Page 18 of Iced Out Mate

Ice Bath Woes

MILES

The Burlington Bobcats had a decked-out training room. The equipment was all state-of-the-art with brand new technology that even had me Googling some things before the guys showed up. Not that I didn’t know what I was doing—I was damn good at fixing these players up—but technology moved so damn fast these days. Even our ice baths appeared to be connected to Bluetooth and had an app to help me control temperature.

Pretty fucking nice, but also slightly frustrating when the damn app wouldn’t connect.

“What the hell?” I sighed as I reset it for the hundredth time.

“Morning, bud.”

I jerked up off my knees, surprised at the sudden voice. It was Emmy. He walked in wearing a blue and black Bobcats shirt and light blue gym shorts. He was a tall guy, standing at around six foot three, meaning I had to tilt my head back slightly even once I was on my feet. He had always exuded captain energy, so it didn’t surprise me that he was the leader of the Bobcats—as well as the alpha of the Burlington pack. “Just trying to get this ice bath to connect to my phone.”

“Are you trying to upload our injuries to the cloud?”

“Basically,” I answered with a chuckle. “I’ll figure it out later.” I pocketed my phone and reached out to shake my best friend’s hand. “Practice seemed like it went well this morning.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t too happy about a couple of fuck-ups, but overall, it’s looking good. I think we have a good shot at the Calder Cup this year.”

“I’m sure you guys do,” I said. It felt good being around my best friend again. We lost touch a little bit when Emmy moved away from Philly, but we had the kind of friendship that picked up right where we left off, regardless of the dwindling text messages and phone calls between us. He also withdrew a bit after he lost his wife. An event that catastrophic changes people. It makes them throw up walls, even when it shuts out the people closest to them. I saw it in the way my father walked through this world—always wary of the next devastating loss.

“How are you settling in?” Emmy asked, moving to grab a resistance band off the wall. He stepped onto the center of the blue band and pulled the two opposite ends up and away from his body.

I walked over, abandoning this Bluetooth ice bath mission, and adjusted his left shoulder so it was in line with his right. “It’s only been a couple weeks, but I’m feeling really good about it. I thought I’d miss the big city but I’m liking the pace of Burlington. I also love the short commute. That alone has me in love with this place.” I glanced over my shoulder and made sure no one else had come inside the training area without me noticing. “Plus, shifting and running through the woods is my new favorite pastime.”

“It’s a nice perk.”

“It is.”

“You’ve met the rest of the pack, right?”

“Only some,” I said, my mind going to one particular member. “I actually bumped into Dylan the first day I was here. He introduced me to Chris, and I met Soren and Gabe once we started practice.”

“Shit, you still have to meet the others.” Emmy raised his arms and held the bands out in front of him, pulsing them up with tiny movements. His form was flawless. “I’m having a game night tonight at my place with the entire pack, you should come.”

Entire pack. Dyl’s going to be there.

I wasn’t sure why that was the first thought in my head. I felt almost guilty about it. I was trying to keep him from embedding himself in my mind, but it seemed the opposite was happening. If I was being truthful, I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since he took me to that spot at the park, where I opened up to him… in a couple of different ways.

“That sounds like a good time,” I said, hoping Emmy wouldn’t notice the flush of pink heat spreading across my cheeks. I could switch up the conversation but this was my best friend I was talking to. Even though I wasn’t entirely sure if my attraction for Dylan was something I should embrace, I knew it wasn’t something I should hide from Emmy.

“Dyl will be there, right?” I broached, wanting to tiptoe into this topic rather than dive headfirst.

“He will. Unless he finds a last-minute date or hookup.”

My heart began to pump harder, faster. Irrational. I shouldn’t be jealous or protective over a guy I needed to keep at a distance.

And yet, I was. Fuck. “Does he go on dates often?” It could have been construed as an innocent question if my damn voice didn’t betray me and pitch up toward the end.

Emmy lowered his arms to his side and raised an eyebrow. He dropped the resistance bands. “He does like to date around a lot. Definitely what I would consider a fuckboy, even though I say that with all the love possible. He knows it, too. I don’t think I’ve seen him want to settle down with one person in the four years I’ve known him.”

I swallowed down an uncomfortable feeling in my throat. “Huh…”

“Why?” Emmy’s eyes narrowed. He had a way of making me feel like a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar. He wasn’t going to let me go without talking about it.

“We’ve hung out a couple times, and how do I say this, um⁠—”

“You guys fucked?”