Between hatred and desire.
Nico was brought up to hate Daniel. The feud between their families is centuries old. But now they are both part of the Terengian national ice hockey team.
Working together is proving difficult. A medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing seems increasingly out of reach. Frustration threatens to tear the team apart. Still Nico and Daniel grow closer every day.
But Nico is keeping a secret. A secret that threatens his very existence. But with every second they spend together, Daniel comes closer to uncover it.
Daniel
Frustrated, I throw my hockey stick against my locker and the clang of carbon against steel is surprisingly liberating. But my display of anger and disappointment rattles my teammates, and they give me a wide berth.
Yesterday was great. The sledge hockey game was great. Sledge hockey, a style of ice hockey created for people with lower limb impairments, shares most of the same rules, but players sit in a sled and use two short sticks to maneuver.
I’ve loved the sport ever since I got roped into helping the coach of my old youth team who also coached the local sledge hockey team. I could end up refereeing, acting as assistant coach, or even play as a substitute when there were too few players. Now, I’m the unofficial assistant coach of a sledge hockey team in Los Angeles when I have time — which is not often, unfortunately. The NHL season is long and hard.
Yet all that fun yesterday was marred by the fact that our team wasn’t complete. Nico had disappeared. Gabriel whispered to me that he’d run off even before the game started.
It’s so annoying! The team is falling apart and it’s all my fault! I’m the captain and my job is to make this bunch of players into a cohesive team. A team that trusts each other. A team that sticks together. A team that plays together.
Unusually, I’m first to hit the showers and to leave the locker room. Then I’m hurrying as fast as I can towards the forest. I need to be alone. I want to sort out my thoughts and think of a new strategy. I had hoped to get everyone to bond over some sledge hockey antics, and I succeeded — with one glaring exception.
As I trudge through the forest, I’m overcome by despair. Why is everything going wrong? This was supposed to be my year! First, there was the breakup with Claudia and now our national team is falling apart!
Somehow, who knows how long later, I end up back at the frozen pond. Today, however, I’m not alone. Three teenagers, about fourteen years old by the look of them, are dashing across the ice with sticks and pucks. I stop to watch them. They’re good. Astonishingly good. But what catches my eye even more is their joy. Every move they make shows how comfortable they are in this little world of theirs.
One of the girls looks up, catches my eye, and screams. The other two players turn to me and gasp. It’s obvious, they’ve not only seen me, they’ve recognized me. I wave at them a little awkwardly. Normally, I’m totally fine meeting fans, but today I’ve been so caught up in my own problems that, strange as it may sound, I hadn’t thought these kids would spot me — let alone recognize me.
“Mr. Miller, do you want to play with us?” the girl with black braids calls. She seems to be the leader of the little clique. The other two, a boy with mousy brown hair and a girl who looks almost identical to the other one, although a bit younger, nod excitedly.
And I immediately think, Why not?
The three of them burst into loud cheers as I negotiate the last few steps to the pond. Just as I’m about to step onto the ice surface, I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye. Between the cluster of firs edging the pond, in exactly the same place as before, I see the familiar head of white-blond hair. Anger threatens to overwhelm me, but the three youngsters have followed my gaze.
“Nico Hovenberg!” they cry simultaneously.
“My two greatest heroes!” the boy shouts in awe, before turning red as a beet.
“Do you want to play, too?” the black-haired girl calls out to him hopefully.
Will Nico agree to play with Daniel and the teenagers? Will this change anything between Daniel and him?
The Austrian bestselling author Koko Klein lives with her husband, son, and two crazy cats in the heart of Vienna’s historic city center. She loves to walk on roads kings were already travelling centuries ago. When she’s not busy coming up with new stories (once again failing to sleep because of them), she plays the piano (until her son has had enough of classical music), devours books (until the cats need to be petted right now), or plays board games (until her husband prefers to play hockey again).
Koko’s loved writing gay romance novels ever since someone she went to college with challenged her to write a version of Sleeping Beauty – with two princes as the main characters. That was in 2004 … and she’s been hooked ever since. Her stories are a mixture of what Koko loves: a touch of sweetness with a sprinkling of spice. They tell the tale of two men who find their one true love — although sometimes it takes them totally by surprise.
Homepage: https://kokoklein-en.com/
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This sounds like it will be a very good read.
Love the cover! Thank you for sharing. Yesss!! I love a enemies to lovers story and forced proximity!
Great Cover, Thanks for the wonderful post.
I love hockey (Olympian sledge hockey, or sled hockey as they call it in the US, is so riveting)! The plot to this one sounds perfect for me…