by Kat Obie
Falling Fast
Kat Obie
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Order Crashing Hard
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Kat Obie
1
Alice
Alice dragged her oversized hockey bag and the two sticks into the ice arena. It’d been a while since she last picked up her gear but with the new year, it was time to make some changes to her life.
The resolutions she had in mind were simple: use the long-neglected hockey gear, read more and be as healthy as possible. She was finally tackling hockey again, a sport she loved but gave up after breaking up with her hockey playing ex.
She placed her sticks beside the box and turned her body so she could force the massive hockey bag through the door. She wasn’t looking where she was going but was eternally grateful that the walls weren’t Pepto-Bismol pink like one of the rinks she used to play at. It wasn’t until she was through the door that she noticed a 6-foot-2, lean, red-haired man almost immediately in front of her.
She very quickly realized it was captain Scott Wheiland of the Cleveland Sound, the local NHL team. She knew she had gone into the wrong locker room and there was no way they would want people from the public using the team’s private locker room when they were at the practice facility.
Immediately, Alice started to back out of the room, thankful she could just shove everything backwards to make a quick getaway. “Sorry, I thought this was the girls' locker room.”
Alice was sure she was probably an insane shade of red from the embarrassment of walking into the wrong area.
“Don’t you look where you’re going?”
She took a deep breath in. The last thing she needed was another asshole hockey player in her life. It didn’t matter he was hot as hell.
“Sorry. I was told to go to the last locker room on the right.”
“Oh. Ed knows that girls can use this area if we don’t have practice and gear in here. All the gear is being transported to the arena for tonight. I’m just waiting for the results from the trainers.”
Reassured that it was okay for her to be in the locker room and she wasn’t intruding on anyone, Alice dropped her bag to the ground with an undignified thud. She was glad to let go of it since it was heavy enough and she was sick of lugging it around.
She looked more closely at the captain. He was way better-looking than she had expected, and his clothes were hugging his muscles just right. You could tell he was solid muscle but not overly built.
Scott broke the silence. “So, a Flyers fan, huh?”
Alice was a little surprised he knew that since her bag was just a generic black CCM hockey bag. Then she realized she was wearing a black Philadelphia Flyers t-shirt.
In all honesty, when she’d left the house, she’d just grabbed one of her black tees from her workout/PJ pile without even realizing what she put on. It was just going to get sweaty from playing. It wasn’t like she expected to run into someone that was so her type and she wanted to be super cute.
“Yup. What can I say? You can take the girl from the city, but you can’t stop her from bleeding black and orange. Won’t lie, this has not been one of my favorite seasons, especially with the high hopes at the beginning of the season, but I love my team.”
Scott smiled, but Alice could tell he was sizing her up. She didn’t feel like she was being objectified, just being sussed out. “You clearly play hockey, but are you any good?”
That question made Alice burst out laughing. She knew her own skills.
She hadn’t touched her hockey stuff in years, except to move it from Pittsburgh to Philly and then to Cleveland. The equipment carried emotional baggage that she would rather forget.
Even before that one bad breakup kept her off the ice, she was kinda terrible. For a start, she was not comfortable carrying the puck on her stick. As good as she was playing floor hockey, the tempo of the game and the speed the puck moved on the surface made it difficult for her to control. She’d pass the puck up as quickly as possible so she wasn’t a liability for her teammates.
The other thing that made things slightly difficult was transitioning from figure skates to hockey skates. If she wasn’t careful, she would forget there wasn’t a toe pick up front.
“I’m going to be lucky to keep up. I’d like to make a friend or two so I can join a beer league. Honestly, I’m just hoping not to completely suck today.” Alice shrugged her shoulders, trying to keep things light, but she had a feeling it looked more awkward than she intended. At least her voice was light and self-deprecating. “Sorry about barging into your locker room.”
Damn it. He’s even better looking in person.
“Ed must not have known I was still here. Doesn’t help. I’m waiting for the medical okay to play in tonight’s game. So, I’m here much later than usual.”
Alice couldn’t contain herself, and she let out an instinctual “Fuck”. Scott’s red eyebrow shot up, and he looked more than a tad cocky. Alice knew she should explain herself. “Sorry. I’m glad you’re feeling better, but I wanted that to happen after tonight’s game. It’ll be a lot tougher for the Flyers to win tonight if you’re back.”
He laughed at that and said, “Damn straight it will be. I’ve been dying to get back out there. Been too long since I played a proper game. Well, I should go and harass Doc for that clearance.”
