Frozen Heat

7. Noah

Halfway through our meeting,I got a text from Jade that she was coming to the arena because she didn’t want to be home alone. It was kind of surprising because she rarely sought me out. She could have messaged any of the guys, as she had all our phone numbers, but she texted me. I tried like hell not to read too much into it. I responded that she could wait at the bleachers, and that was exactly where I found her after Coach finally stopped yapping. I told the guys to give me a couple of minutes alone with Jade. Something just looked off with her. She was sitting, staring at the ice, and started talking once I got close enough to her.

“When I came to your first game, I was so jealous. Not because you were popular or insanely talented, but because you looked so free on the ice. You looked like you belonged there. I wish I had that. Somewhere where I knew I belonged and could be free,” she said, the sadness seeping into her tone.

I sat next to her, and I was glad I told the guys to hang back. “What about your art? I’ve seen it, and you are talented, J.”

She gave me a sad smile. “I do enjoy that, but I don’t feel free. I splatter my emotions all over those canvases. I’m exposed. It’s not the same.”

While she continued to stare at the ice, I texted the guys to find a pair of skates that would fit her.

“I never knew you paid that much attention when I was playing.”

“There’re a lot of things you don’t know. Girls can’t tell all their secrets,” she teased.

I smiled at her, glad to see she was in a good enough mood to joke.

She gasped. “Did you just smile? You really should do that more often. It”d probably ruin your rep as a badass, though.”

She giggled at her own joke, and I let out a loud laugh. She stared at me again as she had been doing lately, but she was doing it looking straight into my eyes, not trying to hide. Finn broke the bubble we had been in when he rushed up with a pair of skates that would fit Jade and my pair. He handed them to us and made himself scarce again.

“Here’s your chance. Wanna skate with me?”

“I’ve never skated, Noah. I could injure you or something.” She seemed a little worried, biting her lip.

I chuckled. “Doubtful. I won’t let you fall. Just put them on and we’ll take it slowly,” I told her reassuringly.

She sighed and smiled while putting on the skates, and I did the same. As she finished lacing hers up, I stood and put my hand out for her to take. She took it, and we stepped out onto the rink. It was funny sometimes to see someone who had never ice skated before. They either surprised you by knowing exactly what to do or they looked like they were a baby deer trying to walk for the first time. Jade was, unfortunately, in the latter group. She almost took me down by gripping me on my shoulders. I moved her to stand in front of me with her back to my chest. She clutched my hands, and I spread them out a little to help her with balance. Then I talked her through getting used to the mechanics of the skates. Once I told her it was a lot like rollerblading, most of her nervousness faded. When she seemed to have it under control, I skated in front of her so I was going backward, and we were face-to-face.

She tutted at me and rolled her eyes, smiling. “Always showing off.”

I chuckled and shook my head. ”This isn”t showing off.” I skated a circle around her, then came up behind her, gripping her hips. ”You still haven”t seen my best moves.” My mouth was centimeters from her ear as I whispered. I wanted to lick and suck the soft spot behind her ear. She pulled in a shaky breath and tipped her neck to the side. Before I could do something regrettable, I dropped my hands from her hips and skated to her side.

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. “You gonna teach me some of these cool moves you got, big bro?”

I knew it was all in jest, and I didn’t have some weird kink of sleeping with someone who was related to me, but when she said it, the words did something to me. I just shoved that cocky smile I was so well known for in place.

“You are definitely not ready for that yet, J. Get this down and then we’ll think about getting more advanced.” I winked at her. “I’ll get you some skates of your own, and we’ll do this again.”

She laughed and nodded. I was glad we were getting along and that was why I didn’t bring up not wanting her to go to that party tonight. Baby steps and all that. Jade draped her arm around my waist, and I laid mine across her back, just soaking in the contrasting feelings of peacefulness that being on the ice brought and the nervousness the girl next to me stirred in me constantly.

Walkinginside the house after going to have a drink with the guys, since Jade was at her party, I headed to my room and stopped in the middle of the hall. I was pretty sure I heard something, and it sounded kind of like crying. I walked closer to my bedroom and realized that was where the crying was coming from. Pushing the already-ajar door open farther, I could see the bathroom door was open too and Jade was kneeling in front of the toilet.

She was resting her head on the toilet seat when I walked in. “Hey, Jade.”

“Noah,” she said, her voice hoarse from throwing up.

“You get blitzed again tonight?” I tried to keep the condescension out of my tone, going for concern instead.

