Page 155 of Ice Me Out

“You don’t get to fuck with my sister!”

I grabbed the front of his coat and rolled us. “I’m not fucking with her!”

My fist connected with his ribs multiple times. And I hated to admit it, but Snoh could take a fucking beating. He grunted through the hits while he attempted to regain control.

“She isn’t some fucking puck bunny you picked up after a game!”

“I know that!”

“She isn’t one of your fucking hookups!”

“I KNOW!”

I shoved away from him and got to my feet. I cursed when Snoh stood up, looking like he was ready for round two. I had been taking it easy on him because he was my girlfriend’s brother, but my face was screaming, and my patience was wearing thin.

Snow clung to his jacket and melted against the side of his face, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.

“You don’t know shit about her,” he snapped.

“You don’t know shit about us.”

His jaw tightened. “I know you.”

“No. You knew me four years ago.”

He snorted. “Do you really expect me to believe you’ve changed?”

I knocked off snow that had clung to the knee of my jeans. “Snoh, quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck what you believe. Vera and I are dating. You don’t have to like it, but you have to respect it.”

He narrowed his eyes and jabbed a finger at me. “Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? Talking about I have to respect it when you know you don’t plan on sticking around.”

“That’s a lot of assumptions you’re making.”

“Vera falls hard, and people like you don’t.”

He was wrong about me, but that didn’t mean his words didn’t land harder than every punch he’d thrown.

He stepped closer.

“She’ll act like she’s fine. She’ll laugh shit off. She’ll tell you something doesn’t bother her when it’s eating her alive. And when everything falls apart, she’ll disappear somewhere by herself because she hates anybody seeing her hurt.”

My anger faltered, and three nights of short FaceTimes flashed through my head.

“Look… you have every right to be worried about her. If I had a sister dating somebody with my reputation, I’d probably want to beat his ass too.”

“You hit like a bitch, by the way,” he said, trying to egg me on.

I ignored his jab and pressed on.

“I love Vera. Fuck. I haven’t even told her yet, but it’s the truth. I love her.”

Snoh’s face turned into a blank slate.

“You what?” he asked grimly.

“I love her.”

Snoh stared at me for half a second before barking out a humorless laugh. “You love her?” He stepped closer. “How can you love someone you don’t even fucking know?”