Stone Cold {bxb}

CHAPTER ONE

"Last, but certainly not least to hit the ice," the male announcer spoke. "Gabriel Amore." The crowd cheered and clapped loudly but was dimmed to Gabriel as he sat on the bench. His head was down, his eyes were closed, and his hands were clenched tightly as he whispered to himself.

"This is it," he spoke. "My last shot for the 2023 championship title. I worked my skates off all year to get to this point. And now -now is my chance to get that title."

He opened his eyes, slowly lifted his head up, and rose to stand on his feet. He took his skate guards off, handing them to a male in a sharp black suit. The crowd was still cheering and clapping as Gabriel stepped out onto the ice.

"I will show them," Gabriel whispered as he skated around the oval ice rink. "I can become the next Vincent Maze."

He finally skated to the center of the rink, taking his starting stance, and before the music played, he thought one last thing: here goes nothing.

The music played starting with violins. Gabriel moved around on the ice along with the music. The crowd cheering and clapping for him made him want to skate even stronger. He hit his moves sharply with determination as he went on.

"Can you see the time and effort that went into this piece ladies and gentlemen," the announcer spoke.

Any mess up or wrong move and the judges will notice, Gabriel said to himself in his head. And if not the judges, then.

He looked over at Vincent from the corner of his eye as he skated past him. The smile that rested upon Vincent's face made Gabriel's heartbeat faster as he kept going.

"Looks like we got a tie between Gabriel Amore and Vincent Maze," the other announcer said.

"A tie," Gabriel whispered, going for his double axel and then landing it, causing the crowd to go wild and Vincent's smile turned into a smirk.

"Yeah Tony," the announcer agreed. "I would hate to be the judge right now."

Gabriel kept skating and thinking about how this championship was going to end. He did another axel only this time it was a single one and landed that one too.

The song was almost over so Gabriel went halfway around the ice rink before coming back to the center. He went down low, spinning on his right skate with his leg extended out and his arms up in the air as he slowly rose up. His left leg extended out and his right leg as he finished spinning along with the music.

He was breathing hard to where he could hear it but the crowds cheering, clapping, and screaming drowned it all out. They threw down stuffed animals and flowers onto the ice rink for him. He smiled and waved as he skated over to pick up a small polar bear before heading back over to his area.

"That was good, Amore," the man in the black suit said when Gabriel got over to him.

"Thanks, Damion," Gabriel said, nearly out of breath.

He grabbed his skate guards, slipping them on before walking over to sit on the bench. Gabriel held the bear in his arms while he nervously bounced his legs, still breathing heavily.

"Hey... Damion," Gabriel spoke, still trying to find room to breathe. "Do you think...my performance...was championship...worthy?"

Damion looked down at Gabriel and smirked.

"Of course it was," he replied. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm your friend."

Gabriel looked up at Damion and then chuckled before looking away only noticing that Vincent was looking at him with no expression but focused on one thing.