Chapter 1

Chapter 1

~Alex~

I could hear everyone stomping, chanting, already half-drunk on the promise of a good game. My heart pounded against my ribs as I followed my teammates toward the ice. The familiar ritual, the last few seconds before stepping into the light always made my stomach flip.

Damien was ahead of me, his massive frame blocking out the lights. He turned his head just enough to catch my eye, that same cruel smirk plastered across his face.

"Try not to fall on your ass out there, Rivera," he said loud enough for the guys around us to hear. "Wouldn't want everyone to see exactly what kind of player this school bought with a scholarship."

I clenched my jaw.

He was an asshole.

Unfortunately, he was also the hottest man I had ever seen.

A few of his friends laughed. I felt the heat creep up my neck, but I forced my jaw to stay loose, my shoulders to stay square. I'd learned a long time ago that showing them it hurt only made it worse.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, voice flat. "Maybe you should focus on your own game instead of worrying about mine. Wouldn't want the captain to get shown up by scholarship trash, right?"

Damien's eyes narrowed. The smirk flickered, just for a second. The guys around us went quiet, waiting to see how he'd react. I could feel their attention like a weight on my chest.

He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell the sharp tang of his deodorant. He always smelled annoyingly so good.

Then his voice dropped, low enough that only I could hear.

"Bold words for someone who's only here because his daddy couldn't afford tuition."

My hands tightened on my stick. I wanted to shove him. To knock that smug look right off his perfect face. But I'd worked too hard to get here. One fight, one stupid moment of lost control, and Coach would have my scholarship in shreds.

So I smiled instead. "At least I earned my spot. Your daddy bought yours. We both know you'd be nothing without his money."

Damien's jaw tightened. For half a second, something dark and dangerous flickered in his eyes not just anger, but something else. Something that made my stomach twist in a way I didn't want to examine. Then the whistle blew, and we were moving, and the moment shattered.

I skated onto the ice with my heart hammering and my face burning, but I'd said it. I'd finally said it.

The first period was brutal.

I played harder than I had all season, skating circles around their defense, stripping pucks, feeding our forwards. Every time Damien came near me, I met his eyes and didn't look away. He tried to shoulder me off the puck; I held my ground. He tried to slash at my ankles; I jumped over his stick and kept going.

"Getting cocky, scholarship trash?" he muttered during a face-off, voice low.

"Getting tired of your mouth," I shot back, shoving past him. "Play hockey or shut up."

His eyes went cold, but the whistle blew and we were moving again. I didn't give him a chance to respond.

We won the period 2-0. I'd scored one of them.

*****

The locker room was loud as hell post-period, guys yelling, lockers banging, the usual chaos of bodies shedding sweaty gear and slapping each other on the back. I was still riding the high of that goal, adrenaline buzzing through my veins like electricity. My cheeks were flushed, my breath still coming fast, and for a few seconds, I let myself believe things might actually be okay.

Then I rounded the corner to my stall and stopped dead.

My gear was everywhere. Pads thrown across the floor in a scattered mess. Sticks knocked over like someone had kicked through them. My bag was tipped upside down, everything I owned spilling out across the dirty tile, I expected Damien of course, after What I’d done to him out there.

But standing there in the middle of the wreckage, arms crossed, eyes wild and glassy, was Lila.

"Come on, give your darling girlfriend a kiss!" she shouted to no one in particular, her voice too bright and too sharp, cutting through the locker room noise.

A few guys looked over, confused expressions on their faces. She was already drunk, I realized. Or something close to it. Her mascara was smudged, her hair a tangled mess, and she was swaying slightly on her heels.

Then she spotted me.

"Alex!" She rushed over so fast I didn't have time to step back. Her hands grabbed mine with desperate force, nails biting into my skin hard enough to leave crescents. "Baby, finally. I've been waiting forever. Just tell me we're fine. Tell everyone you didn't mean it."

"Lila, let go." I tried to pull my hand back, but she held on tighter, her grip almost painful. "What are you doing here? You can't be in here. This is the guys' locker room."

"I don't care." Her voice cracked, tears already spilling down her cheeks and ruining what was left of her makeup. "I can't breathe without you. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I've been going crazy, Alex. You have to take me back. Please. Please, baby. Just say you still love me."

I yanked my hand free, stepping back. My back hit the locker behind me, metal cold through my thin practice jersey. "We're done, Lila. You know exactly why. Don't do this here. Not now. Not in front of everyone."

Her face crumpled. Her bottom lip trembled. For a second, I almost felt bad. Almost.

