Chapter 7 - Asher
I tapped my finger on the counter, trying to think of the perfect place I could take Hazel.
After the argument on the way back home, I could see just how hurt she was.
She truly believed the words she was saying, and I couldn’t stomach that.
It was one thing to be in a mood and lash out at me, but another to think that she was alone in the world and that no one cared about her.
I heard a door open upstairs, and I knew she was up. She got home late last night after going over to her sister’s and Westley’s place. I was pretty sure she might not return at all after that. I was worried she was going to ask to move out and that she was done with this entire thing.
She came down the stairs and paused when she spotted me. She was wearing a baggy shirt with shorts that hardly covered her ass. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she looked like she hadn’t slept. I could see the bags under her eyes.
She chewed on her cheek, refusing to look me in the eyes. “I thought you’d be gone.”
“I was just leaving, but before I do, I wanted to let you know that we are going to go out and have some fun later today. I found a place we can go ice skating.”
She frowned, glaring at me. “I told you that there is no point trying to make this look real.”
“I’m trying for us to get along, Hazel. Because in the end, we live together now. I don’t want you to think you can’t trust me. I know that this marriage is fake, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be your friend.”
She crossed her arms and sighed.
“It will be fun,” I added. “I heard that they put lights on at night. If anything, it’s a fun time out.”
She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a coffee. “And I’m guessing if I say no, you’re going to drag me out anyway?”
“You are correct. Because you need to have fun.”
She sighed again. “Fine. I’ll agree to skating. But that’s it, no dinner. No date. Just skating. And you can’t laugh if I fall.”
“Alright.” I accepted her offer.
I did my rounds, checking in on the people Brandon asked about. I walked the outskirts of town to make sure the barrier was still secure, and had a meeting with Chelsey to go over details for next week. The day went by quickly, and before I knew it, I was heading home.
I was getting home a little before three and found Hazel digging through her clothes. She had clothes thrown on the bed, boots scattered across the floor, and she was sitting cross-legged in her closet. It looked like a bomb had gone off in her entire room.
I knocked on the door frame. “What are you doing?”
She looked at me holding two different jackets. “What do you wear to go skating?”
My eyebrows went up. “You’ve never been skating before?”
She shook her head. “I’ve always thought it would be fun, but I’m not very coordinated.”
I couldn’t help but smirk picturing her on skates. “Just wear something warm. I’ll be there to help.”
She looked at me, pausing her hands. “Have you been skating?”
I nodded. “I did hockey growing up. Great way to let out some anger.”
She clicked her tongue and pulled herself up. “Well, I’m going to change. So, I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
I left her to find some wool socks for myself. I was waiting at the front door when Hazel came down. She put on a pair of jeans with long socks. She was wearing a thick sweater and holding some gloves. She had a hat pulled on and a scarf wrapped around her neck.
I waved a hand at her outfit. “See, you’re ready to skate.” A small smile formed, and I took it as a win.
We drove over to the ice rink that was at one of the parks. There were only a few people out on it when we pulled in. Hazel looked nervous as she chewed on her cheek. She looked at me as we got out. “You’re going to help me. I’m not going to spend most of my time on my ass?”
I laughed, nodding my head. “Yes, I’ll help you.” We walked over to the rink, and I tugged her toward the bench and the spare skates. “What size are you?”
“Seven.”
I pulled out some skates and pointed toward the bench. I showed her how to tie her skates up. I told her to make sure they were tight enough that she couldn’t move her ankles. She sat nervously as I pulled myself up, offering her a hand.
“You did that with ease.”
“Years of practice.”
She took my hand, slowly pulling herself up. Her legs started to woggle, and she clung to me. I held her up, unable to hold my laugh.
“This isn’t funny,” she whispered. “People are looking.”
I held her close as I started to move us. “People are looking because they can relate. Everyone is wobbling on their first try.”
I could see worry forming in her eyes as we moved closer to the entrance. “I don’t know if I want to do this now. I’m not very coordinated, and I’m going to fall.”
I pulled us to the ice, where the worry shifted into fear. Her fingers tightened on me, and I didn’t let go. “Give it a try at least. You might find yourself loving this.”
