Chapter 014

Noah Pov:

I didn't know where I was walking, only that I needed distance…needed space to breathe without every version of the truth crashing into me at once. My head throbbed with the effort of trying to sort fact from fiction, memory from fabrication, and for the first time since waking up in a hospital bed three weeks ago, I felt like the ground itself might give out from under me.

Ivy hid something from me. That thought kept looping, sharp and unrelenting, even as another part of me…quieter, more reasonable pushed back against it. She hid a fellowship offer, not a betrayal and not a lie designed to hurt me. Just fear, maybe, or timing, or the same instinct to protect people that I'd apparently loved about her before my brain decided to erase the evidence.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I almost ignored it, but something made me check.

It was Steve.

Bro where are you? Check T*****r right now. It's insane.

My stomach tightened. I opened the app, and the first thing that loaded was a thread already spreading like wildfire, screenshots attached, quote-tweets multiplying by the second.

CONFIRMED: Groundbreakers captain's accident wasn't just bad luck. Texts show a fellow student intentionally distracted him with personal info minutes before the game, allegedly causing the hit that led to his ongoing memory issues.

Beneath it, the screenshots. The same ones Sarah had shown Ivy, now plastered across the internet for anyone to see. Morgan's name blurred in some versions, fully visible in others.

I already knew about the letter before the game. I made sure of it. My vision blurred slightly, my head pounding harder as I read it again and again, something hot and furious rising in my chest even as confusion tangled through it. Someone had planted a seed in my head that night, deliberately, right before I stepped onto ice I was supposed to be fully present for. Someone had wanted me distracted enough to make a mistake and it had worked.

I didn't remember it happening. I probably never would. But somewhere in the fog of that night, before the world went black and white and silent for a full minute, some part of me had been carrying the weight of believing Ivy might leave without telling me.

The thought made my chest ache in a way that had nothing to do with the concussion.

I turned around and headed back toward the parking lot.

***********************

By the time I got there, chaos had already unfolded. Morgan stood frozen, phone clutched uselessly in her hand as more notifications lit up the screen, her face pale with something between panic and disbelief. Sarah stood a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself, looking like she might be sick, and Ivy…Ivy turned the second she saw me, relief and fear tangled together across her face.

"Noah." Her voice cracked slightly. "It's everywhere. Someone posted the whole thread."

"I saw," I said, my eyes cutting toward Morgan, something cold and hard settling in my chest. "You knew about the fellowship before the game. You told me on purpose."

Morgan's composure cracked entirely now, all pretense gone. "I didn't think you'd get hurt," she said, her voice shaking.

"I just wanted you to see her clearly before you wasted any more time on someone who was planning on leaving without telling you."

"You had no right," I said, my voice low, dangerously calm despite the fury building beneath it. "You had no right to tell me anything about her life, especially not minutes before I stepped onto the ice for the biggest game of my career."

"I was trying to protect you!"

"You weren't protecting anyone," I snapped. "You were protecting your own feelings. You've been doing that this entire time, haven't you? The messages to Ivy, the article to the press, all of it, just so you could clear a path back to me."

Morgan's mouth opened, then closed, no defense left to offer.

My phone buzzed again. Coach Lockwood.

Get to my office. Now. Both of you, you and Morgan. This is a nightmare, and it's about to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Lockwood's office felt smaller than it had the night before, the air thick with tension as he paced behind his desk, phone pressed to his ear, barking clipped responses to whoever was on the other end about damage control and university statements. When he finally hung up, he turned to face all of us crowded into his doorway, his expression grim.

"University's already fielding calls from three different sports networks," he said. "The Athletic department wants a statement within the hour. And I've got a call scheduled with your agent in fifteen minutes, Carter, because apparently this story's already reaching NHL circles."

My stomach twisted. "What are they saying?"

"That the university turned a blind eye to a player's safety while a student weaponized personal information to sabotage him mid-season." Lockwood's jaw tightened. "Which, given what I'm seeing in that thread, isn't exactly inaccurate."

Morgan flinched beside me, arms wrapped tightly around herself, some of her earlier venom drained away into something closer to genuine fear.

"I never meant for him to get hurt," she said quietly. "I swear, Coach, I never…"

"Save it." Lockwood's voice cut through her excuse like a blade. "I don't have time for intentions right now. I have a program to protect and a player whose career might already be in jeopardy because of what you did."

He turned to me, something almost gentle bleeding into his tone despite the chaos. "Carter, I need you to sit down with the doctor again this afternoon. Full evaluation, and this time I want a written report I can hand to your agent directly, proving you're not the reason this happened."

"I know," I said quietly. "I'll go."

Lockwood's gaze shifted to Morgan, hardening instantly. "As for you, I'm escalating this to the dean's office immediately. Whatever happens next isn't up to me anymore."

Morgan's face crumbled, but for once, nobody in the room moved to comfort her.

Ivy found me an hour later outside the medical building, waiting on a bench while I sat gathering the courage to walk back inside for round two of tests I already knew the results of. She sat down beside me carefully, like she wasn't sure whether I wanted her there.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "For not telling you about the fellowship sooner. You deserved to know, regardless of timing."

"I know why you didn't," I said, surprising myself with how easily the understanding came now, hours removed from the initial shock. "Doesn't mean it didn't hurt but I get it."

She exhaled slowly, some of the tension easing from her shoulders. "So where does that leave us?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but my phone buzzed sharply in my pocket, cutting through the moment. I glanced down, expecting another update from Lockwood or my agent.

Instead, an email notification glowed on the screen, subject line visible even from a distance.

Middletown University Athletics Department: Official Statement Regarding Noah Carter's Eligibility — Immediate Suspension Pending Full Review.

My blood ran cold. My hands went numb around the phone as I opened the email fully, my eyes scanning the paragraph beneath the subject line.

Due to ongoing concerns regarding player safety and ethical circumstances surrounding recent events, Noah Carter will be suspended from all team activities, including Saturday's game, pending a full review by the athletic department and university administration. This decision is effective immediately.

"No." The word came out barely audible, disbelief crashing through me. "No, this isn't…Lockwood said he was handling this. He said he'd protect my spot."

"Let me see." Ivy took the phone gently from my hands, her eyes scanning the same words, her face paling.

"Noah, this isn't from the athletic department alone. Look at the signature."

I looked. Beneath the official letterhead, a name I recognized from every scout report and NHL prospect list I'd obsessed over for years.

Dean Whitfield, in coordination with University Legal Counsel and NHL Central Scouting Liaison.

"They're not just benching me for a game," I said slowly, the reality sinking in like ice water. "They're conducting a full review. That could take weeks. Months, even."

"Noah…"

"Scouts are already skeptical," I continued, my voice rising with panic I couldn't quite contain. "One more red flag and they'll walk away completely. This isn't a suspension, Ivy. This might be the end of everything I've worked for since I was six years old."

She reached for my hand, her fingers lacing through mine with a steadiness I didn't feel at all. "We'll figure this out. Together."

Before I could respond, my phone buzzed again, another notification stacking on top of the first.

A text this time. From Coach Lockwood.

Carter… didn't authorize this. Someone above me pushed it through directly with the dean. I need to talk now. There's something about this suspension that doesn't add up.

I stared at the message, dread pooling cold and heavy in my stomach.

If Lockwood hadn't authorized it, then who had reached the dean directly, fast enough to bypass him entirely?