Ruined on Ice

Chapter Six

~Taylor~

The stares were immediate.

Students slowed down on the path, phones half-raised, whispers spreading like wildfire across the Linden University quad. I didn’t blame them. Maverick Stone, THE Maverick Stone, enforcer for the Northwood Hawks, had just publicly declared war on the Linden Wolves by smashing their golden boy’s face in front of a sold-out arena. And now here he was, standing inches away from me like some dark knight who had stepped out of the shadows.

I swallowed hard, arms still crossed tightly over my chest. My swollen eyes burned from the cold wind, but I refused to look away from those hazel eyes.

“I don’t need saving, Maverick,” I said, my voice taking on the low tone it did when I was pissed. “Nobody asked you to break his nose.”

He frowned, a deep groove forming between his brows. He groaned quietly and dragged a hand through his brown hair, messing it up further. The bruises on his knuckles were impossible to ignore, ugly reminders of what he had done for me. Or because of me. I still couldn’t decide which.

“Look, Calloway is a d**k, and—”

“I didn’t ask you to break his nose,” I interrupted, stepping closer despite myself. My heart was already racing, a confusing mix of anger and something dangerously warmer twisting in my chest.

Maverick scoffed. “You think I don’t know that?”

He glanced around at the growing crowd, the frown on his face deepening.

"Get lost. Don't you have better things to do? Or do you want me to break your noses too?" He snapped at them. One of the girls, possibly a freshman, flinched and literally burst into tears as she scurried away.

Woah.

He was terrifying.

The crowd slowly dissipated, thank god. Maverick tightened his jaw and then focused back on me. His broad shoulders filled out the black long-sleeve shirt perfectly, the fabric stretching across his chest as he shifted his weight. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else, but he didn’t walk away.

“We’re going to have to fake date.”

I blinked. Did I just hear him right? “Uh……excuse me?”

He groaned. "I'm as serious as it gets."

Oh.

The laugh that escaped my lips was filled with mockery and disbelief. Is this some joke?

“You want us to date? I don’t want that! I don’t even know you.”

Maverick c****d an eyebrow, and I hated how attractive I found it. “We were neighbors once.”

“So?” I shot back, my cheeks heating. “That was ages ago! I was twelve, Maverick. You were the quiet boy shooting pucks in his driveway. This isn’t some childhood Hallmark movie. I can’t just—”

“Taylor.” His voice dropped lower, almost gentle in a way that made my stomach flip. He stepped closer. “His parents are rich as hell. They’re threatening to sue the school, the hockey program, me, everything. The only way to kill the lawsuit and make this go away is if it looks like I did it because I’m with you. Like this whole thing is just bitter ex-boyfriend drama instead of me losing my s**t on the ice.”

I stared at him, mouth slightly open. The wind tugged at my hair, and I pushed it back angrily. I suspected Rory's parents would want to blow this to the moon and beyond, but I didn't think it was this bad. Bad enough for Maverick Stone himself to suggest…..fake dating.

Fuck my life.

“This……this sucks.”

“I know.”

“I can’t date you. You’re our rival. Your team just played us last night. People hate you here right now.”

He didn’t argue with me. He just ran his hand through his hair in a show of frustration. "I don't have much of a choice. I'm being forced to do this."

Forced? That new information definitely complicated the mix.

“Why did you hit him that hard?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Maverick turned his face away, staring out across the quad for a long second. His jaw worked like he was chewing on words he didn’t want to say. “I wonder that myself.”

The silence stretched. My younger self, the one with the hopeless crush on the boy next door, would’ve been screaming with joy right now. But that girl hadn’t had her heart publicly shattered. That girl hadn’t watched the guy she gave everything to f**k her roommate.

I let out a shaky breath. “Let me make one thing very clear. I am not some damsel you come and try to scoop up. I can handle myself.”

Maverick looked back at me then, his eyes searching mine. For what? I had no idea. “Hmm.” He murmured.

“So… do you agree?”

Oh yeah, right. I still have to answer.

My heart hammered against my ribs. This was f*****g crazy. Fake dating the guy who had just broken my ex’s nose? The quiet, brutal rival everyone on campus was talking about? I opened my mouth, words failing me.

“I… I…”

“Taylor!”

That voice…it could only belong to one person.

Son of a—

I turned, stomach dropping.

Rory was storming toward us.

His nose was a mess, bandaged heavily, both eyes blackened, the bruising spreading across his face like war paint. He looked f****d up, and it made glee fill my heart in abundance. He deserved every second of pain. His Linden Wolves jacket hung off his shoulders, and a small crowd trailed behind him, their phones out.

“You bastard,” Rory snarled at Maverick, stopping a few feet away. His voice was nasally and thick. “What the hell are you doing with my girlfriend?”

Girlfriend.

The word lit a fuse inside me. Disgust rolled through my body so strongly I nearly gagged. After everything, after the video, after Maeve, after treating me like I was disposable, he still had the nerve to call me that?

“I am not your girlfriend, you bastard,” I snapped.

Rory’s swollen eyes widened, then narrowed in that charming way he used to use on me. The one that used to make me melt. Now it just made me sick.

“Come on, baby. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. It was one mistake. You can’t still be mad. We’ll fix this together. I still love you.”

The audacity. The sheer arrogance in his voice made my skin crawl. He reached for my arm like he still had any right to touch me.

I stepped back, right into Maverick’s space. His body heat radiated against my back, and his hands came once again to steady me. For the first time since the video, something clicked into place.

I looked up at Maverick, who looked like he was one second away from springing on Rory.

“Deal,” I said. His eyes panned back to me in shock and widened.

"Wait you mean—"

I cut him off by grabbing the front of his shirt, getting on toes, and kissing him.