OFF THE ICE,INTO THE FIRE

OFF THE ICE,INTO THE FIRE

faith.chigbu999 · Ongoing · 54.7k Words

936
Hot
954
Views
3
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Zara Lennox doesn’t do hockey players. Especially not the kind who end up trending for all the wrong reasons.

When a leaked video threatens to destroy Trevor Donovan’s career before it even begins, his management team needs a fix. Fast. Clean. Believable. They need a girl next door, not a puck bunny. They need Zara.

The problem? Zara thinks Trevor is exactly what the headlines say he is. Arrogant. Reckless. The kind of man who burns everything he touches and calls it entertainment.

The bigger problem? She says yes anyway.

What starts as a controlled arrangement staged dates, coordinated social media, a reality campus show designed to rebuild his image turns into something neither of them planned for. Because spending every day beside someone breaks down walls that took years to build. And Trevor Donovan, underneath the scandal and the swagger, is hiding damage that mirrors her own.

Zara came to fix his reputation. She didn’t come to fix him. She definitely didn’t come to fall.

But the cameras are always rolling. And some things can’t be faked no matter how hard you try.

Off the Ice, Into the Fire is a dark, addictive enemies-to-lovers campus romance about public scandal, private healing, and two broken people who find each other in the last place either of them expected.

Chapter 1

Petra shoves her phone in my face before I even put my coffee down.

“Look at this.”

I look.

Forty-three seconds. I watch it twice. Trevor Donovan, Crestwood’s golden boy, starting center, the guy whose face is on three different campus banners, standing at a team party with a girl pressed against him and his hand doing something the camera angle makes look a lot worse than maybe it was. Maybe.

Four million views. Still climbing.

I set the phone on my desk and pick up my coffee.

“Okay.”

Petra stares at me.

“Okay? That’s it?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Something. He’s literally the face of this university’s hockey program.”

“He’s literally what I expected.” I take a sip. Hot, bitter, exactly right. “Men like Trevor Donovan always end up exactly like this. It just usually takes longer for the camera to catch it.”

Petra drops onto my bed with a groan.

“You don’t even know him.”

“I know the type.”

I do. I have known the type since I was sixteen years old, sitting in the back seat of my mother’s car while Marcus stared out the window and said nothing for two hours because there was nothing left to say. Four years of his life. A sport he loved. A program that protected the wrong person because the wrong person happened to be talented, connected, and impossible to touch.

I shut that down before it goes further. This is not about Marcus.

I pull my laptop open and find the constitutional law reading I have been putting off since Tuesday. Petra keeps scrolling through the video comments, reading the worst ones out loud with increasing volume. I am three paragraphs into Marbury versus Madison when someone knocks on our door.

Petra frowns.

“You expecting someone?”

“No.”

She opens the door.

The man in the hallway does not belong in a freshman dorm corridor. Mid-forties, a suit that costs more than my meal plan, a tablet under one arm, and the specific expression of someone who has not stood in a line for anything in years. He looks past Petra directly at me.

“Zara Lennox?”

I close my laptop.

“Who’s asking?”

“My name is Richard Hale. I represent Trevor Donovan’s management team.” He does not wait to be invited in. He steps through the doorway, glances once at Petra like she is a piece of furniture he is deciding whether to move, and focuses back on me. “I apologize for coming unannounced. We are working under some time pressure.”

I do not stand up.

“I am a pre-law sophomore. I am not sure what Trevor Donovan’s management team thinks I can do for them.”

Something moves behind his eyes. Not surprise. More like confirmation, like I just answered a question he already had the answer to.

“You are also the head of Crestwood’s Student Integrity Board, the face of the campus women’s advocacy campaign, and you have fourteen thousand Instagram followers who describe you, consistently, as the most genuine person on this campus.” He glances at his tablet. “Their words, not mine.”

Petra makes a sound behind him. I do not look at her.

“That is flattering,” I say. “I still do not see the connection.”

Richard Hale sets his tablet on my desk and turns it to face me. On the screen is a document. A contract. My name is already in the header.

“We need someone credible,” he says. “Someone the public will believe. Someone with a reputation clean enough to transfer, at least partially, to Trevor’s image while we manage the fallout from last night.” He pauses. “We need a girlfriend.”

The word sits in the room like something that landed too hard.

I look at the contract. Then at him.

“You want me to fake date a man I have never met.”

“We prefer the term image partnership.”

“I prefer the term no.”

He does not flinch.

“Ms. Lennox, I would ask you to look at page three before you decide.”

