me like I was the only thing existing.
"Lucia," he said softly.
"WHAT?"
"If you're going to do it, do it, you have to let me in. All the way."
I stared at him, my chest thudding so loudly that he could probably hear it.
"What does that mean?"
His thumb drew tiny circles along my hip, and I chilled.
"It means no walls anymore. No lies. When you are with me, you are mine completely."
Possessive adjective sent shivers down the spine that I entirely shouldn't feel.
"And what do I receive in return?"
A
lexei's grin was pure sin. Before I could ask what he meant, the door into the skating-rink was unlocked. "Well, well. What do we have here?"
- Writer
