Page 76 of Doc Defence

“Hi, Hel.” Aiden waved his full hands enthusiastically at her. “Is Frost here?”

“Yeah. He’s here.” Hel pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Frost, who was now scowling at the younger man. “You know if the wind changes, your face will stay like that,” Hel teased.

“Yeah,” Frost growled before he cleared his throat and got his manners back. “Come on in, Aiden. We were about to watch a movie. Do you want to join us?”

“Really?” Aiden’s eyes lit up, and he bounced in the doorway. “Claudia’s taken Ava to see her parents, and I’ve got the day off work. I thought it would be amazing, but I spent the last three hours alone and got bored, so I figured you’d be home Frost, so I should come and see you. And here I am!” Aiden said excitedly.

“And here you are,” Frost repeated.

Hel glanced at him sharply, having heard the slight bite to his voice, and Frost shrugged at her apologetically. Shaking her head, she stepped aside to let Aiden in, gesturing for him to walk ahead of her so she could shut the door.

“I’m not drinking at the moment, Aiden,” Frost said.

Aiden looked baffled, then glanced down at the bottle of champagne in his hand. “Oh, no, that’s for Hel. Claudia thought you would like it. It’s a small thank you from us.” He held the bottle out to Hel.

“Thanks. You didn’t have to.” She took the bottle, feeling slightly embarrassed about the gift.

“Yeah, we did. Oh, and the chocolates are for you too.” He pushed them at her.

“Thanks.” Hel took the box as well.

“They’re my favourites,” Aiden added.

Hel raised an eyebrow at the young man, who had a very hopeful expression on his face. “Shall we open them now?”

“That sounds great.” Aiden grinned and bounded over to the sofa. Picking the popcorn bowl up from the centre, he plopped himself down. Pushing his shoes off, he put his feet up on the footstool and relaxed.

Hel suppressed the ironic smile that rose. She didn’t need to be worried about keeping her hands to herself, they now had a very large chaperone between them.

As she sat down, she caught Frost’s eyes and their gazes held until Aiden declared loudly. “What are we watching?”

The three of them sat on the sofa for the rest of the day watching a movie marathon, and by the evening, Hel had spent more time thinking about the situation with Frost than watching what was on the screen. And she came to only one conclusion: she needed to protect her heart now. She couldn’t put herself in any more situations where temptation might arise, so even though they lived together, she needed to start avoiding Frost.

CHAPTER 26

HEL

Helstoodwatchingtheice, looking for any sign the team would need her. She made sure she only faced the front, but the person she was most aware of was Frost, standing at the opposite end of the bench next to Coach Morgan.

Things had been a little weird between them since the sofa incident. But she kept her resolve to distance herself from him. She had been polite but made sure she didn’t linger in his glance or let her hand graze his when she took things from him.

It felt so strange, as her heart wanted to get closer to him, but her brain kept telling her he was leaving and to avoid him.

Rocky hurtled through the door from the ice and flung himself onto the bench next to Hel, taking panting breaths as he recovered from his exertions. When he could talk again, they continued with the conversation that had been interrupted by his shift.

“You said Abbey got into Dental school?” Hel prompted, as the big player had dropped the information as he leapt into the game.

Rocky’s face lit up. “Yes!”

“That’s amazing,” Hel exclaimed in delight.

“I know. I’m so proud of her. It looks like this will be my last season with the Wombats. We’re moving to Darwin next year.” The young man didn’t take his eyes off the game.

His teammates skated up and down at such lightning speed that Hel couldn’t make out what was going on despite having now read the rules of the game. Hel had opened her mouth several times when they were at home to ask Frost to explain a bit more but always stopped herself as she was trying to stay away from him. In fact, she really needed to move out. She couldn’t wait to move out of Frost’s. She hesitated for a moment, in reality, that was a lie. She didn’t want to leave, she wanted to stay forever. So she needed to move out. She needed to gain distance from him.

She tried to put thoughts of Frost out of her head, but without conscious effort, her eyes swung to him, standing so close to her. He was staring right back at her. Shit, she shifted her gaze back down to Rocky.

“That’s great news. What will you do in Darwin?” Hel asked.

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