I stepped onto the ice, letting her watch as I moved smoothly over it. All the years of training and practice came back, and it was like I never left. I listened to the sound of my skates on the ice and watched the line that they left as I moved.
I moved backward, moving myself around a little before sliding back to her. Hazel looked at me, surprised as she licked her lips, looking determined now. I could see excitement as she reached for the door.
She slowly stepped onto the ice, her fingers tightening onto the edge. She placed her other skate down and stared.
She panted. “Okay, what do I do now?”
I chuckled. “You move. Slid one foot over the other. You can hold onto the edge if you want.”
She shook her head. “No….no…I…”
I could see panic in her eyes, so I moved closer. I reached my hands out for hers. “Give me your hand.”
She looked worried now. She looked around us, toward the others who were skating and the people sitting on the benches. “What if people see me fall? Everyone is going to be watching.”
“Let them. Hazel, people will look at you regardless. You’re married to me now, so people will stare. You just have to be okay with it. Have to learn to block them out.”
She chewed on her cheek, and I knew it wasn’t something that was going to be fixed over an afternoon. But I didn’t want her fear to stop her from enjoying herself.
She reached out, her fingers clasping over mine. I felt a spark roll up my arm, a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I shook it off and slowly started to move us. Her fingers were white as she held onto me as I slid us slowly around the ice, moving only when she was ready.
“You just push your leg forward. You don’t even need to lift it. Just slide your feet forward.”
She moved her legs, and I felt her shake. I held her up, not letting her fall. We did this for a while, making an entire lap around the rink.
I watched her smile after a while, her legs growing more confident as she tried to move them. She even laughed when we didn’t turn in time and hit the edge of the rink.
“You’re a good teacher,” she said as we stopped. She held onto the edge as I moved backward on the ice.
“I did teach the little ones for hockey when I was in high school.”
“Why did you stop?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I did it for the rush. The release of anger. You body check someone on the ice, it feels pretty good.”
She scrunched up her nose. “That seems like an unhealthy way to look at it.”
I snorted. “Well, when you’re an angry teen, it’s better than beating the shit out of someone in the locker room.”
She chuckled, moving along the edge. Her legs moved with ease now, but I could see she would catch herself every few steps and recorrect.
“Why were you so angry?”
I gave her a face. “You met my father.”
She paused and looked at me for a moment before she nodded. “Yes, well…that explains that.”
We continued to skate, and I even showed her some tricks. She seemed to be having a fun time after an hour of us being out there. She’d even fallen but laughed it off. I found it easy to talk with her.
We stepped off the ice after another hour, and she chuckled. “That was actually more fun than I thought it was going to be.”
“What did you think it was going to be?”
“Me falling a lot, and people watching me.”
She sat down on the bench. “But I didn’t even realize there were others on the ice after we got out there.”
I tugged my laces free and slipped the skates off. She did the same, and I placed them back with the others. We tugged our boots on, and I looked across the parking lot toward the restaurant across the street. It was a Mexican place, and my stomach grumbled.
“How about dinner?”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “I thought I said no dining?”
“Think of it as a pre-workout meal.”
She snorted. “Mexican?”
I nodded. “Would you rather eat the food we have in the fridge at home?”
A smirk formed. “We have no food in the fridge at home.”
“My point exactly.”
She rolled her eyes, but I could see the smile still there. “Fine. But only because I’m starving.”
We headed across the street and got a booth in the back corner. There was music playing, and the place was busy. We looked over the menu when the waiter came over.
“What can I get you guys to drink?”
“Water,” I said.
“Could I have a Diet Coke?”
“Sure. And do you guys know what you want, or do you need a minute?”
“A minute would be great.”
She gave us a smile, her eyes landing on me a moment longer before she turned. Hazel looked at me. “Well, she certainly has eyes for you.”
I shrugged. “I’m married.”
“It’s a sham,” she chirped as she rolled her eyes.
“Doesn’t matter to me. I’m not interested.”
“Really? You’re telling me that a hot, attractive blond waiter isn’t interesting?”
I nodded. “She’s not my type.”
She leaned onto the table. “Okay, fine. What is your type?”
“Confident women, not overconfident, where they think they are better than everyone else. Someone with a good heart and a caring mind.”
