Breaking the Ice (Timberwolves #1)

by Lizzy Ripp

  "Please."

  Digging around in the bag of pharmaceuticals Julia had left behind for her, Rhochelle seized the relevant bottle and studied it.

  "Whoa. Got you on the heavy stuff," she said as she poured him out two pills which he swallowed dry, making a face at the taste.

  "Yep," he said grimly. "It's pretty gnarly."

  "Probably better you're not prancing around in a tux in this state," she said.

  "Yeah," he agreed. "But I still wish I could have gone. It means a lot to Julia, this benefit. I know she was really looking forward to it."

  "Well, she may be looking forward to it a little less now," Rhochelle said, scrolling through her Instagram.

  "What do you mean?" Yaro asked, closing his eyes and waiting for the throbbing in his head to die down.

  "According to Sasha Lux's Insta she's going to be there, too," she said. "With Daniel DeSoto. That's Julia's ex, isn't it?"

  Yaro's eyes snapped open. "Yeah. It is," he said. "Let me see?"

  Rhochelle handed over her phone and Yaro found himself on Sasha Lux's Insta profile. Her latest story was a series of shots of designer gowns, packed bags, airport selfies and couple shots with a reluctant-looking Daniel. "Off to Philly for the super-important Beyond the Ice ball! Such a good cause guys xxxx", scrawled the text-based final chapter.

  "Pretty sure she's not aware of that," Yaro said slowly. Rhochelle made a face.

  "Eek. I really hope it doesn't cause any dramas. Keep this on the down-low, but one of my clients works at the same firm as Daniel DeSoto and he said he is miserable with Sasha. Guy reckoned he was only going with her to this event either because he wants to get back in Julia's good books or because Sasha wants to steal back some thunder from Julia and Cassie West's ‘relationships’," adding air quotations to the word before catching Yaro's eye. "I don't mean your relationship obviously," she said quickly. "Which is super legit. Right?"

  "Right," Yaro said, troubled now. “I think.”

  "Maybe you should warn her," Rhochelle said. "If she doesn't know they're coming it could be kind of a nasty surprise." She looked down at her phone. "Though she's probably in the air right now," she said, noting the time.

  "I'll do better than that," Yaro said, a look of steely determination overtaking his face that would have made Julia nervous had she been there to see it.

  "What's that?" Rhochelle asked warily.

  "I'll tell her in person."

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  JULIA WAS, IN spite of her hectic morning, having a pretty good day. Cassie had met her at the airport alone, Jonathan having been booked on a later flight through the League. She had spent last night on a date with him, and admitted to finding him charming, in addition to being more than willing to play up to the relationship rumors for the press and for her Instagram.

  "He's sweet," Cassie had to admit as they made their way towards check-in, "And Max is adorable, even if he is a borrowed dog," she smiled at Julia. "We actually had a lot of fun."

  "I know," Julia said, digging through her bag for her passport, "I saw the Instagram posts."

  Cassie grinned, then, looking confused. "Where are you going?"

  "To check-in?" Julia said, gesturing to the economy check-in line ahead of her.

  "Oh no, n'uh uh. You're flying with me," Cassie said, taking her arm and leading her towards first class check-in, which, Julia noted with awe, had an actual red carpet rolled out in front of it.

  "I can't do that," Julia said, "The League paid for this ticket. And they're not paying for first class, believe me. Not even the players fly first class."

  "Don't you worry about that," Cassie said. "Just follow me."

  Julia did, watching in amazement as Cassie strode up to the first class check-in counter, looking like she owned the place and clearly charming the pants off the male check-in clerk who apparently was a fan. Julia watched as the two of them laughed and chatted, and then he pulled out a small piece of paper, looking shy, which Cassie happily signed and sealed with a kiss, her peach-colored lipstick imprinted forever in this man's memorabilia collection. Then she gestured to Julia, still standing back a bit, and gestured for her to come up to the counter to join them.

  "What do you think? Could you possibly get her bumped? It would be so wonderful if the two of us could sit together," Cassie asked, batting her lashes at the clerk who looked as if he would have signed away the deed to his house if she had asked for it.

