Icebound (Boundless Players, #1)

by Meredith Trapp

I shove him, but Cruz doesn’t budge because our center’s made of bricks.

The question has me straightening. Nina doesn’t owe me a damn thing, but here she is, willing to give me something. In a world where coaches, fans, journalists, pretty much everyone demands things from me, her question feels like a gift.

For a hat shes returning....you are getting choked up? Ugh this writing

You know what that means, right?” “No, what?” He wiggles his dark brows. “You’re icebound.” “What? Icebound?” “Yeah. Means you’re bound by the rituals of the hockey gods like us, so you have to watch all our games. We need our good luck charm to keep winning.”

Can I please come in? I’m freezing, and I brought cat treats for Chicken since you said he hates people, and I want him to like me.” A divot forms between his brows. “You remembered my cat’s name?” “Yes. I listen to you.”

I wave a hand. “You’re fine. It’s not even that messy. You should see my room.” “I really shouldn’t.”

I don’t want my personality to fit inside the confines of someone else’s lines.

I like that tattoos are an outward sign of a person’s soul. I can’t change my appearance, but I feel like tattoos are a way to show people the parts of me that I want to be seen.” A

Maybe I don’t know the big things, but I’ve noticed a few little things about you.”

He wants to give someone a ring, and I want to give someone a condom.

He needs to be careful with those baby blues because a woman could drown in that look and never come up for air.

The blond guy with an adorable baby strapped to his chest slaps one hand over his eyes, and the other over the baby’s.

then I’m going to have to think about why I dug through my closet until I found my old, favorite sweatshirt to give to her, even though I did laundry yesterday. It definitely smells like my sweat, but I don’t want Nina to smell like Ocean Breeze laundry detergent—I want her to smell like me. I’m worse than an animal, apparently, marking her with my scent like I’ve got some claim on her when I don’t.

Some feral part of me purrs like my cat at the sight of her wearing my clothes.

“Okay, she’s adorable. She looks just like you, Wyatt. Can I hold her?” I try not to frown at the fact that she sort of called Patty adorable. He is, but fuck, I don’t want Nina thinking that about my friends.

You are a fucking idiot.

teach you some hockey terms, starting with the fact that it’s called the penalty box or the sin bin, not boy jail.”

Okay that is actually funny. \

He’s bouncing Betty on his knee, so they look damn near perfect together. She’s still got on my sweatshirt, though.

Syntax =the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language....which this sentence has none of.

She shrugs, and the motion makes her blonde hair shimmer in the light. Shimmer?

Earlier I swear it was caramel, not blonde

Nina left my favorite sweatshirt folded neatly by the door.

but I wouldn’t be surprised with all the champagne she’s been chugging all night.

She literally told you she was putting it in plants...just like she made a joke about being a doctor because you clearly were not a plumber...he just doesn't listen

I’m not letting her change for me when she’s perfect as herself.

“I don’t feel strong,” she mutters. “Most of the time it feels like I’m constantly climbing out of this mental ditch while everyone around me is walking up mountains of success, but I’m still stuck, always ending up in the same place no matter how hard I try. I hate it.”

“Good. I like you all sweaty and flushed.” Fucking hell. I shouldn’t have said that.

No, you dumb ass you shouldn't have. You are sending so many mixed signals I'm dizzy.

shouldn’t have offered anyway.” She laughs, but it sounds like it’s filled with something broken. “You’re so far out of my league that we may as well be in different solar systems.”

I fight the urge to ask if she’s only going to support Cruz or if I play a factor. He already won’t stop talking about how amazing Nina is every second.

Fuck off dude. You are pushing her away yet you want her to be into you. No, just no.

“Goodnight, beautiful,” I whisper, stroking her hair. She shifts a little, but her eyes stay closed. “Don’t have sweet dreams. Have wild ones.”

I keep my group of friends small so I can give more to the people who matter the most.

Huh, I never thought about it that way before, but I resonate with this.

