Page 53 of Nodus Tollens
At first, I thought my eyes were playing a dirty trick on me. Almost like it was too good to be true to have the girl of my dreams looking like a goddamn angel in the stands with my name on her back. I even blinked and rubbed at my eyes for good measure, but when she didn’t disappear, my heart went into overdrive. As I stood in the center of the ice, I swore everyone around me blurred into nothing, and all that I could focus on was my strong impulse to get to her. I needed to see her reaction to me. Needed to see her beautiful eyes on mine as I soaked in her being here. She was fucking accepting us, accepting this, or at least, I hoped she was. All that mattered was that she made the conscious decision to come, and I wouldn’t let her forget it either.
Even now, after our win, standing in the locker room, I was still in disbelief that she was here. I had taken the quickest shower known to man and dressed like someone lit a fire under my ass. Even the guys were teasing me about my eagerness to get out of there, telling me ‘the puck bunnies weren’t going anywhere’. Fucking assholes… I didn’t let their comments get to me, though. I was desperate to see her. Desperate to hold her in my arms, taste those lips. I wanted it all.
Taking a few moments to text Mal, I pulled out my phone and sent him a quick text before I exited the locker room.
Me: Hope everything went ok with your Dad.
I hated that I even had to send that message, but his dad was a fucking shit show. I don’t even know why he thought he had to go back home to deal with his mess. It was always something with him, too. Whether it was money problems or having to bail him out, the man was a leech, and somehow, he managed to weasel his way into Mal’s head. That’s how Mal was, though. He stood by your side through thick and thin, and unfortunately, his shitty parents were part of that small group he helped.
Mal: What do you think? Left his ass in jail this time. I’ll be home sometime later tonight.
Shit.
That’s not good. Rich had gone to jail a few times since we’ve been at Sutton U, and every time, Mal has bailed his ass out. So, whatever happened this time, must have been a deal-breaker for Mal. Though I was fucking relieved that he didn’t give in to his father, I knew that it was going to mess with his head. Mal was already a grumpy bastard, so I could only imagine how this whole thing would affect him.
Let’s just say when he’s out on the ice, fuckers better beware.
Me: Bastard deserves to be in jail. Drive safe.
Shoving my phone into my shorts’ pocket, I threw my bag over my shoulder and rushed out into the hallway, where I was greeted with a slew of people. While most were integrated into their own conversations, some found my eyes and waved me over.
“Decker!” Someone shouted.
“Good game, man!” Another praised from a distance, but I only had one goal in mind, and that was to find Blue. Everyone else just faded into the background as my eyes swept around me. A couple of other guys filtered out of the locker room, diverting the attention from me and onto them. I took the opportunity to sneak past the crowd and venture toward where all the fans would be. Then, I swiftly pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head in hopes of somewhat concealing my identity, but when a body came out of nowhere and blocked me from walking further, I quickly pulled myself back.
“Hayes Decker in the flesh. It’s been a while.” A voice that I’d dreaded to hear curled over me and caused my stomach to sink. I’ve gone two years… two fucking years without running into this chick, and now suddenly, she randomly pops out of nowhere? What the fuck were the chances… I can’t even for the life of me remember her damn name. All I could recall from that night was how batshit crazy she was. I should’ve known, though, with that deep purple streak in her hair, that she was a freak, and I’d forever be scarred by the things she tried to do to me that night.
“Uh, yeah…” I coughed into my hand and peered around her. For the love of God, please don’t let Blue see me talking to her. “It’s been a while.”
Standing almost at the same height as me, she stared mischievously into my worried eyes as if she had something up her sleeve, and whatever it was made my skin crawl. Back in my sophomore year, I attended as many parties as I did classes. On this particular night, I was way more inebriated than I thought, and when I had a warm, curvy body slide up against me, I couldn’t turn down the invitation. I was a horny nineteen-year-old, for god’s sake, and all I wanted was a willing body. It didn’t matter who or how well I knew them.
Huge fucking mistake.
When I had finally gotten her on a bed, she attacked me like the fucking Wolverine. I had scratch marks all over my body, down to my ankles, and all up my neck. Not small little scrapes either, she was intent on drawing blood, and before she even had a chance to fuck me, I ran out of that room in only a pair of boxers and a sour taste in my mouth.
“You know, I still think about our night together. Though it was cut short for some unknown reason.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a large fake smile.
Unknown reason?! You tried to fucking bleed me out on the bed!
“Huh, I can’t really remember that night.” I responded and searched for a way to get out of here. I was antsy as hell, and whenever a flash of blonde caught my eyes, I felt my heart jolt in panic. Luckily none of them were her.
Narrowing her dark shadowy eyes, she cocked a hip and dragged her tongue across her mouth.
“Well, that’s funny. I can still kind of taste you in my mouth.”
Jesus fuck.
Rolling my eyes, I was about to put this chick in her place, but when my eyes caught mossy green irises staring at me, I fucking froze. At first, I just stood there staring at her from afar, wondering if she was just a figure of my imagination. She was too good to be true, too fucking beautiful to be real, and my heart was readily waiting for me to hand it over to her. She watched me with the same intensity, soaking me in just as I was her, but then as her eyes found the girl currently trying to capture my attention, I swear I saw a flash of hurt weaken her stare.
Shit.
For a long moment, she just stood there, and for some unknown reason, I didn’t go to her. I watched in horror as her eyes turned glassy. I could sense just how fucking hard she was trying to hold back her tears. She was fighting with herself not to cry, and it physically pained me to know that I was the cause of it. I had a feeling Blue rarely cried, and when she did, it took everything out of her. Standing alone, the raw vulnerability in her tearful grimace was enough to slice me right down the middle. Where I should be the one making her smile, I was the one who was causing her pain.
When she didn’t bother to glance back at me, I knew in my heart she was about to run, and that’s when I panicked. My mouth opened, ready to shout over everyone, but as I took a step around the crazy chick, Blue spun around and darted away.
“What the fuck, Hayes!” I heard a shout from behind me, but I was already rushing after Blue to worry about the watchful eyes following me. I didn’t care, though. My whole body was in a state of dread as I powered my sore legs down the long hallway until I found myself outside. The cool breeze smacked me hard as my head whipped from side to side, searching for any sight of her. Laughter from the parking lot mocked me with each passing second that I couldn’t find her. Letting my bag fall off my shoulder and onto the pavement, I paced toward the right, where I found myself tugging frantically on my hair.
Was this the end of us already? Did I already screw up before anything fucking good could happen?
