Chapter 2 Bumped…
A strange feeling settled in Jasper’s chest. He quickly grabbed his phone from his locker and turned it on. Notifications flooded the screen immediately. His brows furrowed as he clicked on the number one trending topic.
The moment the page loaded, his expression froze.
THE ICE TYRANT’S MESSY PRIVATE LIFE FINALLY REVEALED
Attached beneath the article were several close-up photos taken inside a hotel room.
In one picture, an unfamiliar woman clung tightly to Jasper’s arm at the edge of a hotel bed.
Another photo showed a different woman leaning dangerously close to his face. Jasper’s head was lowered slightly, making it look exactly like they were kissing.
Jasper’s eyes widened in disbelief.
He had never seen these women before in his life. But the angles of the photos made everything look incredibly intimate.
To make matters worse, the hashtag #IceHockeyTyrantMessyPrivateLife had already claimed the top spot on the trending list.
Jasper scrolled down, watching thousands of comments flood the screen.
“Knew he was fake.”
“So this is the league’s golden player?”
“Disgusting. Acting perfect in public while sleeping around privately.”
“Athletes are all the same.”
“Can’t believe I supported this man.”
“Hope his sponsors drop him.”
“What a shameless player.”
“I heard he is a cheat.”
“What are those pictures, Jasper?” Coach Miller asked, her voice tight.
“I… I don’t know,” Jasper responded, his mind spinning as he tried to process the situation.
“How could you not know?!” Coach Miller yelled, her anger boiling over. “That is you trending all over the internet! Do you realize how serious this is?!”
Coach Miller had already been stressing over how to calm the sponsors after Jasper accidentally scored a goal for the opposing team.
Now, she was hit with this. How was she supposed to fix a mess of this scale?
“That is not me! I don’t know who is in those pictures, but it’s definitely not me!” Jasper shot back, his voice rising.
He was absolutely certain. Even though he hadn’t dared, openly admitted his sexuality to anyone else even to himself, deep down, Jasper knew he was gay.
There was no universe where he would be intimate with a woman, let alone in a hotel room.
How did these pictures even exist? Was someone actively trying to destroy him?
“Are you really trying to deny the evidence trending online? Just admit it,” Sky said with a smug smirk. Internally, he was thrilled. If Jasper crashed and burned, it would open up the perfect opportunity for him to take the spotlight.
“I am telling you, it’s not me,” Jasper growled, clenching his phone so hard his knuckles turned white.
“Fuck!” Coach Miller yelled. Unable to contain her frustration, she punched the locker three times before burying her face in her hands.
“What the hell… Now the NHL league is going to get involved.”
The locker room fell into a heavy silence. Everyone knew what that meant. The NHL was infamous for enforcing strict public image standards. A scandal like this could instantly kill endorsements, wipe out sponsorships, and completely end a player's career.
For Jasper Warren, the league’s most famous player, this was just the beginning of a living nightmare.
“Someone framed me. Someone is trying to ruin my life,” Jasper said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
How else could he explain a scandal he had absolutely nothing to do with? It had to be sabotage. And looking back, there was only one person who hated him enough to go to such extreme lengths.
“And I know exactly who it is,” he added, spinning around and immediately storming out of the locker room.
“Jasper! Where are you going?!” Collins shouted, rushing out after him.
Sky scoffed, watching the door swing shut. “Instead of looking for an actual solution, he’s just looking for someone to blame.”
Coach Miller slowly sat down with her face still buried in her hands, completely overwhelmed by the massive disaster dropping onto her shoulders.
Meanwhile, anger burned fiercely in Jasper's chest as he marched down the hallway. He was furious, and he needed to confront the person responsible.
Suddenly, a firm hand gripped his arm, spinning him around.
“Where do you think you're going?” Collins demanded.
“Do you expect me to just sit around and watch the career I worked my entire life for get destroyed?” Jasper snapped.
“I get it, but you can’t just walk out the front door like this. The building is surrounded by reporters.”
Jasper let out a frustrated sigh, running his fingers through his hair.
As his hand dropped, Collins noticed that Jasper's fingers were shaking violently.
“Come on,” Collins said, letting go of his arm. “I know a back exit. Follow me.”
They managed to slip out of the building unnoticed, hailed a taxi, and headed straight toward the address Jasper gave the driver. After few minutes of drive, the taxi finally stopped.
“I didn’t even know a bar existed down here,” Collins muttered the moment they stepped out of the cab into a gritty, isolated alley.
“And that’s exactly why Kyle is here,” Jasper replied coldly.
“Wait, what? Kyle? We're looking for Kyle?”
“Are you completely blind, Collins? Kyle set me up!” Jasper yelled angrioy, his patience wearing thin.
Collins gulped and nodded quickly. He had to admit, an enraged Jasper was incredibly intimidating.
Jasper pushed open the doors and walked into the bar with Collins right on his heels.
The dim room was packed with people and buzzing with loud chatter.
Jasper’s eyes scanned the crowd, instantly locking onto his target.
With his fists clenched, he marched over to Kyle, grabbed him tightly by the collar, and ripped him right out of his chair.
Before Kyle could even register what was happening, Jasper unleashed a heavy punch, sending him crashing to the floor.
Kyle groaned, touching his split, bleeding lip.
He looked up, shocked to see Jasper standing over him. However, he quickly masked his surprise with a dark laugh.
He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, stood up, and wiped the rest away with the back of his hand.
“Well, look who it is. What is our beloved Ice Tyrant doing in a place like this?” Kyle sneered.
Jasper lunged forward again, bunching Kyle’s shirt into his fists.
