Through the Ice: An Enemies to Lovers Hockey Romance

Chapter 1

Audrey

My favorite part about living on campus was the smell of the quad. The landscape always had fresh flowers, and the trees were a hundred years old. My dad and I used to find gardens to explore, where he’d bring a journal to write down the different plants we saw. I smiled as I walked by snapdragons. Before my father became sick, he’d always give me twenty dollars to pick my favorite flower, and we’d plant them in the backyard. Man, he’d be so proud of me entering my senior year of nursing school. Whenever life got hard, I’d think about his kind smile and reassuring hugs.

You can do hard things, Auds. With a brain like yours, nothing is impossible.

So much had changed since he passed. My mom sold our childhood home and moved a few hours away to heal. My brother Quentin and I both attended Central State and hung out once a week, but everything was complicated. I loved my family, but… the familiar weight grew behind my ribcage, making each breath harder than the last.

No. I shook away the stress. I couldn’t worry about it now. We were assigned a group project for one of our classes about community health, and we agreed to meet on a Monday night to begin. That was one thing I was adamant about: getting all As. I had to for my scholarship, and with the pressure of finances, I couldn’t lose a penny.

My team agreed to meet on the second floor of the library, and as I made my way to the stairs, my phone buzzed. Mom.

The same conflicting feelings went to war in my gut: dread and relief. Every time she called, I was glad she was still alive. But the dread… she needs more money. My throat closed as I stared at my phone. I could call her back later, but she’d just keep trying. It’d be better to get it over with now. “Hi, Mom.”

“I haven’t received any payment from you,” she barked out.

No hellos or how are yous or I missed yous. I swallowed the ball of emotion and clenched my fist to keep my fingers from shaking. “I sent you a hundred bucks last week.”

“That didn’t cover what I need.” She coughed, and it sounded gross.

“Are you sick, Mom?” My stomach bottomed out. One of the reasons I wanted to be a nurse was due to how many family members had gotten sick while I’d grown up. We spent a lot of time in hospitals with my grandma, aunt, then dad. I thought nurses were superheroes.

But hearing my mom cough made me go on high alert. “You should call a doctor.”

“That would require money, Audrey, obviously.”

“You have insurance though. With Dad’s life insurance policy…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. While I was grieving my father, I had to be the one in charge of everything. The funeral, the costs, the insurance… my mom gave up then, and four years later, nothing had changed.

“I still have some copay or something. Look, I know you’re studying or whatever, but when can you send more money?”

“I don’t know.” I squeezed my eyes shut, hating the guilt and anger twisting together into a tornado of emotions. “I can try to pick up more tutoring hours this week.”

“Do that. You don’t want your mom going hungry, do you? I always told your father you were selfish.”

Knife to the ribs.

“What? No, that’s—” I leaned against the stair railing, using it as support as my mom hung up. I’d gone through the cycle of feelings with her from anger to sadness to guilt to denial. But none of them mattered. The last thing my dad said to me was to make sure our family was okay. I was the only one strong enough to protect them, and every time my mom asked for money, I wondered if this was what my dad meant. I gave myself five seconds to be fucking angry at my mom, then I pushed the bitterness away. I stood taller, took a deep breath, and made eye contact with the last person I wanted to see. Theo Sanders.

The guy who could’ve ruined everything when he injured my brother on the ice last year. Quentin was here on a scholarship, and if he wasn’t healed soon, he could lose it. Guess who’d have to find a way to pay for his school? Me. I could barely afford life right now, so yeah, I hated Theo Sanders.

He stared at me from across the lobby, his brows furrowed, and I shook my head. No. I could only handle one emotional crisis at a time. My heart raced, and my palms sweated, but I found my way toward the table with the girls from my class.

“Hey, Auds,” Lily said, smiling at me before her grin fell. “You alright? You look stressed.”

I nodded. She was my closest friend in the program. We weren’t the happy-hour-type-friends, but we liked studying together and partnering up. “I’ll be okay. Sorry I’m late. My mom called.”

I sat next to Jessica, who stared at her laptop. She was not my favorite person in our cohort, but at least Lily was in the group.

“How are we going to develop a community outreach program about mental health? This should be a professional’s job.” Jessica chewed the end of her pen as she sighed. “Like we’re going to be able to make any difference with this when social media is the reason we’re all depressed.”

My eye twitched. I needed this project to go well.

“Don’t think like that.” Lily frowned. “It’s worth exploring, and we need this grade.”

“Being a realist?” Jessica rolled her eyes and cracked open an energy drink. The familiar smell of Red Bull filled the air as she guzzled it. I really didn’t like Jessica. She was obnoxious and careless about people around her. She slurped loudly before continuing, “We can do this bullshit assignment and pass. I don’t have time to dive into this. I don’t know where I’m placed for this semesters clinicals, but I better not have to drive far. Have you two heard anything yet?”

Lily shook her head, but her eyes lit up. “No. Professor Reid told us we’d hear tomorrow. I’m honestly so excited.”

