Don't Fall For Your Rival's Girl

Chapter Two

Sebastian’s POV.

People always say I’m arrogant, but I call it knowing what I want and working until my hands bleed to get it. Winning isn't just a fun goal for me. It’s my entire life. As the captain of Blackthorn University’s hockey team, I have one job this year: lead my team to a national championship and prove to the professional scouts that I am ready for the big leagues. Anything that gets in the way of that goal is a waste of my time.

That was exactly why I was in a terrible mood as I walked across campus toward the university athletic office. The morning sun was just coming up, and my legs were still burning from an intense three-hour ice practice. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in a stuffy conference room to talk about a joint charity hockey tournament. To me, it was just a giant distraction. But my coach had made it clear that as captain, I was expected to represent Blackthorn with pride and make sure our rival, Westbridge University, didn't push us around.

"Loosen up, man. You look like you're heading into a boxing ring instead of a charity meeting," my best friend and line mate, Mason Reed, said as he jogged to catch up with me. He had a giant travel mug of coffee in one hand and a lazy grin on his face. "It's for a good cause. Plus, there's free donuts in the room."

"I don't care about donuts, Mason," I grunted, keeping my fast stride. "Coach warned me that Westbridge is trying to hog all the prime banner spots and give their players better media coverage. You know how they operate. They think they own this league, and I'm not going to let them walk all over us just because it's a charity event."

Mason laughed out loud, shaking his head. "Sebastian, not everything is a life-or-death battle against Westbridge. You don't have to treat every single meeting like a game seven final."

"When it comes to Westbridge, everything is a battle," I replied coldly.

I didn't even need to say the name out loud, but we both knew who I was really thinking about: Adrian Cole. He was Westbridge's star player, and I had hated his guts since we were sixteen years old playing in junior leagues. He was fake, selfish, and cared more about looking good on television than actually putting in real work for his team. The fact that professional scouts were constantly comparing the two of us made my skin crawl. I wanted to crush him on the ice, and I certainly wasn't going to let his university take advantage of mine off the ice.

We reached the conference center, and I pushed open the double doors to room 204. The room was bustling with staff members and students hanging up poster designs. Standing right at the center table was a girl surrounded by tall stacks of folders and sponsorship papers. She was busy checking off items on a clipboard while talking to two older faculty members. She had soft brown hair tied back and dark, expressive eyes that looked completely focused on her work.

I recognized her instantly from the event organization sheet. Olivia Bennett.

She was Westbridge's student lead coordinator. And she was also Adrian Cole's long-time girlfriend.

I stepped into the room, making no effort to hide my presence. Olivia looked up at the sound of the door closing, and her eyes met mine. For a split second, I saw a flicker of nervous hesitation cross her face, but she quickly masked it, standing up straight and locking her gaze onto me.

"You must be Sebastian Knight," she said, her voice clear and surprisingly steady as she walked over to the table. "I'm Olivia. We're glad Blackthorn could send a representative."

"Let's skip the small talk," I said, leaning my hands on the table and looking down at the draft schedule laid out in front of her. "I took a look at the preliminary promotional layout you emailed last night. It looks like Westbridge logos are placed in every primary camera view, while Blackthorn gets pushed to the background corners. Care to explain why my team is getting second-class treatment at a joint event?"

Olivia blinked in surprise, but she didn't shrink back. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared right back at me. "If you had actually taken the time to read the second page of the proposal instead of jumping to conclusions, Mr. Knight, you would see that the logo placements rotate halfway through the tournament. Both universities get equal time in the primary camera views."

Mason let out a quiet, amused cough behind me, clearly enjoying the fact that someone was standing up to me.

"I read the proposal," I countered, narrowing my eyes. "And page two says the rotation happens after the opening ceremony. That means Westbridge gets the entire prime-time media broadcast. That isn't equal, Bennett. That's a setup to favor your school. Or did your boyfriend ask you to write it that way so he could get more camera time?"

The moment those words left my mouth, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Olivia's jaw tightened, and a sharp spark of genuine anger flashed in her eyes.

