She’s mine!

MAVERICK'S POV

Bringing personal matters into a game was never in my code of conduct, but I broke it the minute I took it upon myself to score a point for Kaida, defeating her ex-boyfriend.

My teammates were a bit confused at my sudden attitude, but they did well in hiding the fact that they were surprised and even had questions for me.

The game came to an end, and Liam wouldn’t stop glaring at me, wishing I could just drop dead to the ground.

We've never liked each other—correction, he has never liked me because no matter how hard he tried to learn my strategies in games, he could never beat me.

Recently, I found out he had been snooping around, watching every game I play, both at the college arena and outside, including my games while growing up.

But one thing he wasn’t aware of was this; while he was busy getting coached by expensive coaches, I learned from our local coach in Rochester, despite being able to afford hundreds of expensive coaches.

That was a secret he never got to learn, hence, he could never be up to my level.

To spice up my game and spite him a bit, I walked towards where he sat on a stool, getting treated by one of the medical staff, and squatted to his level. “How does it feel?” I smirked, my voice low and filled with as much mockery as it could muster.

Good gracious… I was going against another one of my codes of conduct for a certain person.

I’ve never spited any opposing player before.

I don’t do that, but here I was, squatting before Liam as I said words that made him more angry.

“Why are you here?” he gritted, his nostrils flared and his cheeks a shade of red like cherry tomatoes.

"How does it feel to be defeated by me?” I asked once more, my face blank.

Others might think my heart must be swelling with pride and joy after winning against Liam’s team once again. But truth be told, I felt nothing.

I just had this obligation that I had to spite him for making Kaida cry, though it wasn’t my business.

“I lost my focus, that was why you were able to win!” he yelled, his eyes burning with fury.

A dry chuckle escaped my lips as I waved his excuse off. “Oh, c’mon now, Liam. Is that the best you could come up with?”

“What?” His mouth hung wide open at my reply. “You think this is an excuse?”

“Isn’t it?” I shrugged, my facial expression blank.

“It wasn’t like you didn’t focus or you didn’t work hard, you’re just a complete loser, Liam. You’re so hot-headed that you can never win against me.”

The medical staff’s mouth hung wide open, and her eyes widened at my words, but she didn’t utter a word.

I guess she knew better than to intervene if she loved her job.

“There’s an insect roaming about, Ms. Mind you, your mouth isn’t far from their reach,” I said to her, a small smile spreading on my lips.

“Oh… yes.” She laughed nervously and slammed her mouth shut.

“See ya, Liam.” I rose to my feet and leaned forward, enough to see the freckles on his face. “Go watch more of my games and keep snooping around. I won’t stop you.”

With that said, I walked away and joined my teammates who had been watching the drama unfold since the beginning.

“Is this really our captain?” Caleb, the youngest in our team asked, staring at me like I was some ghost.

“No, I’m not. Go find your captain somewhere else,” I rolled my eyes, my hands in my pocket as we left the medical room in the arena.

“Fuck! That was intense.” Jacob, our goalie exclaimed.

“I’ve never seen Captain react on impulse before. This is the first.”

“I just had to warn him,” I replied with a shrug.

“That wasn’t a simple warning, bro.” Nelson laughed loudly like a fool that he actually was. “You downgraded him and left him with nothing. If I were Liam, I would quit hockey for life.” Everyone laughed loudly at his remark, except for me.

My eyes suddenly met with Kaida’s where she stood, her hands interlocked with Ember’s, but she looked away first.

As soon as Ember saw me, she unlocked her hands with Kaida and rushed toward me, a wide smile on her lips.

"I'm so proud of you, big brother," she raised her thumb in the air. "I love the look on Liam's face when you scored against him. That son of a gun looked like a chimpanzee!" She laughed loudly, not minding that Kaida was standing beside her.

"Don't call him that. Kaida is right behind you," I warned Ember, as if I wasn't the one who had just ridiculed Liam a few minutes ago.

"Oops, sorry, Kaida. I'm so happy!" She exclaimed.

"There's a party for all the players tonight. You both are invited." I announced, my eyes on Kaida.

"Will Liam and his team be there?" Ember frowned, displeasure written all over her face.

"Yes. It is for all players. Both for our team and his."

"I'm sorry, we won't be attending," Ember scrunched her nose in distaste, but before she could speak further, Kaida stepped in.

"No, we will be there." She replied, surprising Ember.

"Are you sure about this?" Ember asked.

"Yes, I am. I can't keep avoiding him when we attend the same college."

She replied, and for some reason, the flame of obsession buried in the darkest part of my heart awakened a bit at her words.

This wasn’t good at all.

I have to stay away from Kaida as much as possible.

She keeps making me do irrational things, and it's messing with my head. If I get any closer to her than I already was, it would be bad.

Really bad, because at that moment, I just wanted to kiss her, mark her, and let the whole world fucking know that she was mine.