With that, the delicious looking ginger walked out of the locker room leaving Alice a wee bit stunned and a tad star struck. She hated how she’d sworn at one of the hottest men she’d ever seen.
So much for the easy transition back into hockey. At least there is no chance it could go anywhere or that he would be interested. If he was, he would have tried to get my information or even a name. Instead, I just made a fool of myself.
She was getting stuck in her own head, and she needed to refocus. She shook her head as if she could shake out all the distractions.
She got dressed. After getting all padded up, she laced up her skates, hoping they would be tight enough. Although it seemed like, the moment she did a couple of laps around the rink, one of the skates wouldn’t feel right. Then it was time to put on the sweater, helmet, and gloves.
She headed towards the door. “Let’s try not to suck too much today. Just ease back into it.”
Scott
Scott was pissed off. He wanted to play after having to sit out for a little over a week with concussion symptoms from a cheap hit. Doc was just taking his time with everything. The only good thing about the delay was meeting that really cute girl in the locker room.
He kicked himself for not getting more information from the brunette beauty who clearly didn’t need makeup to look good. He liked the mix of self-consciousness and underlying fierceness, especially when she talked about her favorite hockey team. He also liked how she clearly knew who he was but wasn’t trying to get an
autograph or be a puck bunny. She was at the rink to do her thing.
Now if only I could convert her to support my team instead of Philadelphia.
He would ask Ed if he knew anything about the mystery girl. He walked up to the front desk to visit with the old man who ran the rink and was an expert skate sharpener for anyone who didn’t have access to the Sound’s equipment guy. Hell, he’d used Eddie’s skills a couple of times when he needed his skates sharpened.
Scott couldn’t help himself from doing a soft rap on the desk and said, “Hey, Ed.”
The white-haired man was sitting at the front desk. He was tall and thin with a flannel shirt on. He was looking at a computer screen and there were papers around.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that anyone was still here. I thought you guys all left ages ago. I hope there won’t be an issue with letting that girl use the locker room for open ice hockey.”
“It’s just me and the medical staff, I think. But I did want to ask you about the girl.”
“Timid little thing. Good chance she won’t be back.”
Scott’s face dropped. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Ed usually knew everyone at the rink and had a good instinct about the players’ habits. “So she’s not a regular, then?”
“Never seen her before today. Not sure if she’s an out-of-towner or new to the area. She really didn’t have much to say.”
At least not to you. She was a little closed off, but it wasn’t like it was all one-word answers.
“Damn. I was hoping you might know her name and would have some contact information for her.”
“No such luck, Scotty. Don’t tell me you’re interested?”
Scott blushed a little bit since he was completely busted.
The rink manager smiled. “Sorry, you are going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and talk to her.”
“I did, but I forgot to get her name and other details like a dumbass.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll figure it out soon enough. How long does the open hockey go?”
“About an hour and a half.”
Scott walked away from the front desk. He knew sooner or later an observant hockey player would come up to him for autographs or a picture, if not try to get him to play with them. He wanted to remain anonymous if he could.
He wasn’t prepared to play hockey at the moment, nor would the coaches like hearing that he was playing when he had a division game tonight. He knew he should be getting something to eat and taking a nap before the game. But the nap wasn’t really an option since he had to know more about the petite brunette and get cleared.
He went to the trainers’ office. He didn’t bother knocking. He just went in.
“Tell me I get to play tonight. No headaches or anything.”
Okay. I was short with the shorty.
“Yeah, your impact test was good. I just got off the horn with Coach Berman. You can play,” said Doc Curren, the team trainer.
Thank God!
He left the trainer’s office. Instead of going into his normal routine, he settled on getting some sushi since he really didn’t want to go home. The cafeteria area only ever had fried shit that would just make his stomach heavy.
After grabbing a sashimi platter, seaweed salad and some edamame, he headed back to the rink. The meal should have enough protein to keep his muscles going while still being light enough to not weigh him down, although he knew he should make a protein shake and possibly get a nap before the evening’s game instead.
He grabbed a Sound baseball cap from the passenger seat of his car and fixed it low on his head to minimize his fiery red hair. His hair was too much of a giveaway that he was the pro hockey player for the Cleveland Sound.
He just wanted to watch and interact with that beautiful girl he’d met earlier.
As he hid out in the overlook area from the cafeteria, he casually ate his food, but he mostly watched the play on the ice. It was pretty easy to spot the girl. She was shorter than most of the players by a good 5 inches and in some cases almost a foot, plus she was on the leaner side with a small tuft of hair that was exposed at the back of her helmet.
