Juicy Rebound (IceCats Book 1)

by Toni Aleo

  Juicy Rebound

  An IceCats Novel

  Toni Aleo

  Copyright © 2019 by Toni Aleo

  All rights reserved.

  Juicy Rebound is a work of fiction. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Editing by: Lisa Hollett of Silently Correcting Your Grammar

  Proofing by: Jenny Rarden

  Cover Design: Lori Jackson Design

  Photo by: Wander Aguiar

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Introduction

  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

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek

  Anton By Brenda Rothert

  Also by Toni Aleo

  About Toni Aleo

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  Before you get started!

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  To 2018,

  Thanks for making me stronger.

  I'm ready for my comeback.

  Chapter One

  Chandler

  The puck stays at the end of my stick as I move it through my legs, back and forth. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. It’s almost how I move, in a way. When I was younger, my mom would be scolding me for something—laundry, my room was dirty, hockey shit everywhere—and while she talked, I was moving the puck across the hardwood. There wasn’t a moment when I didn’t have a stick in my hand and a puck at the end of my blade. Dad had to replace the floor four times while I was growing up. I always felt bad for that, so when I was signed to the South Carolina IceCats, I made sure not only to give them new floors, but I also bought them each a new Lexus since my hockey gear had stunk up their cars too.

  I pass the puck up and against my goalie’s pads. My eyes aren’t on my buddy, Nico Merryweather, as he speaks, but he knows I’m listening. He doesn’t even seem to mind that I am using his pads as a bounce board.

  “So she’s going to town on me. My cock is so far down her throat, and I’m almost gone.” I quirk my lip at the side as I lift my eyes to meet his gaze. He’s got this euphoric look on his face, but then it turns to disgust as quickly as my puck comes off his pad. “Then she farts.”

  I miss the puck as I gawk at him. “No way.”

  “Dude, I shit you not. I guess she thought it was going to be silent, but it was loud. Her ass clapped, and I couldn’t help it, I started laughing.”

  I explode with laughter. “Shit, what did she say?”

  “She kept going until the smell hit us.”

  I almost fall on the ice. “You’re lying,” I somehow get out between my laughs.

  “Dude, she left. I don’t even think she wiped her mouth. She just walked out. Worst hookup ever.”

  I lean on my stick and shake my head as our laughter fills the Malcolm Peterson Arena. Yes, our owner named the place after himself. I guess if you throw a couple hundred million into an arena, you have that right. “That’s what you get for using Tinder. I’ve told you a million times, stop swiping right.”

  He chortles as I skate out to get the puck I’d let get by me. As I round it, the crunch of my skates on the ice is welcoming. We’re the only ones here. Practice is over, the guys have hit the showers, but I wanted some extra time on the ice. It’s better than going home and doing a whole lot of nothing. I do need to get Sadie from my parents’ house since I’ll be home for the next four days, but for the time being, I need to unload a bit.

  I go to the blue line, and thankfully, Merry knows to set up. He’s a huge goalie, 6’9” and built like an agile bull. Not sure those exist, but if they did, they’d look like Merry. I use my stick to dump out the bucket of pucks, and then I line them up to shoot. I square up, pull back, and use all my momentum to shoot the hell out of the puck. This is what I’m known for. My hard-as-hell shot that makes it through the defense and, more than once, through the goalie. This is why the scouts wanted me for the IceCats. I’ve been here for five years, and things are good. Real damn good. I love it here, and most of all, I love being a franchise player.

  The pucks come for Merry with no mercy whatsoever. Some go through; some come off his pads. He is like a wall, and I have to find the cracks and holes in it. Fifteen minutes and over fifty pucks later, I feel way better. I reach down for the bucket and start for Merry as he pulls up his mask.

  “So what did she do now?”

  Funny he asks. I try not to roll my eyes as I lean back on the boards, playing with a puck as I meet his concerned gaze. “She feels I should keep paying her rent until she is fully on her feet. She’s apparently between jobs.”

  Merry raises a brow. “What part of prenup doesn’t she get? The fact that you paid for the divorce and let her keep her car and all that sparkling shit you kept buying her, in my opinion, is enough.”

  I shrug. I hate when he reminds me of that. I feel like an idiot. “It was her shit. I didn’t want it.”

  “Still. What did you say?”

  “I told her no. Told her I’m not paying shit, and that’s that. She left me, not the other way around.”

  Merry nods his head. His long blond hair falls from his mask into his face. He pushes it away, annoyed. “Exactly. Good for you. But then, why are you all brooding and butthurt?”

  “I’m not.”

  “You are.”

  “Okay, maybe a little bit.” I groan as I shake my head. “I don’t know. It pisses me off that it’s been over a year since she left me, and she’s still bothering me.”

