Page 1 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
ICE QUEEN
“Watch out!” Todd calls, careening across the ice rink on a collision course with my face. I brace for impact as he swerves, missing me by less than an inch, then skates away.
Unsteady on his feet, he skids around a mitten-clad couple holding hands, almost taking out a child and her fiberglass penguin before purposefully ramming into Simon. Simon, who is much less confident on skates, loses his footing. His legs slip out from under him and he tumbles backward, but not before grabbing hold of Todd’s jacket collar.
The bros end up wrestling in a heap in the middle of the ice, neither letting the other back to his feet. Around them tourists and families skate in circles, trying to give the pair a wide berth.
I sigh and lean against the barrier, staring up at the too-brightly-lit Christmas tree. I used to love coming to skate at Rockefeller in the lead-up to the holidays, but this year it just seems kind of lame. The tree is way over the top—it’s garish and unnecessarily large. The other skaters are annoyingly chipper despite most of them fumbling about like baby deer learning to walk. And it’s way too crowded.
I shiver and glance back at the phone in my hands. My shoulders drop.
Or maybe I’m just feeling bitter this year.
Because for the first time ever I actually want to do all those cheesy, romantic things you see in holiday movies. And for the first time there’s a person I could be doing all those things with—who I want to do all those stupid things with.
But that person hasn’t sent me a single text since September.
I scroll through the countless messages I’ve sent Jasper, the occasional unanswered phone call.
I promised myself I’d do anything to make Jasper see reason—go to the moon and back, chase him to the ends of the world if I have to. But I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that if he won’t even speak to me.
“If you don’t stop looking at that thing someone will mow you down,” Katie says, effortlessly gliding toward me and coming to a perfect standstill.
Honestly, she could be an Olympic skater if she wanted; she has the poise, the grace, and she isn’t afraid to take out the competition if need be.
I shrug and slide the phone back into my jeans before shoving my bone-chilled hands into the pockets of my puffer.
Katie sidles up next to me and rests her head on my shoulder. “Still nothing, huh?”
“Nada.”
She twists her feet and rotates her body so that she’s standing in front of me.
“Don’t get depressed,” she says tugging on my elbows. “This isn’t over. Operation GJA is far from complete.”
I scoff thinking back to the day Katie and I conceived Operation Get Jasper’s Attention. It was the day after he and I kissed on the beach and he told me he accepted me as his mate, but that we could never be together—what a load of bull, right?! Katie and I sat down in her mom’s freshly wallpapered living room and made a plan. The idea was to make it impossible for Jasper not to notice me. That way, he couldn’t just forget and move on, and eventually he’d give in.
Turns out I’m easier to ignore than I thought. And easier to forget.
Nothing has worked. No amount of texting, calling, or letter writing has garnered a response—yes, I stooped to Jane Austen levels of desperate. One time I showed up at his house and Melissa told me he was out of town visiting a friend at boarding school. Another time I sent him a pair of mugs I’d had our faces printed on—psychotic, I know. I stopped taking all of Katie’s suggestions so seriously from that point on.
“I think OGJA is dead in the water,” I say. “It was always a pretty terrible acronym anyway.”
“Come on,” Katie says, skating a little ways backward and spinning in a tiny loop. “There has to be something we haven’t thought of. When we get to Starry B’s after this, let’s think it over.”
With a huff I push off the barrier, my ankles starting to ache in these cheap rented skates. “There’s no point, it’s over. It’s more than over. It’s obvious Jasper was serious when he said he didn’t want to be around me, and anyway I’m starting to think…”
“Max, what?” Katie tilts her head. Her pale cheeks are super rosy.
“I’m starting to think he doesn’t care.”
“How can you say that?! Of course, he—”
“Dude! Seriously, get off!” Simon shouts.
Across the ice things have graduated from a friendly wrestle to a heated scuffle.
“What’s wrong with you, man?” Todd replies, trapping his adversary in a headlock.
