SNOB: A Dark College Enemies to Lovers Romance

Chapter 16

The crowd chantsmy name and it’s music to my ears. The ice feels like home, and this uniform feels better than ever.

Looking at the filled stadium, my eyes find her. Gray has her right where I need her. In my view.

It reminds me of all my practices with her painting that mural shining above the stadium. I’ll admit, it brings more life to this stuffy place. It also brings a bit of grit. A reminder to play hard.

Ember stands out as she always does, even in SBU merch. Her red curls stick out from that beanie as she clutches a beer against her chest. Gray influences her to drink more but I’m making sure to put on a show everyone remembers.

My father isn’t in the crowd. These events always make him uncomfortable. Too cold. Too packed. Not enough caviar. But Coach is watching. So are a couple of scouts. I won’t disappoint.

Puck drop comes fast and I move on the ice quicker than a penguin. I’m slicing through, whipping past the other team trying to check me. Eden Gardens plays hard. Always have. They also play dirty. But I’m used to that.

A quick pass to Ryung gets it out of reach before it’s back to me. Clear shot to the net.

With a grin, I slap it in and the crowd roars.

“Hell yeah, Mac!” I can hear Gray cheer from here. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about! He’s back baby!”

A couple of guys from the team slide towards me, patting my helmet and shoulders. My eyes shift to Ember as she knocks back her drink, cheering with Gray and his pal Ripley. If she thinks that’s impressive, I have a lot more coming.

The crowd fuels me, so does my team and when the puck comes my way again, I drive it forward. Moving smoothly between my teammates, I don’t need a pass this time. I secure my route around the other team, moving my feet in the unorthodox way that makes Coach cringe.

Thwack!

Two to zero comes fast, the crowd erupting in cheers as the siren wails. One look at Coach tells me he’s as impressed with me as I am. And one look at Ember tells me she feels the same.

There’s a big smile on her face as she high-fives Gray. When she locks eyes with me, the fire in my gut builds. I’m ready to show her how much our past won”t affect me anymore.

She holds no power.

We dominate the first, up three to two by the end of the period. Eden Gardens came to the series opener playing hard, but Bisons come harder. I come harder. Moving my eyes to her again, I make sure she sees that.

Wait, what’s Gray doing?

With three minutes left in the period, my eyes narrow on Gray as he slips an arm behind Ember, pulling her close.

I miss my pass.

“Mac!” Ryung yells. “C’mon!”

Shaking my head I grip my stick tighter, my view drifting back to Ember and Gray. She laughs as he whispers something to her.

“Mac!” Ryung calls again.

The puck heads right for my stick.

“I got this, I got this,” I mutter, driving forward.

Slam!

A flash of white blinds me before my body flies into the glass.

Crack!

The crowd goes silent before I even feel it.

Everything slows as my ass slams down onto the ice.

The ref blows a whistle, pausing the game.

One of the Bisons slides over. “You alright, man?”

Nodding, I push to get up, my eyes trying to see past my team surrounding me to Ember. That’s when that familiar pain comes roaring back.

You fucking idiot.

“Fuck!” I yell, that pain impossible to ignore as it floods my system. My vision blurs as Coach blocks my view.

“Can you stand?” Coach asks, a medic next to him.

“I—I can’t.”

“The fuck were you looking at, McKinsley?” Ryung skates up to us. Straight to business.

I won’t admit it.

I won’t dare fucking admit that once again, Ember Everett ruins me.

Ember

“I didn’t see that coming.”

Gray’s voice warbles around me, the crowd a buzz of murmurs and whispers as the game resumes. Without Mac.

“I don’t know if he’s coming back from that.” Gray’s words are far from reassuring.

I’m still on my feet, my eyes on the ice where Mac went down. I’ve seen hits way harder than that with Uncle Jake, but that one made Mac break like a popsicle stick.

My stomach twists.

Is that my fault?

That night loops in my head. The gun. The way blood poured from his body.

This entire time I thought we were the victims. And we are. While Uncle Jake can never play again, he was older at that time. Mac’s career is only starting. And I didn’t give him a chance.

He deserved it.

