Need to start pacing this story out a bit so going to start posting one chapter a week going forward instead of two! Dying to just post it all but need to stretch it out a bit, haha.
Hope you all enjoy!
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The second Tatum woke up, she regretted it.
Not that she had much choice in the matter, but the pounding in her head was less than ideal.
Luckily, Kinsley had put a breakfast sandwich and coffee next to her bed. Her roommate had already gone to work by the time Tatum had woken up for her shift. Tatum really could not handle her friend asking questions right now.
Her mind instantly went to the conversation that Brady and Kinsley had while she pretended to be asleep. Honestly, it felt like Brady was warning her to back off. Especially since he knew she was awake. But Tatum couldn't help her curiosity as much as he couldn't help but be a prick. It was helpless. Neither of them could stop that part of themselves.
Miraculously, she actually felt all right. She was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't head first over the toilet with her hair back. Maybe it was the sandwich or maybe the coffee, but whatever it was, she was eternally grateful. The idea of ice skating made her slightly sick to her stomach but that didn't have anything to do with the alcohol.
Tatum got to the hockey rink early to get a better feel for the setting. She has been there for games and a few practices, but she had never been there for a private session. Glancing around, she felt a bit unsure of how this session would work or if they would actually be able to get anything done with the plan. This wasn't exactly the place to use resistance bands or lift weights.
"Getting cold feet, Hartley?" Tatum turned to see Brady trudging over in casual clothing and hockey skates in hand. What really caught her eye though... was the smaller set of skates in his other hand. She raised an eyebrow at him as he made his way over to her.
"Those better be your backups," Tatum commented, pointing to the extra set in his hands. "And horrible pun, by the way."
"Nope, you're skating with me today," Brady told her, holding the skates out to her and promptly ignoring her second point.
She stared at them, unimpressed. "I know you don't like me, Parker. But didn't realize you wanted me dead."
"You didn't?" Brady asked with a smirk. Tatum shot him a glare, tilting her head. "Put on the skates."
"Is this how you treat all the girls?" she questioned wistfully.
He shrugged noncommittally. "Only the ones that make me want to rip my hair out."
"That would do your hair a favor," Tatum shot back instantly, nodding at his messy head of curls.
Brady paused, shaking the shoes in his hands once. "Just put the skates on and I'll do your plan for today."
Tatum gritted her teeth before reaching out and roughly taking the skates. She sat down on a nearby bench, throwing her hair over her shoulder. Her eyes darted over to Brady who was watching her carefully. She turned her focus back to the skates, shimmying her sneakers off and placing them under the bench. Tatum moved her feet into the skates and stared blankly for a moment at the laces.
She had only gone ice skating a couple of times in her life, and she couldn't remember how to properly put these on. She tried lacing them up as she normally would for a pair of boots. Tatum knew there was probably a more efficient way of doing this, but she refused to ask Brady. She could feel his eyes burning a hole in her back, watching as she tried her best to make these damn skates work.
"You're doing it wrong," Brady observed, gesturing loosely towards her.
"No, I'm not," Tatum denied stubbornly, still trying to lace them up.
"Well, if your goal is to break your ankles then you're on the right track," he said as he leaned against the rink board.
Tatum tossed her hands up, giving him a frustrated look. "Instead of just sitting there, wanna help?"
Brady huffed out as if he hadn't been the one to make her ice skate with him. He sauntered over to her and bent down. Propping himself up on one knee to take a look at what she had done so far with the skates, Tatum decided she couldn't help herself. She grinned as she quipped, "No, I won't marry you."
"I have standards, Hartley," Brady shot at her as he started to undo what she did. "And they'll have to know how to tie a god damn shoe."
"I know how to tie shoes," Tatum grumbled as she tried to keep her foot as still as possible as he pulled and yanked at the laces on the ice skates that felt all kinds of wrong on her feet. "These are just impossible."
"Suited for you then," he said, focusing on getting the laces right. She made a sour face, rolling her eyes at him.
As Brady continued to work on the shoes, he yanked a bit too hard on the laces. She jolted forward, hands flying to his shoulders to steady herself. His head shot up in surprise and Tatum's breath hitched at their position. They were just inches from each other, her face hovering so closely over his that she could feel his breaths hitting her skin. She froze, unable to tear her eyes from his. She didn't dare to try to move. She wasn't even sure if she could.
