Crosschecking Hate

Chapter Fourteen :Rowan

I shouldn’t have gone there.

I knew that before I even parked across the street from Luca’s apartment.

But knowing something and actually staying away from Elena Vale were becoming two very different things.

So I sat there in the rain like a complete i***t, gripping the steering wheel too tightly while lights glowed softly from the apartment window above.

And then I saw them.

Luca touching her like she was something precious.

Elena melting into him like she belonged there.

The sight hit harder than any punch I’d taken on the ice.

Because she looked happy.

Safe.

Loved.

Everything I didn’t know how to give someone.

I leaned my head back against the seat and laughed bitterly to myself.

This was pathetic.

I barely even knew her.

Yet somehow she’d gotten under my skin deeper than anyone ever had.

The worst part?

Luca noticed me watching.

And instead of pulling away from her…

He kept touching her.

Like a warning.

Like a challenge.

Mine.

That was the message.

And God, I hated how much jealousy burned through me anyway.

I could still hear his words in my head.

If we shared you, I still wouldn’t let you go.

Normal people would’ve been disgusted by that conversation.

But nothing about this situation was normal anymore.

Because somewhere along the way, the rivalry stopped being about winning.

Now it was about Elena.

Her laugh.

Her anger.

The way she looked at me like she was fighting herself every second we were together.

I scrubbed a hand over my face roughly.

I needed to stop this before somebody got hurt.

Probably me.

Definitely Luca.

And maybe worst of all—

Her.

But then I remembered the way she touched my chest in the training room.

Gentle.

Careful.

Like she saw something beneath all the damage.

My chest tightened painfully.

No one ever looked at me that way.

Not really.

Girls wanted the hockey player.

The fights.

The reputation.

Nobody wanted the mess underneath it.

But Elena…

She noticed too much.

And that was dangerous.

Because if she kept looking at me like that, eventually I was going to forget every reason I had to stay away from her.

My phone buzzed suddenly in the cup holder.

Mason.

I almost ignored it before answering.

“What?”

“You still obsessing over Devereux’s girl?”

I stared at the apartment window one last time before starting the engine.

“Yeah.”

Mason sighed heavily. “That’s gonna end badly.”

I pulled away from the curb slowly, rain blurring the streets ahead.

“I know.”

But even as I drove away…

I already wanted to see her again.