The Hockey Star and the Ice Princess (Complete)

Ch. 2 - Rejection

After Cain's shift was over Rachel was happy that he agreed to take her home with him so they could "talk". Going home with a complete stranger that she just met was stupid and dangerous and something she had never done before in her life, but right or wrong, there was something about Cain that made her trust him. When they walked out the door of the bar, the cold winter air whipped at Rachel's face and she shivered and bundled her coat a little tighter as she followed him over to his big black pickup truck that looked brand new.

"Welcome back to Minnesota," she said through chattering teeth, making Cain laugh.

Having been in Texas for three years now her body wasn't used to the frigid Minnesota winters anymore. Cain opened the passenger door of his truck for her and helped her up inside since she was short and his truck was really tall, which she thought was sweet. He gave her a smile as he closed her door before walking around and climbing up into the driver's seat. He had come outside earlier and warmed the truck up for them so it was nice and warm and she started to thaw out a little bit as she covered the vents with her hands and rubbed them back and forth, as they pulled out of the parking lot. 

At this time of night the downtown streets were deserted and it looked like a ghost town. Driving through the empty streets of her little hometown that were lit up by the pale orange glow of the streetlights, brought back memories of high school and riding around on these same streets at night with her friends. It felt like a million years ago now but in reality it had only been a few years. The few friends she did have back then had moved away and gone off to college so she wouldn't be able to see them while she was in town.

She could've had more friends back then but she never had time for a social life in school. Her focus was always on the next competition and the next trick she needed to perfect for it. She was beyond driven back then. It was an obsession.

'And what did she have to show for it now?' she thought to herself, letting out an exhale and looking out the window at the snow covered houses and businesses they were passing. 

Cain pulled off of the main streets and pretty soon they were driving on backroads and then Rachel heard the crunch of gravel under the tires as they pulled onto a road she had never seen before. She had grown up within the city limits so she wasn't familiar with this part of town. 

"You live on a gravel road?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Yeah," he smiled. "I wanted a house with a pond and the nicest one they had was a little bit out in the country." 

The thought crossed her mind that maybe he was just taking her out into the middle of nowhere to murder her and her friends and family would never see her again. Her Mom would probably shrug and say, 'Eh, she was dumb enough to get into a car with a total stranger so it is what it is.' She could actually picture her really saying that. 

Rachel looked up and at the end of the long gravel road in front of them was a two story house that had tall white columns in the front and a very large window in the top center that had a huge sparkly chandelier on the other side that was lit up. It looked like a beautiful mansion and reminded her a little bit of the house on "The Notebook" after the guy had fixed it all up, but it was even nicer. 

"Wow. Are you rich or something?" she asked. 

He laughed. "Houses in Minnesota are just a lot cheaper than California. This house was $300,000 but in California I would've had to pay AT LEAST three or four million for something this nice." 

She noticed he didn't answer her question but she let it pass. "Yeah I've heard real estate prices in California are ridiculous." 

He pulled his truck into one of the stalls of a 3 car garage and shut the engine off before coming around and opening her door and taking her hand to help her down.