15. Emmy
“Ihope you like ice skating.”
From the second I opened the door, I could sense Inferno’s nerves. It’s almost as if he hasn’t gone on a date in forever, but that’s impossible. Surely, a man like him has plenty of fish to choose from.
And he chose me.
“I haven’t been since I was little, but I used to love it.”
Inferno grins. “This should be interesting then.”
He takes my hand and threads his fingers through mine. Heat radiates from his touch, and I have to consciously stop myself from rubbing my thighs together.
After we get our skates, we find a bench to sit on while we put them on, and the conversation begins to flow.
“So, Emmaline Daniels, tell me something about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
When he smirks, I know he can see the blush creeping up my neck.
“Well, you already know I survived a fire when I was little.”
“I do.”
“I’m an only child, and my parents were very overprotective after that.”
“I can imagine.”
“What about you?”
He arches a brow. “What about me?”
“I don’t know. I want to know everything,” I say, mimicking his earlier sentiment.
“Only child. Grew up without my dad, but you know that.” He averts his gaze, and guilt settles like a lead weight in my stomach.
“And your mom?” I prod, needing the answer as much as I dread it.
“She died a few years after my dad. The grief was just too much.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Inferno gives himself a shake and smiles. “Hey, it’s in the past. And not your fault.”
“Yeah, but if he hadn’t rushed in to save me…”
He stares at me, giving me time to finish my thought, but I can’t. What more is there to say?
“It’s my understanding that he died after he got another kid out so again, not your fault.”
“Still…”
Inferno grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. “Let’s go skate.”
We make our way to the rink and at first, we both suck. We fall so much that our bruises are going to have bruises, but eventually, we get the hang of it.
Inferno easily shifts the conversation to other less depressing topics, and I let him. This is a date, not a grief group. We laugh, we skate, and I have the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.
“Attention skaters,” a booming voice says over the loudspeaker. “The rink will be closing in thirty minutes. Please return your skates to the counter and gather your belongings. Again, the rink will?—”
“This went by way too fast,” Inferno says.
“It really did.”
It takes us several minutes to get to the bench where we left our shoes because there seems to be a mass exodus. These people did hear that they have thirty minutes, right? No need for a stampede.
As I’m pulling my skates off my feet, I glance at Inferno out of the corner of my eye. I’m not ready for the night to end, and maybe it doesn’t have to.
“Do you wanna grab something to eat before going home?” I ask.
“I have a better idea,” he replies with a wicked grin. “Why don’t we get a pizza and take it back to your place?”
“Pizza and a movie?”
“Perfect.”
After we return our skates, Inferno links his fingers with mine again, and we make our way to his Harley. I’m grateful there’s no snow on the ground because riding would be dangerous. It’s cold as it is, but I stay warm cozied up to his back.
“So, what kind of pizz?—”
Inferno stops in his tracks and tugs me into his side. I glance up at him and see him staring at the ground. I follow his gaze and fear curls around me.
“Is that…”
“From your stalker?” he finishes for me, and I nod. “I don’t know, but probably.”
He drops my hand and moves to pick up the large box and set it on the seat of his bike. I stay a few feet behind him, afraid to look.
The sound of cardboard being ripped open fills my ears, and then I hear nothing but Inferno’s ire.
“What the fuck?” he snarls as he whirls around and whips his head from side to side presumably to take in our surroundings. “I swear to Odin, this fucker’s gonna get what’s coming to him.”
Odin?
I lower my gaze to see what he’s holding, and my insides quake when I spot the black rose with fiery, orange-tipped petals in one hand and a fire-extinguisher in the other.
Gasping, I struggle to catch my breath. Tears stream down my cheeks as I tip my head back and yell, “Leave me alone!”
Inferno drops the extinguisher and rose to haul me into his arms. I can hear him whispering to me but can’t make sense of his words.
“Everything okay here?”
I push away from Inferno’s chest and swipe at my cheeks before turning around. A security guard is darting his eyes from me to Inferno and back again.
“We’re fine,” Inferno says.
The guard looks down at the dropped items and then back at Inferno. He tips his head and narrows his eyes. “I know you,” he says to my date.
Inferno stiffens behind me. “I don’t think so.”
The guard stares at him for several moments, and then his eyes widen. “You’re Dean Haskins. I arrested you back in the day.”
“I think you’re mistaking me for my father.”
“Dean Haskins didn’t have kids as far as I know,” the guard says. “But… Didn’t you die in that fire? The morning I released you from jail for being a smart ass, you rushed into that school, but you died.”
“Like I said, you’re mistaken.”
I watch them both closely, listening to their words, and my anxiety ratchets up a thousand percent.
Maybe I wasn’t so crazy.
But that’s impossible. Dead people stay dead. Well, except for zombies, but those are real, so…
I’m losing my mind. I can literally feel it slipping away.
The world spins, and I sway against Inferno.
“Emmy?” he says, spinning me around to face him.
“What’s wrong with her?” I hear the guard ask, but before Inferno can reply, someone yells for the guard’s attention, and I hear his boots crunch over the gravel lot as he walks away.
My ally. The only other person who had the same thought as me when he saw Inferno. Don’t leave me.
My heart rate speeds up, and my palms go clammy. I lift my eyes to meet Inferno’s, and it’s all there. The recognition, the danger, the lust, the truth, the… safety.
“Emmy, breathe,” he cajoles. “I’m gonna take you home, but I can’t put you on the back of my bike until you calm down.”
Breathe? How am I supposed to breathe when I’m holding onto a ghost?