Chapter 177 Are you giving up on your dream career?

Chapter 177 Are you giving up on your dream career?
Rhys's POV

I slumped on my bed, Zane's words still hammering loudly in my ears.

I tried to put away the thoughts of ‘what if we're brothers’ but all to no avail. We had fought in the rink, argued over the slightest thing and worse, I hated him.

I shook my head, staggering to my feet. “You're delusional, Rhys. You just need a little alcohol.”

I walked toward my fridge and opened it but to my despair, there was no alcohol. Instead there were a lot of milkshakes and energy drinks.

Staring at the milkshake took me back to the good old days when I had restocked them for Clare. My heart thudded at the thought of her name alone and the file my father had handed me crossed my mind.

I slammed my fridge door locked and walked out of my room. The students still squealed with a lot of fun, some guys were drinking and laughing while the girls giggled as they danced.

This was the life I knew so how did this get this bad.

I stopped in front of one table and grabbed a glass of cocktail. The drink burned my throat all the way down into my stomach as I emptied the glass in one go.

I picked up another, another and before I knew it the glasses on the table were empty. A girl approached me with a glass of champagne.

“Rhys, is something wrong?”

I turned to face her fully and for a split second, I saw Clare's face on hers. My hand had almost touched her hair when I snapped out of it.

I shoved her aside and staggered to the nearest restroom. I turned on the sink water and washed my face heavily with the water.

My alcohol tolerance has always been so high so what the hell was going on. I didn't even know whether it was Clare's health issue or Zane's DNA test or maybe both. But I was sure I was slowly losing my mind.

I lifted my face and stared at my reflection in the mirror. “Get a grip, Rhys. You're worrying about things that you just made up in your head.”

I washed my face again before walking out of the restroom.

I pushed my way through the crowd and made it to the front door. The night air hit my face with cold air, pricking goosebumps all on my body.

I walked towards my car barely keeping my feet focused. I had barely opened my car door when someone suddenly grabbed my arm from behind.

“Where have you been, Rhys? I've been looking all over the place for you. Mother said you came home and left angrily, tell me did something happen?”

My fingers slowly curled into fists. “Let go of my arm.”

“Rhys, did I do something wrong? Why are you suddenly—”

I spun abruptly and grabbed Vanessa's threat, slamming her against my car.

“Should I spell out the meaning of stay away from me?”

Vanessa choked. “Rhys, you're hurting me.”

“I'm not Zane. I'm not going to allow you to come in between me and the woman I love.” I hissed through gritted teeth.

“Are you going to believe me if I said I never loved Zane? It was my mother that begged me to date him.”

I snorted. “Your mother asked you to date him? That means she also asked you to bully Clare right?”

She raised up her hand. “I swear I didn't know she was Zane's step sister. I only found out after he introduced us to each other. I hated Clare so I just couldn't pretend.”

I tightened my hand around her neck for half a second before I finally let go.

“Just get the hell out of my sight!”

She coughed for a while but still didn't leave. “I know you offered to fake date Clare because you loved her. But she doesn't, she just saw you as a back up option. If not, why would she run back to Zane when he offered to engage her.”

I slammed my hand into the glass window of my car behind her. The window broke immediately and the glass shards stuck into my fist.

Vanessa flinched but her eyes widened when she saw my hand. “Rhys, you're bleeding. Why don't I take you to the hospital?”

“Touch me,” I snarled, my voice dropping dangerously low. “And your head would be breaking a glass next.”

She took a step back when she saw how serious I was and without another word, disappeared into the building.

I opened my car door and slipped inside, closing my eyes tightly.

It took me a few minutes of exhaling and inhaling deeply for me to finally get myself back.

I opened my eyes slowly and reached for the envelope at the back seat. I picked it up and then stepped out of the car, my blood dripping on it as I made my way back to my room.

I reached my room and slumped onto the bed. Without caring about my wound, I reached for the envelope and opened it.

I had almost brought out the document inside when my door suddenly burst open and Mark rushed in panting heavily.

“Rhys, are you okay?”

I arched my brow. “I should be asking you if everything is okay with you. Why did you suddenly barge into my room like that?”

“Vanessa… Vanessa said you were heavily injured.” He said, rushing towards me.

His brows pulled together when he saw it was just an injured knuckles. “Like seriously, I should have known better than to trust her.”

“Thank goodness, you realized that.” I hissed, pulling out the documents.

“But she sounded so serious, as if it was someone dear to her that got injured.” He turned to face me fully. “Tell me, did you both reconcile? Like, are you cool or dating or something?”

I snapped my gaze up, shooting daggers at him with my eyes.

He raised his hands in total surrender. “I'm just asking a question, you know.”

“Mind the questions you ask.” I warned him. “I have only one girlfriend and that's Clare.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “You both are still quarreling, right?” He snatched the documents from my hand the next second. “What's this?”

But his eyes widened when he saw the contents. “Rhys, are you giving up on your dream career? On hockey?”