Claiming His

by Bailey Rock

  “Shall we try our luck on the ice?”

  “Sure, but then you have to tell me about how it went with Julie. She’s all smiles, but I don’t know if that’s because you two made up some or if she’s falling in love with Ian.”

  We both glance over to where Ian and Julie are sitting side by side as they tie their skates. She has the biggest shit-eating grin that I’ve ever seen plastered on her face and he’s staring at her like he’s never seen anyone as pretty.

  “Just call me the matchmaker. C’mon, do you need help getting to the ice?”

  There’s only about twenty feet between where we’re standing and the entrance to the actual rink. The sharp blades make it hard to balance, but since the floor is made from a thick, bouncy rubber, you have a bit more grip than if it were just carpet. I think that by holding onto Lance and taking small steps, I can make it without falling.

  “Just…let’s go slow.”

  “I could carry you.” He mimes picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder, and I laugh.

  “You have got to be kidding me. Nobody here wants to see me hanging over your shoulder as we flounder our way to the ice.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say nobody. I’d love it, actually. What do you say?”

  I ignore the twinkle in his eye and take baby steps to the to the rink, holding one hand out to the side for balance and gripping his arm with the other. I’m almost there when a young boy runs by me, knocking into me and sending me falling into Lance.

  “Oh, shit!” Definitely not the thing you want to yell at a skating rink full of kids, but totally understandable, at least to me. From the seats I hear Julie break into peals of laughter when she realizes that it was me who swore.

  Lance, for his part, steps up and grabs me before I fall. His strong arms wrap around me and he picks me up, easily carrying me the last few feet before putting me on the ice.

  Even though we’re only pressed together for a few seconds, I feel my body temperature rise. I don’t want him to put me down. Instead, I want him to pull me to him and kiss me like he should have already.

  The boy who knocked into me is standing by his mom, who’s staring at me. She looks pissed, and I shrug and wave. “Sorry,” I mouth. She doesn’t smile.

  Whatever.

  “That was smooth. Really made an impression on all of the kids here, so I hope you’re happy that you taught them all a new word.”

  I look up sharply at him to see if he’s joking, and I’m relieved by the smile on his face. “Yeah, that mom looked super happy. Just a good thing that she doesn’t know all of the word’s I’ve already taught Liv.”

  He laughs and leans down to kiss me, his lips landing easily on mine. I kiss him back, amazed at how simple this has become. With a grin, he skates off, gliding effortlessly across the ice.

  When he walked into my bakery on Monday, I was more likely to through a ball of dough at his head, but now I just wanted to fall into his arms. It was pretty amazing, but there was one thing standing in the way of us being able to be truly happy.

  This feels like a fairy tale, but we just haven’t reached the same happy ending. Like most fairy tales, I guess that there always has to be some big evil to contend with. In my case, it’s Damien.

  Once we get rid of Damien, maybe we’ll be able to really enjoy our lives together. I won’t feel like I’m looking over my back every second of every day. I won’t feel like there’s always something evil lurking, trying to take Liv from me.

  Until we get rid of Damien, spending time with Lance is incredible, but I know that I won’t be able to be truly happy and relaxed.

  So, instead of feeling completely in love and happy to be on the ice with two of my favorite people and a new hottie that Julie is falling hard for, all I can think about is Damien.

  “Maggie, you okay?” Julie glides up to me and turns at the last second, expertly coming to a stop right next to me. She’s always been the more athletic one of the two of us, and even though I’m not still holding desperately onto Lance as we scoot our way around the rink, I’m taking it slow.

  I don’t remember ice skating being this difficult when I was younger.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Happy for the distraction, I reach out and grab the edge of the rink, relaxing when I know that I can catch myself if I fall. “Just can’t stop thinking about Damien, you know.”

  She nods. “It sucks, Mags, but I think that you really need to consider letting Lance help you.”

