𝐑 𝐎 𝐌 𝐀 𝐍' 𝐒    𝐏 𝐎 𝐕

𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫...

Hockey is an intense sport.

Violent, technical, skillful...and that's just practice. Hours every day, aside from our off day, are spent in the gym conditioning and strengthening our bodies before we head out onto the ice. Dedicating our free time to the sport, outside of classes and academic commitments.

Our social lives and relationships suffer a lot. It's the main reason a lot of us choose no strings attached, considering it's extremely hard to find the time to put into a relationship.

My harsh breathing reaches my ears, overcoming the loud and piercing ringing that has been sitting there since I first got slammed into the boards. My senses are intensified as the sound of the metal blades scraping across the ice is ten times louder than it was at the start of practice. Coach's shouting is drowned out, and my eyes focus on the puck skating in front of my hockey stick as I maneuver around the other players.

Pushing forward on my skates, my body aches from the grueling practice that we've been having for at least an hour and a half now. I don't let that deter me, though. My hockey stick swings back as I take a slap shot and as soon as the shot on goal happens, my teammates slap me on the back.

My slower pace allows my breathing to calm as I leisurely take a few laps around the rink, along with the rest of the players. As our adrenaline comes down from its high, we all make our way off the ice.

"Nice work today fellas, keep up the game wins and the focused practices and we'll be heading to the frozen four in no time," Coach Henderson praises us as we head to the locker rooms. As soon as we enter, we're all peeling off our helmets, pads, and jerseys. The smell of the room would knock someone out if they came in here right now.

"Want to hit up the bar after this?" Miles questions as I get ready for a shower. "I think we deserve it after this practice."

"If we do, I'm not carrying your drunk ass home." I punch his shoulder before running my hand through my damp hair.

Miles chuckles. "Oh, of course. King here doesn't drink during the season."

"You should try it." Isaiah appears, collapsing down on the bench. "Maybe then your ass could keep up with us on the ice."

"I keep up just fine." Miles points to us, and Isaiah and I look at each other before bursting out laughing. "Oh, fuck off. I like to enjoy myself with the finer things in life."

I scoff and raise my eyebrow. "The finer things being cheap booze and puck bunnies."

"Nothing wrong with a good puck bunny, you know that, Rome." Miles smirks and I roll my eyes. While I do, I'm not an idiot. I'm smart enough to not drink in the season and to not go burying my dick in some girl when I have early morning practices or game days. That's Miles' job.

"Get your ass in the shower and let's head off." I chuckle, shaking my head before jumping into the showers in the locker room.

After an intense practice, everything hurts from being slammed into the sides repeatedly. Even though they aren't as rough in practice, between practice today and the game the other day, in which I didn't take an ice bath after, my muscles are killing me.

That was all thanks to wanting to see Hollywood endure the torture of her date a little longer. Which wasn't worth it since she shot the guy down and he scurried off to find some easy girl to sleep with. After showering and changing into some clean clothes, I swing my gym bag over my shoulder before heading out of the locker room and making my way down the hallway.

"Later, Coach." I tap my hand on the frame of the open door of Coach's office. He offers me a wave before I make my way to the main part of the arena.

Rounding the red and white hallways that are decorated with team pictures dating back since the hockey team started at Boston University. I make my way to the front of the arena, walking past the rows of bleachers to get to the exit. A group of the senior players rest on the bleachers, their bags next to them as they sit talking.

"Nice job in practice, King. That captaincy spot is looking good for you next year." Our team captain, Atlas, nods his head at me as his elbows rest on the bleacher row behind him.

Something I hear from coach and Atlas is that my chance at being Captain next year is high. Once the senior players leave, it gets passed down to us juniors who will then be the seniors and there are few guys vying for the captaincy spot. Something I've worked hard for since freshman year.

"Come on, captain, don't add to Rome's ego." Wren, another player, chuckles as the others agree.

Hands slap down on my shoulders as Isaiah comes over and stands next to me. "Yeah, the last thing we need for next year is a captain with an ego the size of yours, Atlas. We're trying to change that."

