Seduction Lessons From The Hockey Captain

Target Locked

Kian Carter's Point Of View.

For a moment, she simply stared at me and, for the first time since I had met her, I saw fear instead of her usual irritation in her wide eyes towards me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, while my arm was still wrapped around her waist. I could feel her entire body trembling against mine and her fingers were tightly clutching the front of my shirt, it was obvious that she was still trying to recover from what had almost happened.

"Y -yes," She stammered, while nodding as if trying to convince both me and herself.

"Stacy, look at me," I said, trying to study her face, my voice was softer this time while tightening my grip on her waist. "You are safe and sound."

"I -I thought, I was going to die," She whispered, glancing at the road where the bus had already disappeared. "One second I was crossing the road, and the next, I genuinely thought that was it."

"Well, you didn't," I said, a teasing grin tugged at the corner of my mouth as I looked at her. "You are welcome, by the way."

The very next moment, her eyes filled with tears, and I immediately froze. I could deal with any kind of people, even cats but crying girls? Absolutely not.

That was a situation I was completely unqualified for.

I stared at her helplessly as a tears slipped down her cheek, uncontrollably. My mind raced for anything useful to say, but every possible sentence sounded stupid the moment it entered my head.

What was I supposed to do? Pat her shoulder, offer her my handkerchief? Maybe pretend I had an important place to be.

Before I could decide, she buried her face against my chest and my entire body went still. After a several long seconds, I lifted a hand and rested it lightly against her back.

"It's okay," I said, the words felt strange coming from me. Still, I forced myself to continue. "It's okay. You are safe now."

Only then did she notice my arm around her waist. She quickly pushed against my chest and stepped back, putting some distance between us. I almost laughed, seeing her reaction as she refused to meet my eyes. Instead, she quickly smoothed down the front of her uniform and adjusted her blazer as though that would somehow erase the last few moments. Her fingers fidgeted nervously with the fabric while she tried her best to regain her composure.

Unfortunately for her, the bright red color on her cheeks made it obvious that she was failing hard. Cute, isn't she?

"What had happened, though?" I asked, frowning slightly and shoving my hands into the pocket of my jacket. "You looked completely freaked out, like you saw ted bundy."

Her eyes tensed, immediately as she turned her head and looked back toward the street behind us. I watched her scan the shadows beneath the trees in panic.

The fear on her face did not fade, even after several seconds. If anything, she looked even more frightened than before.

"Someone was following me." She said and instinctively took a small step closer to me, her eyes were still fixed on the street behind us while her fingers were tightened nervously around the strap of her bag.

"W -what? Who?" I asked, my eyes followed hers toward the street. She looked genuinely terrified, and the panic in her voice sent a wave of unease through me.

"Someone was following me," She repeated, her chest rose and fell unevenly as she struggled to calm herself. "I saw him. I know I did."

I pulled her behind me and scanned the streets again, taking a few extra seconds to study the shadows beneath the trees. There was not a single person in sight, frowning slightly, I turned back toward her.

"Hey, calm down, I have checked everywhere. I checked the both directions, whoever you think was following you isn't here." I said, keeping my voice as gentle as possible and gesturing toward the empty street behind me. "Take a long, deep breath, alright?"

I expected her shoulders to relax but she looked even more distressed than before.

"No, there was, a figure dressed entirely in black with a bloodied knife." She said while shaking her head repeatedly and fidgeting her fingers at the sleeve of her blazer.

"Are you sure?" I asked as I folded my arms across my chest, looking entirely at her.

"Yes." She answered without the slightest hesitation before pressing her lips together.

"Maybe someone was just walking in the same direction as you." I shrugged while trying to sound reasonable. A small sigh appeared on my face the moment, she immediately shook her head, clearly not appreciating my explanation.

"Well, what about the knife then?" She asked, while pulling her eyebrows together in frustration.

"Maybe it was not a knife?" I suggested, as I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly before continuing. "It was dark and you were scared. It could have been something else."

"Oh." She whispered, her shoulders dropped a little as she considered that possibility. She looked down at the ground for a moment before glancing back up at me. "It could have been, I guess."

"Well, you know," I said and ran a hand through my hair dramatically before flashing her a smug smile, trying to lighten the mood. "if a horror movie starts tonight, I want it officially noted that I saved the main character. That makes me the handsome hero, by the way."

