My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 6

Nina

Me? Why me?

Why would the star hockey player, every girl’s dream guy, the adonis Enzo Rivers, want to be with me?

My mind flashed back to our one night stand… I could almost still feel his hands on my body, and when he brushed my hair out of my face right now, my body shivered at his touch. He had been so gentle and loving when we had sex. Was he like that with all of the girls, or was it an act?

It had to be an act. An alarm was going off inside of me, saying “Don’t trust this playboy.” After years of being unable to find love, I couldn’t believe that his feelings could be genuine. My first love had been similar -- the star quarterback of my high school -- and look how that had turned out.

Never again.

“Listen, you got what you wanted,” I said, pulling away. “We slept together once. Don’t try to make me think that you, of all people, would actually want me again. Who put you up to this, huh? Lisa?”

Enzo frowned and took a step backward.

“No one put me up to this,” he said softly. “When we had sex, something was… different. Not at all like all of my other one night stands. I want to try it again and see what happens.”

“Oh, so I’m just an experiment to you,” I snapped. “A test to see if the Great Enzo Rivers has the capacity for feelings.”

“No, it’s not like th-”

“If it helps any, I only got with you out of impulse,” I said, somewhat surprised by the venom in my voice. “I was having a bad night, and had just been cheated on. I would never sleep with a player like you under any other circumstances. Besides, I’m not willing to let whatever tricks you’re trying to play on me get in the way of my studies.”

Enzo looked me up and down, then folded his arms across his chest again. “You seemed to like it last night,” he said. “I didn’t know I would just be an obstacle to you.”

Admittedly, Enzo’s words made me feel a bit guilty for snapping at him like that. I looked down at my feet and stuck my hands in my jacket pockets.

“I did enjoy it,” I replied quietly.

Enzo took a couple of steps toward me then. “So why deny it again?” he said softly. “And by the way… You look beautiful tonight.” He put his hand under my chin and lifted it so I looked into his eyes. From this close, I could see that his pupils were dilated and the iris around them had shifted from soft brown to a subtle red color. I gasped and stepped away just before he went to kiss me, nearly stumbling over a rock on the ground as I did so. Was he on something? That had to be the only reasonable explanation for this change in his eyes.

Enzo looked at me with an expression on his face that I couldn’t quite read. “What’s wrong?”

“Just… I would prefer if what happened last night was the one and only time,” I said. “Please stop playing with me like this. I don’t want to be hunted down by the hundreds of other girls at this school who would literally kill to get in bed with you for a night.”

Enzo didn’t say anything for several long moments. When I looked up, his eyes still appeared different… like a predator. There was something inside of him, something wild, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Whatever it was, I wanted no part of it.

Enzo let out a heavy sigh and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Alright,” he said. “But if you change your mind, I’ll be here. I can be patient when it comes to important people.”

I didn’t say anything else. I hesitated for a moment while part of me wanted to run far away and another part of me wanted to have sex with him again, but then the part of me that wanted to flee took over. I turned on my heel and ran around the cabin and back toward the fire, where everyone was still dancing -- albeit they were all much more drunk than before.