Page 5

CHAPTER 5

FROST

F rost stared across the table at Hel. He needed to stop. Star was right beside him. But he couldn’t drag his eyes away from her. He couldn’t stop himself from remembering the squeak of surprise when he swept her off her feet and how she felt in his arms.

When she looked over at him, he knew he should look away, he shouldn’t be staring into her eyes. But he didn’t drop his gaze, he held hers. Her hazel eyes were warm, pulling him in. He should go and talk to her.

He moved fractionally in his chair, about to stand up, when Star spoke.

“Babe. You have such a good eye. Look.” She thrust her phone in front of his face to show him one of the three million photos he had taken of her.

Glancing down, he automatically said, “It’s impossible to take a bad photo of you.” It was a variant of what he said whenever she fished for a compliment.

Things like. ‘No, it’s your beauty that makes the photos so easy to take.’ Or, ‘Your eyes look like that in every light.’ Then he would secretly add to himself, and it’s nothing to do with the filter you use. ‘Of course, you’re a natural beauty.’ When he had watched her shovel makeup on with a trowel.

He tried telling her she was beautiful and didn’t need that much makeup, but Star always insisted it was part of her brand image. Whenever she went out in public, she needed to be perfectly made up in case any Star-lifers saw her.

Frost’s eyes strayed again to Hel. He was sure she probably was wearing makeup, but unlike his girlfriend, who had flawless skin, he could see freckles scattered across Hel’s nose. Her lashes held a hint of mascara, and he struggled not to stare at her eyes again.

He willed her to look over, but she didn’t; she just carried on chatting animatedly with Rocky and Abbey.

“Now my duty is done. I’m all yours,” Star declared to him.

“Huh?” Frost hadn’t been paying much attention to his girlfriend.

Her hand was on the front of his shirt, and she pulled him towards her.

“What are you doing?” Frost questioned.

Star giggled, the annoying little ‘cute’ giggle she always did. The same one he found so charming at first but was now like nails on a chalkboard.

“What do you think, silly!” Her eyes danced with glee around the table, where most of his teammates were engaged in various levels of, to word it delicately, public displays of affection.

Star licked her lips seductively and pulled him further towards her. Frost’s gaze dropped to her lips, and he frowned. They looked… weird. Had they always looked weird? They were as full and pouty as usual. They were perfect lips. But now he stared at them, they didn’t seem quite right on her face.

He was about to ask if she had lip filler when those lips, slick with lip gloss—which he loathed—crashed into his. He kissed her back without thinking, like he had done a million times before.

When they first started dating, he lived for these kisses, had been addicted to them, addicted to her. But now it felt so clinical, and he tried to think of when it had all changed.

He had loved the chase with her and enjoyed the games she played to keep his attention, but now they were exhausting. She had him. She had followed him to Australia so they could stay together, and she still played games. And as her perfect pout moved over his lips, he knew he didn’t want to play games any more or be tested to prove his loyalty.

He also didn’t want to be with a woman so much younger than him, who was always looking for the hottest and latest club to go to. He was tired. He had lived his life at a million kilometres an hour since he had been drafted to the NHL. Now he was retiring from playing, he wanted a different life, a happy life.

Even though he was kissing Star, his eyes drifted over to the red-headed doctor. Frost frowned when a tall man walked up behind Hel. Who was that? What did he want?

Giving Star one last kiss, he pulled away.

“I need to go to the washroom.” He leaned in to give her another kiss on her lips, to mollify the sulk which would surely follow for him breaking off their ‘public display of affection’.

He shuddered as he thought the words. Despite his job, he was a private man, and he disliked his personal life being fodder for everyone else around him. He hated it when Star tried to post candid shots of him on her social media, and a few times he had forced her to take down photos of him.

The worst had been when she had sneakily done a getting ready with a hockey player story. Which had pictures of him having a workout in his home gym, pictures of him in the shower—with smiley faces covering his, um, manly areas—him in a towel, him getting dressed and then eating breakfast.

He had been furious, and maybe that was when the rose-tinted glasses began to fall away from his eyes, and he started to notice how problematic some of her behaviour was.

Frost walked towards the washroom and glanced around to see what the tall man who had approached Hel was doing. His shoulder sagged a little in relief when he saw the man holding hands with a brunette woman who appeared to be friends with Hel and Sadie.

When he returned to the table, Star was staring wide-eyed across at Hel and her friends. He tried to get Star’s attention, but she was fixated on something. Finally, after what felt like five minutes of silence, he leaned across, speaking quietly into her ear.

“Are you okay?”

Star nodded her head but didn’t look over at him.

Well, that was strange. “What are you looking at?”