  I glance up to where he’s skating on the other side of the rink, watching. No matter where he goes, he always has his eyes on me, like he can’t get enough.

  He skates past us, picking up speed as he goes and I pause for a second, staring at his ass.

  “Do you think he really would?”

  “Don’t be dense. He’d do anything for you.”

  It’s a weird feeling as I watch Lance skate. I’ve never had anyone want to take care of me like this before. I find it hard to believe that he could want to protect me the way that Julie says he does, but he acts like it.

  I’ve just been so hurt by Damien that it’s hard for me to believe that people have my best interest at heart.

  But maybe it’s true. Maybe Lance really is different and will do anything for me. It’s going to take me putting aside my pride and trusting someone, but I know what I need to do.

  I need to let him help me. I need to let him have me. I need to trust that he will look out for me and for Liv and that he’ll always be there.

  It seems impossible, especially after everything I’ve been through, but I don’t know that I have a choice.

  If this were a movie, I could simply skate across the rink to him, maybe throw in a twirl, and glide glamorously up to him, but I can’t. Instead I start a half-shuffle, half slide to try to get to him. My eyes are locked onto him, willing him to glance back at me, but he’s moved past me now and I all I can see is his back.

  No, that’s not entirely true. I can also see the skinny brunette with big boobs who has locked onto him like radar. She’s skating towards him quickly and doesn’t slow down as she gets closer.

  I keep thinking that she’ll stop, but she doesn’t, and the next second, she’s slamming into him. Somehow, Lance manages to keep his balance, and he turns, reaching out and grabbing her before she hits the ice.

  He sweeps her up into his arms and pulls her close to him, pressing her body up against his.

  For a second I wonder if he thought it was me.

  For a second I think that it had to be an accident on her part.

  But then she stretches up as high as she can, and she kisses him full on the lips.

  My heart drops to the pit of my stomach and my legs start to wobble.

  Unlike the brunette bimbo, though, there’s nobody here to catch me.

  I reach out to grab onto the rink wall, to stop myself on the ice, to do anything to prevent the inevitable, but, of course, it happens anyway. That’s why it’s called the inevitable.

  I slam down onto the ice. My ass takes most of the fall, but the real problem is when I can’t get my hands under me to stop my head from hitting against the ice with a sickening thud that reverberates through my skull.

  I feel the first time my head connects with the ice, but thankfully, it knocks me out before my head bounces again.

  Chapter 10

  Lance

  I haven’t been able to tear my eyes away from Maggie the entire time we’ve been here. Even when she wants to try to skate on her own and I move away, I keep turning to look at her. I’m not the only one, either. Other guys on the rink keep turning to stare, and the thought of them wanting her makes me angry.

  I’m the only one who’s allowed to look at her like I’m undressing her. I’m the only one allowed to want and need her the way that I do.

  When Julie skates up next to Maggie, I think I can relax a little. I know that they’ll be fine together, so I stop looking at Maggie and look instead to try to find Ian. I want to see how h
is date with my sister is going, but since is the first time they haven’t had their hands on each other since we got here, I think it’s going well.

  The rink is getting more and more crowded, and it’s getting harder not to run into people as we move around on the ice. I think that I remember there being a sign about the number of people skating at once being limited, but that’s been thrown to the wind. It’s packed here, and it’s only going to get worse.

  When someone slams into me while I’m skating, I reach out, assuming that it’s Maggie. I must remember to ask her why she wanted to come ice skating when she’s truly terrible at it. I mean, the girl can cook, and bake, and looks sexy as hell no matter what she’s doing, but ice skating isn’t really her forte. Maybe she was better when she was younger.

  It’s not Maggie. I can’t tell at first who it is, but when they slam into me, hard, I wrap my arms around them to keep them from falling. It takes me a minute to steady them, but once I do, I see who slammed into me.

  “Jessica?” It’s the girl from the barkery. She gets her feet under her but, instead of moving back from me, leans into me and wraps her arms around my waist. Before I know what she’s doing, she’s stretching up on her toes and lands a kiss on my lips.

