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Chapter 51

Author: Nini
last update publish date: 2026-04-11 04:19:00

Days moved quickly after that.

Kai’s hand improved steadily I could see it in the way he carried himself, the gradual return of ease to his movements. The plaster came off. The careful, guarded way he’d been holding his arm began to loosen. I still felt the guilt sitting somewhere low in my chest when I thought about how it had happened, but I’d become skilled at not thinking about it. I helped him when it was necessary and pretended, at all other times, that he existed in a separate dimension
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  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 52

    Nothing changed the following day.The coach had apparently decided that the co-captaincy was a permanent arrangement, which meant Kai arrived at every session with the energy of someone who had been given a platform and intended to use every inch of it. I said little. I watched. I had learned, in the past few days, that silence was sometimes the sharper response.We were in the locker room when he said, “I want to show you something.”He connected his phone to the projector on the wall. A chat thread appeared private messages between him and one of the younger players on the squad. I scanned it quickly. The teammate had reached out asking for advice on a technique he was struggling with. A genuine ask, carefully worded, from someone who had worked up the courage to send it.Kai’s response filled the screen.If you’re still this weak, trust me, you have no future here.I stared at it.The locker room was very quiet.I walked to the wall and pulled the projector cable out in one clean

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 51

    Days moved quickly after that.Kai’s hand improved steadily I could see it in the way he carried himself, the gradual return of ease to his movements. The plaster came off. The careful, guarded way he’d been holding his arm began to loosen. I still felt the guilt sitting somewhere low in my chest when I thought about how it had happened, but I’d become skilled at not thinking about it. I helped him when it was necessary and pretended, at all other times, that he existed in a separate dimension entirely.It worked well enough.And then one morning he walked into practice like nothing had ever happened, strong, present, unhurried and his friends descended on him immediately. Hands on his shoulders, voices overlapping, everyone wanting to know if he was back properly, if the hand had healed, if he was ready.He nodded, calm and easy in the attention the way he always was.I exhaled quietly.Here we go.Coach called the session to order, glanced at Kai, and said: “Oh before we begin. I

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 50 - co captains

    “Are you a child?” I looked at him standing there in the doorway, blood creeping down his arm, wet plaster peeling away from the skin. “I left you alone for ten minutes. Ten minutes. And now look at you.” I shook my head. “If this gets any worse you won’t be playing in the match at all.”He said nothing. He just looked at me — and there was something in his eyes that wasn’t stubbornness for once. Something quieter. He was in real pain.I exhaled and went to my bag.I found a clean handkerchief, folded it properly, and knelt down in front of him. I tied it firmly around the wound, applying pressure until the bleeding slowed and then stopped altogether. He didn’t speak. No insult, no cold remark, no grudging acknowledgement. Nothing.By the time I looked up, his eyes were closed.Not dramatically not a collapse. Just a slow, silent surrender to whatever his body had been fighting against all day. He was asleep before I’d fully processed it, sitting there with his back against the wall

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 49

    I watched Liam line up his shot across the pool table and turned the question over quietly in my mind.Whether to tell him.Kai was my stepbrother now or Noah’s stepbrother, technically, which in the tangled reality of my situation amounted to the same thing. If Liam found out on his own, from someone else, in some casual hallway conversation he would be hurt. Not just surprised. Hurt. The kind of hurt that sits underneath anger and takes longer to leave. He and Noah were best friends, and best friends didn’t keep things like this from each other. I was already keeping enough from everyone.But I also hadn’t decided. Not fully.“Noah.” Liam’s voice pulled me back. He was watching my right hand on the cue with a slight frown. “Your arm still hasn't healed? You’ve been favouring it this whole game.”I opened my mouth. I closed it.Change the subject. Redirect. Say something.“Liam,” I said instead. “There’s something I need to tell you.”He straightened immediately. Set his cue down.

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 48- keep your place

    The man turned to look at me.The confusion on his face lasted only a moment before it hardened into something else irritation, and beneath that, the particular contempt of someone who is not accustomed to being interrupted.Kai hadn’t moved. He was on his feet but barely, one hand braced against the wall, blood at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were wide in a way I had never seen on him before. Not angry. Not composed. Just shocked.“Who do you think you are?” the man said to me. His voice was low and even, which was somehow worse than if he’d shouted.“This is my son,” he continued. “I have every right to discipline him as I see fit.”“That isn’t discipline,” I said. My own voice came out steadier than I felt. “That’s assault. And I won’t stand here and watch it happen.”He stared at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he laughed a short, humourless sound and turned to look at Kai with something like amusement.“Who is this?” he asked. Almost conversational. “This bold young

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 47

    “Do you make a habit of falling onto other boys’ bare chests?”The heat hit my face before I could stop it. I could feel it the flush crawling up my neck and into my cheeks and I turned away sharply before he could read anything in my expression.I stood up. Straightened my clothes. Stared at the wall for a moment and gathered what was left of my dignity.“It’s your fault,” I said, when I trusted my voice to come out level. “Why am I even helping you? You’re on your own.” I crossed to my bed, lay down with my back to him, and pulled the covers up with a finality I hoped communicated everything I didn’t want to say out loud.I did not look back.But I could hear him the quiet struggle of someone trying to manage with one usable arm, the small sounds of effort he was too proud to acknowledge out loud. Every instinct I had told me to get up. I stayed exactly where I was, jaw set, eyes fixed on the wall, and eventually the sounds stopped.My heart took considerably longer to settle.Wh

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 20

    The mountain air was turning from biting cold to a lethal, bone-deep freeze as the sun dipped behind the jagged peaks. Back at the base camp, the fire was crackling, but the atmosphere was pure ice.Liam’s knuckles were white where they bunched Kai’s jacket. He didn't care about the "Captain" perso

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 19

    The room suddenly felt like it was running out of oxygen.I sat as still as a statue, my hands gripped so tightly on the edge of the mattress that my knuckles turned white. Liam was looking at me, waiting for a "brotherly" reaction: a laugh, a shovel-talk, a warning. He didn't know he had just drop

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 18

    I looked at Liam as Kai held Bella’s hand.Around them my teammates were cheering like he had just scored the winning goal of his life. The noise of it pressed against my chest in a way I couldn’t name properly. What was happening. Why was he holding Noah’s ex girlfriend. Was he trying to provoke m

  • Ice Between Rivals    Chapter 17

    Everyone was packing and so was I.Coach had told us we were going on a trip. Camping. And the Eagles were going to be there too.I sighed and felt something warm settle in my chest. At least I was going to see someone who made me feel easy and happy.I finished packing and lay on my bed looking th

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