Page 52 of The Puck Player

It’s Thursday now, and I’m sitting outside one of the cafes on campus, doing some work and pretending I’m not still thinking about the way his hand felt around my neck. Alexander is meeting me here ready for tutoring, which is why when someone who is not him takes a seat, I’m startled slightly.

“Hey, you’re Bree, right? You’re in my English class,” the guy starts, and I note his vaguely familiar face with a smile, not having any clue of his name.

“Yes,” I drag out slowly. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Steven,” he smiles, not put off by my curt tone, and I shift a little uncomfortably. I’m not exactly used to guys openly hitting on me, well aside from Alexander that is. “I was hoping I could ask you…”

His question is cut off when Alexander appears out of nowhere, towering over him. “Move, you’re in my seat,” he demands in that no-bullshit tone of his, and I squirm for an entirely different reason now.

Steven looks up at him with a furrowed brow, but keeps his smile in place. “There are other seats, bro,” he laughs, but Alexander is not amused.

“I’m not your fuckingbroand that’s my seat, now move,” he grits, and I spy Nova and Archer slowly approaching with matching smirks, as if Alexander just abandoned them to come over here.

“Do you own it?” Steven tosses back, straightening his shoulders, as if that will somehow make him more intimidating than the hockey god hoarding over him.

“With my net worth I could own this whole fucking campus, and your pathetic little life, now fuck off, she’s taken,” Alexander spits back, and I will for the feminism in me to roar to life at hiswords, but instead it rolls on it’s back and purrs like a damn cat ready to be stroked.

She’s taken.

He throws down the gauntlet, claiming me publicly, and I don’t know whether to be outraged or excited. The flutter in my stomach definitely screams the latter, but there is something else there too, something I’ve never felt before.

Steven looks at me, and I offer him an apologetic smile, but when I don’t say anything in defense he rises to his feet and storms away, allowing Alexander to drop into the vacant chair.

“That was rude,” I greet him with a knowing smirk, and he scoffs with a roll of his eyes.

“He got up and walked away didn’t he,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal, and my smirk only widens. “Don’t look at me like that, Trouble,” he warns, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking, just as Archer and Nova move to take the other two seats at the table, and I narrow my eyes at him.

“No, you don’t start with me today, Alexander, I am in my luteal phase and I will ruin your entire day,” I warn him, and the asshole finally smirks, as his two best friends laugh.

“Well that’s physically impossible, unless you're back with Pastor Prick Face,” he muses, leaning back in his chair and letting his eyes drag over me the same way they always do.

I’m wearing another of the outfits he picked out, and the keen approval in his stare is something I could become addicted to.

“I’m not kidding, I’ll be mean to you,” I tell him, willing my heart to stop hammering in my chest in the presence of the stupid asshole, but it doesn’t.

“You’re always mean to me,” he declares with a flick of his hand.

“Then meaner,” I warn, and that insufferable, perfect smile turns completely wicked.

“Good, it makes my dick hard as fuck.”

My blush is instant, darting to his two best friends, who are still smiling like idiots. “Alexander, you can’t say stuff like that,” I exclaim, fighting against my embarrassment, and he pulls a confused face.

“Why not?”

“Because people can hear you,” I state, nodding firmly to his teammates, who after playing truth or dare with them, I’m not sure they have any damn secrets.

“So only talk dirty to you in private? Got it,” Alexander snaps back with a smile, and I sigh at how ridiculous he is. “Do you want to have dinner with me this weekend?” he adds, blindsiding me completely, and I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out.

Now we have eaten together multiple times, but he’s never specifically asked me out to dinner, and the offer renders me speechless.

“Come on, Bree, put him out of his misery, he made us rehearse this conversation with him multiple times,” Archer chimes in, and Alexander glares at him.

“If it helps, I played you and you said yes,” Nova very unhelpfully adds, looking annoyed to be dragged into their chaos, but still smiling all the same.

I flick my stare between the two of them before focusing back on Alexander. “We have dinner together all the time.” I state the obvious, gauging his response, and his smirk returns.

“No, we have shared meals together. What I’m asking right now is if I can take you out on a date,” he states firmly. “And my Mum’s birthday lunch doesn’t count,” he quickly adds, and my heart is hammering in my chest.

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