She nodded, and it seemed like that was a dangerous move. ”Oh, God.” Jade moaned and hovered over the toilet seat again. I held her hair back and grabbed a hair tie I saw on the counter by the sink. After Jade finished vomiting, I tied her hair back from her face and gave her a washcloth to wipe her mouth.

She lay back on the bathroom floor. I sighed and sat next to her, gently pulling her head into my lap. She wanted to protest—I could see it in her eyes—but she didn”t have the energy right now. She closed her eyes and hummed when I stroked her hair, running my hands through the rainbow-colored strands of her ponytail. It was quiet, and it lulled me to close my eyes as well.

My neurons firedand my senses began to come back to me as I was jolted awake. The first thing I felt was pain. My back was stiff, and my neck ached. There was movement in my lap, and I opened my eyes to see Jade looking up at me. Her hair had escaped the tie, and it fanned out like a halo around her head. I smiled down at her, blinking sleep from my eyes. She returned a tired grin that looked almost like a grimace. The illumination from the night light was enough to see in the mostly dark room, telling me it was sometime before sunrise. A look at my watch told me it was 5 a.m.

I sighed. ”Good to see you”re alive and well. No alcohol poisoning.”

”Ugh, let”s not make assumptions yet because the desert in my mouth and the pounding in my skull would say otherwise,” she croaked. ”Plus, I”m a little embarrassed you saw me throw up.”

”Don”t be. I”ve had my own nights purging my guts out too,” I soothed. Holding the back of her head, I carefully pulled it out of my lap and stood, stretching my body. ”Okay, we”re gonna do this slowly and steadily. I”m gonna help you sit up, then we”re gonna stand.” I put my hand out, waiting for her to grab it.

She looked at it wearily. ”Staying on the floor is fine with me. I mopped it a couple of days ago. I know it”s clean.”

I wanted to laugh because she was being adorable, but I didn”t think it”d go over well at that moment. ”I”m gonna help you get to bed because this can”t be comfortable. Come on, take my hand.”

She huffed, showing that even hungover, her stubborn and independent attitude was still intact. She didn”t expect nor require my help, but she accepted it. I helped her into a seated position. Once she seemed stable, I grabbed a cup of water and some Tylenol for her. After she drank it, I gave her a capful of mouthwash from the counter, which she swished around before she spit the remains in the toilet.

Then I gripped under her biceps and assisted her in standing. She seemed to be okay, but then her knees wobbled and gave out. I scooped her into my arms, bridal style, before she fell and cracked her head. Her arms flung around my neck, and she groaned, resting her head against my shoulder, her breath ghosting against my neck. Stifling the moan that wanted to spill from my lips, I smiled again.

”You’re feeling kind of damsel-like right now, aren’t you?”

”My hero,” she quipped, her head still in the crook of my neck.

I chuckled and tried to keep from jostling her as I headed to get her in bed. After tucking her in, I pushed the locks of hair off her face. Then I lay down next to her. She moved onto her side, so I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her waist. Pulling her close to me, I closed my eyes and soaked in her warmth and the sound of her breathing. She placed her hand on top of mine and softly hummed.

When I opened my eyes again, the smell of bacon, potatoes, and eggs roused me from my tired state. My guess was that the guys had made breakfast without waking me up. Today was Oli’s day, but I was sure he convinced Ryder and Finn to help because they slept over, so I didn’t need to wake up earlier than usual. I got out of bed, letting Jade continue to sleep off her hangover.

Heading out to the kitchen, I noticed that Callum was missing. “Hey, guys,” I said to all three of them who were working on the food. I grabbed two coffee mugs and made a cup for me and one for Jade, with a generous amount of creamer in each cup. We liked our coffee the same way. We both drank it for the caffeine, not the taste, so anything to make it less bitter was needed. “Cal still asleep?”

Oli gestured with his head to the sliding doors that went out to the back porch. “Ruby came by and wanted to talk to him. There hasn’t been any yelling yet so that seems promising.”

Taking a sip of my coffee, I shrugged because I wasn’t worried. Jade staying in my room wasn’t a hardship; that was for sure.

“We’re almost done here, so you might want to go wake up Jade,” Oli said.

“I’ll try. She was pretty drunk last night so she may not be hungry.” I grabbed the second mug and headed to the bedroom to get Jade up.

After I walked back into my room, I crouched down so I could wake Jade without looming over her.

When her eyes slowly blinked open, I tried and failed to hold back the comment on the tip of my tongue. ”God, you”re beautiful,” I blurted.

