Page 7 of Doc Defence

“Tell me all about it,” Sadie said to Doc.

“What else can I tell you? The player arrested. I dashed onto the ice, fell over, and smacked my head so hard I blacked out for a moment. Next thing I know, a giant has picked me up and deposited me in front of a dead man. Who, thankfully, was in VF, and I shocked him out of it.” Doc shrugged.

Frost winced when he remembered seeing her fall. He had known it was bad, but in the chaos, no one thought to check on her. He hadn’t thought to check on her.

“Tell me about the giant?”

Frost heard the amusement in Sadie’s voice, and his heart pounded harder, wondering what Doc was going to say about him. He turned his head away so she wouldn’t realise that he was the giant, and he was listening in on their conversation very intently.

“Nothing to tell. He had a helmet on. I was on the way to an arrest. I didn’t pay much attention to him.”

“Really? No attention at all? A man literally swept you up into his arms like you weighed nothing.”

“Hey! I’m not big,” Doc exclaimed.

“I’m not saying you are.” Sadie soothed. “You’re about the same size as me, and I’m close to seventy kilos, so while we’re not big, we’re not exactly tiny waifs men swing up into their arms.”

Frost frowned, a little annoyed that someone would imply that Doc was anything but the perfect weight for her build, even if that someone appeared to be one of her best friends.

“I was dazed when it happened. I don’t think I gave him a hernia. From what I remember, it didn’t seem much effort, and he skated bloody fast. Then he helped me again as I walked off the ice. And do you know what my big mouth managed to say? To this very serious professional athlete, whose teammate had just died in front of him.”

“What did you say?” Sadie asked gleefully.

“I said, I didn’t want to eat shit again.”

Frost bit back a laugh. He had been pretty surprised when the phrase fell out of her mouth, he wasn’t used to being around a woman who swore quite so readily. Star was always maintaining her ‘brand’ and didn’t want anyone to become offended by her language, so she didn’t swear at all.

“And what did he say?” Sadie asked.

“That I was safe, and he had me.”

“That’s, well. I…” Sadie faltered, then quickly said, “Is he single?”

“Why would I know that?” Doc sounded affronted.

“Well, which one was it? Google will tell us.”

“He had an accent. It wasn’t Australian. He must have been the Canadian player, something or other Forster,” Doc supplied.

Frost’s brain started to whirl. If they Googled him, there would be a picture, and it would become clear who he was and that he was eavesdropping. He debated what to do, maybe walk off, maybe pretend he hadn’t heard, maybe—

He shocked himself when he said, “I’m not single.”

Both women turned to look at him, surprise clear on their faces. He locked gazes with the Doc and saw her eyes widen, with recognition sparking in them.

“Who are you?” Sadie finally asked when Doc didn’t say anything.

“Frost.” He held his hand out to Sadie.

She stared at him for a long moment before she took it and replied, “Sadie. And she’s Eth—“ Sadie giggled and stopped when Doc growled. “This is definitely not Ethel. This is Hel.” She gestured to Doc, who was glowering at her friend.

“Ethel?” Frost lifted an eyebrow in question.

“My parents have terrible taste in names, and if you even think about calling me Ethel, I’ll kneecap you. Which I’m guessing won’t be good for someone who is a professional athlete.” Hel smiled sweetly, and her gaze locked with Frosts.

They stood there staring at each other, and despite being very aware that his girlfriend was sitting behind him, waiting for him to bring her a ridiculous drink, he found he couldn’t look away from Hel. Didn’t want to look away from Hel.

“Frost.” Sadie broke the silence and nudged her friend with her elbow. “I assume you have an actual name and aren’t named after frozen water?”

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