Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
I thought I saw a new level of respect in her eyes as she watched me like I was a brain bender puzzle she couldn’t quite figure out.
“What?” I asked when she didn’t say anything.
“It’s hard for me to picture.”
“Me beating someone’s ass? Come on, Mave, give me some credit. You see me do it nightly on the ice.”
I thought I saw her cheeks redden at the shortening of her name. I made a mental note to do it again.
“I just mean… I can’t picture you in that scenario. I pegged you for a more… posh school environment.”
“Believe me when I say, prep schools have more drama than public ones. When everyone has money, and everyone thinks money is power… it can feel like living in a fantasy world, one where the rules don’t apply.”
She huffed out a laugh at that, her eyes on the floor like she was thinking about her own past instead of mine now. I saw the ghosts dancing in her eyes.
“I will say, I think wearing my scar is easier than bearing the hidden ones you have to live with.”
She stilled, her next breath paused in her chest for a moment before she looked at me.
I wanted to ask her more about her ex, about the fucking bastard responsible for all the barbed-wire-lined walls she stood so shakingly behind. He’d hurt her. That much she’d admitted. But it was deeper than what she’d let on, little remnants of him sticking to her like shrapnel from an explosion.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated, the screen lighting up and breaking through the darkness in the room.
She swiped it off the table, sighing a bit before she glided her thumb over the screen and fired off a message.
“What’s up?”
“Reya is asking for an update.” She looked at me like she was ashamed of what she was going to say next. “Everyone wants to know you’re okay.”
I maneuvered myself to sit up straighter on the couch. “Well, let’s give the people what they want.”
“Really?”
I shrugged like it was no big deal, giving her a wink.
She cared about her job, about what people thought of her. Maybe if I showed her I cared about it, too, I could break out of the box she’d put me in in her mind. I thought about what Livia said when I’d called her, before she’d told me where Maven was on her date.
You’ve got a long road ahead of you to earn her trust.
Maven watched me for a moment before tapping on her screen until she had Instagram pulled up. She snapped a picture of me holding up two thumbs, and when she showed it to me, we both laughed at my swollen, bruised face, and the gnarly cut covered by bandages.
Once the photo was posted, Maven hopped up from the floor, wincing a bit from the position she’d been in for so long. My stomach immediately sank, knowing she was about to leave. It was the first night I’d spent with her without her teeth being bared, the first time I felt her peeking over those walls — even if just a little.
“We better get some sleep,” she said. “Do you need anything before I go?”
Stay.
The word reverberated in my mind, in my chest, but I snuffed it out like a candle flame.
“I mean, I could use a massage,” I said. “Or maybe a kiss — that would make it all better, right?”
“Vince,” she warned.
“Maven,” I echoed.
She looked so cozy in that moment, so relaxed, and yet I watched in slow-motion as she snapped every single guard back into place, a little line between her brows showing before she turned away.
“Make sure to keep icing,” she said, grabbing her bag off the table by the door.
“Careful. You’re doing that thing where it seems like you might care about me again.”
She turned, hanging a hand on her hip. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
There she is, I thought. My feisty girl.
I couldn’t resist the chance to play with her.
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask… how was your walk home from the gym last week?”
Maven’s face slackened as my grin grew.
“I know it was a bit… hot that night. Humid. Things can get a little… sticky.”
Her mouth popped open for just a moment before she scoffed and turned on her heel.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Did it rain?” I called behind her, arms resting on the back of the couch as I watched her go. “I heard things were a little wet.”
“Goodbye.”
I laughed long after she slammed the door.
One Stubborn Girl
Vince
The rookie party was a highly anticipated event for the Tampa Bay Ospreys.
At a point in the season where things were relatively calm — meaning we had at least a few days between games and our record wasn’t too shitty — the veterans would essentially kidnap the rookies on the team for a night of debauchery in their honor.