novelxo The Faceoff: Chapter 4
Eden’s golden eyes are pinned on me as she skates across the rink toward me. I hear Simon and Sterling snicker as I turn to face her head-on. Her eyes are narrowed, her jaw clenched, and a pink tint spreads across her cheeks. She looks cute when she’s pissed off. I just can’t wait to hear what kind of words are about to come out of that pretty mouth.
Her skates cut into the ice as she abruptly comes to a stop in front of me, putting her hands on her hips. I allow my eyes to travel the length of her body for a moment, noticing her toned legs through her black leggings. My gaze follows up her thin torso, over the curves of her body, before traveling across her face.
Her amber-colored hair is pulled back in a tight bun, revealing her perfectly symmetrical face. I can’t fight the smirk on my lips as I notice her eyebrows drawn together, her plump lips pinched into a straight line as she glares at me.
“Hey, Eden,” I offer, my tone playful as I smile back at her, the anger rolling off her in waves.
“You guys aren’t supposed to be here right now.”
Tilting my head to the side, I raise an eyebrow as I push away from my stick, gliding into her space. “It said open skate on the board. If I remember correctly, that means the ice is open for anyone to skate…”
Eden tilts her head back, her chest rising and falling with every angry breath she takes. “Your team has its reserved times for practice. You don’t belong here right now.”
“Sorry, pretty girl.” I stare back at her, noticing the small golden flecks in her irises. “But the rink is big enough for both of us.”
Eden scoffs, rolling her eyes because she’s not as amused by this as I am. “Just stay out of my way.”
“Hm,” I muse, narrowing my eyes at her as she gives me a challenging look. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t make any promises.”
I watch her chest rise and fall, her breathing shallow. The scent of vanilla touches my nose and I resist the urge to reach out to her. She might hate me, but I’m intrigued. And the more she gives me her anger and challenges me, the more I want to play with her. Eden lets out an exasperated sigh before spinning on her skates.
My eyes follow after her as I watch her skate away. She looks so natural, like being on the ice is exactly where she belongs. There’s a gracefulness to the way she glides across the frozen surface and I find myself mesmerized, lost in the way her body moves.
“You’re playing with fire, King,” Sterling mutters as he skates over to me. I glance over at him as he purses his lips and shakes his head. “Everyone knows that girl is colder than the ice beneath our skates. She’ll burn down anyone who gets in her way.”
“Who said I was getting in her way?”
Sterling raises an eyebrow. “You know what I mean. You might not be a threat to her skating career, but she doesn’t waste her time on meaningless interactions. I’ve seen her go off on people before, but she’s out for blood with you.”
A chuckle vibrates in my chest as I shrug at him. “I wonder why.”
“Because you don’t know how to leave shit alone.”
I look at him, feigning innocence. “What am I really doing? Running into her the other day was just a fluke thing. And I’m not here to bother her today. Just taking advantage of free ice time.”
“You knew she was going to be here.”
A smirk plays on my lips. “I mean, we all use the rink here. I knew it was a possibility.”
“Let him go, Barrett,” Simon says as he checks him lightly, throwing him off-balance. “King will get tired of the little game he’s playing and find a new toy.”
Simon chuckles as he skates away, taking the puck with the blade of his stick before Sterling follows after him. My gaze is trained on the back of his head for a moment. I don’t know if he has feelings for Eden or what his deal really is, but there’s something weird going on here. He’s so concerned with what I’m doing with her and I can’t figure out why.
Ignoring the little voice inside of my head, the three of us find our space on the ice, away from the figure skaters as we pass the puck around. We work on our stickhandling and attempting to get the puck away from one another. None of us really need the practice and Sterling was one hundred percent right. I knew Eden would be here and I wanted an excuse to run into her again.
Simon and Sterling fight over the puck for a moment and I allow my eyes to wander to the other side of the rink. Eden is skating, acting like I don’t exist, as she works on her various jumps. I don’t know the names of them, but watching her in action has me completely blown away. Even though I can skate my ass off, there’s no way that I could even attempt the things she’s doing right now.
I’m completely captivated by the way she moves and I can’t tear my eyes away from her.
