Chapter 1

Ginny's POV

NEVER DATE A JOCK. It was the one rule I had when it came to boys, but apparently, I was terrible at following it.

"Jeremy's going to kill me," I said as I rushed across the parking lot with my cousin Jennie at my side. It was my boyfriend's first hockey game of the season, and we were running twenty minutes late. I glanced at my watch and cussed under my breathe---make that thirty minutes late.

We'd been slam by customers at the mall all afternoon and struggled to get out of time. It didn't help that my car took her sweet-ass time to start. Poor Katie hadn't adjusted to our recent move to Beverly Hills, California. She'd been loudly protesting the sudden change ever since my dad dumped us here at the start of summer break.

Her tantrums only grew worse once the winter arrived and the snow set in, but I couldn't even blame her since I was struggling with the cold too. Neither of us belonged her, we were supposed to be cruising around in the Virginia sun, not stuck in this hellscape for my senior year.

As if to belabor the point, my foot skidded on a patch of ice, nearly sending me sprawling onto my back. I was even more out of my depth than even Katie, and I was really begining to wonder if my dad hated me. I knew he was off chasing the job of a lifetime in Europe, but leaving me with my uncle in the middle of nowhere, in California during winter was just so cruel.

"He's not going to kill you," Jennie said.

"He's in the middle of a game, and I'm sure there's a big crowd. He'll just assume you're somewhere among the masses of his adoring fans".

"Maybe." Jeremy was laser focused on hockey these days, so I couldn't imagine him searching the crowd for my face. Not when he had a game to win. " But I'm sure one of the puck bunnies who constantly chase him around school will tell him I was late."

There were a lot of puck bunnies at the prestigious West Beverly High, but only one who particularly concerned me: Ashleigh. Josh said they were just friends, but I got the feeling I had well and truly derailed her plans to tie him down and become his hockey wife when I'd shown up over the summer. I knew she wouldn't hesitate to inform him that I'd missed the majority of the game.

" I'm sure he won't mind. Especially not if he wins." Jennie continued her attempt to reassure as she pushed through the heavy doors of the hockey center. Even after we entered the building, I was disappointed to find a chill still lingered in the air. It was an ice rink, after all, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

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