Page 33

Hayden

My blood thrums with excitement as I walk back to the dorms with Liam at my side. Since it’s a game night tomorrow, Coach and Logan used our practice session to discuss strategy and pump us up with motivational speeches.

Coach didn’t want us to over-exert ourselves right for a big game, so he let us off early to relax and rest tonight.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” Liam asks gently, squeezing my hand.

“I’m excited,” I say, glancing at him. “We’ve trained too hard to lose this game against the Gators. My teammates have been pushing past their limits and giving their best during training sessions. We’re ready to win this game!”

“Yes!” Liam cheers, bumping a fist against my shoulder. “I can’t wait to watch you play at a real game.”

An amused grin lifts the corner of my lips. “You’ve been watching me at practice almost every day this past week. Aren’t you satisfied yet?”

He wraps his arm around mine, pulling me closer. Rising on his toes, he captures my lips in a heated kiss.

My eyes close in pure bliss as I dig my fingers into his soft curls, deepening the kiss. He tastes so sweet and pure, I want to drag him into my room and make him stay with me all night.

A huff of disappointment escapes me as I break away though.

“I wish we could spend the night together,” I mumble, looking into his lust-glazed eyes.

“You’ve got to rest and focus on the game,” Liam says in a grim tone, stepping away from me. The look on his face is ridiculously similar to Coach Sullivan’s. “I agreed to walk back with you to the dorms but that is it! I’m not going up to your room.”

An amused chuckle escapes me. “My boyfriend is so damn strict,” I say, kissing his cheek.

He giggles, squeezing my hand tightly. “My academic supervisors are going to be at the game tomorrow. You have no idea how crazy they are about hockey. You can’t let them be disappointed a second time tomorrow. So, you’ve got to win!”

“I will,” I promise him.

Just as we’re about to cross the shadowy lawn to reach the dorm’s entryway, I notice a familiar figure. My entire body tenses as I recognize my dad standing near the entrance.

My world tilts for a second.

What the hell is he doing here? Is he planning to mess me up right before a game?

“Hayden, what’s wrong?” Liam asks, his voice suddenly tight with concern.

I stay silent, every instinct in me screaming to protect him against my dad.

“You should go home now,” I say, my voice icy.

“I will,” Liam says. “I’ll walk with you till the door and leave you there.”

“Liam,” I say, my voice shaking as I struggle to stay in control of my emotions. “Leave. Now.”

I pull my hand out of his hold and stalk forward.

There’s no way I can have Liam with me while I confront my father. He’s way too precious to be caught in the crossfires when my dad is here to break me.

“Hayden, wait—”

Liam’s voice is cut off as my dad steps forward.

By now, Liam has noticed him too. But instead of getting out of here, he catches up with me and boldly stands by my side.

A sliver of surprise flares through the miasma of dread bubbling inside me.

Liam is so damn tiny and delicate but that doesn’t stop him from being brave.

He witnessed the violence my dad is capable of but he’s still choosing to stand with me. I love him so damn much at this moment but I can’t help feeling annoyed at him for not listening to me. He should’ve left when I told him to. It’s not safe for him to be here with my dad looming close.

Dad’s towering frame casts a shadow beneath the glow of the streetlights. A familiar sneer sits on his face as he stares at me and Liam.

“Who is this?” Dad asks in a rough voice. “Your fuckboy?”

My teeth grind together at the insult.

“As if you weren’t enough of a disappointment,” Dad says, his breath reeking of stale whiskey and cigarettes. “You had to be a damn faggot too?”

I stay silent, too used to the way things worked with Dad.

He’ll hurl his venom-laced words at me and proceed to beat the shit out of me. The sooner he’s done with the ritual, the sooner it all gets over.

But things are different now.

I have to protect Liam.

Blood pounds in my ears while my heart beats at an erratic pace. Even though I’m ready to stand up to my dad, my body reacts almost involuntarily to his presence.

“What do you want?” I say in a low, grim tone.

“I came to remind you that you’re not some hotshot pro,” he says, sneering at me. Stepping closer, he grabs a fistful of my hair as he leans in close, adding, “You’ll never go far, boy. All those offers you’re getting from scouts will go away as soon as they see what a loser you are.”

“Sir, let go of him,” Liam says in a calm tone.

Dad glances at him, continuing to pull my hair.

“Or what?” Dad scoffs. “You think I’m scared of a little fuckboy like you?” He chuckles, pushing me away and getting into Liam’s face. “Or do you want to try me out too? See if I can make your asshole cry out louder than my son, huh?”