She definitely wasn’t a star player. She had no confidence. She would do clean puck passes and skate halfway decently. He couldn’t help but laugh at her swearing to herself whenever she lost her balance, mishandled the puck, or was even given the puck.
Her swearing wasn’t audible, but he knew what she was saying since he’d seen and heard enough players curse on the ice. But she never did fall and she was trying.
She must have been a figure skater at one point since she seemed to have good skate control at times but was too upright. Sometimes she put her weight near the toe, as if she was expecting a toe pick to be there.
She must miss that bloody awful toe pick something fierce and needs to get used to a wider stance.
Towards the end of the open hockey time, he noticed that the guys on the ice were forcing her to keep the puck on her stick rather than just pass it up, which seemed to be her natural instinct.
He had fun watching what would normally be an uninteresting session of hockey since the skill level tended to be so low. Being interested in one of the players definitely made it more fun.
As soon as the players got off the ice and the rink staff opened the doors to allow the Zamboni to clean and resurface, he knew it was time to get cleaned up from lunch.
Before heading downstairs, he decided to give the Cleveland Sound a call to see if there was any way to get her a ticket for tonight’s game.
He had a feeling there would be no way she would deny a date if he offered her a chance to see her favorite team play.
Fortunately, the front office could help him out but they needed to know the information that he didn’t have just yet. He headed confidently downstairs to make a move on the girl.
Alice
Alice was exhausted after playing hockey. Tired legs would be far better than the muscle stiffness that would set in later. She knew she shouldn’t get too comfortable on the locker room bench as she pried off the sweaty hockey gear.
Alice decided to take a very quick shower before heading home after seeing one in the corner. She only had a couple of microfiber towels that were more for absorbing moisture off her skates than full body drying.
The hot water would feel great on her skin and could help prevent some muscle stiffness from settling in. Instead of taking a long shower, she figured she should get going. She really didn’t feel all that comfortable being in the Sound’s locker room. So, after trying to dry herself off with the small towels, she got dressed in her street clothes: black leggings and a purple dolman top.
She also decided to apply some black eyeliner and mascara. As per usual, she skipped any foundation since she was never quite sure when she would get called into work to cover for one of her guards or if she would have a last-minute swim lesson. Why bother to get dolled up if she was just going to get wet?
She swung her wet hair into fresh braids. It was the easiest way to do her hair without a hairbrush.
About 15 minutes after leaving the ice, she was ready to go home and rest until it was time to turn on the Flyers vs. Sound game. As soon as Alice pushed her way through the door, she heard a vaguely familiar voice saying, “You are afraid of the puck, and don’t you ever look where you are going?”
Alice turned to see the gorgeous man from earlier leaning against the door frame. His arms folded to show off his biceps. She was disappointed to see the baseball cap covering his beautiful red hair.
“What’s it to you? Why are you still here?” She realized what she was saying and immediately scrunched up her face in disgust. She was too defensive.
He was right, but at the same time, she didn’t want to speak it out loud. She calmed herself and said, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. I just wasn’t expecting to see you again and even less ready to get advice about hockey.”
Scott smiled
and seemed to be more amused by her outburst than anything else. He took it all in stride and said, “You need to stop apologizing for reacting. Be you. Besides, I’m just trying to help.”
Alice nodded. It was something she’d heard before. “I know I need to stop apologizing for everything, but old habits die hard. But do we have to make it real by saying what we both know to be true out loud?”
“Well, if you can get over the fear of handling the puck, you wouldn’t be half bad. You actually pass quite well. Do you ever play with the puck on your stick at home?”
Alice shook her head. “No. I know I should. But with apartment living, I don’t want to scratch up the floor or make weird echoey sounds for the neighbors.” Alice felt increasingly shy as she talked to him.
It didn’t help that he was the very embodiment of sex on a stick and seemed to have genuinely taken an interest in her.
“If you want, I could maybe help you out with your puck handling.”
“Really?” Alice said, genuinely surprised. She literally couldn’t believe it. It was something that would be said in a book but was very unlikely to happen in real life.
“Sure. It would be fun,” Scotty said as he shrugged his shoulders like it was the most natural thing in the world. Why would it be weird for a hockey superstar to offer to help some nobody girl that he’d never met before today?
He gave her a knee-melting smile. “Besides, I want to get to know you better and that seems like a perfect way to start. Tell me your name and phone number and we can set it up.”
Alice just blushed. She couldn’t believe the attention she was getting.