  "I think I can make that happen," he said to Cassie with the air of someone who was pulling a fast-one on management. "Let me just see what I can do."

  After tapping away at his computer for a few minutes, during which time Cassie remained focused on him, giving him a glowing smile anytime he looked up from his task, he finally gave them a victorious smile. "That's not a problem, Ms. West, we'll be happy to accommodate Ms. Delroy in first class with you today."

  "You are just too good," Cassie said, beaming. "Thank you so much..." her eyes flicked down at the name tag on his crisp white shirt, "...Kevin."

  Julia had to hand it to her. Cassie's gift was making everyone feel like they were as special as she was and if she could make the name Kevin sound sexy and make that man feel like she cared about who he was and what he did, she deserved any and all acting accolades that came her way.

  When they got on the plane, Julia was in awe as the stewardess handed Cassie and her flutes of Champagne, and guided them smoothly to their seats as if she were the concierge in a hotel. To Cassie, it was clear this was all old business - she'd been there done that too many times to count. But for Julia, who had never been in first class before, it was a struggle not to out herself as a total newb -more than once she had to remember to keep her mouth, which seemed to keep falling open in amazement, closed.

  When the two of them were seated, with Julia doing her very best to stay cool and Cassie, gracious and kind to the last, having signed any and all autographs requested by other passengers, they finally got around to talking about the plan for the evening as the plane took off. Even that seemed smoother in first class, Julia noticed.

  "It's really too bad Yaro can't make it," Cassie said. "I think it would have been really fun with all of us. Kind of a big double date. And of course, the rumor mill would have loved it," she added as a practical afterthought.

  "Yeah," Julia said. "I can't say I'm not disappointed, but what do you do? He really cracked his head. Safety first etc. etc.," she said, giving a lopsided smile at Cassie. "We'll have fun anyway. Just promise me I won't be too third-wheely if I hang around you guys for most of the evening. When I'm not schmoozing with all the board members that is," she sighed. Networking was Julia's least favorite part of her job, but it was a necessary evil - especially when it came to charity considerations.

  Cassie was surfing through her phone (they even had INTERNET up here, Julia noted with continued amazement) and suddenly her pleasant expression turned into one of concern.

  "Um," she began, her eyes darting to Julia quickly. "Did you know Daniel and Sasha were coming tonight?"

  "What? No!" Julia yelped. "Let me see," she grasped Cassie's phone and took in Sasha Lux's Instagram post, first with dismay and then with disgust. She handed back the phone, frowning.

  "They don't even care about the charity. I know for a fact Daniel doesn't, because he complained about me donating my bonuses to them while we were together. And I hate to stereotype people but I'm guessing Sasha hasn't suddenly taken an interest in philanthropy," she closed her eyes. "God, I just want everything to go well."

  "Maybe they just want some of the publicity you've been drumming up," Cassie said encouragingly. "They could just be riding on the coattails of that and not planning anything terrible." Privately she hoped it was true, but having witnessed Sasha Lux's publicity stunts at events prior - which included strategically falling out of her top at opportune moments, instigating catfights with other attendees, and crying theft over supposedly missing earrings - she was not as optimistic as
she wanted Julia to believe.

  "If she tries anything - or if he does - I swear to god I will take them out myself," Cassie added, her voice firm. "They have put you through enough crap. This is your night. I promise, Jonathan and I will be on guard and we won't let anything take attention away from all the work the organization is doing, okay?"

  Julia looked at her friend gratefully and nodded. "Thank you. I hope neither of them try to pull anything stupid. But knowing Daniel..." she gave a deep sigh.

  With that troubled thought, the two of them decided to start a movie at the same time - a light and fluffy rom-com - to take their mind off their troubles as they soared through the clouds to their destination.

  Just as the two of them were cooing over the end of the movie, the plane began to descend and almost before she knew it, Julia was in Philadelphia. From there, the whole trip seemed to be a blur, from the whirlwind of baggage collection, to the private car Cassie had arranged to take them to their hotel (where she managed to secure Julia yet another upgrade), to the laying out of their clothes for the evening and a "face beating" as Cassie put it with her favorite local hair stylist and makeup artist.