Her eyes were wide for a moment before she smiled up at me. ”You”re no slouch yourself, Noah. You know that.”

I chuckled and grinned widely at the compliment and the fact she didn”t make it weird by focusing on my slip. ”Breakfast is ready. Here’s some coffee.”

She sat up gingerly. Before I could stand and move, she put her hand on my chest, stopping me. ”Thank you for last night and this morning. It was really sweet of you to take care of me.”

”No problem, Jade. I”ll always be there to help you. I told you that.” I’d promised I would, and it was one I intended to keep. She needed to know she had people in her corner willing to never leave.

She grinned brightly. She leaned forward to kiss my cheek but somehow her mouth found my lips and soon we were kissing, both of us freezing for a split second until we melted into each other. Her hands found purchase in my hair, scratching my scalp and tugging on the strands.

Loving the feeling, a deep rumble built in the back of my throat. I wanted to devour her and pull all the pleasure I could from her body. Nipping at her bottom lip, she whimpered in need.

”Noah,” she moaned, never breaking from my lips.

Pressing my weight into her, I climbed on top of her, and then I wrapped a fist in her hair. Her hands slid down my chest, going for the hem of my shirt. That was when everything slid into place, and I froze. She must have noticed because she broke away from my lips and looked at me in question. I hated myself for what I was about to do, what I was about to deny myself, but it was the right thing to do. Once I had her, I would never let her go, and I knew she was still unsure about me. Damnit. ”They’re waiting out there. We can’t do this right now.”

Jade bit her bottom lip and looked like she was about to argue before she closed her eyes, huffed, then nodded. She opened her eyes, locking them with mine. Some sort of unspoken communication passed between us, and it was the only thing that allowed me to crawl out of that bed, away from her, and walk into the kitchen.

Callum left with Ruby to talk some more. We all had a good breakfast, talk flowing freely between all of us. It was interesting Jade fit in so well, because Finn, Ryder, Oli, and I had been a tight-knit group since we all turned up here almost three years ago. We had all our teammates on the hockey team, but we just formed tighter bonds than anyone else. Maybe the already existing friendship between Oli and me helped. But Jade slid right in place as if she had been there the entire time.

I tried to keep myself staring at her to a minimum because I knew that it made her uncomfortable and embarrassed, but it was really hard.

Jade broke me out of my musing herself. “I’m going to work on my piece for the second game today. You guys all played well again. You’re starting to make my job singing your praises so easy.”

“Glad to hear it,” Finn said, grinning.

“I know that Oli and Noah have known each other since they were in elementary, but what about you and Ryder? Did you guys all meet here?” she asked.

I nodded. “Oli and I played against Ryder here in Illinois a few times in middle and high school.”

“I came here from California, so I met them the first day of hockey camp, before the college experience.” Finn smiled, probably remembering the shenanigans we all got into. “We reconnected once the semester started, and we had regular practices again. We were all in the dorms the first year,” Finn explained.

Finn was known for being the charmer of our group. I was the cocky guy. Oli was the funny one, and Ryder was the edgy “bad” boy. We all had our things, but Finn was subtle. People underestimated him because he was a hockey player, massive, and quiet—it caused people to write him off as just a dumb jock, but once he got talking to a girl, he could charm her pants off. What surprised me was he wasn’t doing it to Jade. He was just talking to her like normal. Gone were the compliments, swagger, and innocent touches. They all were respectful and didn’t try to pull any shit with her, but that was because I told them she was off-limits, and I told them how I felt about her.

Jade smiled and nodded. “You guys all seem so close. That’s so cool. If I didn’t already know Noah and Oli’s history, I would guess you guys grew up together.”

Ryder shook his head. “No, I couldn’t stand those two when we would play against each other. You both acted like assholes during our games, but when we had to work together, I found out we had a lot in common.”

“Whatever, you asshole. You started that first fight,” I quipped, restarting the years-long argument we had.

“I checked you into the boards. It was an accident, and I got penalized for it,” Ryder defended. “And you always get pissed when people check you too much.”

I looked at him wide-eyed and shook my head, knowing he was bringing up what happened at our first game back.

“Look, that player was doing that shit on purpose last week, and you know it. He’s lucky I didn’t brawl with him on the ice.”

Oli, Finn, and Jade all laughed at our carrying on, and I was glad that at this moment in time, everything was as it should be. The building tension between Jade and me was something we would need to address, but right now, there were no issues.