Page 17 of Icing the Play

His body heat shivered over my skin, and I swallowed. How would I cope with his constant presence? Fuck it, I had to move out of my place. “Tony’s got a buddy who wants to move in and take my place. So, if you guys are good with it, I’d like to take your extra room.”

Ace and Zoma brought the food to the table and set it down.

With a wide smile, Zoma said, “That’s great news. Any friend of Myles is a friend of ours.” Zoma gave Myles a knowing look.

“As long as you clean up after yourself…” Ace smirked at me.

“That won’t be a problem.” I glanced at the kitchen, already tidied. “In fact, I’ll clean up our dishes after we eat.” It was the least I could do.

“That’s great, but you know I was joking, right?” With a soft snort, Ace patted my arm. “Myles mentioned the current roommate situation.” He pulled a chair from the table’s head. “Let’s eat.”

I sank in between Myles and Ace while Zoma sat across from me. As I looked over the mound of sliced beef swimming injuice, I said, “That might be the biggest pot roast I’ve ever seen.” My stomach grumbled. Damn, I was hungry.

“We shop at Costco. Turns out hockey players eat a lot.” Ace scooped a few slices of beef onto his plate. “Go ahead, serve yourself.” He handed me the serving fork.

I plated my food, adding cooked carrots and potatoes to it. “So, where you from, Ace?” The guy sounded a little cowboyish when he spoke.

“Montana. My family has a ranch up there.” He cut into his meat. “Zoma here is from Colorado.”

“My family is full of creative types.” He threw a grin at Ace. “Ace’s ranch is so nice, and his family is very welcoming.” He held Ace’s hand, resting next to his plate, for a moment. “Tell us more about you, Cooper? How did you get into football?”

With a smirk, I said, “Well, my dad was a linebacker for the Bears.” I glanced at Myles, shoveling food into his mouth. He’d heard this all before. “Now he teaches high school football.”

“Oh, so football runs in the family. I guess it’s like a lot of the guys in hockey.” Ace ate a carrot.

I poked Myles in the arm. “Isn’t your brother playing hockey?” I stuffed some beef into my mouth, and it practically melted. “Damn, fantastic, Ace.”

“Thank you. It’s a ranch recipe, actually, that my mom makes.” Ace gave me a quick smile and dug into his food.

Myles sipped from a bottle of Gatorade. “Yeah, Ethan’s doing really well. Better than me, I think.” He tossed a glance at Ace.

Pointing his fork at Myles, Ace said, “Don’t sell yourself short, Myles. Your little brother has had the advantage of you helping him out.”

Myles shrugged. “Yeah, guess so.” His shoulders slumped.

Something was going on there. Maybe I’d find out after I moved in. We’d have more chances to talk. After eating some potatoes, I said, “So if it’s okay, I could probably move in on Sunday.”

Myles lifted his head, his eyes wide. “That soon?”

“Uh, is it not okay?” I glanced at each of them. Maybe I should wait another week?

“No, it’s great, Cooper.” Ace furrowed his brows at Myles. “Right, Myles?”

“Yes, it’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t realize you could pull it off that quickly. Sunday works out since we don’t have practice or games.” Myles studied me. “Do you need help? How much stuff do you have?”

“I only have my clothes, some kitchen stuff, a bedroom set, and a couch.” With a fucking stain on it. Heat crept through my chest. “The rest of the stuff belongs to my roommate.” Wait, how shitty were my pots and pans at this point? Probably ruined. “I might leave my kitchen shit there if you’re well stocked here.”

Myles twisted in his chair to toward the main room. “We could probably fit the couch at the end of the sectional over there. We can always use more seating.”

“Especially when all the guys are here for game night.” Ace smirked. “Have you ever played NHL?”

“Uh, no.” I drank my Gatorade. I’d probably get to know a lot about hockey living here.

“Good, then you can be the goalie.” Ace snickered.

“Ace. You behave.” Laughing through a scoff, Zoma slapped his arm.

As I arched a brow, I snapped my gaze between them. There must be an inside joke here.

---