  Julia was feeling very lost in the glamour with it all, as the makeup artist, whose name was Candice and who sported a cotton candy-pink faux hawk, worked her magic. She realized this was what it was like to be Cassie all the time - and for a dazzling moment she could almost imagine it. Men gazing at her as if she were a goddess descended from the heavens, women asking for her advice, important people calling and complimenting her. All of that would be lovely. But then her mind wandered to the way she'd felt when people had pulled out their phones to record her and Yaro at the cafe, the way they zeroed in on Cassie's body and wardrobe choices, just waiting for her to make a mistake, to look fat in an outfit, to fall from grace and prove she was really just like everyone else. That part, she thought, would be less than ideal.

  "Looks like someone else we both know and love is having a good ol' glam sesh too," Cassie said as the hair stylist, a fabulous young man named Keith with tattoos up and down both of his arms, made his way through her cornsilk-blonde tresses. She handed Julia her phone, covered in what Julia suspected were real Swarovski crystals.

  "Oh god," she said as she took in the image of Sasha Lux squeezing her surgically enhanced form into what appeared to be a pink latex glove - which miraculously expanded to dress size as it covered the peaks and valleys of her body, straining with shiny determination at the effort to keep it all in. Sasha, it seemed, had gone all out for the benefit, having had a top-up of injectables, a refresh of her hair extensions and a brand new "dress" from a designer Julia had never heard of.

  "The important thing is to bring attention to a worthy cause!" The caption said, and Julia snorted. "Is she referring to herself as a worthy cause now?"

  Cassie shrugged, taking back the phone. "Don't worry about her. You don't have to talk to her or Daniel at all, I already told Jonathan he's on security duty. He will come and carry you away bodily from the situation if that's what's required."

  Julia set her mouth grimly.

  "Oh, honey don't do that," Candice said, startled. "It makes the concealer all creasy.”

  "Sorry," Julia said, doing her best to relax her face.

  "The truth is..." she went on after a moment, speaking to Cassie while staring straight ahead at her reflection in the mirror and trying to keep her face utterly expressionless.

  "The truth is," she started again, "I just want everything to go well for the foundation tonight. If it doesn't, because of this..." she waved a hand, "this stupid drama, then I'd just as soon not go."

  Cassie's head snapped in her direction. "Oh hell no," she said. "You are not letting them back you out of this. You told me how hard you worked to make tonight happen, you said you've been working for YEARS to get the team onboard. If you back out now, because of Daniel and that...", she made a face, "...Then you're not the badass bitch I thought you were when I decided we should be friends."

  Julia looked over at Cassie, once again impressed at her new friend's boldness. Then she took a deep breath and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She set her mouth in determination and gave a short nod.

  "Draw that cats-eye on thick," she told Candice. "I need to look like the badass bitch Cassie thinks I am tonight - the perfect wing is the first step."

  "Yes, it is," Cassie said, her glimmering smile spreading over her face in satisfaction. "That's what I like to hear."

  And as Candice continued with her ministrations, Julia had to remind herself with each passing second that she WAS strong and capable - everyone was here tonight because of her. And there was no way she was going to let her sleazy ex and his new snack ruin that.

  She just wished Yaro could have been here to see her - fierce cats-eye and all.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  DESPITE RHOCHELLE’S ADAMANT and frequently expressed concerns for his health, Yaro had insisted that flying to the benefit was the right course of action and in a matter of ten minutes or so had just about managed to persuade her that he was right.

  "What if you die!?" Rhochelle wailed at first. "Julia will kill me!"

  "I'm glad that's your first concern when it comes to me dying," Yaro said wryly. "But honestly, I feel fine now."

  "That's because you're on a shitload of drugs, you idiot!" Rhochelle yelled at him, shaking the pill bottle in his face like a rattle at a temper-tantrum throwing two-year-old. "This is a really bad idea."

