Chapter 3.

Chapter 3

Darcy 

Cutting me off and writing me out of the will over a mate made no sense. For one ugly second, I thought that  my siblings finally convinced him to cut me loose.

Sooner or later, my cards will work again, I told myself. But it did little to calm me down. I found myself walking to the ice rink. But when I got there, I saw people setting up goal posts.

Right, the hockey game. Maybe I can beg the coach to let me on for just two minutes. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t notice someone right in front of me until I bumped into them.

“Whoa. Are you okay?” I looked up to see Chase Richter’s deep brown eyes staring at me. He was a hockey player Sunny introduced me to, and probably the only jock I could stand. He had a pretty good looking face so Sunny tried to set us up at one point.

“Yeah I’m fine.” I replied. “I wasn’t really looking where I was going.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Chase furrowed his brows. “I heard what happened with Killian this morning. He was really angry when he came back home. He was talking about a Robot skater witch who stole his skates. Is that why—”

I rolled my eyes before he even finished speaking. “I don’t give a shit about that self-absorbed prick. That’s not why I’m upset.”

When I didn’t add anything else, Chase laughed awkwardly and changed the subject. “Okay...well the season has started. The first game is tonight. Will I see you there?”

 “Don’t hold your breath. I still don’t see anything appealing about this sport.”

“Not even the hot players?” He wiggled his brows.

“Does Easton have hot players?” I playfully retorted.

“Ouch.” He placed a hand over his chest. 

“Richter! Get your ass over here!” Their Coach yelled.

“Yes, Coach!” he shouted back before turning to me. 

“See you at the game Dare-bear.” He ruffled my dark curls. “Bye.” He jogged over to his coach who was standing right beside Killian. Once our eyes met he scowled at me. He must have still been salty over that morning. Too bad. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t take what he dishes out.

On the long walk back to my room, I couldn’t stop thinking of what I could do. If Fabian, my half-brother, really did convince Dad then nothing I could do would get me back in the will. Maybe this isn’t about a mate and he’s just trying to push me away. But if it really was about a mate, where the hell am I going to find a boyfriend?

“Wow, you look shit.” Sunny said as soon as I opened the door. “Did you walk home? I thought you said you were going to fix your car today?”

“I can’t.” I said and sat on my bed.

“Why ?” Sunny’s brows knitted together. 

“I just can’t.” I sighed exasperatedly.

“Okay...”  Sunny got up. “What do you mean by that?”

“I can’t fix my car because I don’t have any money. And I don’t have any money because my Dad is cutting me off.”

“Are you serious?” She sat beside me. “Why?”

“My dad wants me to find a boyfriend.” I crossed my arms, still miffed by the ridiculousness of it all.

“Oh that’s it?” her eyes widened. “Well if your dad wants you to find a boyfriend then we’ll get you one.” She shrugged.

“Yeah but his main goal is to find me a chosen mate.” 

“So?”  Sunny said. “He’ll probably give you your money once you start dating someone. You can just make up some sob story and break up with him after a month.”

“Right,”  I felt my mood lift with the realization. “And I can just pretend to be heartbroken to get him off my case.”

“Yeah, I know a guy who can pretend to date you for a while. His name is Josh." She brought out her phone and texted him. “He's always doing weird stuff for money but he's a good guy. You guys can meet up tomorrow and form a story." 

“Sunny, you're brilliant!" I brought out my phone. “Send me his number, let me text him.”

“There's that smile!”  she giggled. “See, you don’t have to feel so bummed.” She put an arm around me and shook me till I laughed too. 

That’s the beautiful thing about Sunny, no problem feels so big after you talk about it with her. She just exudes this warm energy that’s befitting of her name— well, part of her name. Not many people knew this but her first name wasn’t Sunny, it was Sunny-Flowers. Her parents were hippies so nearly all her siblings had weird names.

“You know...” She dragged out the words. “The hockey game starts in an hour,” 

“No.” I groaned. “What’s everyone’s obsession with Hockey?”

“Our team is really good.” Sunny replied. “You should watch them play 

 It’ll cheer you up too.”

“Seeing Killian will do the opposite.” I grumbled.

“Come on.” She nudged me. “Hockey is an electric sport. You’ll definitely enjoy it.”

“As if.” I rolled my eyes. “There’s no way I’m going.”

An hour later, I was sitting in the stands at the hockey game. I had no idea how that happened.

Turns out I didn’t enjoy the hockey game. I didn’t even know what was going on. People kept randomly going on and off the ice and it was so fast I couldn’t keep up. The scoreboard said we were ahead by a goal when everything changed.

Killian chased the puck into a corner. Then an opposing player slammed him into the boards so hard the glass shook. 

Before I could even process what was happening, Killian grabbed the player’s jersey and yanked him backwards. His fist connected several times in rapid succession.

The sound was sickening.

The referees rushed in, but they were too late. Blood already stained the ice.

Then someone started chanting Killian’s name. More voices joined in until half the arena was roaring for him.

The other player was barely fighting back anymore.

Killian still landed another punch before three officials finally dragged him away.

We won, but I couldn’t bring myself to cheer. My stomach was still churning from watching Killian beat the other player while everyone around me cheered like it was the best part of the game.

“That was really something right?” Sunny gushed as we left.

I gave a listless nod.

“I’m gonna go get Chase to see if he can drive us to the after-party.”

I followed her to the back of the arena where it was the loudest and the most packed. People were still celebrating and cheering loudly. 

Sunny let go of my hand for a second and before I knew it, she was gone. I looked around trying to find her thick auburn curls but I was being jostled around by everyone.

Suddenly the crowd divided and I took that chance to rush forward. I bumped into someone, and just my luck, it was Killian.

“You again?” He scoffed. 

“What? Am I banned from being in your vicinity?” I crossed my arms.

“ I wish you were.”

“Relax. I wasn’t looking for you. It’s not like I want to be around someone whose greatest hockey skill is his punches.” 

“Says the robot skater.” He snorted. “Guess your mom’s talent skipped a generation.”

Before I even had time to process what I was doing, my hand reared back then slapped him across the face. The people around us went silent. Killian’s head snapped to the side then he gave me a murderous look.