"My relationship has absolutely nothing to do with my professional work," she said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, calm tone. "I have worked twelve hours a day for three weeks straight to build this tournament from scratch. I care about raising money for families in need, not about giving anyone special treatment. If you have a problem with the schedule, we can fix it like adults, but do not insult my integrity."

I stared at her, genuinely shocked. I had expected Adrian's girlfriend to be like him—shallow, arrogant, and quick to make excuses. But standing in front of me was a girl who looked utterly exhausted, yet refused to back down an inch from a fight she believed in.

"Fine," I said after a long silence, stepping back. "Fix the rotation so it's fifty-fifty from the start of the opening ceremony, and Blackthorn won't have a problem."

"Done," she snapped, quickly scribbling a note on her clipboard. "Is there anything else you'd like to complain about, or can we actually get some work done?"

For the next hour, the meeting was a battleground. Every time I brought up a concern, Olivia had an answer ready. She was sharp, stubborn, and completely unshakeable. By the time the committee members agreed to the final revised plan, I was annoyed, but deep down, a strange sense of respect was starting to form. She wasn't at all what I had expected.

As the meeting wrapped up and people started leaving, I stayed behind to pack my papers into my backpack. Olivia was at the front table, putting folders away. Suddenly, her phone started ringing loud on the table. She picked it up, and a warm, hopeful smile lit up her face.

"Hey, Adrian!" she said eagerly, stepping a few feet away toward the window. "Did you just finish practice?"

I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but her voice was loud in the emptying room. I watched her from the corner of my eye as her bright smile slowly faded away into a look of quiet sadness.

"Oh... another team lunch?" she whispered, her shoulders slumping. "Right. No, I understand... Yeah, of course I can swing by the athletic office and pick up your jersey forms for you... No, it's no trouble at all. I can handle it."

She paused, listening to him speak on the other end. "Okay. Have fun with the guys. Good luck at training tonight."

She ended the call and stood motionless by the window for a long moment, staring down at her black phone screen. The confident, fiery girl who had just argued with me for an hour looked suddenly fragile and utterly exhausted. It was obvious to anyone watching that she was carrying a heavy load, and her star boyfriend wasn't lifting a finger to help her.

I swallowed hard, telling myself to mind my own business. Her life was her problem, not mine. I zipped up my bag, adjusted the strap over my shoulder, and walked out the door without saying another word.

Mason was waiting for me in the hallway, sipping the last of his coffee. "Well, that was entertaining," he chuckled as we walked toward the exit doors leading out to the parking lot. "She completely ran circles around you in there, man."

"She's stubborn," I grunted, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets. "And she's wasting her time covering up for Cole. He's using her."

"Hey, speaking of working together..." Mason stopped in his tracks near my truck, pulling out his phone. "I just got an update from the athletic director. Since you're the Blackthorn representative, you have to meet with the student coordinator twice a week until the tournament starts."

I stopped and glared at him. "You mean I have to spend two days a week arguing with Olivia Bennett?"

"Yup," Mason grinned wide. "Just you and Cole's girl, locked in a room planning a charity event."

I groaned, leaning my head back against the cold window of my truck. "Unbelievable. This month is going to be a complete nightmare."

Before I could open my truck door, my phone vibrated violently in my hand. I pulled it out and saw my coach's name flashing on the screen. I quickly answered it.

"Coach? Is everything okay?"

"Sebastian," Coach's voice sounded grim through the speaker. "I just got off the phone with the Westbridge athletic department. They just finalized their student tournament committee assignments."

A strange, uneasy feeling settled heavy in my stomach. "And?"

"Adrian Cole just officially signed on as Westbridge's lead student representative," Coach said flatly. "Which means you, Cole, and his girlfriend are the three lead representatives running this entire tournament together."

The air left my lungs all at once. I stood frozen in the freezing parking lot, staring at the black pavement.

Working with his girlfriend was going to be hard enough. But forced to sit at the same table with Adrian Cole, pretending to play nice while fighting for my career?

This wasn't just going to be a nightmare. This was war.