Page 8 of Ice King

Before everything had changed.

Before everything had turned sour.

I resisted telling him that I hated when he called me that. Gigi wasn’t my name. Something I’d thought adorable in the beginning had been used as a weapon against me whenever he so chose.

“You know I don’t like to do those things to you. You just need to start learning. And listening. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course,” I managed, even smiling in case he was paying attention.

“That’s my good girl. Let me get you some wine. You deserve it.”

“That sounds great. Maybe that will calm my stomach.”

He chuckled as if I was making a joke. The bastard. I remained where I was, folding my arms and doing nothing but staring at the ocean.

Maybe one day I’d learn to love the water again.

Maybe I’d even learn to scuba dive.

I could be a little fish.

As he walked away, my smile returned, only this time smug and full of eagerness. I slowly shifted my head over my shoulder, waiting until he’d disappeared from view.

This was the right thing to do.

No, this was the only thing I could do.

No more fear. No more violence.

No more threats.

I couldn’t take it any longer.

No more tears.

No more of anything.

But peace.

As the fear began to fade, I took another deep breath.

And I slipped into the ocean.

CHAPTER 3

Ford

“What the fuck are you doing on the ice?”

Hearing Coach Stryker’s deep, booming, and agitated voice brought cautious looks from my buddy Finn, a legend as a left winger. He backed away as if the coach was about to explode.

Maybe the coach had his reasons.

The day I’d returned to the arena, he’d pushed me out the door.

On the second day, he’d shoved me down onto the bench, making me watch.

Then he’d called my mother of all things. I was twenty-eight years old, not a kid in a junior league, but he’d told her all about how I was being a very bad boy.