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10.What I Didn’t Say
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2026-10-25 10:00:56I walked back to my dorm on autopilot.
My lips still felt warm. My chest still felt tight. And my brain refused to focus on anything except the fact that in less than an hour, I was supposed to sit across from Liam and act like a completely normal person.
I wasn't sure I remembered how to do that anymore.
I dropped my bag by the door and went straight to the mirror, like somehow my reflection could tell me what to do. My cheeks were still flushed. My hair was slightly mes
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Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 42. Old Places, New Weight
The day after Christmas, Liam showed up at my door with two shovels and a ridiculous grin."Absolutely not," I said, before he'd even opened his mouth."You don't even know what I'm going to say.""You're holding shovels. I know exactly what you're going to say.""The tree house is still there," he said anyway, undeterred. "Dad never took it down. I want to see if it's still standing before we head back to Dalton."Twenty minutes later, we were standing at the base of the old oak tree in his backyard, staring up at a structure that had clearly seen better decades, one wall bowed inward, the rope ladder long gone, replaced at some point by actual wooden rungs nailed haphazardly into the trunk."This is a safety violation," I said."This is nostalgia." He was already testing the first rung with his weight. "Come on. For old time's sake."Against my better judgment, I followed him up.---The inside of the treehouse
Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 41. All Four of Us
Jace arrived two days before Christmas, duffel bag over one shoulder, looking more nervous standing on my parents' front porch than I'd ever seen him look before a game."You can still back out," I said, opening the door before he could knock a second time. "No judgment. I know this is a lot.""I've survived championship overtime. I think I can survive your mom's cooking.""That's not actually the part I'm worried about."He huffed out a laugh, some of the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. "Yeah. Me neither, if I'm honest."My mom appeared behind me before I could say anything else, pulling Jace into a hug like she'd known him for years instead of about ninety seconds, already asking about his drive and whether he'd eaten and did he have any food allergies she should know about before dinner."Ma'am, I'll eat basically anything," Jace
Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 40.The Quiet Kind of Alone
Jace's POVDalton emptied out fast once finals ended, the campus shrinking from a few thousand loud, distracted students down to the handful of us with nowhere better to be.I told everyone I was staying for extra conditioning work, which wasn't technically a lie ,Coach had left the weight room open for anyone who wanted it, and I used it more than I probably needed to, if only because it gave the empty days some kind of shape. The truth, the part I didn't say out loud to Blair or Liam or anyone else who asked, was simpler and harder to admit: I didn't have anywhere else that felt like it was actually waiting for me.My mom had moved in with her sister two states away after everything with my dad. We talked on the phone sometimes, careful and a little too polite, the kind of relationship that had never quite recovered from losing him. Going back there for the holidays meant sitting in someone else's guest room, eating someone else's traditions,
Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 39.Home for the Holidays
Home smelled the same as it always had cinnamon and pine and the particular staleness of a house that had been closed up for a semester, waiting for someone to bring it back to life.My mom hugged me so hard I nearly dropped my duffel bag in the doorway, already talking a mile a minute about the neighbors, about dinner plans, about how thin I looked and whether Dalton's dining hall was actually feeding me properly. I let the familiar chaos of it wash over me, grateful for something that hadn't changed while so much else had."The Callahans are coming over Thursday," she said, pulling back to look at me properly. "Diane's been asking about you nonstop since Liam told her you two made up. She missed having you around, sweetheart. We all did."Something in my chest tightened at that the easy, uncomplicated affection of two families who'd been intertwined since before either Liam or I could walk, who had no idea about agreements or hallways or equipment rooms, who j
Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 38. Trying Again
Jace texted me Wednesday afternoon, three days into our unofficial break, with something that felt like an olive branch disguised as a casual question.Jace: Dinner and a movie Friday? No pressure. Just want to actually talk without either of us bracing for a hard conversation.I stared at the message longer than it probably warranted before typing back.Me: I'd like that.---Friday afternoon, before any of that, I found myself back at the rink, watching one of the last practices before winter break properly started. Coach had eased everything into maintenance mode, but Jace and Liam still moved through drills with the kind of focus that made it clear neither of them had ever really known how to do anything halfway.I settled into the stands beside Chloe, who'd become a fixture at these practices right alongside me at this point, whether she wanted to admit that or not."You're here a lot for someone who's 'taking s
Caught Between Two Hockey Stars 37.Trying Harder
Liam's POVI almost canceled on Reagan twice before actually showing up at her place that evening.Not because I didn't want to see her. If anything, that was exactly the problem some guilty, tangled part of me kept thinking about the coffee shop conversation with Blair, and it felt wrong to walk into Reagan's apartment carrying that unspoken weight, like I'd be lying to her just by existing in the same room without saying it out loud.But I hadn't promised Blair anything. We hadn't promised each other anything, actually, beyond both agreeing to actually try to give the people we were with the fairness of a real chance instead of using them as some placeholder while we figured out a feeling that might not even be real once we looked at it directly. So I went. Because Reagan deserved someone who showed up, not someone who hid behind convenient excuses.She opened the door already smiling, hair pulled back, wearing one of my old team hoodie
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