Ice Cold Love

Part 8

Warning: language, mention of alcohol and drugs

Ronan's POV

I was parked outside Adam's house, wondering why luck hasn't been on my side this past week as I got out. The house wasn't a huge mansion that screamed extravagance, much like Adam's friends' houses, but it was large and intricately designed in a way that made it look expensive in an elegant, indifferent way. Everything from the gravel in the front yard to the panelling on the walls was handpicked by Adam and his wife, Talia.

I didn't bother knocking on the door and let myself in, knowing that they were expecting me and left it unlocked. It was Friday afternoon. I'd woken up for my single class of the day and found that it had been cancelled, and just as I was about to go back to sleep, Adam's call cut through my bleariness, my phone's ringtone replacing the alarm that had previously been going off.

When he told me that he wanted me to babysit my sister because he needed to go for a 2 day business trip, I'd happily agreed in my half asleep state and promised to pick her up in the afternoon. It was when I woke up that I remembered we were having one of the biggest parties of the year in a couple hours and, sadly, 6 year olds weren't on the guest list.

I knew, however, that it was too late to back out. I'd already agreed and Adam had probably booked his tickets and hotels the moment he ended that call. I won't lie, I had absolutely no idea about how I was going to manage having Isabelle at the house during the party. The boys could probably help me out. Maybe we could take turns watching her or something?

When I walked through the door and kicked my shoes off, Izzy was running at me full speed for a hug. "Ronan!" Izzy screamed as she ploughed into me and I couldn't help but chuckle as I caught her. "Hey Izzy, how's my favourite girl doing?" I asked her, kissing the top of her head.

Mason and Hunter always made fun of me for how I acted with Izzy. They laughed at how I was apparently a completely different person with her, 'a total softie' they liked to say, and I didn't mind because, deep down, I knew they were right. Izzy was like a small bundle of beauty and sunshine, and I'd do absolutely anything for her. She had me wrapped around her finger.

I ruffled her soft brown hair as I put her down. "Ronaaann stopppp," she whined as she always did when I did that. It only made me laugh more. She gave me a pouty look but proceeded to grab my hand with her tiny one and lead me further into the house. She rambled none stop about everything related to being in her first grade class as she went.

Izzy led me to Adam's office, where he was looking through and organising a stack of files. Everyone told me that Adam and I looked almost identical. We had the same dark brown hair and golden skin, the same square jaw and straight nose. We were both freakishly tall, though he was half an inch taller, and, while I was more built because of hockey, Adam was naturally lean and broad. The only difference was our eyes. While Adam's, and Izzy's, were hazel, mine were grey.

Adam looked up from his files when we walked in and smiled, happy to see me. I put my arm around his shoulders and squeezed him in form of greeting as he sent Isabelle up to her room to get her things. I asked him about work and Talia as we sat down, waiting for our sister. "You know how the business can be, Ron, it has its ups and downs. And Talia's great, she's in back to back meetings today. She said to drop Izzy off tomorrow whenever, or to call if you want her to pick her up."

When our parents died, Adam was 19. Since he was legally an adult, their shares in their accounting company were transferred to him as per their will, and he's been running it ever since. He took care of Isabelle and me and when I turned 18, he promised to give me my share in the form of tuition, housing and anything hockey related that I needed. He also agreed to pay me, quite generously might I add, whenever I completed any of the tasks he asked me to do. His wife, Talia, was a corporate lawyer. She worked in some fancy law firm, but she also handled any legal issues the company had, though there weren't many thanks to Adam.