LOGINTheo~I barely slept.Every time I managed to drift off, the same scene played in my head. A girl sitting on Noah’s lap. Her hand on his face. Her kissing him like she had done it a hundred times before. Then I would hear my own voice cutting through the moment.“What the fuck is going on here?”I would wake up annoyed all over again.By the time my alarm went off, I was already staring at the ceiling. I rolled out of bed with a groan, threw on the first hoodie I could find, grabbed my hockey bag, and headed downstairs.Mom was already in the kitchen. She looked up from her coffee and smiled.“Morning, honey.”“Morning.”“You look exhausted.”“I slept like shit.”“I can see that.”She didn’t push, and I was grateful. If she had asked why, I honestly wouldn’t have known what to say. I couldn’t exactly tell my mother that I had caught my stepbrother with a girl on his lap.Jeff walked in a moment later, his tie hanging loose around his neck as he searched the counter for his car keys.“
Noah~The weird thing was that after talking to Theo, I actually slept. Not well. I was not about to lie to myself. I still woke up twice during the night and reached for my phone out of habit before remembering Theo was only one room away now. I still spent ten minutes staring at my ceiling wondering if I had completely messed everything up.But it was different. For the first time in months, I was not wondering where I stood with him. I knew. Somewhere. Maybe not where I wanted to be. Definitely not where I wanted to be. But somewhere. Theo had asked for time. He had not asked me to disappear. That was enough. Barely. But enough.I was halfway through making coffee the next morning when Jeff walked into the kitchen. He looked at me. Then at the mug in my hand. Then back at me again. “You look less miserable.”I frowned. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”“It is an observation.”“I will take it.”He nodded once before opening the fridge. “I was starting to think I would have to s
Theo~The problem with Noah was that the second he got even the smallest amount of hope, he looked at you like he had already won. I hated that. Mostly because it made me want to give in.I stood in my doorway staring at him while my heart tried to punch its way through my ribs. Time. That was all I had said. Three stupid words. And somehow Noah looked happier than he had in months. Which immediately made me want to take them back. Not because I did not mean them. Because I did. That was the problem.For weeks I had been convincing myself that distance was helping. Then I came home, saw another girl sitting on his lap, nearly had a breakdown in the living room, and now Noah was standing here looking at me like I had personally handed him a winning lottery ticket.I rubbed both hands over my face. “This is exactly why I did not want to come home.”Noah’s smile disappeared immediately. Good. Not good. Shit. I did not know. The point was that he looked normal again. Less hopeful. Less da
Noah~The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what the hell had just happened.One second Theo was standing in the living room staring at me like I had committed a crime. The next he was running upstairs after claiming he did not care. Which would have been believable if he had not looked ready to murder Ava thirty seconds earlier.I stood there for a long moment after his bedroom door slammed shut. Just staring at the stairs. Jeff walked into the room carrying a beer and immediately looked between me and the front door. “Where is Theodore?”I looked away. “Upstairs.”Jeff frowned. “Thought he was not coming back until tomorrow.”“So did I.”He nodded slowly. Then his eyes landed on me. Unfortunately. Parents always knew when something was wrong. Jeff had never been the most emotionally available man, but even he was not blind. “What happened?”“Nothing.”His eyebrow lifted. The exact same expression Nikolai used whenever he knew I was full of shit. “Right.”I rubbed my face. “I
Theo~The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. Not because I did not want to know. Because I had absolutely no right to ask. The realization hit me immediately, but unfortunately my mouth had already beaten my brain to the finish line.Nobody spoke. The girl was still half sitting on Noah’s lap, looking between us like she had just walked into the middle of an argument she did not understand. Which, to be fair, she had.Noah stared at me. I stared right back. My heart pounded so hard it was annoying. I had just spent weeks convincing myself I needed distance. Weeks telling myself I was better off away from him. Weeks rebuilding some version of normal. Then I walked through the front door and apparently forgot all of that.Good job, Theodore. Really mature.The girl finally cleared her throat. “Um…”Nobody looked at her. That probably was not helping. Noah stood up carefully, causing her to slide off his lap onto the couch cushion beside him. “What are you doing home?” he
Theo~ Finally, we reached the game day we had all been training for. By the time we got to the third period, every single person in the arena was losing their mind. Including me. The score sat tied at three-three. Nobody had managed to break it for nearly fifteen minutes. Every shift felt heavier than the last. Every hit rattled through my body. Every time I jumped over the boards, it felt like somebody had turned gravity up another level. The crowd was not helping. They were loud as hell. Every near miss got a huge reaction. Every save got a reaction. Every check got a reaction. The entire building felt alive. I bent forward on the bench and sucked in a deep breath while Coach barked instructions that nobody was really listening to anymore. At this point, everybody knew what was at stake. Win this game and we advanced. Lose and we went home. Simple as that. Benito dropped onto the bench beside me. His hair was damp with sweat and his jersey looked like it had survived a small war
Theo~I left Noah standing there because if I stayed another second I was going to do something stupid and I already had enough stupid things collecting in my life like it was some kind of hobby I didn’t sign up for.He called my name once behind me but I didn’t answer.Didn’t even turn.Just kept
Theo~I didn’t even realise I was breathing too fast until Joe’s hand landed lightly on my shoulder and I flinched like an idiot.He blinked at me once. “Okay… what the fuck is going on with you?”“I’m fine,” I said immediately.It came out wrong. Joe frowned slightly, still not letting go of my sh
Joe~By the end of practice, I was getting genuinely sick of Nikolai Voss or Kolv or whatever the fuck he is existing.Which honestly felt unfair because technically he hadn’t done much to me personally yet but there was just something deeply irritating about him. The attitude. The constant smirk l
Theo~ It took longer than it should’ve for Noah’s mother to leave. Not because she was difficult to get rid of but she acted like she had nowhere else to be, which somehow made everyone else feel like they were the ones intruding on her schedule. She eventually walked off with a final look at No







