تسجيل الدخولThe fear, the exhaustion, and that quiet decision to isolate himself to keep everyone safe hit so hard. Noah’s breaking under the weight of it all, and it’s painful to watch. Adrian’s shadow is getting longer, and Noah’s starting to believe the only way to survive is to let go of everything good. Do you think Noah needs Chase now more than ever? Who else feels like this isolation plan is going to backfire spectacularly?
The fire continued to crackle inside the marble fireplace, its orange glow dancing across the polished floor where Noah still knelt. His wrists remained behind his back, numb from the restraints. His ribs throbbed where Adrian's guard had struck him and his shoulder ached from hitting the floor, but he barely felt any of it. There was only one thought left in his mind.Eli.The men were gone and Adrian was gone. Only Chase remained.He stood several feet away, one hand unconsciously touching the red mark blooming across his cheek where his father had slapped him. Neither of them spoke and neither looked at the other.A full minute slipped by before Noah finally broke the silence."...Is Eli really upstairs?" he asked, voice barely audible.Chase didn't answer immediately. Not because he didn't want to, but because he honestly didn't know. His father rarely lied, but he manipulated, controlled and twisted truth until it became something else entirely.Slowly, he reached inside his jacke
Chase eased his car to the curb a short distance from Yost Ice Arena. He kept the engine running, with one hand on the wheel, and the other resting loosely on the gear shift. He didn’t look at Noah when he spoke.“Go straight in.”"You don't have to do this," Noah said at last, one hand on the door handle."I'm not asking." The firmness in Chase’s voice surprised Noah, but there wasn't any arrogance in his expression. “Just go. Text me when practice ends.”Noah studied him for several long seconds before slowly nodding. He opened the door, climbed out, and shut the door. For a moment he simply stood on the sidewalk before Chase pulled the car forward, red taillights glowing in the pale light as it accelerated down the street. Noah stood there, watching those lights until they disappeared around the corner, then he turned and started walking toward the arena. He never noticed the black SUV parked farther down the street, nor the men watching quietly from inside.Chase arrived at the vil
Confession time...!🤧I don't know what I'm doing anymore.😭Wait, no. I mean, I know, 🙄 but like, I don't quite know how to continue from here😴. No, seriously. I am sitting here with my laptop open, staring at the blinking cursor like a personal insult I don't know how to reply.I know Noah is going to practice. I know Chase is going to face his father. I know those two things are happening. And yet my brain has decided to short-circuit like a cheap charger in the rain😴. Like, how should that play out?🤷♀Let's forget Noah for now; he's going for practice. What's going to happen there is pretty basic. Predictable. Dramaless😑. So we’re putting Noah on the ice and leaving him there for now.The real problem is waiting in that cold, expensive villa. Chase and his father😏. Should there be some aggression? A whole lot of pure, unfiltered aggression? Should I let Adrian stay terrifyingly calm while Chase slowly loses his mind? Or both of them be calm and rational?—No, wait, scrap that
The first thing Noah became aware of was warmth. It wasn’t the heavy duvet tangled around his legs, it was Chase. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he had woken beside someone without immediately feeling the need to run.He lay still. Chase was asleep on his side of the bed, one arm stretched carelessly across the mattress, dark hair falling over his forehead in complete disarray. His breathing was slow and even, the tension that usually lived permanently in his shoulders nowhere to be found.It almost didn't look like him. No captain, no heir to an empire, no arrogant hockey star. Just Chase, and Noah found himself studying him far longer than he intended. His eyes traced the faint mark beneath Chase's jaw where he'd kissed him the night before. His throat still looked slightly reddened and guilt flickered briefly through Noah before disappearing beneath something warmer. Affection.The realization struck him hard. Somewhere between running from Adrian, the argument
Chase rolled away weakly, trying to push himself up, but Noah circled the desk with predatory grace. He pressed him down firmly and worked Chase’s jeans open, shoving them down along with his boxers. Chase’s cock sprang free, heavy and leaking. Noah wrapped a hand around him, stroking slow and firm while kissing down his chest, tongue flicking over a nipple until Chase was writhing.“Noah… shit…”Chase’s hand tangled in Noah’s hair as he took him into his mouth in one smooth glide. Wet heat enveloped him, tongue swirling, throat relaxing. Noah sucked him deep, hollowing his cheeks, eyes locked upward with wicked satisfaction. Chase’s hips bucked involuntarily, but Noah held him down, controlling the pace.When Noah finally pulled off with a wet pop, Chase was trembling. He grabbed lube from the nightstand, clearly prepared, and slicked his fingers.“Open for me,” Noah ordered softly and Chase obeyed, spreading his legs. He worked him open with careful but insistent fingers, two then th
By the time eight o’clock rolled around, Chase’s apartment felt too warm, too quiet. He had paced the living room twice, changed shirts once, and barely resisted the urge to text Noah. When the knock finally came, sharp and confident, his pulse spiked.He opened the door. Noah stood there in dark jeans and a black hoodie, eyes already dark with intent. No greeting. He stepped inside, kicked the door shut behind him. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. His eyes raked over Chase like he was already imagining him broken open.“Have you eaten anything all day?” Noah asked, voice low and commanding.Chase shook his head, throat already tightening. “No. You said not to.”A slow, satisfied smile spread across Noah’s face. “Good.”He crowded Chase against the wall in one fluid motion. Their mouths crashed together instantly. The kiss was hungry and demanding. Teeth nipping, tongues sliding hot and wet. Noah’s hands fisted in Chase’s shirt, yanking him closer as he devoured him. Chase groaned
There were cracks in the ceiling. Noah had already counted them three times already. They stretched like thin veins across the pale surface, splitting, branching, disappearing into shadows where the weak bulb in the corner couldn’t reach. He looked at them with unfocused eyes, his body still, as if
The ice rink was alive with violence, not the kind that drew blood. Not yet. But the kind that lived in the sharp crack of sticks, the violent scrape of blades carving into ice, and the thunder of bodies slamming into the boards hard enough to make the glass tremble. Cold air bit at exposed skin, c
The hospital never slept. It was a deep, creaking, mechanical, unstoppable breath, and Noah felt it the moment he crossed the sliding glass door of Detroit Medical Center. The antiseptic odor struck him first, it was clean and suffocating at the same time, and then there was the low hum of the fluo
Noah Hayes didn’t know it yet, but he had just thirty two hours before everything in his life collapsed.The pen in his hand felt heavier than it should have been, like the weight of all that he had survived was pressing down into that final stroke. He stard at the bottom of the paper where his nam