“What town does Taylor Anderson’s fiancée live in?” Star snatched her phone off the table.

“I have no idea. I don’t tend to keep up with where Hollywood actor’s fiancée’s live. Didn’t you tell me she lived in Australia?” Frost shrugged and picked up his drink, taking a sip.

His eyes followed where his girlfriend was staring, and his eyebrows drew together. The man with the bushy beard did, maybe, kind of resemble Taylor Anderson.

Star thrust her phone triumphantly in front of Frost’s face, so close he had a hard time focusing on the picture.

“See. That’s her,” she hissed.

However, he had no idea why she kept her voice quiet as she literally pointed across the table at the brunette woman who was holding hands with the man who may or may not be Taylor Anderson.

“Okay.” He agreed, not understanding her excitement.

When he played in the NHL, he spent all his time with men who were as famous as Taylor Anderson. Actually, in the right circles, he would prove more exciting to people than an actor would.

“The Star-lifers will be so excited.” She clutched her phone and got to her feet, but she didn’t make it fully upright before Frost put a steadying hand on her arm.

“Star. Sit down,” he said firmly.

“I’m just—“ She tried to speak, but Frost cut her off.

“Patricia. Sit down.” He only used her actual name when he was being very serious with her. It was how he got across to her that she was going too far.

“I’ll take one photo. I won’t say where he is. But I need a selfie with him. It’ll get me so many views.” She tried to tug out of his grip, but he didn’t let go of her arm.

“Did you post earlier this evening?” he questioned her.

“Yes. You know I did. That cocktail post already has five thousand likes.” She relaxed a bit in his grip and opened one of her apps. “Oh, six thousand now.”

Frost managed not to roll his eyes, even though they wanted to disappear into the back of his head.

“Star. If you take a photo and post it, your followers will know exactly where he is, and maybe he doesn’t want that.”

“I’ll only—“ Star tugged a little on his grip, which was gentle on her arm, but he wasn’t letting her go.

“No. I’m asking you not to. Leave the man alone. Let him enjoy his private life with his fiancée.” Frost gently pulled on her hand, and finally, she relaxed and sat back down, snuggling into his side. “You don’t need photos of him to be successful. You’re making it all on your own.”

He knew his words would mollify her and prevent her from bothering the actor, who was now having a very animated conversation with Hel, Sadie, Abbey and Rocky.

A twinge of jealousy shot through him, and he froze with the realisation he would rather be sitting over there, chatting to people he didn’t know, than sitting here snuggled up with his stunning twenty-six-year-old girlfriend.

Shit. He needed to break up with her.

“Star, I… Well, we need to talk.” Frost stumbled over his words.

Now he had made his mind up, he needed to do it. He would suggest they leave, then he would tell her he was going to arrange for a hotel for her, or he would go to a hotel, whichever she preferred.

Star held her hand up to him, indicating he should stop talking. “We will. But I need to go and get some beauty sleep. I’ve got a trip away for a photoshoot this week.”

“Yes, but—“ Frost tried again. He couldn’t drag this out now he was sure he needed to do this.

“Don’t worry. I won’t wake you. Marco is collecting me in ten minutes, and we’re going to the airport tonight to stay in a hotel.”

Star snuggled into his chest, pretending to relax, but Frost knew better. He knew she was still staring across at Taylor Anderson, longing for a photo.

Marco was one of her ‘glam squad’ members, and despite their differences—Marco being a very delicate man who was a wizard with a makeup brush and a hair dryer. While Frost was a man-mountain who played a high-contact sport—they had become good friends. And he looked forward to spending time with the man who made him laugh so hard that he cried.

Frost wondered if he could still be friends with Marco when he split up with Star. Maybe they could have a custody agreement? Star could have Marco on work days, and he could have him on the weekend. No, that was ridiculous. They couldn’t have a custody agreement for a grown man. Frost felt sad at losing that friendship, as it had become important to him over the last two years.

“I need to nip to the washroom. I’ll be right back.” Star grabbed her phone off the table and jumped to her feet.

“Star, don’t,” Frost warned. “Promise me you’re not going to ask Taylor Anderson for a picture.”

Star didn’t say anything, she just pursed her lips and pouted.

“Promise me.”

“Ugh. Fine. You’re in a bad mood tonight, you know that, right?” Star flung herself back into her seat and crossed her arms under her chest.

This was another move Frost now knew well. She used it whenever she was trying to get her own way. She would wear a low-cut top, then cross her arms and push her chest out. He had been such a dummy and fallen for that trick so many times.

In the past, he would have given in to her request to stop her displeasure with him, but now he ignored her pouting and repeated. “Star. Don’t do it.” Grinding the words out through his teeth.

