All Chapters of In love with my Ex’s Rival:The Ice Hockey Rival: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Tamara’s POVI saw Josh waiting by his car in the campus parking lot, and frustration immediately shot through me.I’d specifically told Garrett I would come home myself. I’d made that clear. I needed to maintain some independence, some sense of control over my own life. And he’d agreed. Or at least, I’d thought he agreed.Clearly, I’d been wrong.Josh saw me and gave a small wave, opening the passenger door as I approached.“Hey, Tamara,” he said, his deep voice as calm and steady as always. “How was school?”“Fine,” I said, sliding into the car. “Except Garrett was supposed to let me come home myself.”Josh’s expression didn’t change, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.“He was pretty insistent about picking you up,” Josh said, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot. “I tried to tell him you wanted to come back on your own, but you know the kind of person Garrett is.”“Overprotective?” I asked dryly.“An alpha,” Josh said simply. “Especially with someone he

Mara’s POVThe cold stone floor of the safehouse basement was freezing, but the rage burning inside me kept me warm. I grabbed a glass off the small wooden table and slammed it against the dark brick wall, watching it shatter into a hundred tiny, sharp pieces.I stood there alone in the dark, my chest heaving, my hands shaking so badly I had to curl them into tight fists. My nails bit deep into my palms, almost breaking the skin, but I barely felt the pain. All I could feel was pure anger.How did everything end up like this? How did I lose control of everything in a matter of days?I walked over to the corner of the room and kicked a heavy wooden chair with all the strength I had. It crashed onto its side, the wooden leg snapping against the concrete. The sound didn't satisfy me. Nothing could satisfy me right now.I paced back and forth across the small room.Every breath I took tasted like dust and old dirt. It made me sick. I wasn't supposed to be here. I wasn't supposed to be hidi

Tamara’s POVThree days.That’s how long Garrett had been gone.I’d stopped counting after that. Josh stayed with me the first night, his massive frame taking up half the couch while I tried to pretend I wasn’t hyperaware of the silence in the apartment. The second night, Garrett had come back briefly to apologize, to make sure I was eating and sleeping, to promise it wouldn’t happen again. And then he’d left again for another alpha meeting.By the fourth day, I’d made a decision.I couldn’t keep living like this.It wasn’t that I didn’t love him. I did. I understood now what Josh had tried to explain Garrett was an alpha first, and that came with responsibilities I couldn’t ask him to abandon. But I also couldn’t spend my time waiting by a window for him to come home, couldn’t organize my life around his pack obligations, couldn’t be the kind of person who existed in the spaces between his duty and his desire.I needed to be my own person again.I’d recovered. My silver veins had fad

Mara’s POVI left the stairs shaking, my heart still pounding from the confrontation with Tamara.She actually threatened me with her power. And worse, she’d meant every word.I needed to figure out my next move. I needed to…..My phone rang.The caller ID made my blood freeze solid.Dad.No… no… no, no. Not now. I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t had time to prepare an explanation.I stared at the phone as it rang, every instinct telling me to ignore it, to let it go to voicemail, to buy myself more time.But ignoring my father had never worked before.I answered on the fourth ring.“Hello?” My voice came out small, frightened.“Mara.” His voice was cold steel. “Come home. Immediately.”“Dad, I can’t right now. I’m in the middle of…”“I don’t care what you’re in the middle of,” he cut me off, and the controlled fury in his tone made my knees weak. “Come home. Now.”The line went dead.I stood there for a long moment, clutching my phone like it was a lifeline….God. What have I been dodging for so

Tamara’s POVThe door to room burst open with enough force to make me jump.Elena stumbled in, looking absolutely frazzled. Her hair was half falling out of its gothic bun, there was a coffee stain on her shirt, and she had the kind of exhausted expression that only came from spending hours in the library dealing with group projects.“That’s it,” she announced dramatically, collapsing onto her bed. “I’m dropping out. I’m becoming a professional hermit. No more group projects. No more study sessions. No more people.”“That was fast,” I said, sitting up. “What happened?”“Everyone in that group is incompetent,” she groaned, covering her face with her hands. “They didn’t do any of the work, they kept arguing about literally everything, and somehow I ended up being the person who has to fix all of it. I hate group projects. I hate collaboration. I hate people in general.”I laughed. “You don’t hate people.”“I hate most people,” she corrected, then noticed I was holding my phone. “Who we