He looked up at her with an expression she hadn't seen from him before. His shoulders were firm under her hands, and just for a moment, she felt herself want to stay where she was. Tatum sucked in sharply, slowly peeling her hands off the hockey player in front of her. She scooted back on the bench cautiously, keeping her eyes on him. His finger gradually started working again on her shoes, his eyes lingering on hers. When Brady finished, he placed it down gently.
Brady cleared his throat, resting his arm on his propped up knee. "You ready?"
"Not at all," she stated as she went to stand. Her legs wobbled at the she adjusted to standing on the thin skates. She waved her arms to catch herself and Brady stood with his hands out as if to help her. Tatum eventually found her balance and huffed out, assuring him with, "I got it."
"Right," Brady said unsurely, watching as she stomped one skate at a time to the rink. He got in front of her, stepping onto the ice first. "Look more excited, Hartley. It's your turn."
"How is this my turn?" Tatum asked stiffly, holding her arms out unsurely as she tried to get onto the ice.
Brady held his hands out cautiously, watching her carefully. "We're ice skating! Good for my knee."
"You just wanted to see me try to ice skate," she shot back with narrowed eyes. As soon as she placed one foot on the ice, the skate started to come up from under her. Letting out a yelp, she flailed her arms out wildly in an attempt to ground herself.
Brady jolted forward, grabbing onto her arms before she could go down. He pulled her up, steadying her as she squirmed. A grin came across his face once she was a bit sturdier. "You know what? Not even gonna deny it, that's exactly right."
"I can't believe I'm going to die before I become a doctor," Tatum complained as she turned her hands to grip his arms tightly. Even with all their sessions, she hadn't noticed how sculpted his arms were. She shoved the thought aside, focusing on trying to stay upright. "After all my hard work."
"Yeah, yeah," he drawled, gliding back slightly with her arms still in his grasp. She didn't move a muscle as she let him drag her, stiff as board. Her grip tightened, holding her breath nervously. "God, ease up, Hartley. Or you'll have my arms to fix too."
"Like you'd let me fix them," Tatum scoffed.
"I can let go whenever I want to," Brady challenged with raised eyebrows.
"No," she stressed firmly. "If I go down, you go with me."
Brady snorted as he continued to skate backwards slowly, guiding her with him. His lips twitched into an amused smirk as Tatum's grip only tightened impossibly further. "You think you can let go at some point?"
"Probably not," Tatum admitted. Brady let out a sound of acknowledgement, eyes narrowing as an idea seemed to pass over him. Her eyes widened in realization. "Don't you dare—"
But Brady already took one of his arms away and lifted the other arm, promptly spinning Tatum around on the ice. She let out a squeal as she twirled in place. Her arm whipped out and grasped onto his shoulder after she had spun around far too many times for her liking. She breathed heavily as she gathered herself, glaring at Brady who was grinning widely.
"Never do that again," Tatum demanded with wide eyes.
"No?" Brady asked innocently before he started to skate a bit faster.
She gave him a warning look. "Brady."
"You'll have fun, relax," he told her casually, continuing to move them around. She grasped his arm with both hands, leaning forward slightly to try and balance. He let out a chuckle as he skated around, allowing her to dig her nails into his arm.
Reluctantly, she felt herself smile just slightly. He would turn randomly, slowly maneuvering her around in circles. She kept her feet planted firmly in place, allowing Brady to just move her as he pleased. His eyes were trained on her, watching her intently to make sure she wasn't about to slip and fall. He sped up every once in a while to see her reaction. She even let out a laugh once when he went faster.
"Ready for a lift?" Brady asked and Tatum felt a rush of panic.
"Absolutely not," she said quickly, trying to put some distance between them.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he assured her with a chuckle as he stopped them at the entrance to the rink.
"Okay, I don't think we're getting anything done if I stay on the ice," Tatum stated as she clumsily got off the ice. "I should probably just watch from here."
"All right," he allowed as he helped her off. He slapped the railing of the rink once before he was off.
Brady began to skate around lazily, tossing the puck around a bit. He would let it slide until it hit the boards. The puck would make its way back around and he'd make his way towards it. Tatum watched with a calculating eye, trying to watch out for a wince or any indication of something going poorly. But there was nothing. Brady genuinely looked okay. If she didn't know any better, she wouldn't think anything was wrong.
He stayed silent as he moved around the rink. It almost was like he forgot that Tatum was even here. She knew this wouldn't be the same as games considering no one was knocking him against the boards, but she figured they would get something out of this session. But it seemed like she was just watching him have a moderately good hour of just playing hockey.
