Black Ice: A Standalone Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Mickey Miller

  I felt a lot better after an hour or so of playing in my own hockey game with my pals and working up a sweat. We won easily, in a nine to three route.

  After the game, as I was taking off my skates, the mysterious silver fox in the back approached me and took a seat right next to me.

  “You look good out there,” he said. “Surprisingly sharp.”

  “Surprisingly?” I asked without looking over at him.

  This town sometimes had weird people in it. I’d been a bit of a sensation in my high school days. For some locals, the aura of my high school celebrity still lingered, even though I couldn’t give two shits about my status. Sometimes people showed up just to congratulate me on the high school hockey state championship I had won.

  “Jeremy Chelios,” he said, sticking a hand to my side that I didn’t shake, as I was in the middle of finishing tying my shoes. “Scout for the Chicago Huskies.”

  My ears perked up at that, and I finally looked at his face.

  He had deep set, blue eyes that felt like they were prodding me for information.

  “And what are you doing here?” I asked, standing up and not shaking his hand.

  “The question is, what are you doing here?” he said, blocking my way so I couldn’t get to the aisle.

  “Coaching kids from my hometown, and having a little fun in my rec league, what does it look like?”

  “You know you shouldn’t be here. You belong in professional hockey.”

  I scoffed. “Yes, I do belong here. This is my town. This is where I’m from, and this is where I belong. Excuse me.” I angled past him and up the stairs.

  “Fourteen and a half seconds,” he called out.

  I turned. “Excuse me?”

  Walking up to me, he showed me the stopwatch in his hand. “That’s how fast I had you racing that kid around the rink. Half of the players in the NHL couldn’t skate that on their best day and you did it without warming up or even tightening up your skates.”

  “Look, I know what you’re doing. I’m not going to play, unless you plan on bringing a team to within an hour of Black Mountain. Do you?”

  Jeremy sighed, shaking his head. “You’re a good kid, that’s what I like about you. That’s why I came all the way up here even though every other scout said you’re a lost cause.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m not moving to Chicago. It’s too far from here. Even Milwaukee would be a stretch.”

  “Minnesota?”

  “You’re wasting your time. I’ve got a home and a place here. This is where I belong.” I put my cap on and was about to head out the door when he said something that finally gave me pause.

  “You know, you could do a lot more good for the people here if you had some money. How are you even getting by?”

  “I’m doing fine,” I said, and it came out more of a growl.

  “Are you?”

  I flashed back to when I’d said those exact same words yesterday, to Natalie.

  She was definitely not fine, and hiding it.

  Was I doing the same, lying to myself about how I was doing?

  “I’m getting by,” I reasoned, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.

  Sensing an opening, he walked quickly toward me. “Getting by doesn’t sound very fun to me. Look, I’m not trying to rip you out of your home tomorrow. But all I’m saying is, for God’s sake, consider giving pro a shot. You’re still sharp, but you’ve got to take the opportunity while it’s here. If you keep playing this bullshit recreational hockey, your skills are going to head south real fast. You need to be playing with the best, get a coach and a team who can help you channel that raw talent. We’ve got one of the best developmental systems in the country.”

  “Black Mountain is where all of my friends live,” I informed him. “I’ve known them since I was in diapers.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So what are you suggesting?” I asked, relenting.

  He pulled an envelope out of his pocket with my name on it. “This is a contract to play with the Huskies. You’d most likely have to play a couple of seasons in the minors before you could consider moving up to the NHL, but based on your college playing profile, you could move up the ranks really fast. There’s not a lot of players with your versatility these days.”

  I opened up the envelope, finding a packet with lots of fine print.

  “I’m not signing anything,” I said, handing it back to him.

  He pulled his hands away, refusing to take it back. “Then don’t sign it. But for the love of God, look at it. You’re basically one huge bucket of untapped talent. You’re twenty-three now, but let me tell you--it ain’t gonna last forever.”

  I brushed the back of my neck with my hand.

  “I can’t leave. I’d be letting the whole community down. They need me here.”

  “Is that what you tell yourself?”

  “What on earth does that mean?”

  He put a hand on my shoulder. “Sounds a lot like you’re just more comfortable here, that’s all.”

  What with his uninvited touching and his shit-talking of my town, I felt my blood starting to boil.

  But in stressful situations I sometimes had to ask myself, what would Louisa have me do?

  “I’ll think about it,” I said reluctantly, tucking the contract into my inner coat pocket.

  “Hey,” the man said, his voice raspy. “For the record, I actually admire what the hell you’re doing here. Towns like these have been losing hope lately. All their good talent heading to the cities and whatnot. I see where you’re coming from. I hope you make the decision that’s right for you. That heart you’ve got, along with the killer instinct on the ice reminds me of one of the all-time greats in the sport. You think you’re a role model now? Think about being one on a national scale.”

  I shook his hand before I headed out the door, offer in hand. I appreciated the genuine sincerity of the comment, and I respected the effort the guy made to come all the way out here just to stake out a rec league game.

  But there was still no way in hell he was getting me to leave.