Jessica grinned. “I am too. It’ll be so good to not just read books and learn the real shit that goes on. My sister went through a similar program and pretty much said that her time at clinicals was where she learned everything, not the books or projects. These just seem like a waste of time, to be honest. I’d rather be doing the real shit.”

While I often disagreed with Jessica most of the time, I did understand what she meant. “I know what you mean,” I said, my voice a little shakier than I wanted. The call from my mom had rattled me. “It’ll be nice to have real life scenarios and get our hands dirty.”

“See, Audrey gets it.” Jessica sipped her drink and pointed to her computer. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

I scanned the project outline on our course website. There was a research phase, design phase, implementation, and evaluation of the plan. The muscle in my neck throbbed just thinking about managing the group dynamics, the project itself, and ensuring I got an A while picking up more tutoring hours. The stress headache was coming on fast and furious. Rubbing my forehead, I took a few calming breaths and pushed the worry about my mom and Quentin to the back of my mind. I couldn’t do anything about them right now, so I had to focus on what I could control. Like kicking ass at this project.

“Oh, hello there.” Jessica whistled as she nodded toward the front of the library. Almost on cue, whispers picked up across the study room. Slowly, heads spun toward the entrance, and even my own gaze moved from Jessica toward the cause of the commotion.

Theo Sanders.

Damn it. Why is he here?

A surge of heat—all from anger—raced from my head to the tips of my fingers. I tightened my grip on my water bottle as the rare urge to throw something overtook me. He had no idea about the financial pressures we lived with, and why the hell would he? But that rationale didn’t stop the hate I had toward him. His actions had changed my brother for the worse.

“My god, he is hot as hell. He’s on the hockey team this year, right?” Jessica twirled her hair with her finger as her cheeks pinkened. “Oh, he looked at me. Shit. He’s coming over here.”

Lily shifted in her seat as I stared at my laptop, avoiding looking at him. I had nothing to say to him. From the little I knew about him, Theo Sanders was a jerk, on and off the ice. The bastard played for our rival for three years before transferring here. To Central State. And Coach Reiner just let him after what he did to Quentin. I never understood it. I didn’t care that his stats were great. He smiled after he took Quentin down in that game, and that was unforgiveable.

Jessica and Lily giggled at how attractive he was. Which, sure. The fact he was gorgeous had no effect on me. It made me dislike him more. Someone that devilish should have horns or red eyes or something to warn people away.

The way Quentin screamed on the ice… I cringed at the memory. It seemed disloyal, unfair, and rude that Coach Reiner was allowing Sanders to wear a Central State Wolves jersey. The guys were expected to pass the puck to him? Cover for him?

No.

I hated him. Quentin hated him. The team should hate the guy.

Why is he walking toward us?

“Hey there. You’re new here, right? I’m Jessica James. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She beamed at him.

Hockey guys were pretty legendary here, and it seemed Theo would be no different. I rolled my eyes.

“I am new this year, yeah.” He cleared his throat and tapped the table a few inches from my hand. “Hey, you’re Audrey, right?”

I nodded but couldn’t make myself speak. My stomach twisted with worry as I was forced to glance at him and regretted it. Theo had dark blue eyes and long lashes, chiseled cheekbones and a wicked jawline. The mop of messy blond hair looked like he’d just run a hand through it. It’s a shame he’s so beautiful. He’s still a jerk though.

“I was hoping to speak with you. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.” He smiled and rocked back on his heels. He seemed casual, excited even.

My mind raced with reasons he’d want to talk to me. Was this a prank? Did he want to rub in my face what he’d done to Quentin? That seemed unlikely, but there was no reason for the hockey star to speak to me. “Uh, no?” I mumbled.

“Girl, if a guy who looked like that wanted to talk to me, I sure would.” Jessica nudged me with too much force. It knocked my water bottle over, spilling the contents across my notebook. “Shit!”

I jumped up, grabbing my laptop so no water would get on it. I’d splurged and got a MacBook freshmen year, and I couldn’t afford another right now.Tears prickled my eyes at the thought of needing another device my final year. I’d have to borrow or come here. Damn Theo caused this…

“I’m sorry!” Jessica frantically grabbed a paper from her notebook to try to dry it. “Okay, this isn’t working.”

“I’ll run and get napkins in the bathroom!” Lily took off.

“I’ll see if there’s a towel or something.” Jessica went in the opposite direction as water pooled on the table and spilled onto the floor.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

“Did anything important get wet?” He cussed and picked up a few of my books and neatly stacked them. His gaze landed on me, and the intensity in his eyes had me sucking in a breath. It was almost like he was looking for vulnerabilities.

“No.” Despite the relief flooding through me at not being out money, his proximity had me on edge. My heart pounded against my ribcage to the point of pain as I broke eye contact.

“That’s good,” he said, his voice deep and commanding.

“Uh, yeah.” I swore my skin flushed as red as my folder. My brain couldn’t figure out why he was here, speaking to me. I tried picking up my notebook, but I fumbled with it.

“Here, let me.” His fingers brushed mine as he took my laptop, notebook, folder, and phone out of my hands. He set them on a chair nearby and picked up the girls’ things too.

“No, it’s fine,” I said, annoyed.

