PENALTY FOR POSSESSION

The final buzzer sounded like a gunshot. Eastpoint University had just lost 4-1 to their biggest rivals. Jax Ryder ripped off his helmet and slammed it against the boards. His chest heaved as sweat poured down his face.

"Ryder! Get your ass in here!" Coach barked from the tunnel.

But Jax wasn't listening. His eyes locked on Seth Kane across the ice. The rival captain was laughing with his teammates, pointing at Jax like he was some kind of joke.

Jax skated straight off the ice and stormed toward the parking lot. His best friend Cal chased after him.

"Jax, man, don't do anything stupid!" Cal shouted. "It's just a game!"

"Just a game?" Jax spun around, eyes blazing. "That asshole tripped me three times and the refs swallowed their whistles. He talked shit about my family the whole night."

Cal grabbed his arm. "Bro, come on. Let's just go back inside."

Jax shook him off. "No. I'm done being nice."

He marched through the cold night air until he found Seth's shiny black sports car parked right near the exit. Without thinking twice, Jax picked up a metal pipe that was lying near some construction tools.

"Jax! Stop!" Cal yelled, running up behind him.

Too late.

The first smash echoed through the parking lot. The side mirror flew off. Jax swung again and again. Glass shattered. Metal dented. The alarm screamed into the night.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Cal grabbed him from behind, trying to pull him away. "You're going to get kicked off the team!"

Jax breathed hard, chest rising and falling. "He wants to play dirty? Fine. This is my answer."

His phone started buzzing like crazy. Notifications poured in. Someone had already recorded the whole thing.

Riley Voss sat on the old couch in her tiny apartment, staring at her laptop screen. The video had already hit two million views in less than an hour.

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

Her fourteen-year-old brother Milo wheeled himself closer from the kitchen. "Let me see it, Riley."

"No way," she said quickly, closing the laptop. "It's too violent."

Milo rolled his eyes. "I'm not a baby. Everyone at school is sharing it. Jax Ryder went full psycho on Seth Kane's car."

Riley rubbed her temples. "Exactly. This is why I wrote that article about the hockey team's toxic culture. These guys think they can do whatever they want just because they can slap a puck around."

Milo grinned. "But he's really good though. Did you see his goals this season?"

"Milo," Riley warned.

"What? I'm just saying. He's hot when he's angry."

Riley threw a pillow at him. "Don't even start. That guy represents everything wrong with this university. Entitled. Angry. Dangerous."

Her phone rang. It was their usual hospital reminder.

Riley answered on speaker. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is billing from St. Mary's. Just reminding you that the next payment for Milo's physical therapy is due in ten days. Amount is one thousand eight hundred dollars."

Riley's stomach dropped. "Yeah... I remember. I'll make it happen."

She hung up and sighed deeply.

Milo looked at her with worried eyes. "Riley, if it's too much"

"It's not," she cut in quickly. "We'll figure it out. I always do."

"But you're already working two jobs and writing for the school paper. You look exhausted."

Riley forced a smile and walked over to ruffle his hair. "Hey, that's my job. Taking care of you is what I do best. Mom would want that."

Milo stayed quiet for a moment. Then he said, "That Jax guy... maybe he's not all bad. Maybe he just had a bad night."

Riley opened her laptop again and replayed the video. Jax swinging that pipe like a weapon, face twisted in rage.

"No," she said firmly. "Guys like him don't change. They just get away with it."

Back at the arena, chaos had exploded.

Coach Daniels slammed the locker room door behind him. "Ryder! What the hell were you thinking? My phone won't stop ringing. The athletic director, the dean, sponsors everybody is losing their minds!"

Jax sat on the bench, still in his gear, staring at the floor. "He deserved it, Coach."

"Deserved it?" Coach threw his hands up. "You destroyed a twenty-thousand-dollar car on camera! The video is everywhere. Twitter, TikTok, Instagram. They're calling you a maniac."

Cal stood nervously in the corner. "Coach, Seth was talking trash the whole game. About Jax's dad, about the team..."

"I don't care!" Coach shouted. "This isn't street hockey. We have rules. We have a championship to win. If we lose our funding because of this, the whole season is dead."

The door opened again. Athletic Director Mr. Hargrove walked in, looking like he hadn't slept in days. Two university lawyers followed him.

"Jax," Mr. Hargrove said in a cold voice. "My office. Now."

Ten minutes later, Jax sat in the big leather chair across from the director's desk. The video played on loop on the giant monitor.

"Look at that," Mr. Hargrove said. "You're not just damaging property. You're damaging the reputation of this entire athletic program. Sponsors are already threatening to pull out."

Jax leaned forward. "So suspend me. Bench me. What do you want?"

"We can't just suspend you. You're our captain. Our best player. The team falls apart without you." Mr. Hargrove sighed and rubbed his face. "But we can't let this slide either."

One of the lawyers cleared his throat. "We have a proposal. A way to fix your image fast."

Jax raised an eyebrow. "Fix it how?"

Mr. Hargrove clicked on another video. This one showed a girl at a protest outside the arena last month. She held a sign that read 'Clean Up Eastpoint Hockey.'

"Who is that?" Jax asked.

"Riley Voss," the director answered. "Journalism major. She's the one who wrote that damaging exposé about the team's so-called toxic culture. The article that almost got us investigated."

Jax laughed bitterly. "Great. So what? You want me to apologize to her on camera?"

Mr. Hargrove leaned forward, eyes serious. "No. We want you to date her."

Jax blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"

"Fake date her," one lawyer corrected. "Publicly. For one semester. You show the world you've changed. You have a good influence on your arm. She gets access and a better view of the team. Everyone wins."

Jax shot up from his chair. "No way. That girl hates me. She basically called us all future criminals in her article."

Mr. Hargrove didn't smile. "Then you convince her. Because if you don't, you're off the team. No championship. No NHL scouts. And your father? He'll hear about this before breakfast."

Jax's jaw tightened. He knew his dad would lose it.

The director slid a paper across the desk. "Think about it. But decide fast. We need to start damage control tomorrow."

Jax stared at the paper. Then he looked back at the monitor. The video of him smashing the car played again.

"Fine," he growled. "But this is crazy."

Mr. Hargrove picked up his phone. "Good. Because I already scheduled a meeting with Riley Voss for tomorrow morning. Both of you. Together."

Jax's stomach dropped. "Wait"

The director held up his hand. "One more thing. The video of you destroying that car? It's not slowing down. It's everywhere. And right now, Riley Voss is probably watching it and hating you more than ever."

Jax ran a hand through his messy hair. "This is going to be a disaster."

Mr. Hargrove smiled for the first time. "Then you better start acting like the perfect boyfriend, Ryder. Starting tomorrow."

Jax walked out of the office feeling like the walls were closing in. His phone buzzed again. Another million views on the video.

He whispered to himself, "What the hell have I done?"

Little did he know that across campus, Riley Voss had just received an email from the athletic department requesting her prese

nce at 9 AM sharp.

And she had no idea her life was about to collide with the angry hockey captain in the worst and most dangerous way possible.