The seniors around Atlas roar with laughter at Isaiah's jab as Atlas's jaw ticks. "Just you wait for next practice, Jones."

Isaiah waves him off before we head outside to the parking lot, where my truck and his car are parked side by side. Throwing my bag into the passenger seat, I turn to Isaiah. "Looks like you'll be taking those slams into the boards instead of me."

"Yeah, yeah. Octavia is meeting us at the bar," Isaiah mutters, tapping away on his phone.

"She your babysitter for the night?" Miles jokes as he walks towards us, throwing his bag in the passenger seat of my truck.

"Fuck off."

I laugh before getting into the truck with Miles as Isaiah climbs into his own car, and we make our way to the nearest campus bar.

❈❈❈

"Another round, please."

Leaning my elbows against the bar countertop as I order, the bartender nods his head before moving to get another round of drinks for those of us who came out and are sitting around a table. Tapping my fingers against the bar as I wait, my eyes flicker around the area.

It's relatively quiet. A few students take up tables here and there. Not many people stand or sit at the bar drinking as they watch a baseball match on the TV that hangs above the bar. In fact, the hockey team are the loudest people in this place, which is no surprise.

My eyes land on a redhead sitting at the bar. Her piercing green eyes are already staring at me, and a smirk appears on her lips as she catches my attention, which she knows. She seductively slides off the chair before walking over and sitting on the spare chair next to where I'm standing at the bar.

"Hockey player or football player?" The redhead asks, bringing her drink to her cherry coated lips to take a sip.

I turn my body to face her, now also leaning my hip against the bar. "What makes you think I'm either?"

"Your build. You look like you'd be a hockey or a football player," She states, and I chuckle. "That and you came in with a huge group of big guys."

"Hockey player. Roman." I hold out my hand, and she places her manicured hand in mine while looking directly into my eyes.

"Kiara."

My eyes flicker to the guys who remain around the table, some of them with girls by their sides or in their laps, before I face Kiara. "Well Kiara, feel like getting out of here?"

She smirks before nodding. Telling the bartender to send the drinks to the table and paying, I throw a wave to the guys, who holler as I lead Kiara out to my truck and back to the hockey house.

Empty, since everyone is at the bar. I push her through the door, my mouth on hers as we make our way up the stairs. As she takes my hand and leads me into the bedroom, I kick the door closed with my foot.

❈❈❈

What in the world?

The ringing of my phone wakes me up. My eyes open groggily, and my room comes into view. Lying on my back, I sigh before reaching over to the side table and picking my phone up as Coach's name flashes on my screen.

"Hello?" The confused tone of my voice echoes through my bedroom as my clock reads almost midnight.

Movement from beside me gets my attention and the sprawled red hair draped across the pillow on the other side of my bed comes into view. Kiara's naked body lies facing away from me and I shake my head out of our earlier activities as I focus on Coach.

"King...get your ass down to the arena. There's been an incident, and it involves your stuff," Coach's voice barks down the phone. My stuff?

"On my way." I cut off the call before swinging my legs over the bed. Throwing on some pajama pants quickly, which have my dog Buster's face on them, I grab a top from my drawer.

"Where are you going?" Kiara's voice prevents me from putting my top on, and I turn to look at her. Her eyes open and trained on me, she sits up. Not even caring she's naked for my eyes to see...or roam.

"The arena. My coach called. I need to go down and sort something. Not sure when I'll be back." I put my top on and grab my car keys. "Feel free to stay or let yourself out."

Kiara pouts. "Wake me up when you're back."

I smirk as she turns to go back to sleep and shake my head from my lustful thoughts before heading out.

Making my way to the arena, it doesn't take long before I arrive. Nodding to the night guard as I enter, I head to the coach's office where the light illuminates from as the rest of the arena remains dark. I enter his office, where he sits behind his desk and my eyes land on the brunette who stands across from him, dressed in black, and I sigh as I see a crowbar, some glitter and glue on Coach's desk.

I'm not going back to sleep anytime soon.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑    𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄

「 Happy double update day! Chapter Five is also up for you to read, and it gives you insight into what happened in the prologue!

Q: What do you think Rosalie did?」