Alle Kapitel von Off Ice: A Forbidden Rink Romance : Kapitel 31 – Kapitel 40

𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫Reyes called me into his office earlier that morning, way before any of this hallway business started.I'd already pitched him the idea a few days back, sat across his desk and laid out exactly how this team could actually win their next big game if someone who knew what they were doing got involved. Game plays I remembered from my own playing days, half of it recycled from a coach I had a decade ago, but Reyes didn't need to know that. Men in his position never ask where good ideas come from, only whether they'll work. He ate it up and offered me a spot on his staff right then, like I'd handed him the answer to a problem he'd been stuck on for weeks. Men who run teams like this are always looking for a shortcut, and I know exactly how to sound like one.I couldn't care less about actual hockey. Whether this team wins or loses next month has nothing to do with me. I just needed a reason to be here, something that would put me in the same building as Beckett every s

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐭The bar was packed by the time we walked in, bodies pressed close together near the entrance, music loud enough that I could feel it more than hear it. It didn't take long to spot our table, though, a cluster of familiar faces near the back, already a few drinks deep judging by the volume of their laughter carrying over the music.Alister grabbed my wrist without any warning, no permission asked, and led me through the crowd toward them like I needed guiding through a room full of my own coworkers, like I was some kind of guest he was personally responsible for delivering safely to the right seat. I let it happen for exactly as long as it took to reach the table, then pulled free and shot him a look that hopefully said everything I didn't have the patience to put into words.He just smiled back, entirely unbothered, and slid into the seat directly across from where Genevieve was already waving me over."Hi," I said to Genevieve, forcing something close to a smile onto

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐭"You're getting into fights now." Alister's voice filled the car before we'd even pulled out of the lot, already sliding into full lecture mode.I didn't want to get in his car at all. Made that pretty clear, actually, right up until two of the other staff members physically stepped between me and Williams and told Alister to just take me home before the cops showed up and things got a lot more complicated for everyone involved. Genevieve had looked genuinely alarmed, her drunk haze cutting through fast the second she saw blood, and someone else had gone to grab ice for Williams's face while the rest of the group herded me toward Alister's car like I was the one who needed containing, like I was some kind of problem that needed managing instead of a person who'd just found himself face to face with the man who'd once tried to drug him, the man nobody at that table even knew about.So here I was, stuck in the passenger seat, listening to him work through what was appar

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐭I don't remember deciding to kiss him. One second he was on his knees in front of me, saying please don't push me away again in a voice that broke something loose in my chest, something I'd been holding tight for days without even realizing how tight, and the next his mouth was on mine, and mine was on his, and neither of us seemed interested in figuring out how we got there.I'd pulled him up off the floor without really thinking about it, just reacting to the sound in his voice, the way it broke on the last word like it had cost him something to say.Like admitting he needed me was harder for him than almost anything else, harder than I think he had ever let anyone see before tonight. And then he was standing, and I was still holding onto his jacket, and somehow the distance between our faces disappeared before either of us decided to close it.We stumbled back toward the apartment door together, a tangle of hands and mouths and bad footing, his fingers finding thei

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐭I was still stuck in the shower, on the way Malakai looked at me like I was something worth memorizing.The way his voice had gone low and rough right before he stepped out and left me standing there alone, ache still sitting heavy and unresolved in my chest all morning, no matter how many times I told myself to focus on literally anything else, when a voice cut straight through it."Earth to Beck."I blinked, and Katherine's face appeared in front of me, hands on her hips, clearly not for the first time saying my name.She'd texted me that morning asking me to come down to the courthouse, some quick message with three exclamation points and a ring emoji that told me exactly what kind of energy I was walking into before I even read the rest of it. She wanted me there for the actual signing, apparently, since she was marrying a guy she'd known for less than two months and had decided, somewhere along the way, that this was the one, no doubts, no hesitation, the whole th