Page 24 of Off-Ice Misconduct (Daddies of the League #8)

Ace

I t takes some effort, but I put my focus where it should be, on hockey.

The team kills it in practice, and Coach is so fucking pleased, he gives a half smile and tells us we’re ready to kick North Point ass.

The man isn’t a smiler, not really. Even when we win a big game, he acts as if that’s a given.

Shouldn’t one of the VanCourt brothers be sunshine and rainbows?

But no. They’re both dark clouds of murderous melancholy.

Who hurt them?

Luke’s hands. Fuck. His hands. He was beating on something, most likely a punching bag by the look of them. You gotta train on a bag for a long time to destroy your hands like that.

But I can’t think of either of them for the next hour, it’s time to wow and hopefully patch things over with Delta Gamma.

I’ve been blocked on every social app, including Celeste’s cellphone, since the wine and cheese night. But Hudson, Shep’s boyfriend, has a sister in Delta Gamma. Phase one of our plan involved him wearing his sister down until she agreed to talk to Celeste for us.

It wasn’t easy. At first, she flat-out refused. It would be a breach of the sisterhood. But after a little friendly brother-sisterly badgering and begging, she caved. Plus, no one wants to miss the first game of the season, especially against North Point.

Let me rephrase that a little.

Especially against the smoking hot, beefy men of North Point.

Sure, they could attend the game without patching things up with us, but they wouldn’t be able to attend the after-party. The North Point Firehawks are our most aggressive rivals, but that doesn’t mean we don’t—mostly—put our beefs aside off ice, and party with them.

It’s tradition for our teams to engage in a pre-season truce before we put all our energy into sweeping the ice with each other for the rest of the season.

Phase two is what I’m about to do: meet with Celeste. We had to meet undercover. Besides being virtually blocked, the sisters won’t let me near her, forming a widely unnecessary barrier around her, so I can’t randomly approach her between, after, or before classes.

I wear a way oversized black hoodie, hood pulled over my head, and black sunglasses with the warmest jogging pants I have, hoping to remain incognito.

Pulling the hood up isn’t just to stay inconspicuous, but to protect my skin from the onslaught of October.

It’s only a few days in, but it’s like I’m at the rink.

I wait at one of the cement picnic benches, my ass on the table, feet on the seat, little icy shivers running through me, wishing I’d brought a jacket. Damn, winter’s coming fast.

Finally, I catch Celeste skipping over to me. Goddammit, woman. At least she’s wearing pants, but no jacket, not even a sweatshirt of any kind. Just a t-shirt. She rubs her arms, teeth faintly chattering.

“What’s up?” she says with deflated enthusiasm.

We chose this location to be inconspicuous, but am I gonna be an asshole for suggesting we go inside instead because she’s gonna freeze her ass off?

I’d give her my hoodie, but that’s off limits.

Apparently. She won’t die from a little cold, I guess, and she’s the one who came out here without a jacket.

Sigh. Okay, let’s just get into it fast, so she can be warm again.

“I was always genuinely sorry you were hurt, Celeste. I want you to know that. Someone can do the right thing, but it hurts anyway.” Fucking bitch-ass Luke comes to mind as someone trying to do the “right” thing.

I know what he’s attempting to do, and he’s out of his damn mind if he thinks I’m letting him do it.

I’ve never wanted anyone like I want him, and I know he feels the same.

I still have a mark on my neck to prove it.

I fucking own your ass, princess.

You don’t say shit like that to just anyone. Plus, the way he looks at me. The way he takes care of me. Ugh. Let’s see him stay away for long.

“Whoa, you’re not kidding, Ace,” she says, worry furrowing her brow. Her ice-cold hand slides across my jaw. It’s so delicate, nothing like the monster hands I’m craving. But, goddammit, I can’t let her be cold.

I trap her hand between my two larger ones. “I’m just keeping you warm,” I clarify. “And I know you didn’t ask me to, but please , Celeste?”

It comes out as a pathetic whine.

She nods, taking pity on me. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, actually.

You need to take care of people to a fault, Ace.

It was a totally you move to give me your jacket, platonically, and have no idea about the other implications.

Like you said, it hurt all the same, but that wasn’t on you.

My feelings are my responsibility—especially when your intentions were pure. ”

“Yeah, well, I still hate that what I did hurt you. Any way you can forgive me?”

“I forgive you, and I wanna apologize for that black eye. You didn’t deserve it, babe. Forgive me?” Her teeth chatter harder, and her body shakes.

Okay, right or wrong, I fucking can’t. “Please wear my hoodie, Celly. Platonically,” I stress. I’m already yanking it off my body.

