𝐑 𝐎 𝐒 𝐀 𝐋 𝐈 𝐄 ' 𝐒    𝐏 𝐎 𝐕

I do not ice skate.

The only time I've ever been, was when I was seven-year-old and my mother took me to spite my dad, who watched the rest of a TV series without her that they were supposed to watch together. So, in retaliation she took me to an ice-skating rink, which he did not like one bit. Her attempt at teaching me to ice skate, something she learnt growing up in New York, did not end well. Falling on my ass one too many times put me off ice skating for life.

I have no confidence that Roman will not let me fall.

Locking my car that sits outside of the hockey house, I make my way up to the front door. A few of the hockey guys pass me on the way, heading out somewhere and I ring the bell when I get to the door. The door opens revealing Miles wearing nothing but sweatpants, looking as if he has just woken up with his messy bedhead. A stark contrast to my bundled-up look, ready for the cold air of the ice rink.

"Am I still dreaming?"

His confused look makes me chuckle and I shake my head before patting his cheek and walking inside. "Aww no you're not."

"Look at you! Voluntarily at the hockey house where your arch nemesis lives." Miles crosses his arms. "There was me thinking I was dreaming of an angel."

My eyes catch Roman's form as he comes out of the common room and over to us before slapping Miles on the back of his head. "More like the devil."

"Charming as ever I see." I roll my eyes and I wave goodbye to Miles as he walks off, grumbling about a house full of violence.

"At least you were smart enough to not wear that monstrosity of a football jacket," Roman scoffs and I smirk.

"It's in my car, ready to be worn when we get on the ice."

"I'm going to burn it without you looking at some point," Roman mutters walking off and I follow. We head into the common room and guys from the hockey team surround the common room. A few of them look up at our entrance as Roman grabs his gym bag.

"Tavia went to grab her pair of skates for you," Isaiah explains as I walk over to where he sits at the breakfast bar eating breakfast since it's early.

"Future cap here teaching you how to skate?" A guy walks in, slapping his hands down on Roman's shoulders.

I turn to Roman. "No wonder your head is so large."

"This is our captain, Atlas," Isaiah introduces, and I wave.

"Hollywood here is the vandal who now has to help me with the youth group." Roman nods over to me.

"Oh, yes. The infamous girl who broke in to try and vandalize your stuff," Atlas snickers.

"If anyone wants to get back at the figure skater, I'm looking for a new partner in crime. Mine was at the vending machine grabbing Cheetos while I was getting caught," I offer, which earns a laugh from the guys around us.

"Hey Lia." I turn my head seeing Octavia walk in, carrying a pair of ice skates. "These are for you, a size bigger but if you wear big socks, you'll be okay."

"Thanks, oh and if you get a phone call from the hospital you should tell the police Roman King did it," I smirk over to Roman who shakes his head.

"You're going ice skating, not being murdered...just yet anyway." Roman adds the last part.

"Let's be honest if there was going to be a murder between the two of you, you would be the one getting murdered, man," Isaiah scoffs and I throw a triumphant smirk Roman's way.

Roman's eyes widen. "Where's the team loyalty?"

"We'll say nice words at your funeral?" Miles shrugs and a chorus of snickers from the rest of the team bounce off the walls.

"We're leaving. While I'm gone, maybe you'll learn team loyalty," Roman ushers me out of the common room.

"Different when there's a pretty girl involved, King," Atlas winks at me as he walks out of the common room.

"Even cap agrees," One of the guys laughs and Roman flips them off before we head out and make our way to his truck, taking one car instead of two.

❈❈❈

"Where are we?"

Driving down a secluded road away from the heart of Boston, the rumble of Roman's truck stands out against the quiet area. There is no one and nothing in sight, aside from the overgrown hanging trees that cover the road from any overhead view.

No other cars are on the road, in fact it's been a while since I saw one...or a building for that matter. Surprised at the change of location, rather than the hockey arena on campus, the forest covered area has me raising my eyebrow at him and I hear him chuckle at my facial expression.

Pulling away from the long stretch of road, and into a dirt road, he parks up in the middle of nowhere. My eyes zone in on the large frozen pond in front of us, covered by more overhanging trees. My guess is not many people know about this considering how far out of the way it is and it's also a pond...so it doesn't seem safe.

"My guess is you wouldn't want people watching you learn how to skate with that pride of yours," Roman chuckles as he jumps out of the truck, and I follow suit. "This is where I learned to skate. Money was tight growing up with a single mom so skating lessons weren't a luxury, so I used to skate here."

