Page 10 of Icebreaker
I needed to end this before our pissing contest went too far and Ellie, the object of our horn locking, said fuck it and headed back to the dorms. “Thanksfor carrying the boxes up,” I said by way of a peace offering. Matty gave me a knowing look and a wink. The fucker was doing this shit on purpose.
“Tate has my number if you change your mind.” With that, Matty swaggered out of the room to grab another box. I was gratified to see that Ellie turned back to his task rather than watch the forward leave. Ellie obviously had taste.
Between the guys and me, all of Ellie’s belongings were brought over in one trip. In under thirty minutes, all the vehicles were unloaded, and the boxes were brought inside the apartment. Even so, Ellie showed signs of exhaustion. Given the last week and constant interruption of sleep, his droopy eyes and slower movements shouldn’t have been a surprise. I ushered the team out with the promise of a pizza delivery on its way to the athletic dorms so Ellie could unpack without his belongings being on display.
“I think I’ll start with putting away my books,” Ellie said once the front door slammed shut after them. A stifled yawn promptly followed his announcement. His hand hid nothing.
There was no reason for me to share with Ellie, but in high school, I’d discovered Daddy kink from mydadof all people. His being a college psych professor whose primary area of research was sexuality meant that nothing was off-limits in our house. Anyway, Ellie’s exhaustion, not only his cuteness, pinged my Daddy instincts. He needed rest, not more work.
“Before you get started on that, do you want some lunch?” I crossed the room and crouched next to him. Ellie looked like an overwhelmed boy sitting on the rug surrounded by the boxes of his life.
“Yeah, I packed my dorm food in one of the plastic bags. I can make myself a PB&J.”
“Or we can share the leftover pasta my mom sent home with me so it doesn’t go to waste.”
“You don’t mind sharing?” Ellie bit his lip in indecision, followed by a stifled yawn. I pushed the needle by standing and then pulling him behind me. I resisted the urge to pull him closer to me, but it was a near thing. He was exhausted.
“Nah, she always sends too much home with me. You’d be doing me a favor, and I’ll have less guilt when I throw it away because I’m tired of eating it.” With his hand in mine, I led him into the small kitchen. He hadn’t noticed we were still holding hands, and I wasn’t going to remind him. I deposited him at the two-seater table by the window and started pulling food from the fridge.
“Can I help you with anything?”
“Nope, I’ve got it. Why don’t you relax for a little bit? You’ve had a few exciting days.” Ellie gave a longing look toward the living room. “Did you forget something?” I asked as I followed his gaze.
“Ha! When I need to relax, I usually color. It’s dumb.” Ellie’s defensiveness sent his shoulders up to his ears. “I don’t know why I even told you.”
“Because you’re too tired to remember to keep quiet. There’s nothing wrong with liking what you like. We all like dumb things…do the dumb thing.” When Ellie looked unconvinced, I added, “My mom likes coloring mandalas. She gets a few new books every year in her stocking.”
“I’ve tried those, but I like simpler ones.”
“Are they somewhere easy to get to? You can color while I do this.”
“No, they’re packed away.”
“Hold on a sec… Don’t go anywhere.” I raced out of the kitchen and grabbed some colored pencils I’d tossed in the desk drawer after an art class and some blank printer paper. When I returned, I dropped them triumphantly on the table in front of Ellie. “Draw me a picture. We’ll put it on the fridge.”
Ellie snorted at my suggestion, but he also did what he was told. By the time lunch was ready, there was a pretty forest scene ready to hang with a magnet.
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLIE
How I endedup in this apartment was still a bit of a mystery. What started as a disagreement with my roommate ended with me in a private bedroom in an off-campus apartment. And because I now lived in an upside-down world, that apartment was occupied by Brennen Tate, goalie for the Rainier Lumberjacks. The “Tater” himself. Putting aside the truly horrible nickname, it was…baffling.
Unfortunately, now I had to figure out what to do with the mess I’d created. At the dorm, Landon had contributed, but this was all me. The piles of clothes, the hangers, the random books, and the stuffies. My poor, sweet, baby stuffed animals were crammed haphazardly in a box.
The entire room overwhelmed me, so rather than make any progress, I sat on the floor and wrote in my journal. Every attempt I made to fix it worsened the situation, and I knew if I didn’t get it together soon, I would be in the same spot tomorrow with more mess. My single unpacked stuffie was in my lap, and we contemplated the best place to begin.
“Knock, knock?” Brennen peeked his head around the door. “You okay?”
“I think so. Why?”
“Because I knocked and called your name and you didn’t answer.” He looked around the room and then back at me. “Wow.”
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I was putting my stuff away and got a little distracted.”
Brennen raised his eyebrows and looked around at the mess I’d made. “Have you actually gotten anything in the drawers yet?” he asked with shocked eyes. My lack of organization in personal spaces was the bane of my existence.
“No, not yet. I was trying to decide how to organize everything, but then I got distracted, and this is what I ended up with. I don’t even know where my stuff is for school tomorrow…my textbook and notebook are in here somewhere. I worked ahead on the reading, but it won’t matter if I can’t find them. At this rate, I’m probably going to fail the class.”
