PUCKED BY FATE

Chapter 4 - Pay

Amalia Anderson

I walked into our place, and Nick and Alex were being massive couch potatoes, playing video games. "How did it go?" Nick asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, why the attitude, princess?" Alex said, and Mason walked behind me. I coincidentally ran into him at the bookshop and we decided to stick together on our way home.

"I don´t know, maybe because we had planned something, including a certain visit to the ice rink, and you ditched me for a nap?" I said, and Nick lifted his hands.

"I already apologized..." Mase said and moved into the place. Setting the takeout food we had picked up on our way home. I was seriously considering just buying for for me and Mase, but mase, the kind hearted bigg bear he is, was there to prevent those two assholes from going on fasting.

Alex stood up, followed by Nick. They looked like two ten-year-old boys, tail tucked between their legs, head lowered, and hands behind their backs as if being put on a time out. "Mely, we are sorry. We didn´t know it was important to you," Alex said, and I scoffed.

"Seriously?" I almost yelled, and they flinched.

"Well, it is a hobby..." Alex said, and I glared at him, while Nick slapped his head.

"Dude, can´t you see the more you talk, the more you f**k it?" Nick grumbled.

"We are sorry... we were insensitive to your feelings, and I hope we can have a chance to make it up to you," Nick said, and I smiled. He knew how to grovel and put in a solid apology. Alex needs to learn from Nick and Mase.

"Thanks Nick... Let´s eat." I sighed, knowing that what I got from Alex was as good as I was going to get, because let´s face it, Latino guys are not good at handling feelings, let alone acknowledging they had messed up.

"So how did it go?" Nick asked me. Nick and I had the best relationship out of them, which is why it hurt me when he changed his plans.

"I´ve got to be at the rink at 5 a.m. every day, and then I have an hour of routine practice at 1 p.m.," I said, and Nick nodded.

"Why the odd schedules?" he asked, and I sighed.

"Well, the rink is the home of the Glaciers, and as a Pro-hockey team, they get the most ice-time," I said, and they nodded.

"Well, at least you´ve got yourself a place and a trainer," Mase said, and I nodded.

"Not just a trainer, the best ice skating legend of all time, Natasha Logan...." I beamed, and Nick wrapped his arms around me.

"I am so sorry I wasn´t there for that one..." he mumbled, and I buried my face in his chest.

"I am sure you´ll get to see me skate... maybe come to one of my practices?" I smiled, and he nodded.

"At 1 pm..." he chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, Nick would not wake up at those crazy hours... He was Nick-f*****g-Morton Jr., and he treasured his beauty sleep.

Mason passed around the food. We went for a Chinese spread: spring rolls, rice, noodles, kung pao, sweet and sour chicken, and many more. The smell was delicious, and I was certain that Mo´s dinner and this Chinese joint could become my favorite places.

"I saw Bobby..." I said, and they looked at me.

"Your cousin? The Hockey star?" Mase asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I didn´t know, but he was drafted for the Glaciers," I said, and they beamed.

"Cool, that means we get tickets to all the games!" Alex said, and I rolled my eyes.

"You have never been interested in hockey!" I protested, and he laughed.

"Not really, but the girls wearing jerseys are a big turn on..." Alex started with his hot blodded, d**k thought comments and I stuck my fingers in my ears, and chanted above him a single, "la, la, la," so he would stop.

Nick slapped his head, and Mase chuckled. I thousght he was done when I removed my fingers from my ears, when i heard him say, "Just trying to find an easy fuck." Alex smirked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Good God! Alexander Alves! I am going to record you saying those things and send the voice note to your mother," I said, and he squirmed in his chair.

"You don´t hate me that much..." he said pleadingly, and I laughed.

"Just don´t be explicit and crass about it. Those women that you hook up with, that yoou consider only a good easy f**k, could be me, Olga or Little Tara..." I said, and he shivered.

"Now you are just being extra violent and mean... You are different," he said.

"For you, but not for a guy like you..." I said, and he slumped his head.

"You have just ruined my entire college plan..." he sighed, and everyone laughed.

"Didn´t Bobby get drafted with his best friend? What was his name?" Mase asked, and I froze in place.

Today, when I went to the rink and stepped onto the ice, all the guys were geared up, and I couldn´t make out their features, but if Mase is right... You´ve got to be f*****g kidding me.

"Lawson, Lindott..." Nick tried several last names, but I knew better. How could I forget his name, the smirk, his face...

"Lieberman..." I mumbled.

Nick banged the table and pointed at me... "That´s it, Andrew Lieberman... he is a beast on the ice... Is he a Glacier?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders, trying to avoid this f*****g reality that now I was not only stuck with my three bodyguards, plus Bobby f*****g watching me while I sneak to the ice... No, now I was stranded in this f****d up reality, were my f*****g nemesis... was so ucking close that it made it hard to breath.

"I am tired." I stood up, "Don´t forget to f*****g clean... Dad hired a cleaning lady only three days a week; the rest is on us, and I refuse to live in a pigstall."

I closed my room´s door behind me, my back pressed against the door. "Andrew Lieberman..." A fire shot through my body. The need to see him straight in the eye and punch him was almost unbearable.

I took a shivering breath. I´ve got this. He is no one. He hasn´t been someone for a while.

I closed my eyes, and then the memories rushed into my head like a tidal wave. I grew up seeing him on the ice, thinking he was a god. I'm a bit older, getting this infatuation over his wide smile, perfect performance, and piercing green eyes. Then, five years ago, at age fourteen, I was utterly in love with him. He was twenty-one and going on a holiday vacation. Of course, he and Bobby never skipped practice, training, the gym, or having ice time, even if it was a Christmas Holiday. I was all over the place; several guys had gathered, and they all left for school to different estates, but they were there for the holidays.

I remember being a teenage girl, my body barely developed. I don´t why but I was going through an awkward phase, where every single girl my age had boobs and butt, but I was just this flat board, with no curves and nothing to show up for.

Bobby said hi to me. He has always been nice to me, and even with our age difference, we have a great relationship, and I love him. I moved on, I didn´t want to be the awkward cousin there like a bit of pet gawking at hot college guys.

I moved away, out of sight, but not out of earshot. I have always been sneaky that way. And I guess that for them, it was an out of sight, out of mind kind of situation because their conversations and banter moved to women... and suddenly someone named me... The Anderson Princess.

Bobby groaned, "Stop, she is my cousin..." he said, and then one of the guys chuckled.

"But she is cute..." he gave his two cents.

Another one said, "She is wealthy and not bad looking... I am sure she will make a good trophy wife." I rolled my eyes because I was much more than that and was ready to prove it to him and the world.

Then I heard his velvety, baritone voice, soothing. "What? She is none of those things. She is flat as cardboard, and I am sure she is boring. If you have the choice to go out alone or with her, I would rather go alone," Andrew Lieberman said. I hated crying, and that day, tears welled in my eyes, and I couldn´t control them.

Something broke in me. I started wearing loose shirts and hiding, which somehow stuck with me. Now he is here—the man who hurt me when I was a little girl, the man who crushed my self–esteem. The difference now is that I am not that girl anymore, and I owe it to that girl to make him pay.