  “Well, she’s a complete psycho, so what do you expect?” He says it so calmly and with no-holds-barred as he gauges my reaction. “And you know it’s true.”

  I do. Everyone warned me not to marry Lana, that we were too young and didn’t know each other well enough, but I didn’t care. I’m not one of those guys who runs from relationships. Many of those guys play for the IceCats, Merry being one of them, and I don’t hate on them for it. I went to college with a bunch of guys who did the same. But I actually want the wife, the dogs, and the kids. I want a life with someone who loves me and whom I love. I want what my parents gave me. I thought I had it with Lana… Come to find out, I did not.

  Lesson learned.

  “Mom thinks I should block her number.”

  “Mom is a genius,” he says genuinely. “You should listen to her more often.”

  I chuckle a bit as I throw my gloves into the bucket and begin to pick up all the pucks. Merry starts pushing the goal toward the boards so the Zamboni can come through. “You just want my mom to keep cooking for you.”

  “Always.”

  We share a laugh as we head off the ice and into the showe
rs. I squirt some body wash on my puff that is a manly green and start washing myself. From beside me, Merry asks, “You don’t miss her, do you?”

  Even though he can’t see me, I shake my head. “I don’t. That ship sailed when she set my house on fire with my dog in it.”

  Merry snorts before he jokes, “But remember, Moon? It was an electrical fire.”

  I roll my eyes. I still don’t understand how she got away with that. If she hadn’t had my dog in her arms when I pulled up, I probably would have been sent away for murder. My poor Sadie would be parentless. “She’s a crazy person.”

  “I told you not to let her back in.”

  “My parents were out of town, and I needed someone to feed Sadie. I thought she would go in, do the task, and leave. Not try to move back in and freak when I told her no.”

  When he starts humming the music from Psycho, I laugh. “You’re an ass.”

  “I still think you should set that as her ringtone if you don’t block her number.”

  I shake my head as I wash myself free of soap and then turn off the water. After drying myself and getting dressed, I sit down while he finishes up. I lean back into my locker with my Gatorade in hand as I say, “Women are crazy.”

  “Preach, son.”

  “But damn it, if I don’t want me a good one.”

  “Man, I don’t know. If her profile says ‘Comes hard and loud,’ beware. She could mean that she farts hard and loud.”

  Of course he would say that as I’m taking a long pull of my Gatorade. When the yellow liquid comes out my nose, he laughs hard as I flip him off. “I dislike you greatly right now.”

  “In other words, I’m an asshole.”

  “All day. I was trying to be kind.”

  “Such a good guy,” he teases, wrapping his arm around my neck and squeezing it hard. “Want to go get a cup of coffee?”

  “There is that place by my new house I haven’t tried.”

  “Cool, let’s go. And then I can go lie on the beach and see if I can find a sexy little honey.”

  I side-eye him. “You know all women fart, right?”

  He scrunches up his face. “Yeah, but isn’t it supposed to be like fairy dust or something? That chick was rank.”

  I picked a great friend with this one.

  We get to Perk Me Up about thirty minutes later. Malcolm Peterson Arena is built in the middle of fucking nowhere. Only thing out there is the training facilities. Not even a Walmart. It’s sort of inconvenient. The town I live in, Molten, which is where most of the team lives since it’s the closest city to the arena, has everything I need. After living in Nashville, Tennessee for almost my whole life, I was nervous to come to an area so new. Thankfully, because I might be a mama’s boy, my parents came with me.

  What? I need someone to do my laundry and cook for me. That’s all changed now, especially after my shitshow of a marriage, but they’ve stuck around.

  After only a month of living in South Carolina, we learned Molten was the place to be. Small-town living in a big city. It’s nice. I used to live on the west side so I was the closest I could be to the arena since I am there almost every day. But when Lana burned down our house, I decided I needed a big change, so I moved to the east side. The east side has a beach, and man, is it gorgeous. After moving in to my little bungalow four days ago, I can’t help but think I’d rather have started taking the extra fifteen-minute ride to the arena a while back. The ocean alone is worth the time it takes to get there.

  Since I haven’t been on this side of town long, I haven’t had a chance to hit up Perk Me Up. I love me some coffee, and so does Merry. We head inside, and it’s got a groovy kind of feel to it. Very hippie-dippie.

  “They probably have special brownies.”

  He’s such a dork.

