Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
He also gets sent to the penalty box the most. Like now. He looks like a caged animal who’ll get the penalty again if given the chance.
The Vipers hold out during the other team’s power play, mainly due to Kane and Preston. Soon after Jude returns, a buzzer sound indicates the end of the game.
Megan and I jump and holler as the crowd erupts in maddening cheers.
As the team celebrates the win, Kane’s eyes meet mine.
I give him two thumbs-up, then turn around to show him the jersey I’m wearing. Davenport. 19.
When I look back again, he’s smiling.
God. I love his smile.
I love that it comes out more often lately.
He motions at the bench area and mouths, “Come down.”
Megan squeals. “Oh my God, oh my God. He has the game puck! Go!”
My legs shake as I rush past the lively crowd and head down, then I take a detour and rush to the players’ bench area. I nearly fall when I hurry toward Kane, but he slides in just in time and catches me.
I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He carries me with infinite ease, and it baffles me how easily I’m getting used to this.
I’m getting used to being vulnerable with him. To letting him see parts of me no one else can.
And it scares me. So much.
But I can’t stay away. Even if I can’t use him to get my revenge. I want to believe that I can have both.
Him.
And revenge.
He’s removed his helmet, his brown strands sticking to his face. I stroke his hair back, completely forgetting that we’re surrounded by the entire world.
“You were amazing!” I say.
“Does that mean you’ll sing my praises online, ColdAsKane?”
“Oh my God. How do you know about my alter ego?”
“Coincidence?”
“Now, I have to kill you.”
He laughs, the sound rushing past my rib cage and piercing my heart. I hug him tighter, drowning in his scent and feeling every rush in his breaths.
It’s moments like these where I think I can feel the real Kane. Not the image he wears so well or the control he allows to rule his life.
Don’t get me wrong. He’s definitely a sadist who gets off on hurting me during sex. But then again, I love that. We’re compatible in that sense.
I just don’t like the emotional sadism, and lately, I feel like we’re making progress. He doesn’t hurt me—at least, not intentionally—and he listens when I say I don’t like something.
The other day, I said I didn’t like it when he fucks me clothed and he’s never done it again.
Kane wipes the puck on his glove and then offers it to me. “For you.”
“Really? I can have it?”
“The captain says you can.”
“Thank you!” I kiss his cheek, leaving a stain of red lipstick. His favorite.
“You can do better than that.” Kane fists my hair and devours my lips.
In front of the whole campus, league, and crowd.
A blush creeps up my neck even as I let him kiss me. I always believed I didn’t care what others thought, but as Kane stakes a claim in public, I feel exposed.
But also lost in a surreal world.
I can hear the players hooting and whistling. I can hear the crowd’s cheers and whispers, but all I can focus on is Kane.
He’s so dazzling, so godly, so irresistible, I can’t help it.
I don’t care that we come from different worlds. That I’m reaching for something I shouldn’t touch.
Vi used to say an aimless star should never get close to the sun or it’ll crash and burn.
But right now, none of those facts matter.
He’s consuming me.
I’m letting him.
Even if I end up regretting it.
I finally managed to get Hunter’s DNA.
Mainly because I stole his water bottle while he wasn’t paying attention after the game and switched it with a similar one that I’d emptied to the same level.
And I only got away with it because of the frenzy and chaos after the win.
Since the team is having a party at one of the town’s bars, I tell Kane that I need to finish a last-minute test at the lab, then leave.
Judging by his expression, he didn’t like it, but I managed to slip away when he was surrounded by the others.
I spend a few hours on the extraction, then I save the sample and make a note for no one to touch it so I’ll be able to proceed with the following step.
It’s possible to continue now, but it’s close to midnight, and Kane has called me twice in the past fifteen minutes.
He’ll soon come to pick me up and I can’t have him getting a whiff of what I’m doing.
Tomorrow, I’ll finish the amplification and try to move to—
A creaking sound echoes in the silence.
I go still.
The white sterile lab feels larger and more oppressive. Who would come in this late?