Surprising no one, Tatum was slowly getting more and more fed up with each minute that passed by. This was hardly her turn considering they weren't even doing any PT. She was doing what she could to look for any signs of pain, but Brady was stoic. Eventually, it started to feel purposeful. Like he was just trying to get on her nerves.
"Parker, can you at least tell me if your leg is bothering you?" Tatum called out in frustration, crossing her arms.
"It isn't," he called out shortly.
She took a deep breath. "Okay, can you tell me what does make it hurt when you play?"
Brady shrugged lazily as he continued to skate. "Nothing."
"God, this isn't fair!" Tatum exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "You got what you wanted last night, and you're just gonna be a dick today. I know your leg is hurting you."
Brady tossed his head back in annoyance, huffing out as he skated towards her. He halted short in front of her, the ice spitting up slightly. "You don't know if my leg is hurting me. God, you act like you're so much smarter than everyone else."
She smiled sweetly. "Not acting. I am."
"You don't know everything, Hartley."
"I know more than you do, Parker." She chose her words carefully, trying to get a reaction. After hearing the conversation last night, she wanted to know what Kinsley and Brady were talking about.
Brady scoffed, nodding to himself. "Yeah, I see why you and my sister get along so well now."
"Do not bring Kinsley into this," Tatum snapped hotly. "I'm serious, leave her out of this."
"Do you even know what went down with us?" Brady asked with narrowed eyes.
Tatum raised her chin defiantly. "I don't need to. I'm not letting you shit on her."
"Right, well," Brady started with a twinge of bitterness in his voice, "she isn't exactly innocent in the situation."
"I can't exactly imagine you being a walk in the park either," Tatum quipped pointedly. "And I speak from experience."
"She left," he spat at her. Tatum paused, holding her breath for a moment. Brady said the words with so much spite that Tatum didn't even know what to do with it. "You heard Jamie asking for her. You think that's just cause it's been a few weeks? It's been months, Tatum. You met Jamie, you think he deserved that?"
Tatum blinked rapidly, swallowing thickly. That was the last thing she was expecting. All she and Brady had ever done up until this point was just bicker, really. Their fights had gotten heated, but not like this. This was real. She wasn't sure what the hell she was supposed to that. Because honestly, he was right. She adored Jamie, and she couldn't imagine a scenario where he deserved that.
"I'm sure she had her reasons," Tatum stated stiffly, clenching her jaw.
Brady scoffed. "It was selfish."
"Sometimes you need to be," she retorted in a firm voice. "Sometimes you need a little self preservation."
"You can't throw everything and everyone else out just to put yourself first," he argued immediately, moving towards her. "You saying it's better to have no one?"
Tatum raised her head, giving him a challenging look. "She won't be alone, cause she has me."
Brady shook his head, huffing out a breath. "You think you're immune to it? If she left her family, Hartley... you think she'll think twice about leaving you?"
She shook her head, feeling a stab of hurt go through her chest. She didn't want to feel this way— Kinsley wasn't leaving her. Her friend wasn't even showing her any signs of leaving. She refused to miss people who hadn't even left her yet. "You know what? You're right. This isn't fair. I don't know the full story, happy?"
"Oh, so now you wanna stop talking about what you don't know?"
"God! What do you want from me?" Tatum cried out incredulously. "I'm sorry if I don't let you mercilessly rip into my best friend."
"You mercilessly rip into me all the time," Brady pointed out blankly.
"That's different. You're infuriating," she snapped dramatically.
He narrowed his eyes. "You know you're no walk in the park either, right?"
Tatum let out a humorless laugh. "Oh, I'm next to impossible."
Brady lifted his eyebrows. "Next to?"
"Don't push me," she said tiredly.
"Ask her what happened," Brady suggested easily with a shrug.
Tatum paused at the proposal, turning her head slightly. "It's not my business."
"But you wanna know," he said knowingly, crossing his arms over his chest. "So ask her."
Tatum couldn't deny that she was curious. It was something that kept getting brought up. Not to mention, she had a feeling it had something to do with what happened to Brady. She couldn't be sure, but it would help her piece everything together. But this felt like a line she shouldn't cross.
She couldn't do that to Kinsley.
Right?
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Brady just wanting to see Tatum fall on her ass I kinda love them. And Brady tying her shoes? Surprisingly intimate.