Page 56 of Ice Contact

I’m about to turn and walk away, when warmth radiates behind me and an arm gently wraps around my shoulders. A calmness washes over me as I lean into his touch.

Hayes.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Cayden?” Hayes snaps, his voice deadly in my ear as his arm tightens across my chest. “Stay away from Olivia.”

“Larsy! This is awesome!” Cayden looks around, standing on his tiptoes to try and see over the crowd. “Are there other Riders players here?”

Hayes is in Cayden’s face so fast, his heat is still cocooned around me. I grab his arm to make sure we aren’t going to have an incident, especially with my bosses and a big client here.

“You don’t fucking listen, do you? I warned you that if you ever called me Larsy again, it would be the last words you everspoke. Yet here you are, ignoring my request and ruining the evening my beautiful, talented girlfriend has been working on for months.”

“Wait, wait, wait…yourgirlfriend? Olivia?” Cayden’s laughter causes a few heads to turn towards us, while Shay is currently taking selfies on her phone. “You’re seriously dating Olivia? The clingiest girl there ever was? Dude, I warned you. You’ll see for yourself. Good thing you have a lot of away games this season, otherwise you wouldn’t get any time alone.”

Oh fuck. I can actually hear my heart racing. This is not going to end well.The look in Hayes’ eyes is feral. And not in the ‘I want to bang my girl and make her mine’ way, but in the ‘I’m going to murder this guy’ way. His hands are tightly clenched by his sides, his face a deep shade of red I’ve never seen before. Not even on the ice. I am still holding him back. He’s not fighting my hold on him, but I need some backup. I miraculously make eye contact with Maggie, who sees what’s happening with wide eyes and a panic-stricken face. She quickly wrangles up the guys and heads my way.

“Hayes, he’s not worth it,” I beg, trying to calm him down. “He’s a jerk and we all know it. Let it go.”

“NO,” Hayes barks. “Olivia, I will not have this fucking asshole, or anyone else, talk about my woman like that.”

Well,nowI kind of want to let him beat the shit out of Cayden.

Finally, the cavalry arrives. Maggie approaches with Hayes’ teammates who stand beside us, helping me keep Hayes from doing something stupid. Thankfully they walk him back a few steps from Cayden.

“I’m good,” he says ripping his arm out of Vladi’s. “I’m not going to do anything stupid. This fucking waste of space is not worth it,” he sneers, his eyes never leaving Cayden. “But you should know you are dead wrong about Olivia. She isthemostamazing girl I’ve ever met in my entire life. What you see asclingy, I see as the most gorgeous, warm, and sexy woman pressing her sexy-as-fuck body up against mine. And if she’s considered clingy, so am I, because I don’t want to be away from her for one day, let alone an hour or a minute. You treated her like shit. Like she was a bother. Like you didn’t actually give a damn how she was. But there is no one in this world I would rather have cling to me than this woman.”

Oh.

My.

Fucking.

God.

Hayes letting Cayden have it is the sexiest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my entire thirty-one years of life. Shock, heat, joy, and a feral rage course through my body, setting me on fire in a way I’ve never experienced before.

Cayden’s face is a mixture of fear, embarrassment, and anger. And ‘Shay-Shay’ seems oblivious to whatever the hell is going on using her phone to check her makeup. I glance over at Maggie, a giant-ass grin on her face at the sight of Cayden getting verbally dismantled in front of her. I’m surprised she’s not chiming in.

Hayes continues, “If you ever come near her again, I willnothold back.” He looks back at me, and firmly says, “We’re leaving…if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” I whisper, my shoulders relaxing knowing I’m completely under Hayes protection.

Hayes turns back once more to speak to Cayden, taking a step toward him and bumping shoulders with Bougie and EJ. “I almost forgot. Do you want to know the best part about ‘clingy’ Olivia? The way her pussy clings to my dick while she screams my name. Something she never did with you.”

Hayes pulls me into his body, mercilessly slamming his lips on mine with a fierceness I’ve only seen when he’s trying to score the winning goal.

Holy shit this man is the fucking king of my world.

He breaks our kiss, leading me towards the door. “Wait…Hayes,” he turns, his eyes softening as he looks at me, “I drove Maggie here. I need to make sure she gets home okay.”

“Vladi, Bougie, EJ…Make sure Maggie makes it home safely,” he says firmly, as if he’s commanding his army.

“You got it, Larsy; anything for you.” Bougie shouts as Vladi gives Hayes a quick nod.

I see Maggie’s eyes light up at the thought of one of these guys taking her home before Hayes whisks me away.

“Wait…you dated her?” Shay asks, her voice shrill as she’s just now catching up on the situation.

I follow him toward the exit, and we head to the car, neither of us saying a word. Cayden, I’m sure,I hope,is still standing stunned with his jaw on the floor.

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