Chapter 2 The High Psychopath

DAPHNE POV

I was already cussing myself out for not following him immediately. His strides were too damn long and too fast. It was like he couldn't get away from the arena quickly enough.

He pushed through a heavy black door and it slammed shut behind him.

By the time I caught up, I struggled with the stupid thing for a few seconds before it finally gave way. I slipped inside, quietly shutting it behind me, and realized I'd just walked into the hockey team's locker room.

I looked around but couldn't find him anywhere.

My brows furrowed in confusion. Where the hell did he disappear to? I slowly walked farther in, making sure every step was as quiet as possible.

I could already hear voices getting closer. His teammates would be back any minute, and the last thing I needed was a bunch of half-naked hockey players catching me snooping around their locker room. I seriously didn't want to see penises.

The moment I turned the corner, a gasp almost escaped my mouth. I slapped a hand over it before any sound came out, my phone tightening against my chest as my heart started pounding. 

Right now, the Ice King is bent over the bench he's sitting on,completely unaware I was there. He rolled his shorts higher, grabbed a syringe and pushed it straight into his thigh without so much as flinching. 

My eyes widened. 

He pulled the needle out like he'd done it a thousand times before. Before I could even process what I'd just seen, he reached into his duffel bag again, pulled out another syringe and stabbed it into his arm.

My mouth slowly fell open.

Twice?

He injected himself twice.

His head tipped back as he took a slow, shaky breath, his jaw tightening like he was trying to push through something. His eyes stayed shut for a few seconds before he finally opened them again.

Oh my God.

Was he seriously doing drugs?

No sane person should've been able to play the way he did on the ice earlier, and now I was standing here watching him secretly inject himself in the locker room.

Instinctively, I took a careful step backward, trying to hide behind one of the lockers. Unfortunately, my shoelace had other plans. My foot caught on it and I stumbled. At the same time, the tiny microphone clipped to my shirt slipped off and hit the tiled floor with a loud clink that echoed through the entire room.

Shit.

Ice King's eyes flew open.

My entire body froze.

Slowly, he turned toward me. In that moment there's nothing I wished for than to beg God for the grounds to open up and swallow me whole.His icy blue eyes were bloodshot, sending a chill down my spine. He didn't say a word. He simply stood up and started walking toward me, each step slow and deliberate, like he already knew I wasn't going anywhere.

And he was right.

My legs refused to move.

When he stopped right in front of me, I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously tall he was. My head barely reached his chest. He looked even more intimidating up close, and I had to swallow the lump forming in my throat.

I blinked, trying to gather myself.

He kept looking down at me without saying a word. His eyes drifted to the microphone lying on the floor, then to the phone I was clutching against my chest.

"H-hi... My name is Daphne Brook. I'm the, uhm..." Shit. I can't believe I'm stuttering. I only stutter around Asher. This man in front of me is making me nervous, and I can barely string a sentence together. "I'm a journalism student. I was told to write a feature about the mighty Ice Man. Is it okay if I get an interview with you?"

It was after I was done with the shitty introduction I realized I didn't get the nickname right. Elena freaking warned me.

I don't think he heard me. There wasn't the slightest change in his blank expression. His face gave nothing away.

"Is it okay if we take the interview outside? Your team is coming in," I tried again.

I jolted when he suddenly reached for my phone and slipped it out of my hands.

He brought the device to his face. He pressed a button and that's when I realized I didn't stop the recording since the ice.

Oh my... I had mistakenly recorded him stabbing himself with a syringe.

His blue eyes narrowed at me for the first time today. I think that was the first reaction I got from him.

"I didn't mean to—"

I barely got the words out before he threw my phone onto the floor, grabbed a hockey stick by his side. My eyes widened in shock when he hit the blade on my phone.

No. No. No.

He hit the phone again. 

"You high psychopath!" I lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Stop ruining my phone! Stop!"

He didn't.

His teammates were already walking into the locker room, throwing us confused looks and asking what was going on, but he ignored every single one of them.

I quickly shoved my foot forward and dragged my phone away from his stupid stick and his stupid face.

The device is ruined. The screen is ruined. Did he have any idea how much it cost my mother to buy such an expensive iPhone?

"You ruined it," my mouth quivered as the words left my mouth.

He leaned closer to me, the heat from his body radiating against my skin.

"Say a word about what you saw..." His deep, husky voice was barely above a whisper, the London accent was impossible to miss. "...and you'll die."

He threatened me.

The bastard just smashed my phone and threatened my life.

Then he brushed past me, his shoulder hitting mine as he walked away like none of it had happened.

"You fucking piece of shit!" I yelled after him. "You'll pay for this!" I pulled my sneaker off in rage and launched it at him. It barely reached him and I wanted to curse myself for my bad throw.

He glanced over his shoulder, looked me up and down with those cold blue eyes, then smirked before walking away.

"I can't believe she just cursed the captain," one of his teammates muttered while hanging up his jersey.

"She must have two lives," another said.

Before I could turn around and fire back, one of them casually walked out completely naked.

Eww. God. I literally said I didn't want to see penises.

I quickly bent down and gathered what was left of my phone and microphone before glaring at the rest of the team.

"Tell your captain to watch his back. Next time I see him, I'm killing him."

With that, I stormed out of the locker room.

I wanted to cry. God, I wanted to cry so badly, but I won’t. Mama always says only the weak ones cry.

I'd make that bastard pay for what he did. He'd wish he'd never met me.