Scholarship

HARPER’S POV

I sat shotgun in Dad’s shitty truck, fingers digging into my thighs so hard I would probably have bruises tomorrow. Snow crunched under the tires as we crawled up the long driveway. 

That big house was at the top like it owned the whole damn mountain. 

It was all dark stone and sharp corners, with windows that glowed like eyes that already knew I wasn't welcome.

“Remember the rules, Harper,” Dad muttered, knuckles white on the wheel. “Head down. Do your work. Stay the hell away from the main house. We’re staff. That’s it.”

I nodded, throat tight. Eight months of him being out of work. This security gig was the only thing keeping us off the street. 

My scholarship to Sterling Academy was the only shot I had at not ending up exactly like him— tired, scared, and one bad month away from nothing. 

I couldn’t fuck this up.

Later that week the school showed me what it really was: a tank full of sharks in cashmere. I spent three days trying to disappear. I kept my eyes on the floor, shoulders rounded, breathing small. 

Then I saw him.

Asher Kingston.

Leaning against the lockers like the hallway was his throne, hockey jerseys stretched tight over shoulders that looked like they could break someone without trying. 

The crowd split for him without a word. 

I watched him snatch some junior by the collar and slam him into the metal so hard the kid’s feet left the ground. Asher’s face didn’t even change — just blank, cold, like he was bored. 

Nobody stepped in. Nobody breathed too loud.

I looked away fast, shrinking back, heart already racing, his cologne hit me as he passed. I thought I had slipped his radar.

I was wrong.

The effect of his stare landed on me like a hand around my throat. When I glanced up, those icy blue eyes were locked straight on mine from across the hall. 

It was not curious. Definitely not interested. Possessive. Like he had already decided something about me.

“Don’t. Move.”

The whisper came right in my ear as a hand yanked me behind my open locker door. I stumbled, face-to-face with a girl my age — choppy pink hair, wide hazel eyes full of pure panic.

“What the hell….” I started, trying to pull free.

“Saving your ass,” she hissed, peeking through the vents. “I’m Chloe. And you just let the devil catch you staring.”

“I was just looking.”

“You don’t look at Asher Kingston,” she snapped, voice shaking. “You sure as shit don’t let him see you looking. You got a death wish or something?”

“He’s just a guy.”

“Yeah, and I’m the queen of England. He ruins people for fun, Harper. Got a teacher fired last month over a fucking A-minus. If he decides your face pisses him off, you’re gone. Scholarship and all.”

My stomach flipped. “How do you even know my name?”

“Scholarship kids stick together. We have to.” She slammed my locker shut. “Keep your head down. I mean it.”

I didn’t argue. I practically ran to my next class, feeling his eyes burning holes in my back the whole way.

By evening I was wiped. Sitting at the crappy little desk in our shoebox apartment over the garage, trying to finish an econ essay, when my phone buzzed.

“Dad? Everything okay?”

“Harper, I need a huge favor.” He sounded out of breath, scared. “Elias Kingston’s losing his shit tonight. Somebody left the campus rink unlocked. VIP tour tomorrow — if it’s not perfect, it’s my head.”

Panic shot through me. “You want me to bring your master keys?”

“I can’t leave the monitors. He’s got me watching the whole perimeter. Can you just run over, lock the main doors, check the home locker room real quick? Make sure it’s empty?”

“Dad, I’ve got this essay due at midnight…..”

“Please, kid. We can’t lose this. We’ve got nowhere else.”

His voice broke on the last part. I closed my eyes. “Fine. Twenty minutes.”

“Thank you. I owe you big.”

The walk to the rink was miserable. Wind chewed at my face. Inside the arena it was worse — half the lights dead, long shadows stretching across the ice like fingers. 

I hurried past the bleachers, just wanting to lock up and get back to my paper. Then I heard the voice echoing down the concrete hall.

“You’re pathetic, Davis.”

I froze. That low, cutting tone— I already knew it was him.

“I need it, Ash! You don’t get it — you’re a natural. I’m fucking drowning out there.”

A whiny, desperate voice. Then a third one, older and greasy. “Listen to the kid, Kingston. It’s clean. Pure performance shit. Nobody gets hurt.”

