40. Asher

I dressedfor the fundraising gala in a daze. Marcus was wandering around the apartment, drinking and chatting away. I felt like my vocal cords had been cut. Talking was an effort. Hell, breathing wasn't too easy at the moment, either.

"Yikes, don't check your phone. Do you even follow the bitch?" Marcus asked, staring at his cell.

I grabbed it from him before he could move it away from me.

"Call my girlfriend a bitch again, and I'll stab your eye out," I warned him and looked at the screen.

It was Winter's page. She'd just posted a picture. She was dressed up for the gala, stunning in a dark-red gown. She was standing beside that motherfucker, Trent. He had his arm around her. She was smiling, but it was as fake as a plastic Halloween mask.

What the fuck had happened? I needed to speak to her properly, without any bullshit or interruptions. Something terrible had happened, and she was hiding it. She really thought I couldn't see right through her pathetic acting skills by now. My gaze landed on her left hand in the picture. I could tell even from here that she wasn't wearing the ring.

She took your ring off? Seems like she's done with you.

"Let's go." I threw Marcus' cell at his chest and glanced in the mirror one last time. I was wearing the suit that Winter had bought me. The last time I'd worn it, we'd been at her parents' house, and I'd gone down on her in the powder room to calm her down. It felt like a lifetime ago. I wasn't letting it end like this. No fucking way.

We were just at the beginning and if she forgot that, I was here to remind her.

The event was being held at The Dunes. Leonard would have a heart attack seeing me back again, no longer just a lowly staff member he could insult but an honored guest and representative of HHU's hockey team.

We'd only been inside the huge ballroom ten minutes when Marcus swore. "Winter at nine o'clock, asshole in tow."

I took a deep drink of one of the cocktails they'd been passing around and turned to see the object of my obsession. She was standing beside Trent while he shmoozed with some older men. I'd have thought he'd forgotten that she was there, she was so blank and uncommunicative, like a lifeless doll, except he kept glancing over at her, reaching out to pinch her cheek or slide his hand over her lower back. The fucker couldn't believe his luck that she was there, letting him touch her. But why was she? That was the most important question and one I kept coming back to time and again. Why? What had the motherfucker done to convince her?

Her eyes met mine across the room, and it was like being kicked by a horse in the fucking chest. My heart stopped beating and held its breath.

Trent seemed to notice she was distracted after a moment and followed her gaze. His gaze landed on me, and he smirked. Then he pulled her close and leaned in.

The dead man was about to kiss her. He was about to kiss my girl, and she wasn't doing a damn thing to stop it.

I only barely held myself back from shouting across the room or tearing over there and ripping his goddamn head off. Instead, I forced myself to watch. Trent went to kiss Winter, and she abruptly moved her head so his mouth landed on her cheek. Other than that vicious head swivel, she just stood there, an empty bag of bones, staring at me.

When he pulled back, she clamped a hand over her mouth, like she felt sick. A moment later, she had disappeared, and I could bet on where she'd gone.

"Leave it, man. That business looks like a whole lot of trouble, and not the fun kind," Marcus remarked, having watched the entire thing.

"I don't care if it's fun or not…Winter is my business, period. That motherfucker is the reason for all of this."

Marcus cracked his knuckles. "So, we grab him, and make us tell him what's going on."

"No. Winter hasn't gone to this much fucking effort for nothing. I want to know what's going on and I want to know from her. She'll open up to me willingly, or I'll make her."

"Who said romance is dead?" Marcus chuckled grimly and slapped me on the back. "Have fun."

I turned and strode away in the direction of the bathrooms. I waited for a few ladies to leave the restroom before pushing in.

I got lucky, as only Winter and one other woman were in front of the mirror. As soon as I came in, the woman looked around, panicked.

I jerked my head toward the door. "Leave, now."

I didn't have to tell her twice. She scurried out of the room, leaving me alone with my Ice Queen.

She watched me in the mirror. Cautious.

"What is it, Ash? Trent will be expecting me." Her voice was emotionless.