Then her expression hardened. The tears didn't stop, but something behind them turned sharp and mean.

"You think breaking up was okay?" Her voice rose, shrill and shaking. "After everything I did for you? I got you into this place. I covered for you when….

"Stop." My voice dropped low and mean. "I'm not doing this with you again. We've had this conversation a hundred times. I'm done. We're done. Go home."

She grabbed for my arm again. I stepped to the side, avoiding her grip. She stumbled, caught herself, and came at me again. Guys were watching now, some of them smirking, some looking uncomfortable, some pretending they weren't paying attention. My face burned with humiliation. This was exactly what I didn't need.

"Lila, go home," I said again, firmer this time. "We're not getting back together. Not now, not ever. I told you that last week. I told you that yesterday. I'm telling you that now. There's nothing left between us, I’ll never date a constant cheat and liar."

"You don't mean that." She lunged forward, grabbing my jersey with both hands, yanking me toward her so hard my chest slammed against hers. Her breath was hot and sour on my face. "You love me. You said you'd never leave me. You promised, Alex. You promised. You know I didn’t mean to hurt you."

"But you did!! Let go of me Lila." I pried her fingers off my jersey one by one. Her nails scraped against my collarbone, leaving red lines. "You're embarrassing yourself. And me. Just leave before security comes."

Her breath came fast and ragged, chest heaving. Her eyes went glassy and then cold in a way that made my blood run cold. I knew that look. I'd seen it before.

"You think you can just throw me away?" Her voice rose to a shriek, bouncing off the lockers and making everyone in the room freeze. "I know everything about you, Alex. Everything. I still have those videos of us. You know the ones where…"

"Shut the hell up."

I grabbed her wrists to stop her from pointing, from gesturing, from making this worse. I squeezed just tight enough to get her attention, to make her pause. Her eyes widened, and for a second, I thought she might actually listen.

Then she wrenched one hand free and swung.

The slap cracked across my face so hard my head snapped to the side. Pain exploded across my cheek, hot and sharp, going down into my jaw. I tasted blood from where my teeth had cut the inside of my mouth.

Someone whistled low. A few guys gasped but nobody moved.

"I'll tell them all, I’ll show it to them!" Lila screamed, tears streaming down her face, voice raw and broken and furious all at once. "I'll tell everyone. I'll make sure you lose everything. Everything you worked for. Everything I helped you get. You'll be nothing without me, Alex. Nothing!"

I stood there, frozen. My hand pressed against my stinging cheek. My heart was slamming so hard I could feel it in my throat. I had nothing. No comeback. No threat.

Just the cold, sick feeling of someone holding a match to every bridge I'd ever built. Every secret I'd ever kept. Every desperate choice I'd ever made to survive.

The locker room was dead silent.

Then Damien appeared out of nowhere.

I didn't even see him move. One second, Lila was standing in front of me, chest heaving, tears and mascara streaking down her face. The next, Damien was between us, his massive frame blocking her from me like a wall. His hand closed around her arm not rough, but firm enough to make her gasp and try to pull away.

"Get your hands off me Damien!" she snarled, twisting against his grip. "Who the hell do you think you are to touch me?"

"You're done here," Damien said. His voice was flat. Calm. Almost bored. But his eyes were dark with something I couldn't read. "You don't belong in this locker room. You don't belong anywhere near my team or the opponent team."

"Your opponent team?" Lila laughed, brittle and broken. "He's not your anything. He's mine. He's always been mine."

Damien's grip tightened. Just slightly. Just enough to make her wince.

"I don't care what he was to you," he said, voice dropping low and dangerous. "He's on my ice. He's in my locker room. And you're making a scene. That's not allowed."

He leaned in closer, and I could see the way Lila's braveness flickered. "You think your family has money? Our families may be friends but my family could buy yours ten times over and not even notice. You want to make threats? Go ahead. See what happens. I'll have you banned from every rink in this state by tomorrow morning. You'll never get within a hundred feet of Alex Rivera again."

She stared at him, mouth open. Her lip quivered. I could see the fight draining out of her, replaced by something smaller and sadder.

"This isn't over," she whispered, but her voice had no strength behind it. She pointed at me one last time, finger shaking. "This isn't over, Alex."

Then she yanked her arm free, turned, and stormed out.

The locker room was still dead silent. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke.

Damien turned to me, jaw tight. His eyes swept over my face, lingering on the red mark across my cheek. I knew right at that moment that what ever he was gonna say to me wasn’t going to be good.