All Chapters of Rejected By The Hockey Captain, Now He Begs for me: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

~~ WARD~~My head pounded like someone was hitting it with a hammer. My arms burned from all the scrapes. I tried to open my eyes, but the bright hospital lights hurt too much. Machines beeped around me. The room smelled of medicine and clean sheets.Where was Aria? I needed to know if she was safe. I could not follow her because at the last moment, I lost consciousness.The last thing I remembered was pulling her from the car. I moved my hand and felt pain shoot up my arm. A voice spoke next to me.“Ward? You are awake.”It was Marcus. He sat in a chair by the bed. His face looked tired.“How is she?” I asked. My voice was rough. “Aria. Is she okay?”Marcus nodded. “She is fine. Just a small concussion and bruises. She came to see you, but Sophia got angry and slapped her and things got messy.”I tried to sit up. Pain hit my leg hard, but I did not stop. “Take me to her now.”“What is wrong with you? Your dad is already furious and it took everything for me to stop him from coming

~~ARIA~~I paced back and forth in my living room, my bare feet padding against the cold floor. My hands were clenched at my sides, my heart beating too fast. I couldn’t sit still. Every few seconds, I glanced at the clock on the wall, then at my phone, then back at the door. Ward’s face kept flashing in my mind, pale in the hospital bed, blood on his forehead, the way his father had smacked him without hesitation. What if his father had hurt him more after I left? What if he were in pain right now and no one was there to help him?Lena sat on the couch, her hands on her forehead, watching me with tired eyes. She had come over after I called her in a panic, but now she looked like she was at her limit.“Aria, please sit down,” she said, her voice strained. “You have been pacing for twenty minutes straight. You are making me dizzy.”I stopped for a second, then started pacing again. “I can’t… I keep thinking about Ward. His father was so angry. What if he hit him again? What if Ward

~~ARIA~~I sat at my desk in the performance office, the glow of my monitor casting harsh shadows across the cluttered surface. The same report I had been pretending to read for the last hour stared back at me, the words blurring into meaningless streaks of black on white. No matter how many times I blinked or rubbed my temples, the focus wouldn’t come. My mind kept drifting to one person, “Ward Bennett.”I hadn’t seen him all day. Not a single glimpse of that tall, broad-shouldered frame or those piercing eyes that always seemed to see straight through my defenses. I kept telling myself that was exactly what I wanted, the distance, space, a chance to breathe without his overwhelming presence complicating everything. But the silence felt heavier than any argument we had ever had. My chest ached with a strange, unwelcome worry that refused to be ignored.Where is he? Is he resting like he should be, or is that stubborn idiot pushing through the pain again? The thought of his injured

~~ARIA~~The rehearsal finally wrapped up, and Ward emerged from the center looking even more exhausted than before. He had changed into a simple black hoodie that swallowed his broad frame, the hood half-pulled up like a shield against the world. His movements were stiff, careful, every step betraying the deep ache in his waist. He didn’t complain. He never did. He just took the keys from my hand with a quiet nod and slid into the driver’s seat of my car.I settled into the passenger side, watching him. The interior felt smaller with him in it, his presence filling every inch of space. He adjusted the seat back slightly, winced once as he buckled in, then started the engine without a word. The silence stretched between us, broken only by the low hum of the car and the occasional shift of gears. I couldn’t stop staring. The way his jaw clenched when he turned the wheel. The subtle hitch in his breathing when he pressed the brake. The dark circles under his eyes that the fluoresc

~~ARIA~~Sunlight filtered softly through the heavy curtains, pulling me from a surprisingly deep sleep. For a moment, I lay there in the large, unfamiliar bed, blinking at the elegant ceiling above me. My body felt a little less heavy than the night before like the terror had receded just enough to let me breathe. But as consciousness fully returned, the memories crashed back in.The ransacked house, the scream that had torn from my throat, the way I had run into Ward’s arms like he was the only safe place left in the world.I sat up slowly, heart twisting with worry. What if they come back? What if this isn’t over? The silence in the room was thick, almost comforting, broken only by the distant hum of the villa’s security systems. Then I caught the warm, savory scent of food wafting up from downstairs. Breakfast is making my stomach rumble despite everything.I slipped into the bathroom, taking a long, steaming shower that helped wash away some of the lingering fear. The nightgow