Semua Bab Pucking The Hockey Captain: My Forbidden Fruit : Bab 11 - Bab 20

Janessa's POVThe next morning, I was sitting in a tiny corner booth of a coffee shop two blocks away from campus, desperately trying to drown my anxiety in a massive cup of black caffeine.The bell above the door kept jingling as students drifted in and out, laughing, chatting, and completely oblivious to the fact that my entire existence had turned into a full-blown war zone. The smell of roasted espresso beans usually calmed me down, but today, it was barely keeping me from jumping out of my skin. My afternoon classes didn't start for another hour, and I was using every single second to just try and find some semblance of peace.On the wooden table next to my mug, my phone sat completely face down. It was dead. I had purposely refused to plug it into the charger last night, wanting nothing more than a single, uninterrupted hour away from the nuclear explosion that was currently happening on the Hayes family group chat. After Trevor’s manic breakdown outside Brayden’s condo yesterd

Janessa's POVThe walk back to the condo that evening was the longest, most brutal walk of my entire life.I kept my head down, the heavy straps of my backpack digging into my shoulders, but it was completely useless. I could practically feel the weight of the entire campus staring at me as I walked down the crowded sidewalks. Every time a group of students laughed or hovered over a phone screen, my stomach did a violent flip. I knew exactly what they were looking at. The viral video was everywhere, and the insults seemed to echo off the brick campus buildings like a physical chant. By the time I finally reached the glass doors of Brayden’s building, my chest was tight, and I felt like I was completely suffocating under the pressure.I took the elevator up to the penthouse in a complete daze, my mind racing with Professor Keller’s challenge to use the chaos as fuel for my writing. But right now, I didn't feel like a writer. I just felt like a broken girl trying to find a corner to hi

Janessa's POVI was practically vibrating out of my skin from anxiety, and the smooth, leather interior of the SUV was doing absolutely nothing to calm me down.I stared blankly at my own reflection in the dark, tinted passenger window as the city skyline melted into the rolling, expensive hills of the suburbs. The girl looking back at me looked like a total stranger. I was wearing a sleek, tailored dress that Brayden had basically forced me to pick out from a high-end boutique down the street from his condo earlier that afternoon. It was beautiful, expensive, and completely unlike anything I usually wore. Standing in his mirror, I had felt like an imposter playing a part in a movie I never auditioned for, and now, sitting in the quiet car, that feeling was suffocating me."You're going to burn a hole through that glass if you keep staring at it like that," Brayden's deep, gravelly voice rumbled through the quiet interior of the car.He was driving with one hand carelessly resting on

Janessa’s POVThe grand dining room felt like a courtroom, and I was the one on the witness stand.Mrs. Hayes leaned back slightly in her chair, her piercing gray eyes locking onto me with an intensity that made me feel naked. She didn't look angry; she looked completely disgusted, staring at me across the dark mahogany table like I was nothing more than a piece of dirt someone had tracked onto her expensive Persian rug."I am speaking to you, Miss Moreno," her voice cut through the quiet room, sharp and completely freezing. "I want an answer. Is this truly how you repay this family’s kindness? Trevor has spent the last two years treating you with nothing but respect, and the very second you step foot in Berkeley, you cause a sordid public spectacle with his brother."My throat went dry. I tried to swallow, but it felt like my throat was coated in sand. "Mrs. Hayes, it’s not—""Do not interrupt me," she snapped coldly, raising a perfectly manicured hand to silence me before I could ev

Brayden's POVI skated off the ice, the sharp scrape of my blades cutting through the slush near the bench as the final whistle blew.Sweat was dripping steadily down my neck, soaking right into the collar of my heavy practice jersey. My lungs were burning, my thigh muscles were screaming from the brutal conditioning drills Coach had forced us through, but my mind wasn't even on the rink. The second the session ended, my thoughts had immediately drifted right back to the loft. I wanted to get back to check on Janessa. After the total nuclear disaster we had caused at my parents' mansion last night, I knew she had to be reeling. She was a good girl, raised on safe promises, and watching the entire Hayes empire catch fire wasn't exactly something she was built to handle without spiraling.I stepped onto the heavy rubber matting, intending to march straight into the corridor and head for the showers, when a massive body bumped hard against my shoulder.I flinched slightly, my jaw clenchi