Chapter 1

~Alex~

I stole the puck and hit their guy so hard he went down, the roar was insane. The crowd was screaming like I’d ruined my whole life for daring to go against him, and then Damien slammed into me full force. My face smashed into the boards, glass cracking loud enough to hear over everything, and his gloved hand wrapped around my throat from behind, pinning me right there against the glass. It was choking, holding me like I was his to move or not move.

“You  dare to attack me on  my ice, you scholarship trash,” he growled hot against my ear, voice low and mean and way too close. “But tonight… you’re gonna learn exactly how much I own you.”

Heat shot straight through me. The whistle blew sharp. Damien’s fingers dragged across my jaw as he let go, slowly on purpose, and skated off like he hadn’t just tried to brand me in front of the whole arena. I shoved off the boards, chest heaving, face burning, telling myself it was just the hit, just adrenaline, not whatever the fuck that rush was.

Coach was waiting the second I got off the ice. Grabbed my arm and hauled me toward his office without a word. Door shut and he didn’t even sit down.

“Your scholarship’s barely breathing, Rivera. One more screw-up, one more fight, one more call from a pissed-off donor, and you’re gone. I don’t care how good you are out there. Damien’s family keeps the lights on. You make him look bad again and I can’t save you.”

I wiped sweat off my face, still breathing hard. “He’s the one who checked me into the boards like he wanted to break my neck. I was playing hockey. That’s what we’re here for, right?”

“You showed him up on his own ice and you know it.” Coach pointed at me. “Fix whatever this is. Apologize, stay out of his way, I don’t care. Just don’t give me a reason to sign your exit papers.”

“Apologize?” I laughed. “For what,being talented? Yeah, I’ll get right on that. Kiss his rich ass and thank him for not killing me.”

“Watch your mouth, kid. This isn’t your old school. Here they eat people like you for breakfast.” He waved me out. “Go cool off. And stay away from Damien tonight.”

I muttered the whole way to the locker room. “Sure, Coach. I’ll just roll over and let the captain walk all over me because his daddy’s checkbook says so.”

The locker room was loud as hell, guys yelling, lockers banging, the usual post-game mess. I’d barely got my jersey half off when Lila shoved past a couple of sophomores and got right up in my face, grabbing my pads with both hands.

“Alex, you can’t keep doing this to me,” she said, voice all shaky and too loud. Her eyes were red, makeup smudged. “I can’t breathe. I can’t sleep. You have to take me back.”

“Lila, let go.” I tried to step back but she held on tighter, nails digging in.

“You think breaking up was okay? After everything? I got you into this place. I covered for you when…”

“Stop.” I grabbed her wrists, not rough but enough to make her pause. “We’re done. You know exactly why. Don’t do this here.”

Her face changed, went sharp. “I’ll tell them. All of it. How you really got that scholarship. What happened with your dad back home. How you….”

“Shut the hell up.” My voice dropped but it came out mean. “You want to ruin me? Go ahead. But don’t stand here acting like I owe you anything. You cheated. You lied to my face for months. And now you’re threatening me in front of the whole team because I won’t crawl back?”

A few guys looked over but nobody said shit. Of course not. Lila’s family knew people too. She yanked her hands free, breathing fast, tears starting.

“I still love you, Alex. I do. Fix this thing with me or I swear I’ll make sure you lose everything. Everything.” Then she turned and stormed out, perfume cutting through the sweat stink.

I stood there a second, heart slamming, sweat going cold on my skin. “Yeah, perfect,” I muttered to myself. “Crazy ex on top of everything else. My life keeps getting better.”

My ribs were killing me from that hit. I limped to the training room to grab an ice pack, hoping it was empty. It wasn’t. Damien was already in there, leaning against the counter like he owned the place, and honestly? he basically did.

He looked up, eyes dark. “Sit down.”

“I’m good.”

“Sit the fuck down, Rivera.” He grabbed an ice pack and came over anyway. “You move like shit. Coach will bench you if you can’t even skate tomorrow.”

I dropped onto the table, jaw locked tight. He pressed the ice to my side, fingers sliding under the hem of my shirt onto bare skin. They stayed there. His thumb moved slowly over the edge of the bruise and my stomach flipped hard.

“You hate me,” he said, voice low, breath warm on my neck. “But your body doesn’t lie. I felt how you reacted out there when I had you pinned.”

My face went hot. “Get your hands off me.”

He didn’t. Just smirked, pressing the ice a little harder, fingers still on my skin. “Make me.”

I shoved him back, hard. He stumbled one step and laughed, low and dark like this was funny to him. My heart was pounding so loud it drowned out everything else. “You’re actually insane.”

“And you’re hard from me touching a bruise on your ribs. Real funny how that works, scholarship trash.”

“Fuck you, Damien.” I stood up fast, ignoring the sharp pain, and got the hell out of there before I did something stupid like hit him or worse.  My hands were shaking. 

By the time I got back to my dorm my legs felt dead. The door was open a crack. I pushed it the rest of the way and stopped. My bed was wrecked sheets ripped off, mattress flipped half on the floor. My game jersey lay in pieces on the ground like someone had taken scissors to it. And on the mirror, big red lipstick letters: “If I can’t have you, no one will.”