"That fucker can wait. I want to speak to my girlfriend."

"I'm not your girlfriend anymore, and I never really was. It was just a game," she muttered.

I crossed the room to her and hauled her into my arms, her back to the counter.

"Call what we had just a game one more time, I fucking dare you," I growled at her.

She wet her lips. A pulse in her neck was thumping like crazy. She was nervous. Afraid? Why was she trying to stop me from slaying her dragons for her?

"Of course it was a game. I mean, what else could it have been?" she challenged.

She was trying her best to be cool, but I could see through it.

"It was the start of everything, and we both know it. You're in love with me, DeLaurie, just like I'm in love with you — nothing you say can change that."

She scoffed, while her creamy cheeks turned pink. "Love? I don't even know if I'm capable of love, I've certainly never seen it demonstrated. Between my parents' mutual apathy and your single-mom family, I'm not sure that either of us have any idea what real love should look like."

"It looks like this, like us — because we love each other. That feeling in your chest, like something is missing every second we're apart? That's our love. I know you feel it, you're not a good enough actress to convince me you don't."

She stared at me for a long time and then shrugged. "Well, I don't know what to say, then. I think you're projecting. I'm not in love and have never been. Love — what a joke. It's just a fairy tale designed to placate the masses and make them think their lives have meaning when they don't. Nothing has meaning, really, when you think about it."

"Jesus, I want to fuck some sense into you. What is this cold-shoulder act? You think you can get away with it now, and I won't see through it? I know you, Winter. You let me see inside, and you can't fool me now. You might still have a vicious, smart little mouth on you, but I know the rest of you. I'm in there." I tapped her chest, just over her heart, pressing my fingers into her skin so I could feel her heart beating. "In so deep, you can't just root me out." I wanted to strangle her. I wanted to comfort her. Most of all, I wanted to pick her up and shake the truth out of her, and then fix it.

She shook her head. "You can't be sure?—"

I didn't let her finish speaking. I kissed her.

There was nothing sweet about it. I bit her lip, and she bit mine back, drawing blood. Our teeth clashed, and I picked her up and sat her on the sink so roughly the fancy glass bottles of soap and lotion fell and shattered on the floor.

I pushed her skirt up, driven to be inside her with an urgency I'd never felt until now. Not even racing down the ice, puck in my control, seconds before the final buzzer felt as important as this right here, right now.

I didn't bother pushing my pants down, just ripped open the button, tore down the fly, and freed my cock. I dragged Winter's ass forward to the edge of the counter. She was staring at me dazed, excited. Afraid? I couldn't tell for sure.

She opened her legs. I stepped closer, hooking her panties aside and sliding home.

She cried sharply when I bottomed out inside her. I stilled for a moment, relishing the feeling of being balls-deep and finally joined with the object of my obsession, the woman I loved, after days of being ignored. I leaned my forehead against hers.

"Someone might come in," she fretted.

"I don't care. Let them see. You're mine, Winter. Mine."

She pressed herself against me and pulled me close when I thrust. I didn't take long. I was too ready for her, too rough and wild. She welcomed my every touch, from my hand wrapping around her neck to my cock pounding ruthlessly inside her. Using her body to take out my goddamn anger at her stonewalling me. She didn't complain. She took every brutal kiss, every snap of my hips and rough circle of her clit.

She'd missed me just as much as I'd missed her.

When we touched, I felt alive again. My heart remembered how to beat in her embrace.

We came together in a mess of panting and stolen kisses. I kissed her cheeks and forehead; I kissed the tears from her eyes and traced the trails of salt down her cheeks.

"Tell me what's going on with you, Ice Queen."

That request seemed to snap her out of her pleasure. Reality stole through her crystal- blue gaze. She stiffened and sat up, sending me sliding out of her on a rush of cum.

She stood shakily and bent quickly, tugging up her panties without bothering to clean my cum from where it dripped out of her. It was hot as fuck.

She finished fixing her dress in the mirror, hiding all evidence of what we'd done.