  Time seems to stop – not because I’m happy that this girl has skated out of nowhere and then boldly kissed me in front of everyone – but because she’s not Maggie. I pull back and let go of her, stepping back so that she’s no longer holding onto my waist.

  “Jessica, what are you doing?” I manage, but she doesn’t have time to answer before I hear my sister screaming.

  “Maggie! Are you okay?!” Her voice cuts through all of the sound on the rink, making all of the skaters slow down and stop talking. Even the teenage attendant, who let too many people onto the rink in the first place, turns down the music.

  I look behind me and see my sister bending over someone on the ice.

  It’s Maggie.

  Without another word to Jessica, I turn and leave her there, skating as quickly as possible through the other people to reach Julie. Maggie is flat on her back, her arms and legs outstretched, her eyes closed. Julie leans down over her as I skate up.

  When I slide to a stop next to her, she looks up at me, her face pale. “She’s breathing but she won’t wake up.”

  Ian skates up, almost tripping over the three of us in an effort to stop. “I’ll call 911,” he says, quickly pulling his phone from his coat pocket and dialing in the number.

  Taking Maggie’s hand, I pull it to me, wanting to be close to her, but afraid to move her.

  In the background, I can hear Ian giving information and directions to the dispatcher. Julie is yelling for a doctor, but nobody’s moving.

  Even though the ambulance takes almost ten minutes to get to us, nobody moves. The huge clock on the wall keeps ticking, the second hand moving maddeningly slow as I sit next to Maggie. From time to time, her eyelids flutter as her eyes move under them, but she doesn’t wake.

  Her cheeks have bright spots of pink in them, and I gently push a lock of hair off her forehead so that I can better see her. I would have thought that her skin would be warm, but it’s cooler than I like, and that makes me nervous.

  I need her to be okay.

  When the ambulance arrives, the red lights bounce around the rink and off the ice, creating a terrifying strobe show. I’m bathed in different shades of red, but I refuse to move until the paramedics get to me.

  “Take me with you.” I pluck at the sleeve of the closest paramedic, the one pushing the gurney with Maggie on it. She looks so pale and so beautiful, and I’m afraid of what will happen to her if I let her out of my sight.

  “Are you family?” He never looks up as he steers Maggie to the ambulance. I pause, unsure of what to say.

  “He is.” It’s Julie, trying to keep up with us, although she keeps tripping over her skates.

  The paramedic glances back at her and then nods to me. I unlace my skates as quickly as possible and grab my shoes on my way to the ambulance. The paramedic lets me climb in before slamming the door shut behind us.

  I’ve never been in an ambulance before. The beeping instruments and radio chatter is new and terrifying. For once, I’m completely out of my element and it’s all I can do to stay out of the way. They run an IV line and check her pulse.

  “Do you know what happened?” The paramedic who let me onto the ambulance is holding a clipboard and looks hurried. “Why did she fall and hit her head?”

  I shake my head. “I didn’t see. I was a bit ahead of her when it happened. Suddenly my sister was screaming that she was hurt, and when I got back to her, she was like this.”

  “Unresponsive?”

  That’s what you call it? “Yes. Unresponsive.”

  “Does she have a history of seizures?”

  I have no idea. “I don’t think so.”

  “Your relationship to her?” He raises his eyebrows like he’s figured out that I don’t really belong in the back of the ambulance.

  I had a crush on her in high school, we just slept together, and I’m madly in love with her. Oh, and I want to help her keep her kid away from her crazy ex, but she has problems accepting help, so I’m not sure that she’ll let me. “Boyfriend. Fiancé.”

  “Okay. Well, boyfriend/fiancé, normally a hit to the head like this may cause a concussion with some bruising, dizziness, and nausea. However, the fact that she’s still knocked out means that there may be something else wrong. We’re going to get her to the hospital in just a few minutes and then run tests to see if she has a fracture or a brain bleed. Is there anyone else you need to call for her?”