I do not want to look at page three.

I look at page three.

The number is clean and specific and real. Enough to cover the rest of my degree without touching my mother’s savings account. Enough to pay down the physical therapy bills she keeps telling me are fine and are not fine. Enough to stop doing the math every month that always comes out the same wrong answer.

I close the tablet screen.

“How long?”

“One semester. Possibly two if public response requires extended coverage.”

“How public?”

“There is a reality show element.” He says it the way people say minor side effects. “Campus-based. Already greenlit before last night. Trevor was attached. The network wants authentic campus life, the relationship dynamic, the full picture. With the current situation, the show becomes part of the image rehabilitation process. You would both be filmed.”

I look at him.

“You want me to fake date a man I have never met. On camera. For a reality show.”

“We prefer image part…”

“If you say image partnership one more time I am going to ask you to leave.”

His mouth closes.

I stand up. Walk to the window. Outside, the Crestwood campus is doing what it does on a Monday morning. Students crossing the quad, someone throwing a frisbee badly, a day that looks completely ordinary and is not. Four million people have already decided who Trevor Donovan is. His management team has decided who I am. Nobody asked either of us.

I turn around.

“I want final approval on anything involving my personal narrative. I want a separate NDA covering my family. I want the full amount transferred before we film a single frame.”

Richard Hale does not smile, but something in his posture shifts toward it.

“I can have revised terms to you by this afternoon.”

“Then I will read them this afternoon.” I cross my arms. “Are we done?”

He picks up his tablet. Moves toward the door. Stops.

“One more thing, Ms. Lennox. Trevor would like to meet before anything is finalized. Tomorrow morning. The Harlow Hotel, ninth floor.” He pauses with his hand on the frame. “He asked to see you specifically before signing.”

The door closes.

Petra is looking at me like I have grown something unexpected.

“Zara.”

“Don’t.”

“You just…”

“I said don’t.”

I pick up my coffee. It has gone cold. I drink it anyway because my hands need something to hold and my brain is already three moves ahead, already building the version of myself I will need to be when I walk into that hotel room tomorrow and meet the man whose face is on three campus banners.

My phone buzzes on the desk. Unknown number. One text.

Looking forward to it.

I stare at the screen.

He already has my number.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

2m Views · Ongoing · Jaylee
Soft hot lips find the shell of my ear and he whispers, "You think I don't want you?" He pushes his hips forward, grinding into the back of my ass and I groan. "Really?" He chuckles.

"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."

I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.

Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.

"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."


New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.

Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates

When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.

But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2.1m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)

A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)

6.2k Views · Ongoing · ADB_Stories
Isolde’s life was full of love and joy. She was set to be High priestess of the makkari, but everything changed in a single night when she lost everything at the hands of someone she thought she could trust.

For centuries, she has been on the run, helping the supernatural community under the cloak of anonymity while she works to clear her name and save the very people after her from destruction.

Enemies are closing in, but an unexpected complication befalls her when she realises she’s been fated to someone who wants her species exterminated. After all, an evil chance seldom comes alone.

A Queen Among Darkness is the 4th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.

Books in the series in order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Generation Coming Soon)
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.9m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Cursed To Be His

Cursed To Be His

1.6k Views · Ongoing · Sophie Smith
Talia Morgan was born a wolf.
At thirteen, everything changed.
After her parents were murdered, she was cursed by a powerful witch and used as a vessel for Elder magic. Saving her life came at an impossible cost; the curse was broken, but so was the wolf inside her, leaving her human.
Ten years later, Talia hides her grief behind sharp sarcasm and a smile she no longer believes. When a rogue attack proves she can no longer protect herself, or the people she loves, she leaves the only home she's ever known for the quiet human town of Ashbourne Hollow, determined to disappear.
Instead, she catches the attention of the town's most dangerous owner.
Alaric Lazarus is a vampire who rules from the black castle overlooking Ashbourne Hollow. He is cold, enigmatic, and impossible to read, but he awakens something in Talia she can't explain. She doesn't trust him. He trusts her even less.
Then vampires begin turning up dead.
Forced into an uneasy alliance, Talia and Alaric uncover a trail that leads back to the family she lost... and the curse she thought she'd escaped. As old enemies emerge from the shadows and buried secrets come to light, Talia discovers that everything she believed about her past was a lie.
Because the curse that stole her wolf was never meant to save her.
It was meant to lead her to him.
This is book 3 in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.
Book 1 - The Matchmaker
Book 2 - The Heir of Flame and Fang
Twin Prince Alphas Student Mate

