LOGINHazel's POV Morning came too fast.I woke up with that hollow feeling in my chest, last night was an horror I hadn't hope to witness. Jaxon was still asleep beneath me, his arm heavy around my waist, his breathing slow and even. The morning sunlight was casting a little glow across the room from the blinds, tracing the sharp line of his jaw and the small crease between his brows that never fully relaxed even in sleep. I watched him for a moment longer than I should have.I wanted to be in the safety of his embrace for a very long time. At least being here meant every chaos going around me no longer existed.Then reality crept back in, I carefully slipped out of his arms, dressing quietly. My phone buzzed once on the nightstand and that woke him up."Running away from me this morning, babe." He asked squinting his eyes against the light "First off, I am not running away. Then you shouldn't be calling me that except you want me to fall for you."Just as I had expected, his lips stret
Jaxon's POV My hands were still shaking not from the fight—God knows I’ve been in enough of those to build tolerance—but from the sight of Hazel standing there while Trey said all the inappropriate stuff.I wanted to chase him down the hall and finish what I’d started. I wanted to make damn sure he never came near her again.But Hazel touched held me back.Just one small, trembling touch and all that violent energy inside me snapped like a weak stick.“Let him go Jaxon. This isn’t protecting me.”Her voice wasn’t steady but it was enough to drag me away from the doorway. I let her pull me back into my room.The door clicked shut behind us, and suddenly the apartment felt impossibly quiet. Hazel didn’t say anything or scold me. She leaned on the wall staring at me as she took my hand.Her breath caught the moment she saw the blood on my knuckles, bright red smeared over skin already split from the earlier hits.Her fingers brushed the raw part, and I hissed slightly, more from surpri
Trey's POV I stormed into the Ice Hounds’ apartment building, my teeth clenched so tight my jaw ached. Every step rattled through my chest making my heart beat accelerate. My blood boiled hotter than it had in weeks, maybe months. O’Malley’s voice replayed in my head "She is not in the spare room. She sleeps in his bed every other night."I became restless that evening when I got home. I didn’t even call to hear from her or confront her. I just marched straight to the apartment, my entire body vibrating.None of the guys were around to have come to separate the fight. Everyone was at Taylor's party and I had seen this as a perfect opportunity to hit Jaxon hard.The door swung open before I even finished pounding and there she was, Hazel. My Hazel wearing his hoodie.My chest twisted in ways I didn’t even know were possible.“You!” I spat, my voice sharp. “You sleep in his bed now? You can’t even pretend to have dignity?”Her eyes widened, shimmering with tears that I hated myself
Jaxon's POV The phone rang at the worst possible moment.I was leaning against the edge of the bed, my notebook open, Hazel sitting cross-legged beside me with her glasses slipping down her nose as she reread a paragraph aloud. Her voice was calm, and steady. For the first time in days, my head didn’t feel like it was splitting in two between ice drills and essay deadlines.Then my phone lit up, the sound alone was sharp, slicing through the quiet room. Hazel stopped mid-sentence.I didn’t look at the screen at first. Then my phone buzzed again, insistent. I swallowed and finally glanced down.It was Mr. CarterHazel’s eyes flicked to my face. I quickly got up, nearly knocking the chair over.“I...I need to take this,” I muttered.Then I stepped into the narrow hallway and answered.“What,” I said. I didn't bother with any pleasantries.His voice came through the speaker, smooth and cold, like it always did. “So you finally picked up,” he said. “I was starting to think you’d forgott
Jaxon’s POVI’m staring at my one of my literature study text like it personally offended me.The damn thing is open on the kitchen counter, its pages marked with Hazel’s neat handwriting with tabs sticking out as reminders for everything I was yet to fully comprehend. Metaphor, symbolism and all these jargons shouldn’t have this much power over my future.I rub my face and exhale hard.If I fail this midterm, I am benched and that's the end for everything I have fought hard for.“You gonna glare holes into that book or actually read it?”Johnson’s voice drifts in from the couch. He was cuddled up with his flavour of the week—a lingo we used to describe a new catch because Johnson has a new girl for the new week. Thinking about how I was once in that league made me laugh.“I am reading,” I shot back, not looking up.Marcus snorted from the corner of the dinning where he was having his dinner. “You’ve been on the same page for over thirty minutes.”“Because it’s ridiculous,” I mutter.
Hazel's POVNothing travels as fast as rumour, ever since the investigation into the jacket theft had been made public. Everyone suddenly remembered I existed again, all thanks to Tiffany and her squad.Some believed me, while others didn't but what exhausted me the most was that I couldn’t even breathe without feeling like someone was scanning my face for guilt everywhere I turned on campus.It was pretty easy for everyone to believe Tiffany since I was dating their favourite hockey captain, I badly wanted to fit in that's why I stole a cheer jacket. I wish I could just go back to the old me where no on bothered about my existence but I guess that's too late now.I kept my head down as I left my morning class, gripping my books so tightly my knuckles hurt. I told myself I didn’t care. I told myself I was fine.Until I bumped into Sasha.My supposed roommate and friend —well, former friend at this point—standing beside the cafeteria entrance with two girls from our psych class. She sp