  Outside, a blizzard was brewing. I’d seen it in the news every day this week.

  When I unlocked my phone to see how many inches of snow we were going to get, I saw I had a text from my buddy Jared, who had left the game to head to the bar.

  Jared: Holy shit. You’ll never guess who just walked into fucking Midnight Owl.

  My stomach clenched. I knew what he was going to say before I even hit reply

  Shane: Who?

  Jared: Natalie Fucking Toft.

  Jared: Finally, we can make her pay for everything that happened and get some justice like we talked about. Looks like me breaking into her place and busting her heater last night got her out of the house.

  I ran my thumb and forefinger along my forehead, and my heart pounded.

  Fuck.

  We’d talked about this day forever.

  Joked.

  Part of me knew it would come to this, but another part of me hoped she’d get scared off by Jared messing with her heater and get the hell out of here.

  Or maybe she wouldn’t even consider the option that her place had been broken into by those doofuses, just to mess with her. Jared and Bob were like loose cannons waiting to blow. Breaking her heater was a harmless stunt. Who knew how far they’d go though? Or if they were all talk?

  Natalie didn’t know the kind of danger she was in.

  Walking into that bar, especially on a night like tonight, she might as well have been a lamb walking into a lion’s den.

  But still, after looking her in the eye yesterday and the day before, she didn’t deserve what Jared and company had planned for her.

  And you, you fucking idiot.

  I had been a part of the planning, I reminded myself. But it seemed like cloud talk when she was thousands of miles away in Florida. And the whole conversation had been years ago, when Louisa had just passed and I was grieving, looking for someone
to blame.

  Now, it looked as if Jared and Bob might actually carry out the plan.

  My heart only sank further.

  Just then, my phone rang.

  I’d typed Natalie into my phone as The Brute’s Daughter so I’d always be reminded of what had happened to me as the result of her family.

  If anyone had the right to revenge, it was me. I’d certainly suffered the most, losing two blood relatives.

  But Jared got this crazy look in his eyes sometimes when we’d talk about what we would do if she ever inherited her father’s fortune from the mine he built on the backs of our fathers.

  Our now dead fathers--and that was Mr. Toft’s fault.

  I’d fucked up by losing control at her place. For God’s sake, I almost crossed a line with her. No, did cross a line. Hell, I wanted to go all the way with her.

  I realized in that moment, as her eyes were begging me to take her right there on her dad’s kitchen counter, if I fully unleashed myself with her, I might not be able to stop it.

  But it didn’t matter, apparently. In spite of the hate that still bubbled underneath my surface for Natalie’s family, I couldn’t help but see her as the innocent offspring of an evil, greedy man.

  I answered the phone and my voice crackled, all gravelly-like.

  “The fuck do you want, Florida?”

  8

  Natalie

  I’D SPENT the last hour drinking a gin and tonic and trying to calm the nerves I had, thinking about the question I was going to ask Shane. But when I heard his deep voice over the phone, I couldn’t help that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I momentarily forgot my grand plan of attack for smoothly asking him if I could stay over at his place.

  After thinking it over, it was the only logical option. I didn’t know another soul in town at this point, and I couldn’t stay at the motel or at my dad’s house since it was simulating the arctic tundra.

  Shane was the only one left in town who I had even loose ties to.

  “You could just say hello, you know,” I fired back, my stomach already on fire. Why did just the sound of his voice make my heart flutter?

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Why do you love fucking with me so much?”

  “Is that the reason you called? To ask me why I love fucking with you?”

  My body heat rose when for a moment my mind skipped over the with part of his sentence and only heard I love fucking you.

  Clearing my throat, I upped my resolve. “No. But I do need a favor, as a friend.”

  “A favor,” he chuckled.

  “Yes, a favor. So, the heat isn’t working at my place tonight. How do you feel about me crashing at your place for one, max two nights until the heating guy can come by?”

  “Are you fucking serious?” he muttered. “Your place was hotter than Death Valley yesterday. Now it’s freezing?”

  “Yes. I think my heater is bipolar, because today it was Antarctica. Pretty please? The one motel in town is booked. I know no one else here. I’m desperate, Shane, and I’m asking you. I don’t know what happened yesterday, but we can talk about it, or never mention it again. This is just me asking you for a place to stay. As a friend. There will be no funny business.”

  “Christ,” he muttered, and I heard him let out a deep breath.

  “I’ll make you that peanut butter and jelly sandwich I owe you,” I joked.

  He laughed, and that made me feel better.

  “I just don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  My throat caught. Why was he intent on being such a dick to me. “Please?” I could no longer mask the desperation in my tone.

  There was a long pause before he spoke.

  “Fine,” he finally growled. “Are you drinking at the bar right now? Do you need me to drive you over?”

  “I’ve had one drink, I’ll be fine,” I said, and then something clicked. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I can hear the background noise,” he said.

  “Oh.”

  “Give me ten minutes. I’ll text you when I’m outside.”

  “I have my car.”

  “I’ll drive. I’ll text you when I’m outside.”

  “I can drive.”