  As we head to the counter, though, something catches my eyes. Better yet, someone. Someone I know. Her long brown hair flows down her back in beautiful, thick curls. Her arms aren’t as toned as I remember, and I need to know if she still has those thighs and ass that do not stop. Her lashes are long, kissing her rosy cheeks, and she speaks quickly into her phone. Her lips are thick and a nice glossy pink color that has me tight in all the right places. She’s in a pair of hip-hugging jeans and a weathered teal Bullies tee. The shirt has seen better days, but it looks awesome on her and brings back crazy memories of my time on the Bellevue Bullies. All that should be enough to stun me in place, but it’s her bright-blue eyes that do just that. My heart starts to race, and shit, my palms are sweating. The memories from college come back tenfold. Almost like taking a puck to the ribs, right where there isn’t any padding.

  Good Lord, it’s Amelia Justice.

  My best friend’s sister.

  Chapter Two

  Amelia

  I feel, deep in my soul, that I may murder my cousin and best friend, Shelli.

  “I don’t know, Ryan. I wasn’t ready to talk to you.”

  My brother, Ryan, is irate on the other line. “I haven’t spoken to you except through DM, and that’s absolute bullshit. I basically had to steal Shelli’s phone to get your number.”

  Okay, maybe I won’t kill her. Technically, my brother’s phone call is without her knowledge. I’ve been on the down low for a year now; I’m not ready to speak to anyone yet. “I understand, but I’m trying to figure out my life. It’s only been a year. I’m still trying to find my footing.”

  “I am your life. I am your brother.”

  I perk my brow. “Whoa, guy, you’re talking to your sister, Amelia, not your love bug, Sofia.”

  He doesn’t seem amused. “Amelia, listen. I’m sorry about what I said—”

  I know what he is about to say, and that’s a big-ten nope! “Listen, can I call you later? I gotta go. I’m at work.”

  “I don’t care. Knowing you, you’ll go change your number.”

  Not saying I wasn’t thinking that, but it would be a hassle. It’s not that I don’t love my brother. God, do I love him. He was there for me when our dad died in ways no one else could be and then even more as I finished my teenage years. But then I went off and got married, and that went south fast. It’s all still a bit raw; I need a little more time to heal. Figure things out.

  “There are things I wanted to tell you and not through DM.”

  There is something in his voice that makes me pause. “What?”

  “Sofia and I are getting married, and you still haven’t said if you’re coming.”

  My heart soars for them. I always knew they would get married. They’re those rare kind of people that find each other and don’t let go. “And we opened the gym in dad’s name. Sofia has a competitive team and an awesome rec program for gymnasts of all ages. Come home. You can work there. With the wedding coming up, we want you to be a part of it.”

  And be around my mom, Ryan, my aunt, and my uncle? Yeah, hard pass.

  “Listen, that’s wonderful and I’m so happy for you and Sof, but I seriously gotta go. I’ll call you back tonight.”

  He groans loudly. “Promise?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “On Dad.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I mutter, and again, he doesn’t seem amused. I understand his anger. I haven’t been the greatest sister for the last couple years. In my defense, it’s mostly everyone else’s fault. Maybe a bit of mine because I am stubborn. “Fine, yes. I promise.”

  I quickly hang up the phone and take in a deep breath. I haven’t spoken to anyone in my family in four very long years. They weren’t happy when I left to be with my ex, and they sure as hell weren’t happy when I chose him over them. In my defense, they made me choose. I was just trying to follow my heart. It was a bad choice on my end, which is why, when it ended, no one knew. I didn’t want to tell them, and I sure as hell didn’t want this to be the way my first conversation with my brother played out on the phone. Yet, here we are. I can’t dwell on it. I gotta push on. I gotta serve people.

  I turn around as I exhale and say, “Hey!
Would you like to try our new… Holy shit!” It all happened so quickly, and I really didn’t mean to curse in front of customers, but holy shit, it’s Chandler Moon.

  Like it did when I was only eighteen and seeing him for the first time, my body starts to quiver and everything goes hot. A little sweat gathers at the small of my back, which used to happen only when I was about to hit beam. My chest gets tight because, hell, I’m not breathing. How can I when he is standing in front of me? If I thought Chandler was beautiful in college, the man standing before me now makes the boy from before seem so small and unmemorable.

  He’s huge, thick with muscle in all the right places. His shoulders are massive, and with the tank he is wearing, I get to enjoy the fact that he is covered in tattoos. I want to inspect them so badly, but since I haven’t seen or talked to him in over five years, I think that might be frowned upon. His dark hair is shaved up the side but long on top. One piece falls right over his eyes, my favorite feature of his. They’re this amazing, stunning topaz color I’ve never seen on anyone else. I’ll never forget the moment I met his eyes for the first time. It was like missing a back handspring on beam and landing with the beam right between my legs.

  He blew my vagina to smithereens.

  But nothing ever happened. He was my brother’s best friend, and I was off-limits. Then I got back with Drew, and off I went. But none of that matters now. What the hell is he doing here?