Page 72 of Ice Cold Rival

My heart hurt when he left. I was trying to protect him, but why did it feel like I’d ripped open my insides? He was only going to his pre-game warmup.

This would be the second home game I’d missed since we started this crazy deal. His jersey was washed and neatly folded on his dresser, waiting for me. I hadn’t done that. My version of laundry included separating the clean clothes into piles until I went through all of them and had to start over again with the washing machine.

I hadn’t noticed, but Reece did most of my laundry now. He’d cleared a drawer in his dresser and space in his closet, and he put my clothes away there. He gave me food when I got hangry, he made me laugh when I got upset, he took care of me—without making me feel incapable or beholden.

And I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

Boo jumped into my lap, kneading my legs and purring like crazy. He’d gotten me Boo.

I didn’t want to sacrifice myself at the altar of Toby’s revenge tour, but the accusations had snowballed past the point I could safely ignore. How could I risk Reece’s future because my ex-boyfriend didn’t know how to lose? Nothing easy came to mind, so I did something crazy… I called Eva.

She answered as if she already knew what was going on. “You’re lucky I have an afternoon free to work on your crisis.”

I frowned at the screen. “How did you know I was having a crisis?”

“It’s the main reason people call me. Now give me the details.”

I explained the situation, along with my lack of good choices and the simmering fury I couldn’t seem to move past.

Eva hummed. “This doesn’t feel like a wear his jersey to the game situation. I actually think you’re making the right decision at the moment, but you also need to get more information. You’re right that you can’t do anything pro-active. That’s because you haven’t gone on the offense. How do you feel about a bit of light confrontation?”

“Depends on the subject.”

“Find Tobias. I have it on good authority he isn’t at the rink right now. You need to find out how vindictive he really is before you decide to pick the path of least happiness simply because he led you there.”

Her words made my view of the situation click into a new position. Toby wanted me unhappy. He wanted me desperate and begging—he’d said as much. What was his end goal?

“I’m not good at confrontation,” I admitted.

Eva scoffed. “You’re not helpless, and you can do hard things. It might surprise you the depths you’ll go to protect the person you love.”

My brows shot up. “I didn’t say anything about love.”

“You didn’t need to. I’m a pro at recognizing it. You want to spend all your time with him, he makes you giddy, you’re currently putting Reece’s happiness above your own. Love. If this is new information, deal with it, then go find out why Tobias has it in for you. We can move forward from there.”

I absently thanked her, and she said she’d see me later before hanging up. My mind was busy filling with a montage of all the happy times with Reece. Did I love him? The warm honey feeling in my chest sure as hell felt like love, but I’d been wrong before.

I’d thought I’d loved Toby. My feelings for him weren’t even close to what I felt for Reece though. The thought scared me because I’d been so blind before. How could I trust myself to make the right decisions when it came to my life?

Boo meowed when my grip got too tight, and I snuggled him as an apology for forgetting he was there. The kitten’s rumbling purr vibrated against my chest, and my shoulders relaxed. I loved Boo. No question. I didn’t doubt my feelings because I didn’t have a bad experience coloring my perception. Toby’s horrid actions were still controlling me.

With a new perspective, I looked around Reece’s room, at the space he’d made for me in his life, and it hit me. I didn’t need to trust myself. I needed to trust Reece—and I did.

25

After talking to Eva, I tracked Toby to the sorority house. He should have been at pre-game, but as usual, he was blowing off his responsibilities. I expected him to be with Amanda, but when I walked in, he was sitting on the couch with his arm around Noel, one of our younger housemates.

I marched up to them, quashing the inner good girl who insisted I was being rude, and waited until he stopped whispering in her ear to look up at me.

“You and I are going to have a discussion. We can do it with an audience or alone, your choice.”

Noel frowned at me, then pouted when Toby pulled his arm away. “I should handle this. Why don’t you go on up to your room and I’ll meet you later to fix your computer.”

I didn’t say anything as Noel walked past me to the stairs, but Toby didn’t know a thing about fixing computers. Noel, on the other hand, was well aware of Amanda’s interest in him. This sorority wouldn’t know sisterhood if it bit them in the ass.

Toby crossed his hands behind his head and grinned at me. “Finally ready to admit you overreacted?”

“Your gaslighting bullshit isn’t going to work on me,” I spewed.

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