  “Not an option the way the snow is piling up on these roads. See you soon.”

  He hung up, and I stayed staring at my phone for a moment.

  He’d been unusually headstrong about not driving after even one drink. My friends back home definitely weren’t like that. I was fine to drive. But he had a point about the roads, and I had next-to-no experience driving through a snow storm.

  A weight had been lifted off my shoulders though. At least I wasn’t going to freeze to death tonight. Well, I probably wouldn’t have frozen to death. I would have tested the strength of my covers, though.

  As I glanced around the bar, I felt happy just to be out of my father’s house. Being in the same place without a change of scenery was wearing on me, even though it had been less than a week at this point.

  A close death was a strange feeling, I thought. You were in no physical pain, and it wasn’t as though you were wronged in some way, or someone cheated on you. Another person’s death wasn’t your fault. It was a natural occurrence. In fact, it was something that happened to every single person who lived. Yet death seemed to eat away at your soul more than physical pain. I was feeling the pain of my father’s permanent absence greatly tonight.

  Relief set in that I would be in someone else’s presence tonight. Forget the broken heater. I needed to not be alone with my thoughts.

  I pondered what Shane and I would do tonight, and something coiled in my stomach. Was I crazy for asking the same man who’d tried to seduce me yesterday if I could stay at his place?

  How much was my need to know why he’d seduced me at one-hundred miles per hour and then slammed on the brakes affecting my judgment?

  My train of thought was interrupted when I caught two men who were playing pool staring at me from the other side of the room.

  I tried to stare at them without staring, but that was impossible in this small bar. I wanted to see if I could remember them from back when.

  Just then, a woman next to me who appeared to be around the same age struck up a conversation.

  “Hey, where are you from?” she smiled.

  “Uh, I’m from here,” I said, trying to make my accent sound as Michigan as possible.

  She squinted, tossing her brown hair. “I haven’t seen you around here. And I’ve been here a long time.”

  “I moved away when I was twelve to Florida,” I explained.

  “Oh, okay. That makes sense. That was what, ten years ago?”

  I shrugged. “Nine or so, yeah.”

  She nodded and took a sip of her beer. “So you missed the big mining accident.”

  My insides flipped. My father had never told me anything about a mining accident. I decided to play dumb and not tell her I was the daughter of Bruce Toft.

  “What happened, exactly?”

  “I don’t remember all the details. I just remember my dad saying something about an accident.” She shrugged, and tipped her beer bottle in the direction of my black knit hat that was hanging off my chair. “You had that Toft Mining hat. Figured your dad mighta worked there.”

  “Yeah, he did.” I nodded, but didn’t elaborate. What was this accident?

  And why wouldn’t my dad have told me about it?

  The two men who had been playing pool were standing at the bar now, and chills racked through me when one of them caught my eyes. He was gaunt, and a little too pale for how young he seemed.

  Suddenly, I felt my heart pumping with adrenaline and I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t as if I was attracted to either of them in the slightest. They made me uncomfortable. I checked my phone to see what time it was. It had been seven minutes since I got off the phone with Shane. I wished it had been ten.

  “So, what do you do?” I asked the young woman, making s
mall talk and trying to pretend I didn’t mind that two shady-looking guys were staring at me like cyclops. “Oh, and what’s your name? How rude of me not to ask.”

  “I’m Elaine,” she said. “You?”

  “Natalie.” We shook hands.

  “I work waiting tables at Vixens. Yeah it’s a few blocks down the street from here.”

  I pinched my face. “Vixens? I’ve not heard of that. What kind of food do you serve?”

  She smiled. “Bless your little heart. It’s okay, you don’t have to play dumb.”

  “Play...dumb?”

  She leaned over to me, putting her hand on my arm.

  “It’s a strip club, honey. I’m not ashamed of what I do.”

  “Oh,” I nodded.

  Vixens. Of course.

  She shrugged playfully. “Lotta bored guys around here. I don’t mind it. I’m saving up to move out of here.”

  “You make good money?”

  She nodded. “Oh yes. What do you do by the way? You’re pretty. I could get you a job if you want.”

  I blushed. “Oh, I’m not living here.”

  “No? Then why on earth are you passing through here on a Sunday night in the middle of a blizzard?”

  Before I could answer, we noticed the two guys had now inched their way closer to us at the bar, and seemed to be inches from Elaine. The taller one stared me down and my fight or flight mechanism dinged like crazy. I wasn’t about to fight these two scary looking guys.

  She didn’t seem to notice, or care, until one of them touched her.

  “Jared, Bob, will you give us some goddamn space! I’m trying to have a conversation with my friend here.”

  Whirling her head around, she seared her eyes into them fearlessly. One of them scowled, then they grabbed their drinks off the bar and went back to play another game of pool.

  Their eyes looked so empty as they walked away, it sent a shiver down my spine.

  Damn. This woman was tiny but fierce, but I decided right then and there I wanted to be her friend. I needed to cultivate the way she was able to confront those guys so easily. I was the worst at confrontation.

  “Though she be but little, she is fierce,” I mumbled under my breath.