Page 49 of Redeeming the Villain
Releasing him, I let him gain his balance, but I’m not patient. Flicking my gloves to the ground and ripping my helmet off, I grab his collar and jerk him toward me.
Cocking my arm back, I release my fist, swinging my weight into it as it collides with his cheek. He grunts and throws his knuckles my way, but I dodge with ease.
The arena erupts as a full scrum breaks out around us. But the only thing I’m focused on is him and breaking his fucking jaw.
Rearing back, I land another blow and another. I knock him off-balance, and he drops to his knees, his arms flailing out beside him.
The refs begin skating over to us, surely to tear us apart, as he hit the ice—a typical cue for the fight to end.
But I’m not done yet.
Adjusting his collar in my grasp, I lift his head up, and his eyes fly open. But there’s no mercy here. He shouldn’t have hit Elias.
He knocked on this door; I’m simply answering.
Punching him on the side of the head, I watch the lights in his eyes shut off, and I drop him.
The arena goes berserk as he collapses to the ground, knocked out cold.
Adrenaline surges through me, and every single person in the building, aside from the Titans, cheer and shout.
The energy is electric as I skate away from him toward my bench.
I know I’ll get heavily reprimanded for it, especially since I kept hitting him after he fell to the ice.
But I don’t care. This rush is what I live for.
“Let’s go!” I throw my hands up in the air.
The crowd somehow gets louder. My teammates smack their sticks against the boards as I step through the open board door.
“Fucking animal!” one of the guys yells at me with a huge smile on his face.
“Fuck yeah!” another howls, followed by a slew of compliments and shouts from the rest of the guys.
Striding down the tunnel toward the locker room, I can still feel the vibration through the floor from the pulsing energy behind me. It’s palpable.
It’severything.
Atext is waiting for me when I wake up this morning. From someone I have no desire to see. But one I have no choice but to face. My dad.
It’s been a long time since I saw him—almost two years now. Even that visit wasn’t one from his own heart; it was a press tour for his most recent campaign. Back when he was just a mayor.
A political show is exactly what today will be, filled with smiles, handshakes, and waves as I’m paraded around like a doll—or worse, an accessory. My outfit was already personally picked out. Not by him, but by his team. It was dropped off to me at nine a.m., along with the itinerary.
His second assistant will be with me all today—in charge of keeping me in line, I’m sure. Not that I’ve ever given them a reason to doubt my performance. It’s flawless every time.
The weight on my chest feels heavier than ever as I zip up the back of the modest pink dress. It might not be formfitting, but it’s somehow still constricting, suffocating like hands around my throat.
Glancing in the mirror, I feel oddly proud of what I’ve pulled off in the last hour. Curled my hair, did my makeup, played piano for ten minutes, and even managed to have a cry session in there—before the makeup, of course.
I’d spent years perfecting the art of fighting back tears, especially the older I got. It seemed that as time went on and the memory of my mother faded from my dad’s mind, the further he strayed from the man I’d once known.
This tweed dress, fitting for any politician or royal, fits me perfectly. Which is rather shocking, given the fact that I’ve put on some weight since I last saw him.
“Sunny, baby, June will be here in about an hour.” I start filling her in on my plans for the day so she doesn’t feel left out. “So, you’ll only be alone until then.”
She looks up at me with happiness in her eyes. I know she likes June, and June does a good job with her. I have no worries, especially with the deal I made with her.