  My brain is having problems processing what he just said because I just realized two very important things.

  One: I don’t know how to get in touch with her mom so that she can know about Maggie. I do know that Liv is staying with her, but I don’t have her mom’s number. Gotta figure that out.

  Two: Jessica kissed me right before Maggie fell and hit her head. Did she see it? Am I the reason the woman I love is in the back of an ambulance with possible head trauma?

  It’s almost too much for me to consider, but I have to.

  I love Maggie, but I may very well be the reason we’re on our way to the hospital right now.

  Maggie

  The first thing I’m aware of is that my head hurts really, really bad. In fact, it’s so painful that I don’t want to open my eyes, I don’t want to turn my head to the side, and I certainly don’t want to think.

  Scratch that. I never want to think again, if thinking involves me remembering that skinny brunette kissing Lance on the ice.

  I’ve seen some crappy stuff in the past, but that really takes the cake. The guy I’m in love with kissing a gorgeous woman.

  No, not kissing. Getting kissed by.

  There’s a huge difference, or at least I think there is, and I need to hold onto that. It’s the only thing that is going to keep me sane.

  I think back and try to remember Lance’s face when the girl kissed him. I don’t think that he kissed back. I don’t remember him looking happy about it, but everything is a blur.

  I guess that’s why I fell and hit my head.

  Makes sense, if you think about it. I’m madly in love with Lance, and the idea of him wanting to be with another woman could make me sick.

  At least I’m already in a hospital. It’s pretty much the best place for sick people to be.

  Carefully, I sit up, wanting to find the source for the constant beeping I hear. I’m connected by the arm to an IV, which is slowly dripping, and there are wires from my chest to a monitor. This is what’s causing the beeping, but right now my heartrate is nice and slow.

  Steady.

  As I’m watching my heartbeat pulse on the monitor, my door opens. I glance up, expecting a nurse.

  Lance walks into the room confidently, like he’s been here before. The thought strikes me that he may have been with me the entire time. Then
I realize that I don’t know how long I’ve been in the hospital, and I get dizzy.

  “Hey, you’re awake!” Lance tosses the book he was carrying onto the chair at the foot of my bed and rushes to my side. “How are you feeling?”

  “Oh, man. Like I got hit by a truck.” My heartbeat, which was evenly ticking along on the monitor before he walked in, suddenly starts to spike and dance.

  He glances at it, eyebrows raised, and looks at me. “I didn’t know that I had such an effect on you.”

  “You don’t. It’s probably just malfunctioning. You should definitely get a doctor.”

  “Sure, Mags. Whatever you say.” Carefully, so he doesn’t rock the bed very much, he sits down next to me. I try to scoot over a little, but I’m exhausted. “But really. How are you?”

  I take a moment to assess and gently rub the back of my head. It’s pounding now that I’m sitting up and thinking, but other than that, I feel okay. I wonder how bad the bruising is going to be.

  “I think I’m okay. My head is sore, but I hit it pretty hard when I…tripped.”

  “You tripped?” Lance looks dubious, and I nod seriously. “On what?”

  “Chunk of ice?” It sounds ridiculous even as it leaves my mouth, but I don’t want Lance to know the real reason I fell. I have a feeling though, just by looking at him, that he knows. Even in high school he could tell when I wasn’t being honest.

  “Listen, Maggie, we need to talk about what you saw.” He reaches out and takes my hand, and I let him, even though I want to pull back.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I tripped, but I’m okay.” If I keep denying the problem, then there really isn’t one. Seems healthy and like a great coping mechanism to me.

  “Okay. Well, then I’ll tell you what happened to me. I was out skating with the girl of my dreams and skated a bit ahead of her. I hadn’t taken my eyes off of her the entire time we were in the rink because she’s damn sexy and I didn’t want anyone else looking at her.”

  “Sounds like a nice date.”