Why were Lily and Jessica taking so long? I didn’t want to be alone with Theo Sanders. Not when my body was about to have a meltdown.

“Why are you—” I started.

“Can I please speak with you about Professor Aldridge?” He swallowed hard, and his throat moved in a very distracting way.

“What about her?”

I adored Professor Aldridge. She reminded me a lot of who my mom used to be before Dad got diagnosed with cancer. Before she only called me when she needed money or told me I was selfish.

The kind, fun, supportive version of my mom was long gone.

Professor A was all energy and questions and challenging us to think outside the box. She was the reason I helped tutor younger students once a week. She believed in giving back, whether it was energy, time, what have you, so if he wanted to talk to me about her… I’d listen. If he had something negative to say, I’d snap at him.Ha, not really. I couldn’t snap at anyone if I tried. My thoughts were aggressive, but my actions weren’t. Quentin used to make fun of me for it, but the angrier or ruder he became, the quieter and more inward I did.

Theo gripped the back of his neck and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. I hated that I noticed his body. Sure, he was toned. And wore gray shorts that showcased his thighs and a Wolves T-shirt that hugged his chest. Big whoop.

“She told me I could find you here.” He flashed a smile, and his blue eyes warmed. I didn’t like seeing that kindness on his face. It didn’t fit. He was too rugged, too big, too… hockey to have a kind face.

“She said you were the best person to speak to about the nursing program here and that you’d be willing to help me this first week.” He shrugged. “I can buy you coffee as a bribe. She might’ve mentioned you have a weakness for cold brews.”

My face flushed even more as I stared at the way his lips curved. He had one dimple on his left side. Not on the other. I couldn’t help but notice this. I studied human bodies for a living. Not the point. If Professor A had mentioned my name… “Why do you need any information on the nursing program?”

“Ah, well, because I’m in it?” He laughed, but his cheeks reddened, and he looked away. “I’d love to have a quick tour.”

“Tour? I can definitely give you a tour. What are you wanting to see?” Jessica appeared fast, her pulse racing at her neck. It was like she’d run back here.

I didn’t want to give Theo Sanders any of my time, but I also didn’t care for Jessica doing it either. Analyzing why I felt that would be a terrible idea. So, I didn’t. I blurted out, “Tomorrow, eight am.”

He smiled wide, still only one dimple appearing. “Deal. Anything in the cold brew?”

I shook my head. “Just caffeine.”

He chuckled before shoving his hands in his pockets. The gesture was sexy for some silly reason, and I forced myself to think about taxes.

“Should we meet outside the student union?” he asked, half a smile on his lips.

“Oh. You’re going to give it?” Jessica tossed a towel on the table, missing the spot that was wet. “I can join too.”

“I appreciate that,” Theo said, his smile widening. “Another time, for sure. Professor Aldridge suggested I meet with Audrey, and despite being a rough hockey player, I like to follow a professor’s suggestion.”

Then he winked.

Jessica giggled and leaned closer to him. The whole thing was so familiar, and it clicked. I knew why I offered to help him. It wasn’t my fierce loyalty to Professor A. It was the fact that girls like Jessica were always trying to seek clout or fame or something from athletes. I might hate Theo, but I’d seen enough people like Jessica to want to protect him from it.

She’d use him, and while I didn’t want the jerk to experience joy until Quentin was back on the ice, I didn’t want his entire life ruined. My feelings were…complicated.

“I’ll catch you ladies later.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “I’m sure we’ll have some classes together, yeah?”

“You’re in nursing?” Jessica’s voice went nuclear. “Oh my god. Do you have your clinical assignment yet? What if we’re together?”

Theo cleared his throat and met my gaze for a second before I focused on my hangnail.I didn’t like the way he looked to me for help. I didn’t want to be paired with him either.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It could happen. Have a good night, and I’ll see you tomorrow, Audrey.”

I nodded but refused to look at him as he departed. He wasn’t even out of earshot before Lily returned, and Jessica hit my arm. “How did you score that?”

“Score what?” Lily asked, patting the table dry. Her attention moved toward Theo, but he’d already left the common area.

“Theo Sanders asked Audrey to give him a tour tomorrow. And he’s in our cohort. I’d sell a kidney to be paired with him.”

Lily couldn’t hide her smile. “She should. She’s the best in our class.”

Jessica glared. “I’m right here, Lilith.”

“I stand by what I said.”

I blushed at the compliment. I put all my time and energy into being the best, so to hear a friend say it meant a lot. It wasn’t like my family was offering up compliments to me and my love life—ha, my lack of love life—was almost comical. “Should we try to get some work done or reschedule for another night?” I asked, hoping to bring us back to why we were at the library.

If we were calling the work session, I could spend tonight trying to find tutoring opportunities to send my mom some cash. That would keep me busy instead of overthinking about giving Theo Sanders a tour. I wanted to stay far away from that guy, even if he was handsome and caused my stomach to flutter. He was a constant reminder of how fragile our family was, and all I wanted to do was escape my reality. Yeah, I’d give him the tour and avoid him the rest of the year. Totally possible.