Page 7 of Rule Breaker

“Oof, sorry,” I blurted out, steadying myself.

“Watch it,” Maddox snapped, grabbing onto the railing.

“I said, I’m sorry.”

“Get out of my way,” he hissed.

I stood aside with my hands up in the air and watched as Maddox ran down the rest of the stairs.

My good mood vanished along with our goalie.

CHAPTER 4

MADDOX

A WEEK LATER

Ihated college. Go on and tell me I’m being an ungrateful asshole. Whatever.

It was a lot for me to deal with and pushed my limited patience to the brink. Between the eager—and downright nosy—students in the dorm, meeting with my advisor, and actual classes, I was in a perpetual state of pissed.

And I was totally unsurprised. This was the reason I’d held off from applying after graduating from high school. I wasn’t sure I could handle being in class again. Not the actual classwork, since no matter the subject, I always scored high marks. It was the in-person thing that always threw me. Especially in courses where the teacher paired people up for projects. Working with, and depending on, someone else to help me with my coursework was a no-go. The dreaded ‘T’ word. Teamwork. It was bad enough I had to deal with others when I played hockey. At least there, I had distance. Goalkeeping is its own thing.

But school? Ugh. The whole structure of college was stupid, anyway. Outdated. I was already deep into coding and programming. I worked online, part time, setting up websites, and making decent money. In fact, I probably didn’t even need a computer science degree at this point. But still, if hockey didn’t work out, I needed a plan, so I wasn’t totally screwed. No way I’d ever be in a vulnerable position again. And getting a degree seemed like the logical thing to do.

My core classes were fine. But it was here, in my elective, Economics 201, where I was prepared to be bored out of my mind. It was either economics or a social sciences class. Which, of course, involved group work. Hard no. Programming, algorithms, calculus—those were my classes and it was all about individual achievement. No way was I depending on anyone but myself for my grades.

This elective, however, proved to be popular with a lot of students, probably for the same reason. There were at least sixty or so students in attendance. As usual, I sat at the back, in the last seat of the last row, on my phone, playing solitaire. Shut up. The game calmed me.

A door slammed, and I looked up to find a familiar figure entering the room. Aw, shit. Kayden was in the same class as me? Just fucking great. I’m sure my scowl could crack my face in half at this point.

Kyden was so huge he nearly hit the top of the doorframe. But he didn’t walk so much as tumble into the room, tripping over something, and nearly face-planting into a row of students. The difference between his coordination on the ice and off it was startling. And concerning.

Kayden looked up, and when he spotted me, he jolted.

Oh my God. Please stay away.

He made his way to the front row, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Good. Perfect. One less annoyance for me to deal with.

But when Kayden sat down, and even though the rows were staggered, the people behind him couldn’t see around. I bit back a chuckle as one classmate, then another, tapped on Kayden’s shoulder to talk to him.

Unfortunately, my laughter was short-lived.

Kayden got up, red-faced, and headed up the stairs to the back of the room. Then I realized that there was only one other seat left up here, and it was right beside me.

Doing my best to look busy, I kept my eyes focused on my phone and absently tugged on my silver earring with my free hand. I didn’t watch Kayden sit down, but I felt the ground underneath me vibrate when he did. When his knee hit mine, I nearly jumped out of my chair.

“Sorry,” Kayden muttered.

I grunted and shifted away, my feet resting in the aisle. When I looked up, I noticed a few raised eyebrows from other students.

“What?” I snapped.

No one bothered me after that.

Kayden shifted, and the loud creak of his chair had me biting back another chuckle. Fuck, twice in one day. It was a miracle.

He was sitting way too close for comfort, but what could I do? At least Kayden didn’t smell bad. I caught the scent of something woodsy, spicy. Anything was better than hockey sweat, and if I could survive that shit, I could survive anything.