“You did this, didn’t you? You miserable bastard!” Jasper yelled into his face.
Kyle just chuckled, clearly enjoying the raw panic and fury in Jasper's eyes.
“You’re damn right I did,” Kyle whispered, leaning in close. “But I wonder… what exactly are you going to do about it? Who is going to believe you now? If I were you, I’d find a deep hole to hide in, because you’re never going to be able to show your face in public again.”
“Idiot!” Jasper roared, throwing another hard punch across Kyle’s face.
This time, Kyle fought back, landing a blow of his own. A chaotic brawl broke out between them. Jasper clearly had the upper hand and was tearing Kyle apart, but he took a few rough hits in the process.
Seeing that Jasper had absolutely no intention of stopping until Kyle was unconscious, Collins finally jumped into the fray.
He threw his arms around Jasper, dragging him backward, while several onlookers rushed forward to hold Kyle back.
“You’re going to pay for this, you psychopath!” Kyle screamed, spitting blood onto the floor.
Jasper thrashed against Collins' grip, trying to break free to finish the job.
“That’s enough, man! Stop!” Collins shouted, pulling him firmly toward the door. “You’re just making things worse for yourself!”
With a final effort, Collins dragged Jasper out of the bar and away from the chaos.
All night long inside his penthouse, sleep completely evaded Jasper.
He stared at the ceiling for hours, desperately trying to brainstorm a way out, but every single idea felt completely useless. How could he possibly convince the entire world that the man in those photos wasn't him?
By the next morning, the wildfire had only grown. News outlets were releasing nonstop articles, and the hashtags mocking Jasper were firmly pinned to the top of every social media platform.
Even worse, newly edited photos and fabricated stories were popping up everywhere, feeding the public frenzy.
Then came the call he dreaded. The NHL Executive Committee demanded his immediate presence at an emergency meeting.
When Jasper walked into the boardroom, the air felt suffocatingly cold and tense.
Several high-level executives sat around a massive wooden table, their expressions completely blank and severe.
Jasper took his seat quietly, his jaw locked tight as he braced himself.
“Jasper Warren,” one executive began, cutting straight through the silence. “Why would you deliberately ruin your own image and destroy your career?”
“I would never intentionally sabotage my career,” Jasper said, keeping his voice as steady as possible. “The photos trending online are fake. That isn't me.”
“If it isn't you, then who is it?”
“I don’t know yet. But I know it wasn’t me.”
“You have absolutely no proof to back up your claims, Jasper.”
“I know I don’t have the evidence yet, but it was Kyle. He framed me.”
Another executive sighed as he leaned forward, resting his hands on the table.
“Jasper, one of our primary duties at the NHL is to protect the integrity and reputation of hockey. We will not allow your reckless mistakes to destroy a brand we have spent decades building.”
“Seven days,” a third executive finally spoke. His tone was eerily calm, carrying the heavy weight of a judge delivering a final sentence.
“You have exactly seven days to flip public opinion, fix your image, and prove to the world that you are stable enough to represent this league.”
The executive next to him leaned in, narrowing his eyes. “If you fail,” he said bluntly, “you will be demoted to a permanent benchwarmer. And every single endorsement deal carrying your name will be instantly terminated.”
Jasper’s face darkened as the reality of the words sank in. No one in this room was bluffing. His entire life’s work was hanging by a single, fraying thread.
“Seven days?! How am I supposed to fix a massive scandal like this in seven days?!” Jasper demanded, slamming his hand down as he glared around the room.
“That is for you to figure out,” the executive replied coldly.
Unable to take another second of the suffocating room, Jasper stood up and stormed out. Seven days. The words echoed mockingly in his head. It was an impossible task.
As he exited the building and headed toward the parking lot, his phone vibrated violently in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Coach Miller’s name on the screen.
Let out a heavy, exhausted sigh, he answered it.
“I just heard about the meeting,” Coach Miller said. “What did they decide?”
Jasper rubbed his temples, a massive headache forming behind his eyes. “They gave me seven days,” he muttered. “That’s barely enough time to breathe, let alone fix this.”
A tense silence stretched over the line before Coach Miller spoke again, her voice dropping to a calculated whisper. “I might have an idea.”
Jasper stopped dead in his tracks. “What kind of idea?”
“We need to completely shift the public's focus,” she explained calmly. “Or better yet, find a way to neutralize the scandal entirely. We just need to find someone trustworthy who is willing to cooperate with us.”
Jasper’s mind instantly flew to Claire, his childhood best friend. She would have been the absolute perfect person to pull off a fake relationship stunt to clear his name. But she had boarded a flight out of the country the previous night.
“I don’t have anyone,” Jasper admitted quietly, feeling a wave of defeat wash over him.
“Then you better find someone, fast,” Coach Miller said firmly, before abruptly hanging up the phone.
Jasper lowered his hand slowly, shoving the device back into his pocket.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, his mind completely overwhelmed by stress.
As he walked blindly toward his car, he didn't notice someone approaching.
The two collided heavily, and a professional camera slipped from the stranger's hands.
“Are you completely blind? Watch where you're going!” Jasper snapped automatically, reacting out of pure frustration.
Luckily, his quick reflexes kicked in, and he caught the camera just inches before it smashed against the asphalt.
But the moment he looked up to hand it back, the words caught in his throat. The stranger was staring back at him with wide eyes.
For a long, frozen moment, neither of them moved a muscle.
“Adrian,” Jasper whispered.
“Jasper,” the other man replied, his voice trembling slightly.
The names left their lips at the exact same time.
