เข้าสู่ระบบ“Off the ice!”Tuesday morning training ended with the sharp scream of Coach Jenkins’ whistle cutting across the rink. The team began peeling away immediately, skates carving toward the benches while sticks clattered against the boards. The cold still clung to Noah’s skin beneath his gear, sweat cooling too fast in the arena air as he pulled off his gloves.“Get ready your playbooks,” Jenkins added loudly. “Bus leaves at twelve sharp Thursday, and if any of you idiots embarrass me at the hotel, I’ll make you skate suicides until your lungs collapse.”Noah stepped off the ice more slowly than the others. His legs ached from practice, his shoulders tight beneath his pads, but his mind wasn’t on hockey right now. It hadn’t been on hockey for days. The countdown Adrian had given him to sell off the drugs was sitting over his head like a loaded weapon.He stripped off his helmet and walked toward Coach Jenkins, who was already flipping through notes near the boards.“Coach. You got a minut
A hand slammed onto his shoulder. Hard. Before Noah could react, he was yanked backward and shoved violently against the wall beside the hallway. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs and his head snapped up instantly. Chase.Noah rolled his eyes immediately, even as his heart kicked hard again for a completely different reason. “Seriously?” he muttered.The music pounded around them but somehow the space between them felt strangely isolated, cut off from the rest of the party. Chase stood too close, one hand braced beside Noah’s head against the wall, the other still gripping his shoulder tightly. His dark button-up sleeves were rolled to his forearms and Noah could smell alcohol beneath the sharper scent of expensive cologne.Chase’s eyes burned into him. “What the fuck are you doing here?”Noah rolled his eyes despite the adrenaline surging through him. “Nice to see you too, princess.”Chase didn’t smile; if anything, his expression was darker than usual and sharper. “You th
The dorm room felt too small. Not physically, South Quad was spacious enough for what it was, but the air felt tighter, and heavier, like it had settled around Noah’s shoulders and refused to lift.“Yo.” Reid came into the dorm like a storm with too much energy and nowhere to put it. The door slammed open hard enough to shake the frame and Noah looked up from where he sat at his desk, immediately shoving the small plastic wraps deeper beneath a folded hoodie inside his drawer before Reid could notice.“You good?” he asked.Noah blinked, dragged back into the room. He ran a hand over his face. “Yeah.” “You look guilty as hell,” Reid said, tossing his backpack onto his bed. “You’ve been staring at your wall.”“Thinking.” Noah said with a huff, then shut the drawer calmly. “You always enter rooms like you’re being chased?”Reid ignored that completely. His blond hair was damp from the showers at Yost and he was grinning in a way that usually meant trouble. “There’s a party tonight,” he
“None of your damn business, now give it back,” Noah said and yanked harder this time. Chase let go suddenly, and Noah nearly stumbled backward.“Relax, Heyes. You look nervous,” Chase said softly, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Like you’ve got something incriminating in there.”Noah’s gaze flickered to Chase’s briefly before he looked away, anger and a hint of fear flaring in his eyes. “Do you show this much concern for all your teammates, Captain?” he asked rhetorically as he tried to shove past Chase. “Move.”Chase reacted fast and grabbed his wrist before he could walk away. Not hard, just enough, and that caused Noah to still. He looked down at the hand, then back up.“Let go, Chase. I really cannot deal with any of your bullshit right now.”But Chase didn’t let go immediately, didn’t tighten his grip either; he just held it there like he’d forgotten why he’d done it in the first place, then he released him like it didn’t matter.“Don’t walk away when I’m talking.”
By the time Noah made it to Yost Ice Arena with the briefcase gripped tightly in his hand, it felt like it had fused to him over the course of the day. His shoulders ached from carrying it around campus for nearly ten hours. Every step felt heavier than the last.He entered through the side doors and was immediately hit with the familiar scent of sharpened skates, rubber mats, sweat, and cold air. The sound of voices echoed faintly down the hallway toward the meeting room, but he had to stop by the locker room first and shove the briefcase deep into his locker, behind spare gear and practice jerseys.He stepped into the meeting room just as Chase paused the projector, and every head turned toward him.“You’re late,” Coach Jenkins said flatly. He sat near the boards with a notebook open on his knee.Noah exhaled slowly through his nose. “Sorry.”Before Jenkins could continue, Chase’s voice cut in smoothly from the front of the room. “I told him to be here in three minutes, Coach.”Noah
BA 100 ended at exactly 2:50 PM. And Noah he exhaled slowly through his nose and stood. All he wanted was to get back to South Quad, shove the damn thing somewhere dark and hidden, and maybe breathe like a normal human being again. But before anyone could fully leave, the professor called out.“Discussion groups. Attendance is mandatory.”A few groans rose around the room and Noah looked up at the projector screen, scanning quickly for his assigned group. Section 4 — ULA: Chase Voss.He stared at the screen for a full second, letting out a groan of frustration, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered under his breath.By the time he reached the assigned discussion room down the hall, Chase was already there, leaning casually against the professor’s desk at the front of the classroom, sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, one ankle crossed over the other like he owned the building.He noticed Noah the second he walked in but Noah chose to ignore him and headed for the back corner







