If You Dare: A Hockey Bully Romance
If You Dare: Chapter 27

Violet

“Great work, Violet.” Professor Tate sets my short story on my desk, an A circled at the top. “I would’ve appreciated more of a warning about the explicit nature of your story.” My face warms. “But it was very well-written and moving. You’re bearing your soul in your writing again.” She taps the page. “Keep it up.”

I’m on cloud nine when I leave class. Maxwell catches up to me. “So I heard Professor Tate call your story explicit.”

I grimace, even though my professor and classmates knowing I’ve written graphic sex scenes doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. “Honestly, I thought I dialed it back.”

Maxwell laughs. “Sounds like a must-read. We’ll have to swap work sometime. I know you were the best writer in our class last year. I’m sure my stories could benefit from your critique.”

“Oh.” If that party freshman year had never happened, I’d assume he’s just looking to swap work with a fellow writer and nothing more. But I haven’t forgotten the way he almost kissed me or the way his face lit up when I complimented him. He hasn’t flirted with me since, though, so hopefully we’ve both moved on. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Awesome.” He opens the door for me and offers a smile before heading in the opposite direction. “See ya.”

Aneesa is waiting for me on a bench so we can walk to the dining hall together for lunch. Her eyes light up. She leaps to her feet and rushes over to me, grabbing onto my arm. “Um, who is that?”

“That’s just Maxwell. He’s a classmate.”

“Is he why you’ve been smiling so much lately? He’s cute. Good for you.”

A smile sweeps across my face at the thought of Wes. I can’t let her think anything’s going on with Maxwell, but I know she’ll disapprove if I tell her the truth. “Actually, no. There’s someone else.”

Her mouth falls open. “What? Who?”

“I don’t want to say yet. But we’ve been having . . . a lot of fun together.”

Aneesa’s smile falls, and she pulls me off the sidewalk and onto the grass to give us a little more privacy. “Please tell me you’re not talking about Wes Novak.”

Shit. Of course she’d figure it out. I manage to give her a reassuring smile. “Aneesa, this is a good thing. He told his teammates to stop harassing me. And the sex is amazing.”

Her eyes narrow. “You’ve been having sex with him? Violet, what the hell are you thinking? You have to know this is just another one of his pranks.”

I shake my head, even as the doubt starts to creep in. “No, he wouldn’t do that.”

“Really? He’s done plenty of other terrible things to you. Why would he draw the line at this?” She steps closer to me, eyes imploring me to see reason. “Trust me, he’s just trying to get you to drop your guard so he can hurt you that much worse. Don’t trust him. You need to stay away from him.”

As much as I don’t want to believe Aneesa, a small ember of doubt questions whether she could be right. All of this could just be another one of Wes’s pranks. Another way to torment me, to hurt me. Getting my heart involved so the pain he inflicts will be that much worse.

But no. We talked. He held me while I cried. He heard my apology, and he said we need each other to get through this. We’re moving forward. Together.

“I appreciate your concern, Aneesa. I really do.” I squeeze her hand. She’s trying to be a good friend. “But Wes and I talked through it. He was mourning Chloe. He wanted me to pay for what happened to her. I understand why he did it, but that’s over now. He really cares about me. You can’t fake that.”

She’s not buying it, expression dark as she shakes her head. “Violet, you’re a writer. You should know that Wes is not the hero of this story. He’s the villain.”

Wes

Coach makes us take a break in the middle of practice to check out Luke’s injured leg.

“I’m fine, Coach,” Luke insists.

“You’re no good to us with a broken ankle, Twenty-Two!” I shout. Luke flips me the bird.

Beside me, Trey peels off his helmet, both of us leaning up against the glass, still on the ice. “You fuck her the other night?”

He doesn’t have to say Violet’s name. We both know exactly who he’s talking about. “Don’t worry about it.”

I wish we were still living in the dorms so I could put in a request for a different roommate, but we both signed a lease. I’m stuck with him unless I can convince him to leave or figure out a way to break my lease early and find another vacant apartment around campus. The semester’s almost over. Maybe I can wait it out before I knock his teeth in.

Trey smirks and claps me on the shoulder. “Atta boy. How tight is she?”

I clench my jaw. “Man, what did I fucking tell you? Leave her the fuck alone. She’s mine.”

Trey’s eyes narrow. “Holy shit. Don’t tell me you’re actually into the girl who killed your sister.”

“Of course not,” I snap. Even though that’s exactly my situation.

It was an accident. It was an accident.

“Wow.” He leans back, shaking his head. “I thought you wanted to kill this bitch and now you’re falling in love with her? Dude, she’s playing mind games with you. Don’t fall for that shit.”

I roll my eyes. “She’s not playing mind games with me.”

“Really? You know she’s smart. You chase her around campus, making her life miserable, and you don’t think she’d do whatever she could to get you to stop? Cry some crocodile tears, throw a little pussy your way?”

Trey’s a fucking idiot. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he has no clue what he’s talking about.

But then there’s that other one percent when he actually makes some sense.

I went from wanting to kill Violet, wanting her kicked off campus, to wanting her in my bed.

She’s smart, I’ve always known that. Definitely smart enough to manipulate me, mess with my head enough to convince me to stop tormenting her.

Maybe she’s been playing me for a fool this whole time. Telling me exactly what I want to hear, convincing me she actually feels bad about what she did to Chloe, for what she did to me.

No. I shake the thoughts from my head.

I know her. I know Violet Harris better than she thinks I do. Way fucking better than Trey does, that’s for damn sure. He’s wrong. About all of it.

Violet’s remorse is genuine. She cried for Chloe. She loves and misses my sister as much as I do.

I’m not falling for any sort of mind games. What’s happening between us is real.

Violet was meant for me from day one. We’ve been through hell, and now we’re figuring out our way back together. I’m not letting anything or anyone stop us.

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