My attention is drawn to Rhode wherever he goes like his skates are tied to a thread unraveling in my chest.

I dodge her gaze because every time I see her standing there in Cruz’s number, it pisses me off. Ever since he sent that picture of Nina in his jersey, it’s all I can think about. Those comments he made about how good she looked don’t help.

Cruz is smarter than you idiot, he's pushing you because you are a pussy!

I thought it would be easy because I love her so much, but it’s not.”

“All I can say is don’t have kids unless you’re sure about the person you want to raise them with because parenting sucks. Don’t tell anyone I said that though because I have to act like I love everything about it.”

“You really want me?” “No.” His fingers tighten on the desk, but he doesn’t move to touch me. “I fucking need you.”

“Alright, here’s how this is gonna go. I know you don’t like surprises, so I’m telling you right now what I want. First, I want to bend you over this desk and slap your fine ass for wearing another man’s jersey. Next, I want to lick your pussy until your voice is hoarse from screaming my name, and then, I want to shove my cock so deep inside you that you’re all I feel.”

His voice is velvet-laced with temptation, like how I imagine Satan greets someone through the fiery gates of hell.

“I don’t care if it takes five minutes or five years to make you come on my tongue because every second I get to spend with my head buried between your thighs is pure fucking bliss.”

“I might act like a gentleman, but I won’t fuck you like one.”

She takes the fabric. “You want me to wear your jersey?” “Yeah, I just fucked you against a door, so if you’re going to wear someone’s jersey, it’ll be mine.”

Nina pulls the heavy fabric over herself, and pride swells in my chest at the sight of her in my number Thirty, but it’s not because she looks like mine. I’ll never belong to her.

I see Morgan striding down the hallway wearing my Guardians jersey. The man won’t stop showing up to my games, no matter how hard I push him away.

Sneaky...sneaky...not a woman

“My dad’s a sports broadcaster, and he left my mom for a younger woman a while back. That’s why this age thing is such a big deal to me.

“Trust me, I understand everything you’re saying, but all I saw in that hallway was a father who wanted to hug his son and a son who refused to hug him back.

You’re not too young, I’m just an asshole.”

Okkkk so can we be grownups now and date?

I stroke her cheeks because I want her to know she means something, but I’m not going to be the asshole who strings her along until I meet the woman I marry.

Uggggggh

I want to be a little more like Nina Alstyne. So, on the way home, I do something I haven’t done in years—I pick up the phone and dial my dad’s number. But on the second ring, I lose my courage and hang up. I don’t answer when he calls back a minute later, and when he calls again, I put my phone on silent.

Pussy

“Yeah, you’re wasted,” she says, and pride fills me that we had the same thought.

Barf so awful....OMG YOU GUYS THINK THE SAME THING!? YOU MUST BE SOULMATES

Nina and I might have little things in common, but I need someone who matches me on the big things. Part of me wishes we wanted the same things, but I don’t want to force her into having a family if she’s not ready for that.

Blahhhhh so tired of hearing this nonsense. He’s going to retire, travel the world with her, be happy, and accidentally knock her up because she throws up her birth controls or something…

Her cheeks turn pink after she says that, and the color matches the burning feeling in my chest. I ate a ton of oranges today, though, and that always gives me heartburn.

Are you for real with this writing?

“Yeah, we’ve slept together, but it’s not awkward. We both know this isn’t going anywhere, so you can bother me anytime you want. It can get pretty lonely in hotel rooms, so it’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

Selfish asshole!!!

Maybe I can convince him to treat me like another notch on his bedpost. I’m not marriage material, and I’m well aware that a man like Rhode Tremblay would never fall for an art student. He’s not my happy ending, but we can have fun for now.

Ouch.

“You’re welcome. Love you.” “See you,” I say, avoiding those three little words like a bad habit.

Two words actually, your sister said two…not three

There’s nothing funny about being forced to be someone you’re not. Wearing masks is exhausting.”