MY HOCKEY ALPHA MATE

~Adeline~ "I just don't get why you're still putting up with her, Owen. She makes everything depressing." A girl's voice drifted from my boyfriend's front porch. I stopped behind the trees at the yard, blinking against the sun trying to get a view of who was speaking. Sitting on the front veranda pushed deep into the chair his mother bought last summer, was Owen my boyfriend, his arms were wrapped around a girl in a pink top, pulling her body deep to his body. The angle she was facing hid her face from my view, but I knew the male body's frame, i knew the slope of his shoulders, the messy brown curls I ran my fingers through every Friday night. He was now kissing her to cut her off, his hands buried in her hair, tilting her head back to deepen their kiss. I gasped, blinking repeatedly to check if i was seeing double. "Owen?" But they kept kissing. My feet somehow dragged forward on their own, my chest felt tight like my breath was seizing, his parents had to be out for the evening, for him to pull this kind of act in the open where any neighbor walking their dog could see. "Owen!" I yelled this time around. They stopped freezing in shock. The girl came off his lap so fast her knee clipped the chair, then she turned tugging her short skirt down. I recognised her now, it was Ivy. The captain of the cheer squad. Owen rose to his feet, raking a hand through his curls, for a second i saw something like terror flashed in his eyes when he glanced at me, but It vanished quickly as he looked back at Ivy, replaced by a hardness that made me want to puke, I stepped back two steps. "Adeline," he called. "What are you doing here?" "What am I doing here?" I repeated with a shaky voice. I looked from him to Ivy shaking my head, still not believing he'd do this with any girl while we were still dating, I trusted him to be faithful to me. I watched as Ivy dug her phone out of her pocket with a smirk on her lips, but I ignored her. "We’ve been together for eight months, Owen. Eight months. And you do this on your front porch? You're kissing her?" I asked pointing a shaking finger at Ivy. Ivy scoffed. "Oh, please. Like you two actually spend time together anymore." "Shut up, Ivy I'm talking to my boyfriend not you," I snapped, holding eye contact with my supposed boyfriend, but she only rolled her eyes at my words. "Tell me this is a joke Owen. Tell me this is some kind of sick prank." Because if it is then where are the cameras! "It’s not a joke, Addie," he replied, looking down at me from the steps. "Look at yourself, for three months you've been distant, acting broken!" The timeline stung. Three months. Ninety days since a state trooper stood in my living room to tell me a road crash took my parents, ninety days of skipping meals, dodging my uncle's rants, and scrubbing diner tables to keep my life going on somehow. "My parents died," I whispered as tears gathered in my eyes making my throat feel tight to speak properly. "I am mourning. I am trying to survive my uncle, and you... you do this just because I act distant?" "Yes!" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air the aggression in his voice made me flinch. "I held on for months, Addie! You are never present. Every time we hang out, you are exhausted or crying. I am sorry about your parents, I am! But life goes on and I have needs too." My jaw dropped, i covered my mouth with my shaking hands, I seriously can't believe this those words came out from his mouth! The boy who promised to hold my hand through the darkest moment of my life stood on his porch, loudly declaring my grief had an expiration date. "You have needs?" I asked baffled. "So for that you bring the head cheerleader to your porch to fulfill them?" "Yes, because Ivy actually pays attention to me unlike you!" Owen shot back, stepping down to the railing. To be honest right now, his lack of remorse cut deeper than the cheating and my heart was breaking into pieces more with his replies and reactions. "You want to talk about our relationship? You constantly push me away, Addie. Even before the accident, it was always, ‘I need time, Owen. Give me time.’ Every single time I try to touch you, you pull away!" "Because I needed time!" I screamed. "And then my parents were gone! I just wanted to feel safe until i was ready but you treat my boundaries like a burden?" "They are a burden! You feel like a burden too," he muttered crossing his arms over his chest. "You act like some saint carrying the pain of the world. You think your pain makes you special? It just makes you miserable to be around." My breath hitched, no, no, he didn't just say that, he targeted my deepest fear....becoming a burden to the people around me. Out of the corner of my vision…light flashed. I looked past Owen's shoulder to Ivy, she held her phone up, the camera lens now pointed at my face. "Are you recording this?" I asked in horror. She giggled. "Not just recording, sweetie. It’s a livestream. The whole grade is watching the orphan get dumped. We already hit two hundred views." My stomach twisted. I looked back at Owen, shaking my head…my face twisted in anger and disgust. "I came here to tell you I got a full scholarship from Moonstone Mining to Wolfebrooke Crest Academy." Owen froze and for a second his arrogant posture faltered... "It’s a thousand miles away," I continued staring dead into his eyes. "I planned to talk to you about it, I thought we had a future. I came here to ask how we could make long-distance work." His mouth opened then closed. "Addie…" "Thank you," I cut him off putting my hand in the air. "You just made my decision easy." I turned away, cleaning my face with my hands. "Addie, wait!" Owen called out. “Make sure you get my good side, Ivy," I threw over my shoulder as i kept walking. I marched down the pavement, forcing my shoulders to stay still…forcing myself to hold it all together. The thought of walking back into my too quiet house made my heart ache, my parents’ laughter used to echo off those walls. Now, it was just my uncle pacing the floors most times screaming into his phone at insurance lawyers…even school meant daily torment. By Monday morning, I would be the orphan whose boyfriend got sick of her depression and livestreamed her humiliation. Shit! Those whispers would destroy me more. I don’t have to tolerate it anymore… not when i had a way out. I turned eighteen two months ago, i am a legal adult now. My uncle lost the power to forge my signature and i have the right to walk away from all this. The second I pushed my bedroom door open, my eyes locked onto my dresser. Buried under a stack of final-notice utility bills was an envelope…the Moonstone Mining scholarship. A full ride, plus room and board, to finish my senior year in Wolfbrooke Crest. I kept ignoring it because I feared the unknown…I feared losing Owen. What a joke! I grabbed my bag from the closet and threw it onto my bed….yanked my drawers open and tossed my plain t-shirts and jeans inside. A new place. A town full of strangers, where no one knows about the highway crash, no one knows about my cheating boyfriend or the public humiliation or the pity glances! I grabbed the envelope. "I am leaving this nightmare behind," I whispered. ~Days Later~ "I am Miranda Harris. I am here to pick you up," a woman said as soon as I stepped out of the train into the station. I looked at her. She looked to be in her early thirties, with an oval face and auburn hair a lighter shade than mine. Mine had frizzy, long curls, but hers was straight. I watched her scrunch her nose at a picture of me in her hands…that explained how she recognized me in a crowd. We had only spoken on the phone once after I had sent back my acceptance letter…to my surprise, the reply was instant…a woman called me giving me directions to where my train would stop saying she’d come to pick me up at the station. And here we are… "I am Adeline Cooper," I replied as a formality though I believed she knew…she sighed like she was stressed or relieved…I wasn’t sure which. "You will be staying with us for a year. We are your hosts," she replied. "This is my daughter, Josephine Harris..." She gestured at a young teenage girl beside her. "Josie. Call me Josie," Josephine cut her mum mid-sentence excitedly. Miranda rolled her eyes. "Let’s go," she said carrying my travelling bag like it weighed nothing and dumping it in the boot of a green Jeep they had come with. Josie jerked her head, urging me to follow as I stood watching them…she looked to be my age, seventeen or eighteen at most, with auburn hair like her mum and a well-shaped body that had me ogling for a bit. I was thin. Okay, not too thin, maybe slim, but I used to be a bit thick… then…after my parents’ death, a lot changed and I lost weight… Not that I was bothered. Owen was though. He had complained…but I paid him no heed. I was going through a lot…he should have been understanding. Shit, why was I thinking of him again… I shook my head, forcing the memory of Owen and Ivy on that porch out of my mind, to climb into the back seat of the Jeep. Josie slid in right next to me. Miranda got into the driver’s seat closing the door..the drive up to Wolfebrooke Crest from the station took hours. For the first stretch…the highway was normal, lined with standard petrol stations and faded billboards. But as the road began to twist upward into the elevation, the scenery changed. The trees grew taller and thicker… I