"On a pond?" I question and he nods his head as he grabs his bag and I grab the skates Tavia got me. "Is it safe?"

"Well, I'm still here, aren't I?" He smirks and I glare at him. "It's perfectly safe Hollywood. Trust me for once, yeah."

"I won't be the one getting murdered by my older brother if I fall to my icy death," I joke, and he chuckles as we head over to the pond. As we sit down on the side, we start to remove our shoes and put the skates on in silence. "So, single mother?"

"Yeah, raising both my older sister and I had its challenges. More so with my sister Naomi considering she had a rebellious phase." Roman shrugs as he finishes lacing up his skates.

"And you didn't?" I ask, raising my eyebrow and a mischievous smile coats his face.

"Oh, I did. I just hid it better."

Shaking my head, I look down at my horribly laced up skates and tilt my head. They do not look anything like his. "Am I doing this right?"

"Definitely not," Roman wrinkles his nose before moving over to lace them up for me. First undoing my nightmare of lacing. He ties them tight, paying attention as he does. "Done."

"Even the youth team can do this better than me," I mutter standing up, and he doesn't object. "So, how do we do this?"

He stands up before steadying me as I wobble on the thin blades. Once I'm steady, we head to the ice and he immediately gets on and skates around, making it look easier than I know it will be.

"Well, there are no rails here. So, you're going to have to hold onto me and have some trust." Roman smirks and I scrunch up my nose in disgust at both of those things. "Hey, you should be grateful. Most girls would kill to be able to touch me."

"And I just want to kill you, how about that," I hum, crossing my arms.

"Trust me this isn't how I want to spend my day either, but if you're going to be more help in the practices you need to learn," Roman bluntly states and I roll my eyes before taking his hands as he leads me onto the icy pond.

"I should probably mention the last time I did this I fell on my ass every two seconds," I mutter as my eyes remain on my feet as he instructs me to move one in front of the other in a glide as he skates backwards.

"So, you have done this before," Roman teases.

"I was seven, and we only went once because my mom wanted to spite my dad for a punishment," I shrug, and I see the confused look on his face.

"At least it's not just you that's the odd one. It's your entire family."

I glare at him. "Hey!"

He snickers. "Ok, so we've gotten around the pond once. So, I think you should try it on your own."

My eyes flicker around and he's right, we have made it around the pond once. I nod my head and he let's go of my hands before moving out of the way. Slowly, I begin to skate on my own, my eyes focused on my feet and my arms out as if to balance me. My eyes flicker up and I see I have made it to the other side of the pond. I look up with a smile.

"I'm actually doing it." I look over to Roman who chuckles before I feel myself wobble. "Shit!"

My legs wobble and without anything but ice to grip onto, the skate slips out from under me.

Gravity works its magic and I fall backwards. My ass hits the cold and hard ice first before my back hits it next and I manage to keep my head off the ice as I fall.

"Rosalie!"

I groan resting my head on the ice, as my ass aches from the impact. Thankfully, with the fact I'm bundled up in a coat, my back isn't too bad, but I suspect I'll have a giant bruise on my ass by tomorrow. Before I know it Roman is hovering over me and then kneels next to me before helping me sit up carefully.

His brows are furrowed. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I'm not dead. If I was and heaven was you and not some hot shirtless guys that would have been disappointing," I mutter, wincing as I move my behind a little.

"And you're ok," Roman comments, rolling his eyes before he helps me stand up.

"Aside from my now bruised ass, yes." I rub my ass, pouting and he laughs. Realization hits me and I smirk before looking at him. "You called me Rosalie."

"No, I didn't," Roman defends immediately, and I decide to tease him.

I nod my head and point to him. "Yes, you did. Admit it."

"Don't know what you're talking about," Roman skates off, to avoid further conversation.

"Hey! No fair, I can't skate that fast!"

"Not my problem!"

Asshole.

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𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑    𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄

「 Happy 2022 everyone! I hope you all have the best year yet and enjoyed celebrating. Did you make resolutions or do you not believe in them? Instead I make goals to better myself as a person and my mindset.

Q: what did you think of Roman teaching Rosalie?

I just wanted to note here a quick thank you, I know waiting so long between updates isn't fun but it's my exam season so this is what is easier for me and it allows me to work on new book ideas allowing me to start updates straight after this book. I've decided to move Saturday's updates to Friday's, which is what I have been doing anyway because of how the days have landed over the holidays so updates are now Monday's and Friday's. 」