Twin Prince Alphas Student Mate

4.7k Views · Completed · H.A Shah
Caught in a web of forbidden love, conflicting loyalties, and hidden truths, Lyla finds herself at the epicenter of a love story as complicated as it is intense. "Fate's Chosen Mate: Bloodmoon Chronicles" delves into the tumultuous life of Lyla, a young student at a prestigious academy for supernaturals. Lyla isn't just any student; she's linked by destiny to Cameron and Samuel, her warrior trainers who are also the enigmatic alpha princes of the werewolf race.
As her 18th birthday approaches, her brothers warn her about the powerful pull she might feel toward dominant wolves. But it's not just any wolves they need to worry about—it's her teachers. Cameron and Samuel are more than just older, wiser, and off-limits; they might just be her fated mates.
While navigating complex relationships, academic pressures, and the normal trials of young adult life, an unexpected threat jeopardizes the academy. Explosions rock their world, forcing Lyla and her love interests into a chaotic swirl of heroism, heartbreak, and hard choices.
Will Lyla follow her heart and let destiny lead the way, or will the very rules that bind their world tear them apart? Amidst turmoil and taboo, Lyla must make choices that could forever change the course of her life and the lives of those she holds dear.
Discover a story where love isn't just complicated—it's forbidden, ageless, and defies all rules. In a world of supernatural beings and extraordinary stakes, will Lyla's love life be another casualty, or her saving grace?
My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret

My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret

1.7k Views · Completed · Marina Ellington
A wild party night leaves me with fuzzy memories and a mortifying encounter I can't quite piece together. Then I meet Marco—the quiet basketball player who just transferred for training—and there's an instant spark I can't explain.

As the team's benchwarmer, Marco practices harder than anyone, though few seems to notice. There's something about his quiet determination that draws me in, and I find myself falling for the underdog.

But when Marco's true story starts unraveling—about that first night, about who he really is, about the future he's destined for—I realize I might have gotten in way over my head.

And there's another problem: this was always meant to be temporary. His training program has an end date, and we're both fighting against a reality that seems determined to pull us apart.

When everything is on the line, how far are we willing to go for love?
Kaged In

Kaged In

3.1k Views · Completed · BurntAsh3s
Kage enters the foster system in New York at the age of five. The reality of his life seems bleaker each day as his circumstances worsen, and he becomes closed-off, cold and distrusting of others. When he gets adopted at the age of sixteen, his belief in humanity has withered. Kage doesn't live, he exists, day by day. He has lost all hope, and he doesn't dare to dream of something better. Alexander Hawthorne gives him a new lease on life, a family and most importantly, hope. Kage has his own past trauma to deal with and he carries that burden with him when he gets drafted into the NHL. Hockey is his life, his passion and the only thing that is a constant form of happiness.
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate

Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate

2.3k Views · Ongoing · Sherryann Martinez
R18 MATURE CONTENT

Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.

Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?

Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...

Excerpt:

She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.

She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.

Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.

As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.

Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.

He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

951.7k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Cursed Fates

Cursed Fates

1.6k Views · Ongoing · Taylor Ashcraft
Charlotte Sinclair was murdered at the hands of her abusive boyfriend. After dying, she wakes up in the body of another. She pieces together information from her first day as Aribella Voss, realizing that she's been reincarnated into a book she knew all too well. The only problem: She was fated to die in this story as well. She sets out on a mission to ensure that doesn't happen, but when she begins changing important parts of the story, she also changes the plot of the story she knew. Without the upper hand, Aribella no longer has idea what lies in her future.
Tango with the Alpha's Heart

Tango with the Alpha's Heart

31.3k Views · Completed · judels.lalita
“Who is she?” I asked, feeling tears well up in my eyes.
“He met her at the Alpha training camp,” he said. “She is a perfect suitor for him. It snowed last night, indicating that his wolf is happy with his choice.”
My heart sank, and tears made their way down my cheeks.
Alexander took my innocence last night, and now he is taking that thing in his office as his Luna.


Emily became the laughingstock of the pack on her 18th birthday and never expected the Alpha's son to be her mate.
After a night of passionate love, Emily finds out that her mate has taken a chosen mate. Heartbroken and humiliated, she disappears from the pack.
Now, five years later, Emily is a respected high-ranking warrior in King Alpha’s army.
When her best friend invites her to a night of music and laughter, she never expects to run into her mate.
Will her mate figure out it is her?
Will he chase after her, and most of all, will Emily be able to keep her secrets safe?