“You touch me and I’ll sink a bullet into that ugly face of yours,” Liam says in an icy tone. “The same applies to your son as well, Sir. Touch him again and you’ll pay for abusing him.”

I stare at Liam. Like really stare.

Is he threatening my dad right now?

“Is that so?” Dad sneers, grabbing the front of Liam’s hoodie.

My heart lurches. Dad’s about to hurt Liam and I have to stop him.

I’m about to throw myself between them but Liam reacts faster than me.

He suddenly hits Dad’s wrist at a lightning-fast speed. The impact is hard enough to make Dad gasp and lose his grasp on Liam. Muttering a curse, he stumbles backward.

But my boyfriend isn’t done yet.

He attacks Dad, using his elbow to knock his face.

“Argh!” Dad howls, clutching his face and cursing loudly.

Liam pants hard, staring at Dad with a look of pure rage.

He looks like a different person right now.

Liam is no longer the shy, introverted nerd I’ve always known. He’s suddenly transformed into a superhero to save the damsel-in-distress (me) from a villain.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I can’t help but chuckle at the thought.

I’m twice Liam’s size and yet, I’m the one who’s cowering in front of my drunk dad.

It’s high time I stopped letting my dad do this to me. I know he’s come to break me down and shatter my confidence so that I lose the game tomorrow. He doesn’t want me to win and move forward in my career.

Dad wants me to end up like him, broken and beaten down. He always made sure to beat me up after a game when I was a kid. He made sure I wasn’t happy after a win.

But this time, he’s come to me before a game. He intends to ensure I don’t perform my best. He wants to make sure the scouts cancel their offer so that I don’t get drafted. This way, I can spend the rest of my life feeling like a loser.

Just like him.

I’m not going to let him do this to me tonight.

Stepping forward, I stand beside Liam and grab his hand in mine.

“You should leave,” I say in a low, cool tone.

Dad stares at me with rage-filled eyes. Blood dribbles from his nose as he bares his teeth at me. “He will pay for assaulting me,” he hisses, pointing a shaking finger at Liam. “I’ll file cases against both of you. Do you think you can treat me like shit just because some scouts showed interest in you? I’m going to make sure they know what an asshole you truly are, Son.”

Straightening my back, I prepare myself to stand up against his threat when the sound of people’s voices reaches my ears.

“Hey, Bastian! You forgot something in the locker—” Mitchikov’s voice is suddenly cut off.

Turning around, I find him and three other teammates standing just a few feet away, their eyes locked on the scene.

Mitchikov’s expression shifts.

The carefree grin on his face vanishes, replaced by something lethal.

Pavel Mitchikov is furious .

Shit. It’s the same look he gets after an opponent gets away with hitting him or one of our teammates.

He’s going to go for the kill. I know it.

Mitchikov strides forward, radiating power and something dangerous.

Stopping in front of Dad, Mitchikov meets his eyes with a cold, calculating gaze. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Dad scoffs. “Stay out of this, kid. This is between me, my son, and this twink.”

“You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life by threatening my friends,” Mitchikov growls.

“Do you want me to press charges against you, too, kid?” Dad asks, laughing raucously.

Mitchikov laughs too, the sound sending chills down my spine.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Sir,” Mitchikov says, slowly ambling toward Dad with a predatorial look. “Here, take a look at what we’ve dug out.”

Bringing out his phone, he hands it to my dad.

Dad takes it, squinting at the phone’s screen.

I shift closer, curious to know what he’s showing Dad.

Suddenly, Dad’s shouts and curses erupt from the phone. Moving closer, I see that a video is playing out on the screen.

It’s a clip of my father hitting me and abusing me.

To my surprise, the video was shot on the same night we lost the game to Silverlake University. So, it wasn’t just Liam who witnessed my shame and humiliation. Someone else saw it too.

“So, this is how you treat your son after a game,” Mitchikov says, wrapping an arm over Dad’s shoulders.

Dad’s face pales.

“And that’s not all either,” Mitchikov says, leaning over Dad’s shoulder to scroll over the screen. “There’s more. How about we check out this video from the time Hayden was just fifteen years old?”

Liam also steps forward to glance at the phone’s screen.

As the scene plays out, I’m reminded of the day I’d won an award for being the best player at a game. I was a sophomore in high school and was invited to play for a team in New Jersey for a fundraising campaign.

