That’s exactly why I need to nip this shit in the bud. I fucked her, and now I’m going to fuck up her life.
“Who is she?” Chaz asks.
“No one special,” I glower.
Chaz raises his eyebrows. “You don’t usually get hot and bothered about a girl. Are you trying to get her attention?” He looks at the page again. “Because this isn’t exactly the way to do it.”
“I’m not trying to get her attention.”
“Come on, man, why are you being so fucking cryptic? If you want to go after a girl, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I’m notgoing after her.This is war.”
Chaz holds up his hands in defence. I’m in a shitty mood, and he can tell. After trying to pry a couple of times and still not getting anything out of me, he usually gives up.
Good man. He knows how to play this game. He knows me and how to handle me, and that’s the only reason we’re still friends. He’s the only guy I’ve let stick around.
When the couple of hundred copies of Raina’s face and phone number—I got that from Lacey after a bit of flirting and charm—are done, I take the stack of papers. We leave the library, and Chaz finally looks like he can relax. He’s about as allergic to hard work as I am.
“You know, if she decides to follow up on this and it comes out that it’s you, the college can pursue it. You’re going to get in deep shit.”
“She won’t follow up on it,” I say.
“You’re sure about that? Some women love pulling shit apart, and you’ll never hear the end of it. What if she has connections somewhere?”
“Seriously, she’s not going to do anything,” I say.
Raina won’t want to draw any attention to herself. She needs to stay here, so she wants to lay low. This is going to piss her off because it does the opposite of what she needs—it makes everyone look at her. Maybe it will blow up her phone too.
She won’t go to the college administration with it because she can’t afford them knowing she’s not enrolled, and there’s no one else that can help her that will get me into shit.
It’s a beautiful plan.
Why am I fucking with her?
Because I’m still pissed off she got me beaten up. The coach benched me for two weeks. That’s four games! I have to sit there like a moron, watching the others screw up and fumble the puck, missing plays when it’s so damn easy to win if they’d just put me on.
If someone was out there, watching us, scouting for pro players, I would be fucked and it’s all her fault. If I lose my ticket to the big leagues so I can leave my fucked up world behind, I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do to her. But I’m sure I can figure something out.
The only way I can get out of this hell hole that is my life, and make something of myself that I’ll be proud of, is if I make it big as a hockey player. Then, by some miracle, I won’t be Stone Giles, the guy everyone fawns over.
I’ll be Stone Giles, the guyI, actually like.
That, and I’ll have my own name to ride on, not my dad’s shitty reputation that has everyone shivering in their shoes.
The last thing I want is for anyone to hear my name and associate it withhim.
I relive the beating that benched me—her declaration of war—and shiver.
Chaz took me to the hospital that night, and the doctor suggested I take it slow. Coach is new, thanks to me getting the other one fired, so he wants to play by the book. Which means I didn’t only get the living shit beat out of me, I was benched.
Raina will pay for all that, even if I can’t stop thinking about her, and her dark eyes haunt my every waking moment.
Even if she’s the kind of fuck I can’t forget, despite how many women I’ve been with I can compare her to, she’ll pay
This isn’t puppy love, and I’m not going to sit back and let it go.
Chaz and I walk across campus. I hand out bunches of flyers here and there, but I get sick of it. I approach a group of freshmen.