FAZER LOGINHarper POVWhen Logan texted, Dinner tonight? Just us.I knew immediately something had happened.Not because the words were strange.Because they weren’t.Logan and I had gone on plenty of dates since we’d finally stopped pretending we were “just hanging out.”What made this different was the timing.The message came in the middle of the afternoon.No teasing.No ridiculous joke from Marco.No picture of Corey making fun of someone’s tape job.Just four simple words.Simple enough that most people wouldn’t have thought twice about them.I wasn’t most people.I’d known Logan Shaw for almost half my life.Long before college.Long before hockey games and cameras and people whispering every time we walked across campus together.Back when we were awkward middle-school kids who somehow always ended up in the same orbit without ever really speaking.Back when my biggest interaction with him had been him asking to borrow a pencil in eighth-grade history because he’d forgotten his again.He
Logan POVI didn’t realize I was crushing the paper in my hand until Coach reached across his desk and gently pulled it away from me.The Chicago itinerary looked like it had survived a war.Maybe it had.Because the second my father walked into Coach’s office, it stopped being a travel schedule.It became another weapon.Coach waited until the office door clicked shut behind Richard before speaking. For nearly ten seconds, neither of us said anything. The silence wasn’t awkward. It was heavy, the kind that settles after someone detonates a bomb and walks away while everyone else is left staring at the damage.“You don’t have to believe him.”Coach’s voice was calm, but there was something protective underneath it.I let out a humorless laugh.“The problem is… parts of what he said aren’t completely wrong.”Coach folded his arms.“Explain.”I leaned back in the chair, dragging both hands over my face. My head pounded. I’d taken harder hits into the boards than that conversation should
Logan POVMy father had a talent.Not the kind ESPN talked about.Not the kind that earned trophies or headlines.His talent was timing.He always seemed to know exactly when life was starting to feel normal.And he always found a way to ruin it.I should have known something was off the second Coach texted me.Coach Daniels:Stop by my office after your afternoon class.Short.Simple.Normal.At least, that’s what I told myself as I walked across campus.Chicago paperwork.Travel details.Maybe another schedule change.Anything but…Him.The athletic center was unusually quiet by the time I got there. Most of the team was still in class, leaving the hallways almost empty except for the occasional trainer wheeling equipment from one room to another.I knocked once on Coach’s office door.“Come in.”Coach wasn’t alone.The second I stepped through the doorway, every muscle in my body locked.Richard Shaw stood in front of the window with his hands tucked casually into the pockets of an
Harper POVThere are exactly two places on campus where you are guaranteed to run into someone you know.The student union.And the science building five minutes before an eight o’clock class.Unfortunately for me, today it was both.By the time I made it through the front doors of the biology building, balancing a coffee in one hand, my backpack over one shoulder, and a folder full of notes tucked under my arm, I’d already stopped three times. Once to answer a question about the Alpha Chi charity formal, once because a freshman wanted advice about joining next semester, and once because Dr. Simmons somehow remembered I still owed him an updated volunteer list.College was funny like that.When I first got here, I could disappear into a crowd whenever I wanted.Now?Now people actually knew my name.Some knew me because I was president of Alpha Chi.Some because of the charity events.Some because of classes.And, if campus gossip was to be believed, an alarming number of people knew
Harper POVPeople always say love is supposed to make life easier.Personally, I thought those people had never dated a Division One hockey captain with NHL scouts breathing down his neck.Because loving Logan wasn’t easy.It was wonderful.It was exciting.It was frustrating.It was terrifying.And lately, it felt like every time we caught our breath, life found another way to remind us that the future wasn’t going to wait until we were ready.I stood in front of the mirror the next morning, absentmindedly twisting my hair into a ponytail while my thoughts replayed the conversation we’d had in my room the night before.Logan had tried so hard to be brave.He’d smiled when he walked through the door.He’d teased me.He’d kissed me like he could somehow make the weight disappear if he held me close enough.But I’d seen through it.Not because he was a bad liar.Because I’d learned him.I knew the tiny crease that formed between his eyebrows when he was worried.I knew the way he rubbed
Logan POVThe walk back to the Alpha Chi house should have made me feel better.Harper’s hand was tucked into mine, her fingers fitting between mine like they always had. She kept brushing her shoulder against mine every few steps, and every time she did, it pulled another smile out of me.She had that effect on me.She could take the worst day I’d had in months and somehow make me believe I could survive it.The problem was…I wasn’t sure I wanted to survive tonight by talking.Talking meant saying the words out loud.Talking meant admitting that Chicago was already taking things away from us before I’d even stepped onto the plane.I wasn’t ready for that.As we slipped back inside the Alpha Chi house, the ballroom had somehow become even louder than before. Marco had convinced three of Harper’s sorority sisters that he was an expert at tying chair sashes, and from the horrified look on Lila’s face, I was guessing he absolutely wasn’t.“What did you do?” Harper asked.Marco looked up
Harper POVWhen the door clicks shut behind Logan, the quiet in my room feels louder than the entire house downstairs.I don’t move for a second. I just stand there, staring at the spot where he was, like the air might still be warm enough to prove he didn’t make the whole thing up.He came.Alone.
Harper POVThe house is loud in the way only a sorority house ever is.Someone is laughing too hard in the living room. The TV is on. A couple of girls are sprawled on the floor with notebooks and highlighters, arguing about something that sounds like it might be biology but might also be a boy. Th
Logan POVThe call comes in while we’re finishing drills.Not a text.Not a message.An actual call.Which means it’s bad.I’m peeling my gloves off when my phone vibrates in my locker.Daniel Meyers.I stare at it for a second, then answer.“Yes?”“My office,” he says. “Now.”Then he hangs up.I e
Logan POVThe rink smells like cold steel and bad decisions.My skates hit the concrete harder than they need to as I walk into the locker room. My shoulders are tight. My jaw’s been clenched so long it actually hurts.I’ve already said no.Twice.Doesn’t matter.PR doesn’t care.Coach doesn’t care