She looked at me, and the Winter who had just fucked me like her life depended on my touch was gone, locked away behind that awful emotionless mask she'd worn every day in high school. It hadn't bothered me then. I hadn't yet met the extraordinary girl who lived beneath, just waiting for someone to see her.

A sharp rap at the door sent panic shooting through her gaze.

"Winter?" Trent called.

I recognized his reedy tone, desperate to sound commanding but failing.

"I have to go. We shouldn't have done that. It's better to make a clean break," Winter said, avoiding my eyes.

"You really think you're fooling me, Your Majesty? It's not working, so best just come clean now, before you drive both of us insane."

She hesitated for a long time, watching me in the mirror. Her eyes were unbearably sad.

"What do you want me to say? What will it take to forget about me?" Her tone was pleading.

"The truth and only that," I ground out.

She shook her head, her eyes suddenly glittering dangerously with unshed tears. Then she folded her arms cross her chest and tossed her hair just like she always used to while driving me crazy. "Honestly, the truth is that Trent can give me a better life than you can. I'm not cut out to be poor, struggling and clawing every day. I don't want that life." She raised her chin, met my eye, and dared me to call her a liar.

A twisted laugh left me. "You're fucking with me right now."

She shook her head. "We don't belong together, Asher. You can't give me the life I want, and I won't be able to make you happy. It's not the beginning of everything. It's the end." She stepped back and fixed her hair in the mirror.

I could only stare at her.

She checked her lipstick, perfectly nonchalant in her cruelty, then turned on her heel. I would never have caught it if I hadn't been watching her closely. She tucked her hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. No, not just trembling. Her hands were shaking. My Ice Queen was not nearly as unaffected as she wanted me to think. I grabbed her hand as she tried to pass me.

"You leave it like this, and I have no choice but to force you, baby. You leave me no choice but to make you tell me the truth, and that'll hurt us both."

"You can't hurt me, Asher. I'm the Ice Queen, remember? There's nothing inside but frozen shards of glass. Don't waste your time," she said flatly. Then she flicked a heartbreaking look at me. "Your time is worth so much more than me." She pulled away and made for the door.

"Winter," I started after her.

She got to the door, opened it, and stopped.

Outside the bathroom, Trent was waiting for her. He cocked an eyebrow. "I was wondering where my date ran off to."

"She was with me. She'll always be with me," I said, stepping out and deciding that now was the perfect time to break that motherfucker's nose.

Trent nodded and grinned. He saluted someone over my shoulder. I twisted around to see Coach Eric watching us. Damn it. I couldn't do anything with the Coach there, and Trent knew it.

That simple fact made him so confident he swaggered over to me and patted me condescendingly on the arm.

"My condolences, Martino. I'm sure it stings to lose one like this one, but you'll get over it. There's plenty of girls who'll be grateful to have a hot hockey player boyfriend, even if he is poor as shit and going nowhere in life."

Despite knowing I shouldn't rise to the bait, my hands were on Trent before he'd finished speaking. I hauled him against my chest and glared into his muddy eyes. My entire life, I'd been the poor guy, the one who had to work every single fucking weekend and holiday. The one who had to think about where the next meal was coming from. I'd thought it had stopped bothering me, but standing there with Trent, a ridiculous excuse for a human being, the unfairness of it all made me furious.

"Ash! Stop, you'll hurt him!" Winter pulled at my arm. "Don't hurt him!"

My heart stopped. I faced her.

"You're worried he'll get hurt?" I asked. "You actually worry about him?"

She swallowed hard and nodded.

That hurt. It really fucking hurt. I had to give it to Her Majesty. She'd finally drawn first blood.

I let Trent go, and he sagged into Winter. She turned him around and led them out of the hall. It felt like I'd been stabbed in the heart. She was the only one who could inflict that kind of damage.

My hurt transformed into fiery fury as I watched them go. My sweet, sweet baby…always choosing the hard way.

Oh, Ice Queen. Don't say I didn't warn you.