He’s a monster.

“Did we traumatize you?” Gray asks, his hand coming to my back but it’s not comforting.

“I have to check on him.” Finally able to move, I swing my legs over the back of the bench.

“I’m coming with you,” Gray says and I don’t stop to protest as he helps divide the crowd in front of us.

It feels like forever before I’m out of the rink, my Oxfords hustling towards the locker room doors.

Crash!

Bang!

The closer I get to the locker room, the more it sounds like chaos.

“Fuck!” I hear Mac’s voice from a distance, bellowing down the hall.

“You sure you want to go in there?” Gray winces, downing his beer as we approach the open doors.

”I have to.” And with a deep breath, I cross the threshold.

My pace slows when I see it.

Carnage.

Hockey gear litters the once pristine floor, wooden benches turned over. Trash bins lay on their side, their contents spewed all across the space.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Mac appears in front of me, a finger pointed my way. He swings his gaze to Gray. “And you. What the fuck, Whitney? I told you to watch her, not fuck her! But if you want Valley Vermin, go right the fuck ahead. She’ll ruin you too.”

“Man, I’m out,” Gray laughs, turning towards the doors. He can’t deal with this but I will. I caused it.

“Mac…” I step forward an inch at a time, like I’m approaching a wild moose. Big. Unpredictable. Protective.

“Get the fuck out, Everett. I’m not gonna tell you again.”

“I’m so sorry—” My hands come in front of me, tempering the ferocious beast.

“Do you know the shit I’ve had to go through for you?” His hands turn to fists by his side, his chiselled face red and sweaty. Those iron eyes threaten to do what I did to him. Ruin me. “Do you know how much rehab, therapy, and stress I’ve had to go through to repair my life because of you? You selfish fucking bitch.” He slams his fist against a nearby locker, the wooden door popping open as hockey gear tumbles out. “From the moment I locked eyes with the darkness in yours, I knew I was fucking goner.”

“Mac, listen.” I try calming him again.

“My father has me on strings!” He bangs his fist against the locker, making me jump. “Event after fucking event. I haven’t slept in weeks. And now, it’s all for fucking nothing.” His nostrils flare. “Scouts won’t want me after that. Coach won’t either. Why the fuck did you have to come here? Why the fuck did I keep you alive?”

His words cut through me. “Yeah, well, same,” I spit back. “You ruined my life too. I wouldn”t need Greta to get me a scholarship if it wasn’t for you. You ruined a man’s career. His future.” Heat runs through me as I get closer and closer, the last few years spinning in my head. “Our future.”

“Back the fuck up, Everett,” he warns, a growl coming with it.

“That wasn’t just a thrift shop you stole from us, McKinsley.” I emphasize the name popping around The Valley, changing it into something we can’t recognize. “It was my family’s home. Our community’s home.”

“Stay the fuck back,” he warns again.

“My parents built that from the ground up and you stole it from us.”

“You stole my life.” His deep, low words roll through me, the tip of my shoes touching his socks. I can smell the sweat off him mixing with that deadly, peppery scent.

“So we’re even.” My words stay firm as I try to hide the tremble in my voice. With us this close, the memories of Riviera’s class circle my brain.

He moves his head close to mine as if he”s drilling his words into my skull. “I wish you didn’t exist.”

I hate that I lean in more. I hate that I want him to take the hurt away in a I know will ruin us both. “I wish you were dead.”

“Yeah? Is that why you took that paintbrush in your tight little cunt like you wished it was my cock?” The anger in his voice intensifies his words, my thighs clenching when those thoughts get way too hard to ignore.

“Stop.” My teeth clenched, I try to ignore the flutters bursting through me.

He leans closer, the smell of tobacco coming off his breath. “Is that why you let me make you cum…” He counts on his fingers. “Three times like a desperate whore?”

“Mac…”

He hovers his lips over mine. “You don’t wish I was dead. You wish you weren’t so turned on by a monster.”

“And you wish you didn’t fuck Valley Vermin.”

Our eyes lock, the world coming to a standstill around us. “Fuck you, Everett.” Those are the last words I hear before his lips crash into mine.