All Chapters of Breaking The Ice Between Us : Chapter 161 - Chapter 163

Two weeks. Two goddamn weeks since all that mess went down, and honestly? It still felt unreal. Like I was walking around in somebody else’s shoes, in somebody else’s life. The kind of shit you’d hear about in a movie—best friend owes shady assholes fifty grand, gets beaten half to death, you step in like some reluctant hero and end up fixing the whole thing. Except it wasn’t a movie. It was real. Too real. And the weirdest part? It was easier than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, fifty thousand isn’t pocket change—you don’t just pull that out of your back jeans and wave it around like a bus ticket—but somehow between me and Andrew, it got handled. Quick. Almost… too quick. Andrew had connections I didn’t even realize he had. He never explained much, and I didn’t push because I was too damn focused on getting James out of that shitty position, but still… the way he made part of that money appear? Kinda haunted me if I thought about it too long. My own contribution was a mix of

It felt like the universe had a sick sense of humor. Like every time I started to breathe, every time shit started piecing itself back together, something came along and smashed it apart again. The NHL scouts were still in my head, buzzing like a future I could almost taste. James was finally steady, his bruises fading, his debts handled. And Andrew… Andrew was more than steady. He was there. He was home in a way I hadn’t thought I’d get again. But then life reminded me it didn’t care. I stood beside him in the cold, damp earth smell clinging heavy in the air, the sky a dull, unfeeling gray. The cemetery stretched out quiet and endless, rows of carved stone jutting up from the ground like teeth. Everyone around us wore black, but none of them looked as hollowed out as Andrew did. He hadn’t said much since it happened. Not when he got the call. Not when I drove him home. Not even now, as the priest muttered words that barely reached my ears. His face was set, stiff, his hands clenc