Hands Off The Ice King novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124

Chapter 124

Hope’s POV

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“Just go and play with your friends, Harley,” I sighed as we ate dinner. Harley didn’t, in fact, go play with his friends like he said he would.

“How can I play when there’s still the elephant in the room?” he exclaimed. “Why the heck is Levi Reeve here?”

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

“I already told you.”

That was true. I already told them what had happened between us. Not the details, of course! Just that we had something going on and that Margaret offered for me to leave in exchange for his protection.

Harley sighed. “That still doesn’t answer the question of why he’s here. He traveled from Manhattan to Thousand Islands. If he’s not insane…”

“He is,” I muttered. He was truly insane for doing something like that. Insane enough to drive all the way here when I had already made it clear that I didn’t want to see him.

My mom sat down after going to the restroom.

“He’s still there,” she said, concern seen in her eyes. “Is it really okay for us to leave him there? I heard there’s going to be some rainfall a little later tonight.”

I glanced at the door, and even though I couldn’t see him, I could picture him sitting on the porch. The image alone felt surreal. It was already so unlike him because he used to hate anything dirty.

I pursed my lips before letting out a deep breath.

“He’ll go soon enough. He doesn’t like getting dirty. The rain would be unbearable for him.”

“Don’t you want to talk to him?” she asked gently.

I looked her deep in the eyes and smiled, though it felt strained.

“It’s better this way, Mom.”

“But-”

“Let the child be,” my dad said, calmly placing down his utensils.

My mom bit her lip.

“Okay,” she muttered softly. “We’ll support your choice, Hope.”

With that, my mom stood from her seat and began wheeling my dad toward their room. I could tell they

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Chapter 124

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wanted to ask a lot of questions, but thankfully, they held themselves back. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to control my tears every time I thought about him.

On the other hand, Harley wasn’t the type to relent when it came to these things.

His eyes were still narrowed at me.

“Is my vision that skewed? You really managed to pull Levi Reeve?”

I turned to glare at him, but he just raised his hands in surrender, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Then, little by little, the teasing disappeared.

His expression softened ever so slightly.

“But then again, you’re my sister.” He leaned back in his chair and puffed up his chest. “I don’t care whether it’s Connor or Levi Reeve or even the President himself. If they give you a hard time, they have to go through me first.”

For the first time tonight, I managed a genuine smile.

I reached out and ruffled his hair.

He groaned before immediately pushing my hand away.

“Not the hair!”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

I shook my head.

“Since when did you grow up?”

I lay in my bed, already in my pajamas, a plush tucked tightly beneath my arms. I stared at the ceiling, listening to the rain pitter-patter against the roof, each drop sounding louder than the last in the silence of the night.

The weather forecast had been right.

It really did rain tonight.

It wasn’t just a light drizzle either. It was a full-on downpour, the kind that swallowed the streets in sheets of water and blurred everything beyond the windows.

I deliberately avoided looking outside because I knew I would cave the moment I saw him sitting there.

But he wouldn’t be.

Would he?

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Chapter 124

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Only recently had he started letting his teammates touch him without pulling away. That alone had probably taken years.

I bet sitting in the rain would be unbearable for him.

He wouldn’t do something like that…

Not just for me.

People don’t change that easily. Right?

I glanced at the bedside clock.

10:00 p.m.

Levi had come here in the afternoon.

Again, it would be absurd for him to wait for that long.

No matter how stubborn he was. No matter how determined he could be.

He would’ve left hours ago.

Yet even then, my feet betrayed me.

Before I realized it, I was already walking toward the window.

I stood in front of the curtain for a long moment, my hand hovering over the fabric.

Don’t.

If you look…

You’ll only make things harder.

I closed my eyes.

Then, in the end, temptation won.

Slowly, I pulled the curtain aside.

I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting.

But when I saw his car still parked in the exact same spot, my heart nearly leaped out of my chest.

Before I knew it, I had run downstairs.

That idiot.

He really didn’t leave?

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Chapter 124

1 flung the front door open, expecting to see him sitting exactly where he had been before.

However…

The porch was empty.

My brows furrowed.

Without hesitation, I slipped on a pair of slippers and grabbed an umbrella.

I hurried toward his car.

The rain immediately soaked the ends of my pajamas as I rushed across the yard.

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I knocked hurriedly against the tinted window, ready to yell at him. Ready to scold him for worrying

everyone and tell him to stop being stubborn and just go home.

However, even after several knocks, there was no response.

He wasn’t there.

I frowned and looked around.

There were no signs of him anywhere.

The streetlights flickered through the heavy rain, but all I saw were empty sidewalks and puddles rippling beneath the storm.

My stomach dropped.

I bit my lip as the worst-case scenarios flooded my mind.

Did he get hurt?

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