Destiny on Ice (Boys of Winter #1)(58)

Narrowing his eyes at me, and probably more pissed than I thought that I mentioned his past, he says, “I told you to f*ck Aubrey one time and get it out of your system. You weren’t supposed to f*cking fall in love with the bitch.”

“Hey.” I shoot him a warning glare. I will throw down, even with a friend, for her. “Aubrey’s not a bitch, Nolan.”

“Okay, okay.” He puts up his hands. “This is me backing the f*ck off. But let me put it out there that I think you’re both dumb to be playing with fire.”

I toss back my drink. “Let me get burned, then. I don’t care what the team says or does to me, as long as Aubrey doesn’t get hurt.”

Nolan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, good luck with that.” He only has my best interests at heart, but while drinking at a strip club is not the best time to discuss this in any rational manner.

Just then a bunch of the guys bring over a tall, blonde stripper. She has on nothing but a G-string and an open short robe. When she starts dancing seductively in front of me, I realize they’ve bought me a lap dance.

This is so not good.

I keep my hands to myself, like a good boy, but there are a lot of cameras flashing. Big fake tits in my face are not going to fly with Aubrey. Nor is the vodka and tonic in my hand destined to bring a smile to her face. Management will be pissed too. I should stop this right now.

But I let it go on.

After the dance, I tip the blonde so she’ll take off. I then get all the guys to erase the pics and videos they captured. I hope I didn’t miss any, because I know if I did it’ll end up on social media. And if that happens, the pic—or worse yet, a video—will show up on a site like Deadspin. I know Aubrey and the team monitor that site and the knock-off ones closely. Everything will be out about this night if something goes viral. And though nothing happened with the dancer, images of her writhing all over my junk wouldn’t look good.

Speaking of junk, I’m horny as hell now thanks to the lap dance. “Hey, I’m taking off,” I say to Nolan. I’m anxious to get home to Aubrey.

Luckily, he sees how drunk I am and makes arrangements with Breeze to follow us out to my place so he can drive me home in my car, and then have a ride back.

Nolan may be a dick at times, but he always has my back.

I also learn he has a video of me with the stripper. I don’t ask him to erase it. He’d never do anything with it.





The Real World Sometimes Sucks





Brent wakes me from a dead sleep. When I realize he’s tugging at my sleep clothes, pulling them off despite my groggy and only half-awake state, I’m surprised, but definitely all in.

But then, when he just about crushes me with his weight, I’m more like, “What the hell, Brent? I can’t breathe.”

“Sorry.” He lifts his body off me enough that I don’t suffocate under his very naked self. Not that it’d be a bad way to go. But still, Brent’s usually much more smooth and controlled than this.

He nuzzles his nose into my neck and breathes out something that sounds like an apology. And that’s when I smell alcohol.

“Are you crazy?” I push him off of me. “You’re drunk, aren’t you?”

He flops back on the bed. “So what if I am? I haven’t had anything remotely resembling alcohol since f*cking August. And I’m not an alcoholic, Aubrey. I can go out and throw back a few once in a while.”

“Oh, that sounds like Nolan talking.”

“Funny. He said the same thing about you.”

“So he did say it was okay for you to get drunk?”

“Who cares if he did? It’s true.”

“Where’d you go?” I carefully inquire.

He looks a little shady when he replies, “There was a bar at the steak place where we ate.”

“Hmm…”

I want Brent to feel comfortable kicking back with his teammates—and I really don’t think a once-in-a-while night out with the boys will make him spiral—but I do worry if the team finds out they may panic and extend my contract, thinking they still need me. If that happens our relationship will have to continue to remain a secret, a secret that if discovered could sink us both.

I share all this with Brent, and then say, “Do you see now why I’m so upset?”

“Yeah,” he says on a sigh. “When you put it like that I do.” He pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me. “I wasn’t thinking. But I promise you I won’t go out drinking again till you’re no longer my life coach.”

“And even then, Brent, don’t let things get out of control. You may not be an alcoholic, but drinking to excess has caused you problems in the past.”

“I know, babe.” His hand slides down to my bare ass, already distracted. “I won’t.”

I may complain, but I’m just as bad as him. Dropping the conversation, I get busy Zamboni-ing his ice.





I go on the road with the team the week of Thanksgiving.

Since there’s a game the night before the actual holiday, as well as one the following Friday afternoon, I have to inform my family that I won’t be able to join them for our big holiday turkey feast this year.

Mom and Dad are disappointed, but understand that my job comes first.