Piper Vaughn & M.J. O'Shea - One Thing 2 - One True Thing by Piper Vaughn & M.J. O'Shea

Author:Piper Vaughn & M.J. O'Shea [Vaughn, Piper & O'Shea, M.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“IDON’Tthink this is such a good idea.”

“It’s gonna be fine,” Michelle said as she tightened the strap on my helmet. I made a dubious sound. “I haven’t tried to skate since I was like twelve. I don’t think I remember how, exactly.”

“It’ll come back to you. Just like riding a bike.” Michelle stepped—well, rolled—back a few feet to give me a once-over. After a moment, she nodded and declared me “Ready to go.”

I didn’t know about that. I already felt a bit shaky on the rollerblades, and no more confident for the protective gear we’d rented to go along with them. All I wanted to do was park my butt on the bench in front of the rental place and stay there, safe and steady, enjoying the clear blue sky and salty ocean air, while Michelle went out and did her thing.

We were supposed to be skating The Strand, or at least the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach portion of it. The area itself was gorgeous, clean and well-maintained and obviously wealthy, judging by the huge houses I could see in the hills lining the path. I would have loved to walk it, actually, but I had a feeling the skating thing could only end one way—with me making an ass of myself.

How did she talk me into this?

Oh, yeah. I’d called her because Asher was over in Palm Springs for some photo shoot and didn’t think he’d be back in town before midnight. I hadn’t wanted to waste my day off puttering around the house missing my boyfriend, so I’d called Michelle. And there I was a few hours later, regretting that very decision, probably only seconds away from falling, and hoping if I did fall, I wouldn’t take anyone else down with me.

“Ready?” Michelle said. Unlike me, she looked completely at ease in her rollerblading gear. Of course, it was her own, not rented, and she was probably a lot more used to wearing it. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever actually worn knee or elbow pads before.

“Okay?” It came out more like a question than an answer.

Michelle laughed and started down the path in front of me. “Come on, Dust!”

I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and followed.

OW. I shook my head a little, feeling dazed. The sun blazed bright above me, burning into my retinas, and I blinked, lifting a hand to shield my eyes. Oh, wow. That hurts. I was dizzy too, and my chest was tight. What the hell happened?

As I lay there, blinking dumbly and trying to remember, a shadow fell across my body. “Dusty? You okay?” That was Michelle’s voice. “Hey, can you get up?”

“Not… sure.”

Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder. “That was a pretty spectacular fall, buddy. Did you hurt your neck?”

Oh. I remember now. The rollerblading had been going well, for all of maybe fifteen minutes. Then there was a tree branch in my path as I rounded a curve—or, okay, maybe it was more like a large twig, but still—and I’d panicked, tried to veer right, and lost my balance.

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