Maybe he should tell her now? But he dismissed the idea. No, he couldn’t do it to her in front of a room full of people. So he bit his tongue.

“Fine.” She crossed her arms tighter and thrust her chest out more.

Frost watched her while she gazed right at Taylor as if by staring, she might command his attention. He was pretty surprised the other man didn’t feel his face burning from Star’s laser-focused stare. But Taylor was looking at no other woman apart from the one he held hands with. He was chatting with Hel, Sadie, Abbey and Rocky. But he was attuned to his fiancée, and every time she moved, he would glance over at her, and his hand was either clasped with hers or resting on her leg. There was no way he was going to spare Star a glance. That was a man completely in love.

Frost sat silently, occasionally sipping on his pint as, out of the corner of his eye, he observed Star’s posture, desperately trying to get the other man’s attention. A cold feeling settled over him. He had met her in a bar, where she couldn’t keep her eyes off him, and he remembered how many times his eyes drifted down to her chest as she sat with her arms folded exactly how she was now.

Why was he such a fool?

“Babeeeeee.”

Star’s grating voice cut through his internal berating of what an idiot he was to fall for a superficial act.

“Yes.” Turning to face her, he tried to school his features.

She grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged on it again. He went without any resistance, and she placed another prolonged kiss on his lips before she pulled back and made a show of getting to her feet. Smoothing down her tiny skirt, then tugging on the hem of her top, making sure she had maximum cleavage showing.

Star leaned forward and put her hands on the table so anyone who cared to look could see directly down her top.

Frost noted a couple of his teammates’ eyes swivelled in Star’s direction before they hastily averted their gazes.

But the one person she was obviously aiming for was oblivious to her attention. With a small huff, she bent down, snatched her bag off the floor and sauntered out of the pub, her hips swinging enough that her walk drew the gazes of a few men in her path.

Frost stared straight ahead at his beer, he should go home. Picking up the pint, he drained the last of it.

“Frost!” Rocky yelled at him across the table before he could stand up to leave. “Come sit with us now Patricia’s gone.”

“Really?” Frost called back, keeping up appearance as he defended his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend from the name she hated.

When Rocky was introduced to her, he refused to call her Star and made it his business to find out her real name. When he did, he used it exclusively until Frost became tired of hearing it and the complaints Star threw at him and asked ‘nicely’ for Rocky to stop.

Rocky stopped to her face, but as soon as she left, he referred to her as Patricia again.

Frost knew he should go home, he would be terrible company, and he had a lot to think about. But his eyes drifted to Hel, who glanced over at him before she looked quickly away. That brief moment of eye contact was enough for him to find himself walking around to the other side of the table, carrying his chair with him.

When he arrived, the man, who Star was convinced was Taylor Anderson, jumped to his feet and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Taylor.”

Frost reached over and shook the other man’s hand. “Frost.” Star had been right. It was Taylor Anderson.

“This is Clara, my fiancée.” Taylor grinned down at the woman by his side, and his hand immediately dropped back to her shoulder as if he couldn’t help himself, he needed to stay in contact with Clara at all times. “And Hel said you’d met her and Sadie already?”

Sadie waved and Hel glanced up, meeting his eyes for a moment before she dropped her gaze.

His eyes strayed to Hel’s red curls, and he resisted the urge to reach over and tug on one by putting his hands into his pockets.

“Yes. I met them both earlier.”

“You swept Hel off her feet,” Clara said very seriously, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.

Frost couldn’t quite tell in the dim lighting of the pub, but he thought a blush might have stolen up Hel’s cheeks. A blush that made him feel very pleased with himself.

Sadie jabbed her friend in the ribs, exclaiming, “Hey, you stole my line!”

“You snooze, you lose around here,” Clara smirked in triumph.

“You are so annoying. Taylor, are you sure you want to marry her? She’s really irritating, and she’ll steal all your best lines,” Sadie teased.

Taylor took his seat again, putting his arm around Clara’s shoulder and pulling her in closer to him. “All my best lines are written by someone else anyway, so it doesn’t bother me.”

Clara guffawed with laughter and looked up at Taylor. The way they adored each other was clear for everyone around them to see. The actor bent down, dropping a swift kiss onto her lips, and she grinned up at him happily.

“You’ll have to excuse those two, they’re in the vomit-inducing part of their relationship,” Hel spoke dryly, but Frost thought he detected a hint of something else in her voice, maybe wistfulness?

Although maybe that was wistful thinking on his behalf because he wanted to—he put a break on his train of thought. He technically still had a girlfriend, one Hel saw him make out with. Now was not the time to be thinking of anything but breaking up with Star with minimal damage.