“Yo, King,” Simon calls out my name as he passes the puck to me. I look up, watching it as it slides toward me, but I don’t catch it fast enough. It moves past me, hitting the boards behind me before moving toward the other side of the ice.
Shit.
The puck slides right past Eden, coming to a stop along the boards, directly behind where she and Winter are skating. I glance over at Simon, who’s staring at me with a smirk. Sterling looks slightly annoyed, but I ignore his expression as I shrug at Simon.
“I’m not going into the lion’s den,” Simon shakes his head quickly, his eyes wide.
“Go ahead, Hayden,” Sterling nods over to the puck, raising an eyebrow. “You wanted to come here, you go get the puck.”
Unable to bite my tongue, I quickly move my feet, skating over to him until I stop in front of him. We stand almost eye to eye, although I’m a few inches taller. Tilting my head to the side, I narrow my eyes at Sterling. “You got something with Eden? If you do, say it now and I’ll leave it alone.”
Sterling’s eyebrows tug together and he glares back at me. “Did I once say anything about her? I just saw the shit she went through with Orion. I don’t want to see her get hurt again.”
“You care about her,” I state, not bothering to question him because I know it’s the truth based on his response. “Why? Who is she to you?”
“No one now,” he says quietly, a pained look passing through his brown eyes. “We used to be friends. Before she wrote us all off, like we were behind their breakup.”
I glance over at Simon for confirmation and he nods. As I look back at Sterling, my eyes are still narrowed on his. “Just friends, though? Nothing more?”
“Some of us can be friends with girls without feeling the need to fuck them,” Sterling snaps at me. “So, yes. We were just friends and never anything more than that. No need to worry about breaking the fucking bro code,” he clips, as he turns his back on me and faces Simon.
“I’m out of here,” he tells Simon before skating toward the door and stepping off the ice. My gaze follows after him before I look back at Simon.
“They were close,” Simon shrugs. “But he’s not lying. They were never more than friends, and he’s just looking out for her in that way.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Why would he do that if she hates you guys?”
“Because she’s not the ice sculpture she appears to be.”
My lips part as I attempt to form a response, but I’m interrupted as a delicate arm wraps around my chest. I look down at her small hand, pressing the puck against my chest. As I spin around, Eden keeps her hand there, holding the black puck over my sternum.
“I told you to stay out of my way.” Her voice is low, her tone ice cold as she stares up at me with her bright, golden eyes.
Lifting my hand, I place it over hers, holding her against me for a moment. Her throat bobs as she swallows hard, her eyes glossy before she snaps out of it. Jerking her hand away from my chest, I catch the puck as it begins to fall.
“I was nowhere near you.”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “This is your puck, isn’t it?”
Flipping the puck around in my hand, I pretend to inspect it before looking back up at her. “It might be. It’s hard to tell, though. You know, they all look the same.”
Eden snorts, rolling her eyes at me. “Keep it over there, because next time I won’t be returning it.”
“You can keep it now as a memento, if you’d like,” I offer, a smirk playing on my lips as I hold it out for her. “Something to remind you of me.”
“I’d rather forget you than remember a single thing about you, Hayden King.”
A chuckle vibrates in my chest and Eden’s eyes slice to mine. She acts like she doesn’t want to remember, but I know by the look in her gaze that she remembers everything that happened between us that night. The way she moved underneath me as I drove her body into a state of ecstasy that it’s never experienced before.
“Good luck with that, baby,” I murmur, leaning toward her ear as I skate past her. “Although, if you want a reminder, you know where to find me now.”
“I’m not like the other girls you’ve fucked around with,” Eden quips, spinning on her skates to face me as I stop behind her. “Your words don’t have the same effect on me.”
“My words might not, but you haven’t seen what I can do with my tongue yet.”
Eden rolls her eyes as she begins to skate backward. “In your dreams, King.”
I watch her as she effortlessly spins around, her back facing me as she meets up with Winter. The two of them skate over to the boards, grabbing their skate protectors before making their way off the ice. Standing in place, I stare after her until she disappears from my line of sight.
She might think she’s made of ice, but she’s in for a rude awakening.
I plan to melt away every frigid layer that encapsulates her.