AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shake my head and try to clear my thoughts, but they all steer right back to her. Aliyah Monroe. I want to ask her about her nightmare. I’ve never in my life heard anyone scream like that, not even after breaking a bone on the ice. I thought someone had gotten into the house, was attacking her. But when I bolted into her room, she was tossing around on the bed, completely out of it. Screaming like she was experiencing the most intense pain. Alone.
I almost asked Gray about it this morning in the locker room but quickly decided that wasn’t the best idea. I don’t need him knowing I spent the night in bed with his sister. What I do need is to figure out what’s happening between the two of us. This is new territory for me. I’ve only known her for a couple of days, and I can’t get her out of my head. I want her around, which is fucking odd.
When I caught her trying to sneak out of the room this morning, I wanted to drag her ass back to my bed. That’s never happened to me before. I’ve always been the one who wants the chick to leave, preferably sooner rather than later. There’s just something different about this girl. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ll figure it out.
“King, Monroe, and Jameson. You’re up,” the coach says, calling out our line.
We get into formation, me in the center, Gray on my left, and Luke Jameson on my right. The puck passes from Gray to Luke, and then to me as we make our way to the end zone. I pass it back to Luke and he sends it flying over the goalie’s glove, hitting the back of the net.
“Again,” the coach shouts from across the rink. “Faster, pass more aggressively.”
We repeat the same play, over and over again until the moves become more muscle memory than anything else. A whistle blows, then the coach yells out for us to hit the showers.
“Nice footwork.” Gray claps me on the top of my helmet, commenting on the way I skated around the opposition during the last play.
“Thanks.” I nod at him, but my eyes are on his sister. Aliyah is staring down at her phone. As if she can feel my gaze, she looks up and locks those brown eyes of hers with mine. She then glances at her brother and returns her focus to the device in her hands.
“Thanks for taking her home last night,” Gray says as we make our way off the ice.
“Don’t mention it,” I tell him.
“She likes to act like she’s tough and independent, but she’s not,” he says.
“I don’t know. She seems pretty fucking tough when she’s chewing my ass out for whatever stupid shit I’ve done that day.” I laugh.
“I don’t doubt that.” He chuckles, then looks back over at his sister and opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else. He doesn’t. Instead, he shakes his head and continues to walk down the corridor to the locker room.
I take my time stripping out of my gear and showering. I’m trying to figure out what to say to her, how to approach the subject of her nightmare. I need to know who the fuck hurt her so badly that it’s left her traumatized and screaming in the middle of the night like that.
Then there’s the little matter of her mouth. I want it again. I can’t recall a time I’ve enjoyed kissing someone so fucking much.
I need to get my shit together. I dry off, cracking my neck from side to side to relieve some of the tension the hot water didn’t seem to ease. The only one left in the locker room with me is Hunter Forbes, one of the team’s defensemen.
“Hey, man, got any plans tonight? A bunch of us are heading over to Jasper’s, a new club that’s opened up around the corner,” Hunter says.
“Not sure. I actually think I’m gonna crash early tonight,” I say. How these fuckers continue to go out and then come and play the way they do, I have no idea. I know we’ve still got another week before the preseason games begin. But, fuck, these early morning skates aren’t fucking easy.
“If you change your mind, hit us up,” Hunter says.
I nod, knowing that’s not gonna happen. What I’m really planning on doing is taking Aliyah out for dinner. I want to be able to talk to her, get to know her better. It might be the only way I’m ever going to figure out what this pull is I have towards her.
I’m exhausted, though, and ordering in is seeming like a much better idea. Between being out late, waking up to Aliyah, and then wondering who or what the fuck hurt her for the rest of the night, I didn’t get much sleep.
I dress in a crisp clean suit, as per Aliyah’s request, and shut my locker. I walk out to find her sitting crossed-legged on the floor again. She looks up at me. “Why are you always the last one out?” she asks.
“It takes time to look this good, princess,” I say, spreading my arms to my sides to give her a better view of the merchandise.
“You don’t look any different from when you rolled out of bed this morning, except you have more clothes on,” she tells me.
“Would you prefer I didn’t?” I raise my eyebrows at her.
“Nope. Clothes are good. You should wear them more often.”
I hold out my hand to pull her up off the floor, and she looks at it like it’s going to bite her head off. Instead of accepting my help, Aliyah unfolds her legs and stands. I drop my arm, trying not to let that little bit of rejection sting. It’s a new feeling for me. Though something tells me I better get used to it if I am gonna be spending so much time around a certain ice queen. It seems Aliyah Monroe is the furthest thing from a “sure thing” bang. I never know where I stand with her. Although, when I was kissing her, owning that pouty little mouth of hers, she gave her whole self to me. Until she didn’t. And she closed herself up tighter than she had been before.
“You were good out there this morning,” Aliyah says.
And just like that, gone is that feeling of rejection. She watched me. She thought I was good. Not that I need her recognition. Iamgood on the ice. I know that, but hearing her say it makes me feel… something.