  "Okay," he acknowledged. "Maybe it is a really bad idea, but I promise you that I'm going to do it regardless. So, if you could help me... That would make the whole thing a lot easier for the same outcome."

  Rhochelle glared at him, her eyes narrowed.

  "Please," he said at last, doing his best puppy-dog eyes. "I need your help. I just want everything to go well tonight for Julia."

  Rhochelle seemed to be wavering between two distinct feelings and finally gave a deep sigh.

  "Fine," she said, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. "What do you need?"

  "I need you to help me book a plane ticket," said Yaro, a 34-year-old man, in perfect sincerity.

  Rhochelle took this in for a moment and then burst into laughter.

  "Okay," she said finally. "That I can manage. You still owe me one, though."

  "Noted," Yaro said grimly. "Let's do this thing."

  ---

  Julia's stomach was beginning to tie itself up in knots. The benefit was now just an hour away - and she was looking at herself in the bathroom, wearing a sleek yet simple black dress. It was perfectly serviceable. She looked sophisticated and attractive – but it was definitely lacking the ‘glam’ factor that gorgeous royal blue number had had. She sighed wistfully, turning this way and that in the mirror – and suddenly, as if the universe had heard her call, a knock sounded at her hotel room door.

  On the other side was a maid with a garment bag draped over her arm, who announced a "Special delivery for you, Ms Delroy."

  Julia, brow furrowed in confusion, took the bag and looked at the note on top.

  "You deserve this," was all it said. With a trembling hand and a ‘thanks’ for the maid, Julia closed the door and turned to her bed, laying the garment bag carefully on top of it and unzipping it slowly, holding her breath, barely daring to hope about what she might find inside.

  Julia gave a little gasp as she opened the bag to reveal the diaphanous material inside. It was her dress. Her dress, she realized now with a tiny smile of amazement. With a little squeal of excitement she scooped it up and ran to Cassie's door down the hall, still wearing her own room's fluffy white bathrobe. When Cassie opened the door, Julia launched herself into her arms, hugging her friend tightly to her.

  "I don't know what to say," Julia said, pulling back to look her friend in the eye, tears beginning to gather.

  "Neither do I," Cassie said, a strange, bewildered expression on her face.

  "It's the nicest thing
anyone has ever done for me," Julia said. "I mean it. It's... It's incredible. Thank you so much."

  Cassie continued to look bewildered.

  "Are you talking about the hotel room?"

  "The hotel room?" Julia said blankly. "No! The dress!"

  For a moment Cassie looked stunned - and then a slow, sly smile spread over her face like honey. She laughed gently and shook her head.

  "It wasn't me," she said simply, her eyes shining with merriment.

  "What do you mean?" Julia asked. "If it wasn't you, then who was it?"

  Cassie cocked her head and raised her eyebrows giving her a look. "Surely you can deduce that one on your own."

  "No," Julia said dumbly, shaking her head. "No way."

  Cassie laughed. "I put a picture of us in our dresses up on Instagram, remember?" She asked. "He must have seen it and..."

  Julia’s mouth fell open. "Yaro..." was all she could manage to get out, her eyes swimming with tears again. "Oh my god. He organized this? He didn’t say anything..."

  "Not even when he was high on painkillers," Cassie pointed out. "That's impressive."

  Julia shook her head in wonder, a small laugh escaping. "I can't believe it. God. I wish he was here so I could..."

  "So you could what?" Cassie asked, leaning against the doorframe and waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

  Julia rolled her eyes. "So I could thank him! I - I should go call him. I haven't even checked up on him today, it's just been so crazy... I haven't had a moment to spare."

  "Well, you've got one now," Cassie said, checking her dainty Tiffany watch. "We'll need to be downstairs in half an hour and I don't think it'll take you that long to slip into that dress, will it?"

  Julia shook her head. She felt physically unable to pull the smile off her face. "Okay," she said. "I'll call him and come get you in 25 minutes - sound okay?"

  "Sure does," Cassie said as Julia turned to head back to her own room.