All Chapters of Collision on Ice: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Jace’s POVThe television was on, playing some random sports highlights on mute. I was sitting on one end of the couch, and Roselle was on the other. She had her legs pulled up and a textbook spread open across her lap, chewing on the cap of a blue highlighter.It was a Tuesday night. We had been officially together for two weeks.I tapped my foot against the leg of the coffee table. I didn’t realize I was doing it until the table wobbled, rattling the empty water glass sitting on top of it.Roselle stopped reading and looked over at me.“Sorry,” I said, forcing my leg to stay still.She took the highlighter out of her mouth. “You’ve been fidgeting for twenty minutes.”“Just thinking about practice tomorrow.”She didn’t look like she believed me, but she didn’t push it. She just nodded and went back to her textbook. I watched her read. She was wearing one of my grey hoodies, the sleeves pushed up

Jace’s POVI parked my car in the visitor lot outside Roselle’s dorm and put the vehicle in park. I did not text her right away to say I was there. I just sat with the engine idling and the heater running, watching the rain streak down the windshield.We had never actually gone somewhere together as a couple just for the sake of going somewhere. Every other time we ended up in the same room over the last two months, it had been because of a tutoring schedule, a work shift, or an argument we were having in the middle of a hallway. Even over the last couple of weeks, since we officially started dating, we mostly just hung out in my apartment or grabbed coffee between her classes.This was different. I had actually planned something.The dorm doors opened, and Roselle walked out into the damp air. She was wearing a heavy jacket and a dark beanie, and for the first time since I met her, she was not carrying a heavy backpack. She looked around, spotted my car, and jogged over.She opened t

Jace’s POVI stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel off the rack. I dried my hair, threw on a pair of sweatpants, and left the towel draped around my neck. The apartment was quiet. I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water before I had to start getting ready for the team dinner.Roselle was sitting exactly where I left her in the living room. Her laptop was plugged into the wall.“Did you figure out your article?” I asked.She looked at me. She held eye contact for exactly one second before looking back at her screen. “Yeah. I figured it out.”I took a sip of water. I knew she was lying. She was usually a very direct person. If she had figured out her journalism assignment, she would have started talking about the angle she chose. Instead, her posture was completely rigid. Her hands were resting on the keyboard, but she wasn’t typing anything.I didn’t call her out on it. I set my glass in the sink and walked down the hallway to my bedroom to get a clean shirt.My room

Jace’s POV The apartment was quiet in that heavy way it only ever got around four in the morning. The kind of quiet where the hum of the refrigerator sounded like an engine running in the next room.I was lying on my back with one arm tucked behind my head, staring up at the popcorn ceiling. Roselle was fast asleep beside me, her head resting heavily against my shoulder, one of her hands curled loosely over my chest. Her breathing was slow and even, matching the steady rhythm of a person who had finally let go of every defense she carried.I didn’t move. I was scared that if I shifted an inch, I would wake her up.My mind wasn’t shutting down. It usually didn’t, but tonight it felt louder than usual. I kept replaying the hours before, specifically the exact moment in the dark when she told me she hadn’t done this before. The quiet confession had hit me sideways. I had spent my entire life around people who treated intimacy like a casual t

Jace’s POVRoselle unlocked my apartment door late on Sunday evening, slipping inside with her duffel bag slung over one shoulder just as the rain started tapping heavily against the living room window.She had just taken the bus back from her parents’ place, and even before she dropped her bag by the entryway, I could tell the weekend had taken a toll on her in that familiar way family visits always did.I stood up from the couch and walked over to her. Without a word, I took the heavy bag from her hand, set it on the floor, and pulled her against my chest. She let out a long breath, her arms coming around my waist as she buried her face against my shirt.“Rough weekend?” I asked, pressing a soft kiss into her hair.“My brother thinks he is a forensic investigator,” she mumbled against my chest, though there was a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “And my mother looks at me like I am hiding a massive secret