She blushed, pulling her eyes down to her menu. “Oh. That’s not what I thought you were going to say.”
“And what about you? What is your type?”
She looked at me from above her menu, her lips pulled in. “I don’t have a type.”
“Everyone has a type.”
“Not me.” She looked back at her menu, but I stared at her. I hadn’t heard she dated when she was here, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t before.
“Should I call your sister and ask?”
She rolled her eyes. “She would tell you my type is bad boy.”
This was new to me. “Oh, really? Is that true?”
“Maybe a little.” She placed her menu down. “I haven’t exactly picked great guys. They were all dicks who had one thing in mind.”
I had a hard time seeing it. I couldn’t picture her dating someone who was a bad apple. “I figured you went for nerds.”
She laughed at this, as she shook her head. “God no. I could never.”
“Why? Not interesting enough?”
“No, I…that was more Gabriella’s pick. I found tattoos and bad decisions a little more interesting.
My first technically boyfriend was only a few months before I found him banging another girl in the locker room.
The second guy I dated, I did because I wanted to rebel.
The third guy I dated in senior year spent most of it smoking weed in the bathroom. ”
I was surprised by this. “Gabriella made it seem like you were an angel.”
She shook her head. “We got along, but I also pushed back. I was angry a lot. Internalized it as I got older. Leaned into dating bad guys and having sex in the wrong places.” She knitted her fingers together.
“But I wasn’t using a sport as a way to beat the shit out of other kids, so there is that. ”
I couldn’t help but smirk as the waiter came over and set the drinks down. We ordered our food and continued to talk. I told her how I got into hockey, and she laughed. We discussed how we both hated school and following the rules. We both pushed against the boundaries that were put up.
“So, how did you end up with the guys? Someone who hates rules, I feel that your job has tons of them.”
“They do, but it’s also about having friends I can count on. A team. We all have our issues, and Brandon gave each of us an important role.”
“And what is yours?”
“Doing the dirty work no one else wants.”
I could see her face shift a little, almost like she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what that meant. She looked down at the table. “I feel sometimes that’s what Gabriella had to do to get us here.”
“How so?”
She shrugged. “She handled a lot. Our mother died, and suddenly she was trying to tackle it all. She was always trying to make things better for us, and before we got here, I didn’t really know what it felt like to have more than one person to talk to, someone to trust.”
“I imagine it was hard to lose your mother.”
She nodded. “Harder for Gabriella. I had a different relationship with our mother. After she had our magic stripped, I never forgave her. I felt like a part of me was taken away, and I was given a crappy answer as to why she did it.”
“Which was?”
“To help us blend in.” She stirred her drink with her straw. “We were moving, and she wanted us to blend in better. I was already using my magic, so it felt like someone flicked a light off. It was just gone.”
I could see the pain cross her face. “Everyone thinks that I will get my magic, but Gabriella and I aren’t the same. She might have defeated the odds, but I won’t. I don’t feel anything.” She shook her head. “I am not like my sister.”
I frowned, hating how she always looked down on herself. I didn’t understand. She stood up for Gabriella without issue, but couldn’t do the same for herself.
“Besides, you married me because you were asked, and I imagine the reason you asked me to dinner was to seduce me, get me to be nicer in the house.”
I ground my teeth together, suddenly irritated. “Do you honestly think that’s true? That I did any of this to seduce you?”
She shrugged. “Am I wrong?”
“Hazel, if I wanted to seduce you, I wouldn’t need to bring you to dinner. I know very well how to get a woman’s attention.”
She smirked. “Oh, is that so? You sound pretty confident in that.”
“I’ve dated. I know what catches a woman’s attention.”
“Is that so?”
“It is, because if I did it right, I’m not the one who will be begging to get into the other’s pants.”
Her face went red, and I watched her mouth hang open a little like a fish out of water. I took a sip of my water and cleared my throat. “You were the one who brought up seducing.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she whispered, her face still red.
“Yes, you did.” I leaned back. “Any other questions about my love life?”
I expected her to shake her head, but I watched the way she leaned back in her chair. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Fine. Do tell me more about your love life? Should we see who had it worse?”
I felt my stomach bottom out as she teased me, and I wondered if maybe this was a step forward.