WRECKING THE CRUEL HOCKEY GOD

Chapter 5: The Devil's Step Cousin

✓ Mara

I'm staring at the silhouette of Finn's fugly head through the tinted window of a bus with GUNNER WOLVES painted on the side.

The letters are so incredibly big you can read the words from outer space.

And just beside his head, there's another one. A woman's head, resting under his arm, forming a comfy and romantic look.

Cool. I love that for me.

I stand on the curb and just stare at it, at the sheer audacity of a man getting paid to break my heart and then showing up the next morning with his real girlfriend on his arm like he's just cashed in from a real business.

It's not even the girlfriend part that breaks me. It's that I actually loved him.

Real, planned-a-future kind of love, and every ounce of it just disappeared the moment I realized he wasn't joking about this whole setup.

Now what do I have left? Nothing but this hot, ugly disgust I don't know what to do with.

I watch the team climb in. Big guys, loud guys, slapping backs, shaking hands, and laughing about something I can't seem to grasp.

The one person I don't see is the Devil's Step Cousin.

Please, God, let him not be on this bus. Let me survive this ride with just Finn and his girlfriend for company. I'll take that trade happily.

Garrett drags our box out of the cab that drove us, and he comes around to my side, following my eyeline straight to the bus window.

He laughs and slaps my back. "Come on. Let's move before they leave us behind."

He hauls the toolbox, I've got my bag over one shoulder, and I take a breath that does the opposite of calming my nerves.

The anxiety's already moved in and paid its first month's rent in my lungs. Looks like it's staying the full trip too.

We reach the bus door, just as the last of the team is filing in. A cool guy with with curls dyed blonde steps in front of us before we can climb up.

"Can I help you two?"

"Mara's the reporter for the tour," Garrett says. "We're from IceLine Media."

The guy's whole face opens up into a grin. "Oh, nice. I'm Mikael."

He shakes Garret's hand, then mine. "Welcome aboard."

Garrett climbs up first with the box. I follow him in, and the second my foot hits the top step, I see Finn.

My stomach descends straight down the floor under the bus and stays there.

He sees me at the exact same time. His arm slides off the redhead's shoulder and he's out of his seat before I've fully stepped away from the stairs.

"What are you doing here, Mara?"

I smile at him. Cold, nasty, and unfazed. "None of your business, puppy. Move, I need to catch a seat."

I try to step past him and he grabs my arm, yanking me back toward the entrance I just passed.

"Are you stalking me right now?" He laughs out for the whole bus to hear and to impress them. "Because that's actually creepy, even for your own reputation."

I look at him and I swear this guy just looks ridiculous to me. It's like someone hit pause on a guy I was just dating and let him sit out in the sun too long with a black sunburn.

"I'm the reporter covering this tour, Finn."

"You're what?" He blinks, then blows out a laugh as if every word out of my mouth is a funny joke for the team. "That is the most incredible lie I've ever heard. Genuinely. And that's the riskiest excuse anyone's ever used to get close to me."

The team loses it with laughter. Full-on cheering and whistling at Finn's entertainment.

My face is hot. And my blood's boiling under my veins. I slap his hand off my arm.

"Calm down, Finn. If somebody paid me a million dollars in cash to stalk you, I'd turn it down politely and eat from the waste bin in my room."

His face goes from smug to a dark shade of red. I think he's fuming because his hot breath is starting to fan my face.

"What the f**k did you just say?" He steps closer. I'm sure he's trying to seem intimidating, but all I get is this unwanted stench of his cologne that makes my stomach turn with rage.

“Tell me... where the hell is this confidence coming from? Because last I checked, you're just... mehh…Mara Kensley."

My head falls on the side with shock. "Yeah. Last you checked, I was just cute little Mara Kensley. Your good, good girl. The girl who let you sleep in her bed, cooked some meals for you, and believed every word out of your mouth."

I take a step closer myself, my eyes fixed on his pupils.

"But now that I know you're a paid puppet with a price tag on every single 'I love you' you ever said to me, let me Re-introduce."

"For this entire tour, I'm the version of Mara with so many crazy colors you've never met. And I have zero problem letting her out if you don't get the hell out of my way, Finn Alberto!"

"WHOOOO!"

The back row of the bus immediately explodes into loud cheers and funny laughter.

"Ooooooh!" one of the big guys near the back yells. "She just tore your head off my Bro!"

Garrett leans in close to my ear, grinning. "That's the Mara Kensley I know. I was scared I lost her."

Finn snorts a laugh and his face turns mean the next second. Then he grabs my arm, harder than last time.

"I'm throwing you out of this bus, b***h!"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" I push him off, forcing my hand out of his grip, and that's when the universe decides to embarrass me.

I trip on the last step of the bus, and I'm almost on my way to the floor outside.

But I don't have a safe ride, because my body just luckily hits a solid wall. THANK GOD!

No, a solid chest, and at the same second, a massive, muscular hand grabs me from the back, locking tightly around my belly.

I look down and what I see makes my breath slip.

A veiny, tattooed hand with an ice wrist watch and a big diamond ring. The inscription “HOCKEY GOD” carved on the ring.

And strangely, that tattoo looks incredibly familiar.

It looks like the tattoo I used to drool over whenever I zoomed into Zykiel Gunner's gym pictures to lick my screen two years ago.

Suddenly the mood in the bus gets quieter and heavier. Everyone isn't looking at me anymore; they're looking at whoever it is that just grabbed me.

God, no! Just let me fall happily and break a bone instead.