glanced down at my phone…the cell service bars dropped one by one until the screen read ‘No Signal’. "Don’t worry about that," Josie said catching my frown. "You’ll get the network up at Crest town. You’ll get logged in as soon as we hit the house." "Thanks," I muttered looking back out the window. The woods out here didn’t feel like the woods back home…they looked dense and impenetrable. It was imposing…yes, but beautiful. I felt my chest relax. Thankfully, I had my painting supplies tucked inside my bag… my brushes, my paper, the paints I hadn’t touched in months. Miranda drove fast…too fast for a mountain road. My hands clamped down on the door handle, but Josie was relaxed beside me. "So," Josie turned to me with brown eyes bright and curious. "A whole year in a new place… are you excited?” "I guess," I replied. "I just want to keep my head down, pass my classes, and graduate." Josie laughed as if I had said something funny. "Good luck with that. New kids don’t exactly blend in around here. Everyone notices everything." Eventually we got to an archway…beyond it was Wolfebrooke Crest written on a sign board…It looked like a normal town as we drove through. The houses were spaced far apart, surrounded by tall trees and fences….It screamed old money. Miranda pulled into the driveway in front of a two-storey building. "Grab your bag," she said turning the engine off and stepping out. I hurried to the boot and hauled my traveling bag out before she could do it for me then followed them up the steps into the house…the inside was stunning. A stone fireplace was crackling keeping the house warm. "Your room is upstairs, second door on the left," Miranda instructed tossing her keys into a bowl on the table. She finally looked at me. "Dinner is at seven. Do not be late. We eat together in this house. It is a strict rule." "Yes, ma’am," I said. My throat felt tight... I had a hunch she didn’t like me…Josie bumped her shoulders on mine. "Come on, I’ll show you where it is." I followed her up the staircase. "Bathroom is through that door," Josie pointed when we got to my assigned room. "Take your time unpacking. I’ll come get you when my dad and brothers get back." "Brothers?" I asked dropping my bag on the bed. "Yep. Twin older brothers. They’re seniors at the Academy too. Total headaches, but they’re alright." Josie smiled then shut the door behind her. I stood alone in the silence. I was really here. A thousand miles away from my parents’ graves…a thousand miles away from the empty house and my uncle’s greedy hands. I walked over to the window resting my forehead on it…the woods at the backyard looked dense… but for a second, it looked like a hulking shadow moved between the trees..when I blinked…it was gone I spent the next hour putting my few clothes into the dresser….took a quick shower and changed into clean jeans and a plain black long-sleeve shirt. Right at six-fifty, a knock sounded at my door. "Dinner’s ready!" Josie called out from the hallway. My stomach rumbled painfully…I hadn’t eaten since the morning. I opened the door and followed the smell of beef stew downstairs…Miranda was already sitting at one end. At the head of the table sat a man who could only be Josie’s dad. He was huge, with broad shoulders, a thick beard, and the same dark hair. A family trait i think… Sitting across from Josie’s empty seat were two guys. They had the same huge build as their dad, wearing tight t-shirts that stretched over thick arms…they stopped talking the exact second I walked into the room. "Ah," Her dad said in a deep voice. "The new arrival to our home. Come, sit down. I am James." "Adeline," I replied taking the empty chair next to Josie. "These are my sons, Caleb and Dylan," James gestured to the twins. "Stop staring at her like that, you idiots," Josie snapped kicking someone hard under the table. One of the twins grunted…then looked down at his plate…which was piled high with food and lots of beef. My eyes widened at the quantity. "Eat up, Adeline," James said pushing a full bowl of potatoes toward me. "We need you strong to survive Wolfebrooke Crest..." he added eyeing me with a strange expression. Suddenly, a loud clatter echoed round the dining room. Dylan had dropped his fork onto his plate. I looked over at him. All the color had drained from his face. He looked sick, his jaw was now clenched tight…He refused to lift his eyes from the table staring instead at his food while tension choked the air in the room. No one said a word. James watched his son with a warning in his eyes, before going back to his meal. I slowly picked up my fork to eat…the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something in this house was felt unusual and wrong...