Chapter 3: RYDER’S POV

Water was still dripping off my chin, clinging to my jaw and soaking through the front of my black T-shirt, but I barely felt it. All I could feel was the hot irritation burning beneath my skin.

"I have seen far more handsome men in my life who actually have manners, brains, and a personality that does not revolve around a hockey stick."

Her voice kept echoing in my head, sharp and full of absolute disdain. Every girl at Frostbridge practically lost her mind whenever I walked past. They left notes in my locker, lingered outside my dorm, and practically tripped over themselves trying to catch my attention.

And then there was Ava Bennett.

A full-ride scholarship freshman carrying a bag full of textbooks and a lunch packed from home, looking at me like I was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

She had thrown water in my face.

In front of the entire cafeteria.

"Are you going to let her walk away, Ry?"

I blinked, shaking the remaining droplets from my dark hair as I turned back toward our booth.

Patricia was standing right there, her hand sliding smoothly over my chest as her fingers traced the damp fabric of my shirt. She was the blonde from the coaches' office earlier that morning, the kind of girl who was easy, available, and never expected anything from me. Patricia knew exactly what our arrangement was. Whenever I wanted to blow off some steam, she was usually the first person I called, and she never made things complicated.

"Are we still on for tonight?" Patricia purred, leaning closer as her red lips parted and she looked up at me through her heavy eyelashes. "Pick up right where we left off this morning?"

Normally, I would have taken her up on it without a second thought. I knew what Patricia wanted, she knew what I wanted, and neither of us had any interest in turning it into something more than it was. But right now, my mind was completely occupied by a pair of furious hazel eyes and a stubborn little chin that had refused to tremble in front of me.

Still, a distraction was a distraction.

"Yeah. My place, nine," I muttered, brushing my hand lightly over her waist. "We will finish what we started earlier. Now excuse me, Pat. I have to talk to the guys."

Patricia pouted, clearly noticing that my attention was somewhere else, but she knew better than to push when I used that tone. She gave my arm one final squeeze before turning and walking toward the exit.

The moment she was gone, I slid back into the leather booth, dropped my elbows onto the table, and dragged a hand down my face.

Across from me, Marcus, our starting defenseman, let out a loud whistle and shook his head. "Man, that freshman has a death wish. Did you see the look on her face? She looked like she wanted to murder you with a plastic fork."

"She did not just look at him, she spit water right in his mouth," Caleb said with a laugh, leaning back against the cushions with a beer bottle in his hand. "First girl on campus to actually waterboard the team captain. Legendary."

"Shut up," I snapped, the warning in my voice immediately wiping the grins off their faces.

I did not find it funny. Nobody humiliated Ryder Cole and walked away without consequences. My chest was still burning from the sheer audacity of her words.

Not even that impressive.

Right.

I was going to wipe that smug, untouchable look right off her pretty face.

"She thinks she is untouchable because she is hiding behind that scholarship," I said, my voice dropping as I leaned forward over the table.

Marcus and Caleb exchanged sharp glances and sat a little straighter. They knew that tone. It was the same look I got when I was studying an opposing team's playbook before a championship game.

"What are you thinking, Ry?" Marcus asked, narrowing his eyes. "You want us to make her life miserable? Start spreading some rumors about her?"

"No," I replied slowly, a cold smile spreading across my mouth. "Rumors are too easy. They get boring after a week."

I tapped one finger against the wooden table, running the whole thing through my head. If I went after her with nothing but anger, she would put her walls up and keep fighting me. But if I played a different game, a much longer game, she would never see what was coming until it was too late.

"Here is what we are going to do," I said quietly, gesturing for my guys to lean closer. "I am going to befriend her."

Caleb choked on his drink and coughed into his hand. "Befriend her? Are you out of your mind? You want to take her to coffee and talk about her feelings?"

"Listen," I cut him off, my gaze hardening. "I am going to get close to her. I am going to turn on the charm and play the sweet, misunderstood guy who actually listens to her boring lectures and remembers all those little things she talks about. I will make her drop every single one of those defensive walls she is hiding behind."

"And then what?" Marcus asked, a slow, approving grin spreading across his face as he caught on to what I was thinking. "Dump her in front of the whole school?"

"Better," I whispered, the plan settling into place. "I will make her fall completely and hopelessly in love with me. I will make her believe she is the only girl in the world who really knows the real Ryder Cole. I will have sex with her, to make her believe she has finally gotten the version of me nobody else gets, and record every single breathless, desperate second of it."

I paused, letting the vision form clearly in my mind, her arching beneath me, losing control just like Patricia had earlier today, trusting me completely before I ripped it all away.

"Once the video is spread and she is head over heels, once she has given me everything and forgotten every single rule she wrote down for herself and her precious college career, I will pull the rug out from under her and dump her like trash."

"Damn, Ryder," Caleb muttered, shaking his head with a mixture of awe and mild disbelief. "That is cold. Even for you."

"She insulted me," I reminded them coldly, my jaw tightening. "She made me a public joke in front of half the campus. I am going to play her game, make her think she is winning, and then break her so thoroughly that she will not even have the energy to pack her bags before she loses that precious scholarship and drops out of Frostbridge for good."

Marcus raised his bottle, a dark grin matching my own. "To the coldest game you have ever played, Captain."

I picked up my own water bottle, the plastic crunching beneath the sudden pressure of my grip.

Let her think she was smart. Let her think she was immune. By the time I was done with her, Ava Bennett would not just know who I was. She would spend every waking second begging for my attention.