Chapter five

Hunter.

Locating Travis hadn't been difficult. The entire team seemed to have an obsession with posting their every move on I*******m. A little stalking of Sammy's page and I found a blurry photo of them with their location tagged.

I knew Travis didn't want me anywhere around him. I knew he hated me, and if I had any lick of sense, I'd stay far away from him.

But then again, I enjoyed getting on that spoilt asshole's nerves.

Guys like him had everything, they had been fed life on a silver spoon, and still insisted on acting like their life was so much harder than everyone else's. He had no idea how the rest of us had scraped for every morsel we got, while daddy gave him unlimited credit cards and a place on a big hockey team.

But there was something else...

Something about the way he had looked at me. Something I was loathe to admit.

And that something was the reason why when I saw the brunette pressing up against Travis, I moved faster than I had ever moved on the ice. Before I could tell myself to chill the fuck out, my hands had moved and grabbed her hand.

Two sets of confused eyes landed on me.

"What are you doing here?" Travis growled, caught between anger and confusion.

"Let me go, creep." The girl spat.

I tossed her hand away and shot her a menacing glare. She was wise enough to take a step backward.

"Day drinking during the season?" I raised an eyebrow at Travis.

Scoffing, he took another swig. "How did you find me here? Am I going to have to file a restraining order? Cause you have a habit of showing up around me."

"You should be flattered to have your own stalker."

He raised the bottle to his mouth again and drank, eyes never leaving mine. "Flattered? Nah, I feel sorry for you."

I froze.

"You're so desperate to have my life that you'll follow me everywhere like a homeless mutt." He said.

I forced my expression into a blank mask. "Oh."

"Who is this, babe?" The brunette whined.

"Nobody."

"The new brother." Travis and I chorused at the same time.

I scoffed. "I'm taking you home. You're drunk and we have practice at the ass crack of dawn."

"Are you crazy? I'm not going anywhere with you. And I'm not drunk." As if to prove his point, he rose to his feet. Or at least he tried to.

It was only my quick reflexes that stopped him from falling over, but unfortunately, it left us in close proximity, my arm wrapped around his waist and his fingers gripping the front of my shirt.

His breath caught as he stared at me, seeming both lost and confused.

"You look pretty drunk from where I'm standing." I smirked.

He pushed away from me with a glare. "Fuck off, Hunter. Don't you have family lunch or something to be at?"

Before I could respond, he pushed past me, headed for the exit.

"Way to go asshole." The brunette snapped. "You've blown my chance today."

"Don't kid yourself, barbie." I rolled my eyes. "Travis is as uninterested as they come."

With a huff, she spun around and walked off. I usually got along pretty well with women. It only took a minute for me to have them eating out my palm, but I had a feeling things were going to be different with the brunette.

I went after Travis, hoping he hadn't tried to drive in his current state.

Outside, I found him trying and failing to unlock his car.

"Give me the keys, or we can take mine. You're drunk."

He glared at me. "Stop saying that. I'm not drunk."

"Bet you can't even walk a straight line."

"Are you the sober police?" He snarled.

I tried to grab the keys, but he held them away, prompting me to reach around his body. He stumbled backward, and I ended up pressing him against the car. I froze as our bodies slotted together.

"Get off me you."

"Not until you give me the keys. I'm not letting you kill yourself just because_"

"Why do you care?" He scoffed. "I'd think you'd want me out of your way so you can take my place. Isn't that what you want?"

"I don't want your life, Travis. Believe it or not, it doesn't look all flowers and rainbows from the outside."

He blinked. "And yours is?"

My life was the last thing I wanted to talk about. "Give me the keys, Travis. Your little rich boy tantrum is getting boring."

"I want you gone. I want you off my team, out of my home, out of my life." He tried to push me off him, but I caught his hands instead, pinning him in place. "You can't just swoop in and steal everything from me."

I studied him. Travis was gorgeous, all dark thick hair, brown eyes, tight jaw, tall and muscular. Even now as he stood there, eyes flashing daggers at me, I couldn't help but notice how plump his lips were, or how a single lock of hair fell into his eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a conceited piece of shit?" I shook my head. "The world doesn't revolve around you, and your life isn't the damn dream life that every loser like me aches for."

"Liar."

"I earned my place on that team. Everyone saw that today. Meanwhile I'm yet to see proof that daddy dearest didn't hand you the position of captain." I spat. "You think you're some kind of god, hunh? You think you're so much better than everyone of us, because you have a team of cowards who have never dared to challenge you. News flash, Travis, you_"

All of a sudden, he surged forward, and his mouth landed on mine. For a second I thought he had staggered in his drunken state. But then his mouth moved over mine and I stopped breathing.

I tore away, eyes wide and heart racing. "What the_"

Travis looked sick. But then he jumped into action, diving into the car and revving the engine before I could snap out of my daze. I was still frozen in place as his car tore out of the parking lot.

One shaky hand lifted to my mouth.

What the hell just happened?