30. I’ll Kill You VS I’d Kill For You
30
I’LL KILL YOU VS I’D KILL FOR YOU
MALLORY
The arena is packed. Like mega packed. You could mistake this college hockey game for a national level one. I think this arena might be more packed than when I go for Henry’s games. Then again, that’s expected. This game is going to be one of the best. Covington is playing Madison University, a college about two hours outside New York. Maddison is a sports college, they save most of their budget for their sports teams. State of the art gym, steam room and a screening room with an eighty inch tv.
Oh, and a giant arena. Seriously, this arena could give the UBS arena a run for their money.
I’m walking down the corridor, when I slam face first into a wall.
An unfamiliar, tall muscular wall.
I look up to see a tall muscular guy with a MU hoodie smirking at me. Great.
“Oh sorry, my bad.” I offer him a smile that says polite but not flirting and try to walk around him, but he blocks my way.
“You’re smokin’. What’s your name? ”
Seriously? Not even a hi first?
When I don't respond, he moves in closer to me. Clearly boundaries don’t exist in his world. “Are you staying for the game? We could…you know… hang out after.”
In the span of five seconds, he’s hit on me and offered to sleep with me. I only said four words to him. Four. I take a step back. “Sorry, I’m not interested, I have a boyfriend.”
He walks closer to me, moving his hand to grab my ass. He shouldn’t have done that.
“I don’t see him.”
“Turn around.” The guy’s smile falters when Ollie comes into view. He’s taller than him, but because he’s already in his skates and padding, he looks huge. The real human equivalent of a wall. “Now you see him.” Ollie stalks closer to him, shooting him a murderous look. “But the question is, why do I still see you?”
The guy’s face turns so pale, he could give Casper a run for his money. He doesn’t even apologise. He just walks away, shaking his head, without another word spoken.
Oasis sounds like a fun school.
Ollie glaces at his back one more time before turning to me, his frown softening when he looks at me.
“Surprise?” I let out a breathy laugh. This isn’t how I thought the day would turn out.
“You said you had volleyball.”
I walked closer to him, tilting my head all the way up to look him in the eyes. God he’s tall in his skates. “I did. It just didn’t last as long as I led you to believe.”
He offers me a double–dimpled smile, and boy, is it a sight. I could look at his smile forever.
I stand on my tiptoes and reach up to cup his face, kissing the spot in his cheek where his dimples come out. “Happy game day. ”
His hands land on my waist, giving in a gentle squeeze. “I – thank you – I really needed you here. Thank you for coming, baby.”
He leans down to kiss me, when someone coughs behind me.
“Well well well, isn’t this a sight to see.”
I tense up. I never wanted to hear his voice again. I guess being a handsy jackass is a requirement for this team.
I press my feet to the floor and turn to face him. “Cole.”
Cole stares back at me, some sort of sinister grin on his face. Three years later and he still looks the same. He’s the same cheating, talentless jackass.
“Well if it isn’t my ex–teammate and my ex–girlfriend.”
“I didn’t know you transferred to Oasis,” I point out.
“Yep. the only college that would take me already into the semester. My parents had to fork out a lot of money to make it happen, by the way.” I blink at him. He doesn't deserve a damn thing from me. I’m not wasting my breath. “Can I have a quick word?” He says after a while of silence.
Ollie intertwined his hand with mine, stepping forward. “Nope.” I say.
He scowls at me. “You owe me.” His voice is low and deep, like he’s trying his best to intimidate me.
I try my hardest to hold in my laugh. “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
I turn my head to walk away. “I always knew you were a coward.” He calls out, stopping me in my tracks.
“Excuse me?” I turned to face him, trying so hard not to fall for his tricks. And his smile proves it. He’s goading me.
He carelessly shrugs. “You were too scared to tell Ashby how you felt because you were with me.” Wrong . “You were too scared to break up with me”
“Are you forgetting the very real event where I punched you in the nose and broke up with you on the spot? Or did you suffer from memory loss when your ass hit the floor.”
He grips his stick so tight, I can see the white of his knuckles. “You’re also too scared to contact your mom. But in that respect, I don't blame you. Why speak to the woman who took one look at you and decided you weren’t worth it.”
“At least I didnt pretend to like someone to get on the fucking hockey team,” I say. He pales as I move out of Ollie’s grip and closer to him. “Because we both know that’s the only way you were getting on the team. You made it to onto the Covington team because of my dad, and you made it onto this one because of yours.” His nostrils flare. “It’s almost like you just don’t have what it takes to make it to the big leagues by yourself.'' I get all up in his face. Well, as far as I can. He’s taller in his skates. “And everyone knows it.”
He’s silent for so long I almost think he isn’t going to respond. But then he does. “You should thank me. I made you approachable.”
My eyebrows raise so fast I'm surprised they’re still attached to my face. “I should thank you?”
“I was your first boyfriend. I made you approachable to people. I made you look appealing. It was generous on my part. I didn’t have to pretend to like you. To fuck you,” he looks over my shoulder for this next bit. Looking straight at Oliver. “You should’ve been there, man. Words cannot describe how good her pussy tast–”
“Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me!” I shove him so hard that he almost bumps into his teammate behind him. The ass grabber. He goes to shove me back, and that’s when Shawn intervenes. Where did he even come from?
“Woah, man, no need to get physical.” Shawn’s facing Cole, holding him back by his shoulders. I glance over my shoulder and see Cory and Tommy physically holding Ollie back. Although, neither of them look like they want to. If they didn’t have a game to play, fists would be flying right about now. I turn my attention to Ollie, who looks downright murderous right now. I don’t blame him. I think the only reason he’s not killing Cole right now is because he’ll probably get banned from playing, and having the captain get banned from playing before the game even starts isn’t good for the team.