“Shut up,” Asher snapped. “League finds that garbage in his bag, it blows back on my captaincy. I don’t let anyone fuck with my ice. Take the pills and walk.”

“He already paid me,” the scout sneered. “I’m not leaving without my cut.”

“Or what?”

A sick thud…bone on metal. The scout gasped.

“Or I end your career before you can spell NHL,” Asher said, voice deadly quiet. “Get out of my rink.”

Footsteps scrambled. The scout ran.

I needed to move. Right now. I stepped back — and my numb fingers betrayed me. My phone slipped, clattering loud on the concrete.

The locker room went dead silent.

“Who the fuck is out there?” Asher barked.

I snatched the phone and bolted.

I didn’t care about the doors. I didn’t care about Dad’s keys. I just ran, shoving through the lobby doors into the freezing night, boots slipping on snow.

“Hey!”

I didn’t look back. I ran for the tree line, heart slamming against my ribs. But he was faster. Of course he was. A heavy hand clamped my shoulder, spinning me so hard my back slammed into the brick wall of the arena.

Asher boxed me in, arms planted on either side of my head, breathing hard. White mist puffed between us in the cold. His blue eyes narrowed when he recognized me.

“Well, well,” he murmured, voice low. “The new security guard’s daughter.”

“Let me go,” I choked, shoving at his chest. It didn’t move.

“What are you doing here, Harper?”

He knew my name. Fresh terror flooded me. “My dad told me to lock up. That’s it. I didn’t see anything.”

“Liar.”

“I swear. I was just leaving.”

He leaned in closer. Cedar, mint, and something colder washed over me. “You saw the vials. You heard every word.”

“I didn’t hear shit, Asher. Let me go back to my room.”

He tilted his head, studying me like I was something he was about to take apart. “You say one word and Davis gets expelled, the team gets investigated, and my draft spot hangs in the balance.”

“I won’t say anything! Why would I?”

“Because you’re poor,” he said flatly, no shame at all. “Tabloids pay good money for Kingston dirt.”

“I don’t want your fucking money,” I snapped, anger finally burning hotter than the fear. “I just want to survive this place. Move.”

I shoved him again. He didn’t budge. Instead, a slow, dark smile curved his mouth. The kind that made my stomach drop.

“You want to survive?” he whispered.

“Yes.”

“Then you’re gonna work for me.”

“No. I’m not doing shit for you.”

He finally dropped his hands, but he didn’t step back. Just pulled out his phone, casual as hell.

“Your dad’s David Thorne, right? New head of security. The guy my father dragged out of bankruptcy last month.”

“Leave my dad out of this.”

“One call,” he said, holding the phone up. “I tell my father the new rent-a-cop let his bratty daughter sneak around spying on us. You’re both gone by midnight. Housing, scholarship, everything.”

My stomach bottomed out. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me, Harper.” His eyes were empty. No mercy. “Or you agree to my terms. Mouth shut. You become my personal assistant. You handle my schedule, you show up where I say, you do exactly what I tell you — until I graduate.”

“You’re insane. I’ve got a full course load…”

“Don’t care.” He stepped even closer, coat brushing mine. “You’re gonna be so close to me I will know what you’re doing every second. No more hiding, Thorne.”

I stared at him, breathing ragged. I wanted to scream. I wanted to slap that cold smile off his face. But all I could see was Dad packing our shit again, broken and tired and blaming himself.

“Do we have a deal?” Asher asked, voice soft now. Almost gentle. That made it worse.

I dug my nails into my palms until it hurt.

“Fine,” I whispered. The word tasted like dirt. “Deal.”

His smile came back — slow, satisfied, victorious.

“Good girl.”

Something twisted low in my belly at those two words. I hated it.

“Be at the estate library tomorrow, six a.m. sharp. Don’t be late.”

He turned and walked off into the falling snow like he hadn’t just wrecked my whole life.

I stayed against the brick wall, shivering, snow melting in my hair, knowing I’d just handed the devil the leash.

And the worst part?

Some sick little piece of me already wondered how tight he was going to pull it.