“But you’ll be cold.”

“My body’s heater has kicked in a little.

I’ll be okay for a minute, but you might not be.

” I give her a hard look that lets her know I mean business.

Just because I’ve recently discovered I want to be absolutely taken and owned by one large wolfman, doesn’t mean this side of me doesn’t exist or has suddenly shriveled up and died.

I can be just as much of a hard ass as Luke when I wanna be.

Well, okay. “Just as much as Luke” is an exaggeration, but I’m somewhere in the ballpark. But, huh, hard for everyone else and soft for him, I fucking love that.

She laughs. “Okay, Ace. Give it to me—platonically.”

My body sighs in relief when she’s finally encased in my hoodie.

It’ll have absorbed some of my body heat by this point.

The chill air bites my skin, but seeing her bundled up is worth it.

The sleeves are too long, and she’s got her hands tucked inside.

Plus, it’s generally huge on her, so it covers her hips and the upper portion of her luscious thighs, too.

Celeste is beautiful, with a curvy body that I’m definitely attracted to.

My issue with Celeste isn’t attraction, it’s intimacy.

Sex is all it would be between us, and I stand by that I wouldn’t do that to her, especially now that I know how she feels about me.

“So?” She quirks a brow. “Forgive me?”

“Totally forgive you, dude. Shit. Um, didn’t mean to say that.”

She shakes her head. “No, that’s fine, too. I know you do that. I was just hurt and kinda heartbroken if I’m being honest. You’re kind of a catch, Ace.”

“You are, too, Celeste. I’m not just saying that. You don’t know how hard I wish I could give you what you wanted.”

“Thank you for not doing it just to save my feelings. That would have been so much worse. So … who’s this mystery person who stomped on your heart?”

“Just some guy.” I shake my head. “Seriously, dudes are the worst, eh?”

She giggles. “It’s kinda adorable when you do that, you know? The eh. You little Canadian half-breed.”

She knows my mom was Canadian. And, yeah, she said eh a lot. I picked it up a little. That pulls my joy to the surface. I love the idea that maybe I keep Mom alive through me.

“And dudes can be the worst, but you’re not, Ace. Maybe he’s not the one, but you’ll find him or her someday.” She nudges me with her shoulder. It’s a nice sentiment, but Luke is my one, I just have to get it into his thick-ass skull. “Okay, we have to talk some business.”

I knew there was a chance the conversation could go here, but I’m thinking about Luke now, and without my hoodie, my body’s slowly turning into an ice cube. I grab her hand and tug, guiding her off the picnic table.

“Okay, but we’re doing it over hot chocolate. Inside. Come.”

I didn’t want the meeting to be anything other than an apology, at least from my side, so I was glad she brought it up. We’re the presidents of our houses, we have to deal with this stuff. I’d rather sooner than later, but I would have waited if that’s what she wanted.

Turns out, I was right. None of the Delta Gamma women wanted to miss a mixer with North Point.

So I tell Celeste about phase three of our plan to make amends, that mixer would only extend an invite to their sorority.

Normally, we invite all the frats and sororities on campus—though Beta Sigma would have been banned this year—but limiting it to Delta Gamma narrows the competition in their favor.

She’s pleased with that and says the others will be, too.

Even Wendy, since she has her eyes on North Point’s new captain.

What a fucking relief. Maybe I’m not so bad at this president thing after all.

Celeste gets up, still wearing my hoodie, and gives me an innocent peck on the cheek.

“Where do you think you’re going with that, girlie?”

“Trophy,” she says. “When you’re a big NHL superstar, I wanna have proof that Ace McKinnon let me wear his stuff, even if it was just platonically.”

I roll my eyes, but let her escape with it. Why? Why can’t I fall head over heels for her? Instead, it’s stupid Luke.

Now that this is done, I’ve got to head to the house—which will be a long, cold walk across campus without a hoodie—to help with dinner prep before hunting my man down to give him a piece of my mind.

I toss my paper cup in the recycling bin, and head out of the cafeteria, head held high, the ever-present knots of anxiety loose for fucking once.

Maybe that’s why I don’t feel the hand until it’s too late. I’m dragged, tripping, fumbling to stand upright, until I’m backed into a solid stone wall in a dark corner between the buildings.

I’m a big guy. It takes a gang of men to drag me like that.

Or just one, larger-than-life professor.

“L-Luke?” I breathe.

“How dare you let her put her lips on you. You’re gonna pay for that, princess,” he says before his hot lips descend, latching onto the tender hollow where my pulse beats, and I forget everything.

Celeste, the cold, even hockey.

I don’t know my name for a short eternity.