“Getting the team to defend you, huh? You fucking him too? Makes sense, nobody would want you for more than that, considering... you know, your weight.” Cole says, trying and failing to break out of Shawn's grip.
The entire room has been stunned to silence. Where the fuck did that come from?
“Excuse me?” My voice shakes as I squeeze the words out.
“You’re obviously not as thin as other girls. A trait I almost couldn’t overlook. I’m surprised you haven’t put it together. You must be really good at sex for guys to hold your attention, because beyond that, the only thing you’ve got going for you is your dad. You fell for it with me, and you’re falling for it again with him. Haven’t you learnt your lesson by now?” He laughs, moving out of Shawn’s grip. He walks past him and right up to me. And I can't move. I don’t move. I just stare at him, unable to think, unable to breathe.
“He doesn’t love you, Mallory, you are not capable of being loved,” he continues, and I feel my fists clench at my side. And before I get the chance to do something that will probably get me kicked out of here, I hear Ollie behind me. He tries to barge past me, but I stop him, pressing my palms to his heaving chest. “It’s like I said, the only good thing about you is your dad.” Cole says, raising his voice slightly.
Ollie’s chest is still under my palm. I close my eyes, move my hands, and stand to the left. He barges past me and grabs Cole by his jersey.“I’ve had enough of your bullshit,” he spits. Cole didn’t even get the chance to so much as even flinch before Ollie punches him. Right in the jaw.
He yanks Cole towards him so they’re face to face. “Touch her, talk to her, look at her – if you so much as think about her again, I will kill you, Cole. I’ll fucking murder you. Leave. Her. Alone.” His tone is ice–cold, murderous. So sharp it could cut glass, shatter worlds. The last time I saw him lose it like this was at Marcus’ party. With Nick.
Ollie gets ready to punch him again, but before he gets the chance, Cole gets yanked away from him and slammed into the wall. The familiar face grabs the ass grabber by his shirt, slamming him into the wall too.
Theoadore Maddison The Third. Theo. His family founded and built Oasis.
He’s best friends with Elijah Winchester, as in Winchester prep. The high school Cole and I went to. I guess when both your families own the schools you attend, you’re instant besties. Eli is my friend, and we used to talk all the time. Theo used to visit him alot, so I know him too. He’s definitely your typical entitled rich kid. People sometimes only approach him because he’s rich and his dad owns the school, so they assume he can get away with anything. Which is true. From what I've heard from Eli anyway. But he was always nice to me. I guess he saw that we had a kind of… mutual understanding. People always use me too.
Theo is taller than both of them, and uses it to his advantage. He gets all up in both their faces, spitting with rage. “Jensen. Howard. Go to the locker room right now or god help you, I will do something that will put you out of our next ten games. ”
“Ashby just punched me!” Cole shouts. “He need to be disqu–” Cole stops talking the moment Theo’s eyes are on him.
“He was provoked,” Theo says, his voice low and quiet, but his words are crystal clear. “This is your fault, Jensen. Whatever happens to the team, it’s on you. Both of you. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”
Both boys pale as they walk away, not even looking back.
Ollie comes up behind me, placing a reassuring hand on the small of my back. I sink into his touch. Theo walks over to me, a friendly smile on his face. “Always causing trouble, aren’t you, Gracie?” His smile widens.
“Your team is full of jackasses, Theo.”
He laughs a little, like that isn’t the first time that’s happened. “Don’t listen to a word they say. Cole and Joe are all talk and no bite.”
Joe Howard. Should have known. You never trust a man who’s name begins with J. Big red flag.
“Good to see you, again Theo.”
“Likewise.” His eyes raked over me, but not in the flirting kind of way. It’s like he’s looking at what’s changed in the last three years since I've seen him. “Will I see you at Eli’s New Years party?”
“Maybe.”
“I hope to see you there.” He leans over me and extends his hand to Ollie “I apologise for what both my men did to your girlfriend. I promise you will receive no punishment for it, and my guys will be dealt with. From captain to captain, I promise a fair game,” Ollie shakes his hand. “But as Mallory’s friend, if you want a few hits on them in the rink,legal or illegal, I won’t stop you.”
No more is said as Theo heads down the hall, to what I assume is his team's locker room .
“Well that was fun.” Tommy says, trying to lighten the mood. Shawn walks over to Ollie, tapping him on the shoulder. “We’ll be in the locker room man, don’t be long.” Shawn offers me a comforting smile as he, Tommy and Cory walk in the other direction, leaving me alone with Ollie.
I look up at Ollie and he’s still staring at the end of the corridor, rage consuming his entire face. “I swear to god, it’s taking everything in me to not go into their locker room and beat the shit out of him,” he spits.
I turn to face him, cupping his cheeks with my hands. “Save it for the ice, baby. Don’t waste another second on it. It’s not worth it.”
“It is,” he pleads, his eyes meeting mine. “Where you’re concerned, it will always be worth it. Even if he gets a few punches in. If I die trying, then that’ll be it. I will never not defend you, Mallory. Don’t think, even for a second, that I don't love you enough to do it. I love you more than anything. I love you so much it consumes me. I am full of you, and it's real, baby.” He leans down, pressing his forehead against mine. “As long as I breathe on this earth, you’ll always have someone defend you.” He drops his voice to a low whisper. “You’re it for me, baby.”
I smile at him. “You’re it for me, too.”