Pulling Heart Strings

♥ F i v e

Thank you so much to bamboozling for the amazing trailer!

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C h a p t e r  F i v e

TEN MINUTES OF CAREENING into an old woman's hip, knocking his ass against the ice more times than is humanly possible, and almost getting hospitalized, Adrian still doesn't give up.

Phoebe pretends she doesn't know him, skimming around the rink at a leisurely pace with her mitten-clad hands tucked behind her.

At least several rounds later, she finally begins to relax, noting how much she's actually missed being here.

The remedying feeling doesn't last long, though, because she soon gets fed up with Adrian hacking at his skates against one of the makeshift walls and scaring away half the children within a five-foot radius of him.

She skates towards him, drawing up to a halt when he's near enough to hear her. "You know," she says, "It's kind of amusing watching you try not to get trampled and knocking away innocent little kids, but I'm starting to feel the second-hand embarrassment."

"That kid had it coming," he growls, a scowl taking over his features. "He was hogging all the space to himself!"

Phoebe rolls her eyes, and before her brain can comprehend what she's doing, she's already offering her hand to him. "I can teach you."

He cocks a brow at it, but takes it after only a brief moment of hesitation. "Fine," he relents. "I was doing great on my own, by the way. You just caught me at a bad time."

"If you say so."

His grasp on her hand tightens as she begins coasting forward. "Whatever. Forget that happened. We're here to win Russian Romeo over, anyway."

"Which one is he?" Phoebe asks, skepticism slowly seeping into her words. She has to admit that, among the disinterest and annoyance making up most of her emotions at the moment, there's also a tiny flicker of curiosity. Wouldn't anyone be even morbidly curious if a guy claiming to work for Cupid pops out of the blue and announces that he's going to help you find love?

Phoebe is.

Unfortunately.

"Tall, dark, and pouty over there," Adrian answers, pointing out one of the guys from the clustered group he pointed out earlier.

Phoebe sizes the guy up and down, and aside from the fact that she can tell he's extremely tall, there's really no other feature worth analyzing over at her distance. Chewing at the inside of her cheek, she gives Adrian a sideways glance. "So, what, are you going to shoot some arrows into us?"

"That's not how it works," he says, looking almost offended. "It would if Cupid had let me use his crossbow, but seeing how he loves making things complicated for me, I'll have to dish out things the old-fashioned way."

"Which is...?"

"Feeding you expertise love advice and — " abruptly flailing about, he swerves away from a chubby kid who almost bulldozes him over, sending Phoebe twirling away like an off-kilter ballerina into a throng of preteen girls. Adrian manages to reel her back before any technical injuries can be inflicted, twirling her over once again until she reaches his side.