"Handsome hero?" She repeated with a skeptical look, up and down as a tiny smile appeared on her face. "You really gave yourself that title?"

"Of course, girls practically die for this handsome face, If I don't appreciate my own greatness, who will?" I said with a casual shrug as I pulled my car keys from my pocket and spun them around my finger. "Come on. Let me give you a ride to your home."

"No." She said, her immediate answer almost overlapped with the end of my sentence. She folded her arms tightly across her chest and took a small step backward.

"No?" I repeated, raising my eyebrows at her. Of all the responses I had expected, that was not one of them.

"I can go by myself." She said, trying her best to sound confident. She refused to meet my eyes while adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Besides what are you doing here, and since when are you this nice?"

"Excuse me. I am a very nice person, girls love me." I said while placing a hand dramatically over my heart and letting out an exaggerated sigh, "What a beautiful world we live in, you save someone's life, offer them a ride home, and instead of getting thanked, you get interrogated."

"You are unbelievably annoying." She said, the glare she sent me would have been intimidating if her cheeks were not still pink.

"Come on, Forbes," I said, lifting a hand toward her but before I could finish the sentence, she started walking down the street. I stared at her retreating figure and let out a long sigh in annoyance.

"I am perfectly capable of getting home alone." She said, the cold air blew a few loose strands of hair across her face.

"Yeah, sure." I said as I caught up with her within a few steps and bent slightly and scooped her over my shoulder.

"Kian, put me down." She screamed, while struggling against my hold. Her voice was filled with both shock and outrage. She smacked my back repeatedly with both hands. "I said put me down."

"Nope." I replied, completely ignoring her protests and continuing walking toward my car. "You had your chance to cooperate, and unfortunately you chose violence."

"This is kidnapping." she cried out, horrified.

"Whatever," I said, as I unlocked my car and settled her on the passenger seat before shutting the door. A moment later, I walked around the vehicle and climbed into the driver's seat.

I turned on the engine, glancing at her. After a moment, I leaned toward her, keeping my eyes locked on hers the entire time while her eyes widened with every inch I moved closer.

"W -what?" She stammered, her back pressed against the seat, putting as much distance between us as possible. "I -I will kill you if you kiss me."

Maintaining eye contact, I reached past her shoulder, grabbed the seatbelt, pulled it across her and clicked it into place. Only then did I lean back into my own seat.

"Interesting," I said, as I could not help an amused grin, across my face while thoroughly enjoying the situation while she looked down at her lap, fiddling with the sleeve of her blazer while I pulled the car back onto the road.

After a five minute drive, I pulled up outside a small house and turned off the engine. She reached for the door handle and paused.

"Thank you." She said, her voice was soft and sincere, completely different from the sarcastic tone she usually used around me. She glanced down briefly, before looking back at me, with a smile.

"You are welcome," I replied with an shrug, trying to sound casual. For some reason, the sincere gratitude in her voice made strange flutter inside my heart. "I will need something in return."

"There it is." She said, narrowing her eyes toward me and folding her arms across her chest. "The catch, I knew there was a catch"

"There is always a catch." I admitted, placing a hand dramatically against my chest as though deeply offended by the accusation.

"What do you want?" She asked, groaning in frustration and rolled her eyes.

"No matter what happens," I said as I pointed at her for emphasis with a satisfied grin across my face. "When I ask for your help, you have to say yes."

"Absolutely not." She said while shaking her head repeatedly and taking a step out of the car. I watched her walk up the path toward her house and waited until the front door shut behind her.

Only then did the passenger door opened, and a figure dressed entirely in black slipped into the seat beside me with a bloodied knife in his hand. He pulled off the black mask covering his face, from his other hand.

The moment our eyes met, he shook his head in disbelief.

"You are insane." Tom said, tossing the mask onto the dashboard and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Probably." I said, shrugging with a grin across my face and drumming my fingers against the steering wheel.

"So let me get this straight," He said, letting out a disbelieving laugh. "We arrange one fake stalker scare, you rescued her, and now she trusts you?"

"Pretty much." I replied with a satisfied smile as I glanced toward Stacy's house one last time. "Turns out near death experiences are excellent for relationship building."

"I genuinely cannot believe she fell for that." He said while leaning back against the seat and covering his face with one hand. "You are a psycopath."

Honestly, I could hardly believe it either but somehow she had and now everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place, exactly the way I wanted. Smiling to myself, I started the engine and drove into the night.