Holiday Hockey Tale: The Icebreaker’s Impasse Novel – “I’m late, I’m late…” I mutter as I race through the corridors to get to class. Professor Elkins is not always forgiving, and if she makes me stand in front of the class to explain my tardiness, I won’t be able to stand it.
I keep muttering to myself, and I hear the jingle start in my head. The white rabbit in the animated Alice in Wonderland. “I’m late, and I’m late for a very important date. No time to say hello goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m…” I can see the entire movie playing before my eyes.
“AHHH!” I let out an involuntary scream as I crash into a huge hard wall. I glance up and want to die. It’s not a wall I ran into, rather a concrete human body. My eyes are probably the size of saucers as I stare up into the face of one of the four kings of Kenton.
The Reed “brothers” who rule the ice here at Kenton University and then the town along with their parents. I happened to run into the most ruthless one, Easton. He’s the hockey center and the most wanted bachelor probably among all the universities in this state.
Which is code for entitled playboy in my book. The puck bunnies line up for him after every practice and game. He’s also the coldest and cruelest of the four. Great, just what I needed. My left pointer finger immediately begins scraping its nail along my thumb as I wait for him to explode.
He’s not known for his pleasantness, and I pray he doesn’t remember me from the other two encounters we’ve had in the last two years. My thoughts roll around in my head as I shake it a little to focus. That damn white rabbit analogy distracted me. “I’m…sorry.
I was chasing a rabbit.” I say with agitation, and he narrows his eyes at me. They are the most interesting color, like a silver with a hint of the palest ice blue throughout. That nonsense slipped out and I wince realizing he’ll think I’m clumsy and nuts. I concentrate hard to focus and get my thoughts in line.
Come on brain! “Luci!” I hear my best friend cry out from down the hall. I peer around the massive hockey player and see Syd waving madly at me. The giant in front of me shifts to block my view shifting my attention back to him. Like I could forget he was here. They call him the Icebreaker because he basically mows down anything in his path to get to the goal.