Mine To Ruin

JULIAN

The lock clicked. The heavy glass door began to swing open.

Panic flashed through Rowan’s eyes,  the calculated, razor-sharp panic of a pristine varsity athlete whose multi-million-dollar pro career and powerful family legacy were hanging by a single, fraying thread. If Miller walked in right now and saw the captain of the varsity hockey team unzipped and pinned to a table, Rowan's squeaky-clean reputation would bleed out right here on the library carpet. His future would be dead before it even started.

In a split second, the predator instinct in my chest completely overrode my desire to humiliate him. Nobody gets to break him but me.

With a sudden, violent surge of adrenaline, I grabbed the front of Rowan’s jacket, yanking his massive frame off the table and shoving him hard into the shadow of the towering bookshelves behind us. Before he could even push back against my grip, I stepped squarely into the doorway, blocking the guard’s line of sight entirely as I zipped up my hoodie, intentionally making myself the only target in the room.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Miller barked, blinding me with the white-hot beam of his flashlight.

He wasn't just a regular campus guard. It was Officer Miller—a notoriously power-tripping, washed-up campus cop who despised the athletic department and loved nothing more than catching varsity players breaking the rules to feed his own miserable ego.

"Just leaving, officer," I said, my voice smooth, keeping my broad shoulders squared to shield the dark corner where Rowan was pulling himself together.

Miller’s eyes dropped to my open hoodie, then past my shoulder, catching the faint reflection of Rowan’s large silhouette in the glass wall. A sickening, triumphant grin spread across the guard’s face. "Ashcroft? That you back there? Sneaking into the locked stacks after hours? Oh, the athletic board and your powerful family are going to love this. Trespassing, vandalism of school property... I can smell the suspension from here."

Miller reached for the heavy silver Maglite flashlight at his belt, stepping aggressively into my space to shove past me. If he reported Rowan, the revenge I’d spent three agonizing years planning—the retribution I owed my brother Theo—would be stripped away from me by a bureaucratic university board. Rowan belonged to my wrath. No one else’s.

I didn't think. I just acted. I stepped into Miller’s path, my hand coming up to clamp hard around his wrist, halting him instantly. "I said, we’re leaving."

"Get your hands off me, you piece of trash!" Miller roared. He violently swung his other arm, bringing the heavy, solid-steel Maglite down in a brutal, blinding arc.

The metal cracked brutally against the side of my skull.

A sharp, white-hot explosion of pain shattered my vision. Warm, thick blood immediately burst from the tear in my temple, spilling down my cheek and dripping onto my collar. I stumbled back, my vision spinning in dizzying blurs of black and red, my shoulder slamming hard against the brick wall.

"Julian!" Rowan’s voice tore through the quiet library—not a captain's order, but a raw, horrified gasp.

Miller raised the heavy flashlight again, his face twisted in a vicious sneer, ready to bring it down on my face a second time while I was dazed. But he never got the chance.

Rowan didn't just step in; he completely exploded. The massive hockey captain lunged forward like an unhinged freight train, his broad shoulders driving straight into Miller’s chest. The impact sent the guard flying backward, crashing into a metal bookshelf with a deafening, echoing screech of buckling steel and tumbling novels.

"Don't you fucking touch him!" Rowan screamed, his voice completely unhinged, vibrating with a feral, terrifying rage.

Before Miller could even process the hit, Rowan was on top of him. He pinned the older man against the crumpled shelving, his fist wound tight in Miller’s uniform collar. With a sickening CRACK, Rowan’s fist connected directly with the guard's jaw. Blood sprayed from Miller's mouth as his head snapped sideways against the metal.

Rowan raised his fist again, his knuckles already split and bleeding, his sharp, sculpted face twisted in pure fury, his eyes bloodshot and wild. He was going to kill him. He was going to beat the man to a pulp for touching me.

"Rowan, stop!" I choked out, coughing as the metallic taste of blood filled my own mouth. I dragged myself upright against the wall, lunging forward to grab Rowan’s cocked arm before he could land a blow that would land him in a maximum-security cell next to my brother. "Stop! If you hit him again, you're done! Let him go!"

Rowan’s chest heaved violently against his jersey. His knuckles were white, his chest expanding as he glared down at the guard, who was now weeping on the floor, clutching his broken jaw, completely terrified by the raw, murderous look on the hockey captain's face.

Slowly, Rowan let go of the uniform, stepping back. His massive hands were shaking as his wild gaze snapped over to me. His eyes widened in absolute horror as he took in the heavy stream of blood soaking through my hoodie, coating my neck.

"You're bleeding," Rowan whispered, his voice cracking, the terrifying captain completely vanishing, replaced by a devastating, raw vulnerability. "Why did you do that? You could have just let him see me. Why the hell did you take the hit for me?"

I stood frozen, the agonizing throbbing in my head suddenly feeling numb compared to the shock rippling through my chest. I was mortified. The cold, calculated revenge plot I had perfectly mapped out in my head was completely shattering. The man I came here to destroy—the man who had supposedly thrown my brother to the wolves to save his own skin—had just thrown away his entire pristine future, his captaincy, and his freedom to protect me.

It enraged me. It confused the living hell out of me, driving a stake right through my hatred.

I stepped closer to him, ignoring Miller, who was currently scrambling to his feet, crying as he sprinted out of the back exit to call the real police.

I reached out, my bloody fingers gripping the front of Rowan's jacket, dragging him down until my dripping, crimson face was inches from his sharp jaw. I needed to re-establish control. I needed to claim him before the confusion swallowed me whole.

"Listen to me very carefully, Captain," I hissed, my mismatched eyes burning into his with a desperate, terrifying intensity. "Nobody ruins your pretty little life but me. Nobody gets to touch you, nobody gets to break you, and nobody gets to take you down but me. You think you're free? You think this makes us even?"

Rowan didn't pull away. He stood frozen, his large hands coming up to tightly grip my wrists, staring at the blood on my face with an intense, unbreakable focus. The distant wail of police sirens began to echo through the campus streets outside, drawing closer by the second—a reminder of the Ashcroft family's power and the chaos about to rain down.

"You are my obsession, Rowan," I growled, my voice dripping with blood and possessive venom. "If anyone is going to destroy you, it’s going to be the monster you created. You belong to my nightmare now."