Dad’s curses fill the quiet atmosphere. As the video keeps playing, I witness him kicking me and using my bronze trophy to beat me.

I took his abuse without any resistance.

“How can you treat your only son so cruelly?” Liam’s tone is filled with disgust. “Are you even human?”

Mitchikov takes the phone away from Dad and steps away. “I have plenty of such videos. You can choose your favorite and we’ll present that to the cops. Let’s find out who’ll get charged for assault and abuse.”

A foreign expression spreads on my dad’s aging face.

It’s a moment before I realize what it is.

Fear.

“Touch Hayden again and these videos will go straight to the cops,” Mitchikov says in an icy tone. “If you bother him again about trying to steal his money, I will send this to every goddamn scout and team in the league. You won’t get a dime off of his hard work and talent. I will make sure you spend the rest of your life regretting what you’ve been doing to him.”

I stare at Mitchikov, my chest tightening.

My teammate—no, my friend, is standing up for me.

“Could you send those videos to me too, Pavel?” Liam says, glaring at Dad. “I want to keep them on hand in case Mr. Bastian forgets about them.”

“Sure,” Mitchikov says, grinning.

“Are you still going to keep hanging around here, old man?” Aminov, another of my teammates, drawls. “Do we need to call campus security or something?”

Mitchikov turns his attention back on Dad. “Leave. And don’t ever come near Hayden or I will destroy you.”

Dad stares between Mitchikov, Liam, and the rest of my teammates, his face twisting in fury. But he’s chewing on his tongue, afraid to utter a word. He knows he’s lost the chance to hurt me again.

“Fucking brats,” he sneers, turning around and walking away. Within seconds, he disappears in the night.

My lungs expand, filling up with fresh, cool air. I didn’t even know I’d been holding my breath, waiting for him to turn around and come at me.

“He’s gone, Hayden,” Liam says, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a hug. “He’ll never dare to come after you again.”

“Yeah,” I say, inhaling his warm, familiar scent.

“You good, man?” Mitchikov asks.

Taking a deep breath, I nod. “Thanks for taking my side.”

“I hate people who hurt children,” Mitchikov says as our other teammates walk away. “And that man you call Dad has been abusing you for a long time. The only reason he left this place on his two fucking legs is because he’s your father. Otherwise, he’d have been begging me for his life.”

“How did you find those clips of him abusing me when I was in high school?” I ask, my curiosity growing.

“Coach was investigating your dad,” Mitchikov says in a grim tone. “I heard him mention your high school on the phone to someone, so I took the liberty to do some digging of my own. You have no idea how popular you were at your school, Bastian.” He chuckles, his eyes glowing with mischief. “Even when you tried to stay away from the limelight, people still found a way to get near you.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, wondering who’d have taken those videos of me and my dad. “Who gave those clips to you?”

“Your fans back home got those clips,” Mitchikov says. “All I had to do was ask around your old neighborhood and some of the old puck bunnies happily gave me the clips. They kept them, knowing it’s a weapon against that asshole father of yours. They just never had the courage to approach you.”

“Wow...I had no idea they’d do that for me.”

“We want to help you, Bastian,” Mitchikov says in a grim tone. “You just have to let us.” He lets out a huff and runs his fingers through his hair. “I’m glad you broke the dude’s nose, though. He deserves it.”

“That wasn’t me,” I say with a chuckle. “Liam did that.”

Mitchikov’s eyes widen ridiculously. “ He did?”

“You think I’d let someone get away with threatening and hurting my boyfriend?” Liam asks, glaring at him.

Mitchikov drapes an arm around Liam’s shoulders and grins. “I’m starting to see why Hayden is all wrapped up around your pinkie finger. You’re his hero, aren’t you?”

Liam’s face breaks into a bright smile, making my breath hitch. “That’s right. I’m his hero.”

“Come on, man. Let’s head inside,” Mitchikov says, releasing a sigh. “We need to get our beauty sleep. Coach’s orders.”

Liam chuckles and comes to me. “Are you okay?” he asks softly.

I nod. “I’m good, babe.” Leaning in, I kiss him.

Mitchikov hoots, making Liam blush hard.

“Go, Knights!” Liam suddenly shouts, stepping away from me.

“Knights for the win!” Mitchikov shouts, dragging me inside the dorm building.

Glancing over my shoulder, I take one last look at my amazing boyfriend. Warmth and happiness swirl in my chest, making me feel like I can win the state championship!