Face-Off With Fate: A Rink Romance | Book #1 of UM Hockey Series

three

Vincent Thompson☽

The second she left, Chase headed to the locker room to see what the hold-up was with Thomas. He's our goalie after all, we can't start practice without him.

Aidan turns to me with a smirk planted on his face.

"Come on Vinny, let's make a bet, whoever can get Scarlett first wins," he pleads. This sounds pathetic, straight out of a movie.

I'm usually up for a challenge but what's in it for me? I get bitches all the damn time, what's one more.

"I pull whoever the fuck I want, anytime, any day. This sounds stupid as shit, what's your wager?"

Aidan sits there thinking for a second before saying, "$10,000. I think this would determine who has the bigger balls."

I look at him with my eyes wide open, no way would he offer me $10,000 to bag a bitch.

"Vin, no way will she be easy to get for either of us, but unlike you, I probably have a better chance. I'm pretty fuckin' loaded, money means nothin' to me."

Aidan's dad is an ex-NHL player. He was always given the best of the best to get here. He's a pretty good player, but an absolute dick when it comes to being a team player.

"And what do you want out of this? You know I don't have that kind of cash, so something's up..." my voice trails off.

"Easy. Your car and your captain spot, I'd love to see you have to walk your ass to practice every day without that C on your jersey."

My captain spot isn't up for sale, no wonder, he can't just buy himself one. My Bronco is a babe magnet, a prized possession. He wants to hurt my ego and take me for everything I got.

I had nothing my entire life. It would be crazy to give up my car. It's all I ever had.

Growing up, my mom left when I was about four years old. She suffered from bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses and turned to drugs to 'stop hearing the voices'.

She would abuse any type of drug she could get her hands on until she was passed out. It wasn't until my dad had enough and gave her the boot.

My dad wasn't always the greatest either. He grew up poor and we lived in a trailer park. He tried to make himself a better man than his own parents, but history repeats itself and he became an alcoholic.

By the time I turned eight years old, my dad lost his job as a construction worker due to a work accident causing him to not be able to use his hands.

The struggles of being a single parent weighed on him, and before I knew it, he transformed into someone unrecognizable.

It wasn't until I was fourteen that he became physically abusive towards me. He would throw old bottles and scruff me up on bad days.

Without any functioning adults around, I relied on nobody.

My only friend around was Thomas when he transferred to our school in the third grade. We liked to play sports together with some of our other classmates and would play ice hockey together in the winter months at the public rink.

I couldn't afford hockey like the other boys, but when we started high school, Thomas and I tried out for the team and made it. He used to lend me his older equipment and stepped up when I needed him.

Thomas was brought up fairly wealthy. His father was a sports coach for the NHL, and his mother was a stay-at-home wife.

I was always envious of how put together his family was. I knew he was loved by them and he was brought up to be a good kid. He always stuck by me when I needed him the most, and I couldn't be more thankful.