Chapter 015

Ivy POV:

Lockwood's office had the particular stillness of a room braced for impact. He stood behind his desk instead of sitting, arms crossed, his weathered face harder than I'd seen it yet.

"I didn't authorize that suspension," he said the moment Noah and I walked in. "I want you both to hear that from me directly before you hear a different version somewhere else."

"Then who did?" Noah's voice was tight, exhaustion and fear bleeding through the composure he was clearly fighting to hold onto.

"Dean Whitfield, apparently acting on a recommendation from university legal counsel." Lockwood's jaw worked like he was chewing on something bitter.

"Which normally wouldn't move this fast without going through me first. Somebody applied pressure, and I intend to find out who."

"Could it be related to the article?" I asked. "The leak about the cover-up?"

"Maybe." Lockwood exhaled heavily, dragging a hand down his face. "Or maybe someone wanted this to happen quickly, before anyone had a chance to push back."

Noah sank into the chair across from the desk, pressing the heel of his hand against his temple. "So what happens now? Do I even get a hearing, or does the review board just decide my future without me in the room?"

"You'll have a hearing," Lockwood said firmly. "I'm making sure of that personally. But Carter, I won't lie to you…it's not looking simple. The university's spooked. Legal's worried about liability if you get hurt worse and they knew the risk. Athletics is worried about the program's reputation. And with a story already circulating about a cover-up, everyone up top wants to look like they're taking it seriously."

"By ending my career before I even get a chance to explain what happened," Noah said bitterly.

"By being cautious," Lockwood corrected, though the sympathy in his voice undercut the correction. "I know it doesn't feel fair but your health matters more than a game, Carter, whether you believe that right now or not."

Noah didn't answer, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed somewhere past Lockwood's shoulder like he was trying to hold himself together through sheer force of will.

I reached over and took his hand, and he let me, his fingers curling around mine like an anchor.

"There's a hearing scheduled for Thursday," Lockwood continued. "Athletic board, university legal, and likely someone from the dean's office. I'd suggest bringing whatever evidence you have showing this wasn't negligence on your part or the program's. That video of Sarah's screenshots, the timeline of what actually happened before the game…all of it."

"And Morgan?" I asked. "What happened to her?"

"She's being called in front of the disciplinary committee separately," Lockwood said. "Given what's in those screenshots, I doubt she walks away from this without serious consequences."

Small comfort, considering what was still hanging over Noah's future but it was something.

We left the office an hour later, the weight of everything pressing down harder with each step. Noah was quiet beside me, his hand still loosely holding mine, his eyes distant in a way that worried me more than his usual frustration.

"Talk to me," I said softly as we reached the quad, the late afternoon sun doing nothing to warm the cold settling in my chest.

"I keep thinking about what happens if they decide I'm too much of a liability," he said. "Not just for Saturday. For everything. What if this is it? What if three weeks of my life falling apart in ways I can't even remember ends up being the thing that costs me everything I've worked for?"

"Then we fight it," I said. "Thursday, we walk in with everything…Sarah's evidence, the timeline, the truth about what Morgan did. We make sure they understand none of this was your fault."

"And if it's not enough?"

I didn't have an answer for that, not one that felt honest. Instead, I squeezed his hand tighter, hoping the gesture said what words couldn't.

We walked in silence for a while, the campus around us achingly normal…students hurrying to class, laughter drifting from the quad, someone's music spilling faintly from an open dorm window. It felt strange, moving through a world that hadn't stopped just because ours had.

"Can I ask you something?" Noah said eventually, his voice quieter now.

"Anything."

"The fellowship. Have you decided?"

The question caught me off guard, though it shouldn't have. I'd been avoiding it all day, burying the decision beneath everything else demanding my attention. "I don't know," I admitted. "The deadline's tonight. Midnight."

"Do you want to go?"

I considered the question honestly, turning it over in my mind the way I'd been too afraid to before. "Part of me does," I said slowly.

"It's everything I've worked for. A chance to actually build the career I've been dreaming about since I was fourteen and my grandmother first got sick and I decided I wanted to understand why bodies fail the way hers was failing."

"But?"

"But I don't know how to leave right now. Not with everything happening. Not with you in the middle of a fight for your entire future."

Noah stopped walking, turning to face me fully, his green eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. "Don't let me be the reason you give up something like that," he said. "Whatever happens Thursday, whatever happens with my career, you deserve to chase yours too."

"It's not that simple."

"Maybe it should be."

Before I could respond, my phone rang, the sound sharp and sudden in the quiet space between us. I glanced down, and my stomach dropped at the name flashing across the screen.

Grandmother's care facility. They never called unless something was wrong, I answered with shaking hands, my heart hammering as I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Ivy, sweetheart, it's Nurse Callahan." The voice on the other end was calm, professional, but something beneath it made my blood run cold.

"I need you to come down to the facility as soon as you can. Your grandmother's had an incident, and the doctor wants to speak with you directly."

"What kind of incident?" My voice came out thin, panic already clawing up my throat. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"She had a fall this afternoon," Nurse Callahan said, her voice steady in that practiced, careful way medical professionals used when they didn't want you panicking before you had all the facts.

"We got to her quickly, but given her heart condition, the doctor wants to run some additional tests. It would be best if you could come down."

"I'm on my way." My hands were already shaking as I lowered the phone, my mind racing through worst-case scenarios faster than I could process them.

"Ivy." Noah's hand found my shoulder, steady despite everything else crumbling around us.

"What happened?"

"My grandmother fell. They want me at the facility." I was already turning, already searching for my car keys in my bag, my thoughts scattering in a dozen directions at once. "I have to go."

"I'm coming with you."

"Noah, you have a hearing in three days. You need to rest, you need to prepare, you don't need to be running around a care facility with me right now."

"I'm coming with you," he repeated, firmer this time, already falling into step beside me as I hurried toward the parking lot.

"You've spent the last three weeks holding my entire world together while I fell apart in front of you. Let me do this. Please."

Something in his voice…steady, certain, achingly familiar despite everything he'd forgotten, broke through my panic just enough to let me nod instead of arguing further.

The drive to the facility felt endless, my knuckles white against the steering wheel, Noah quiet beside me, his hand resting gently on my knee like an anchor keeping me tethered to the present instead of spiraling into every terrible possibility.

By the time we pulled into the parking lot, my heart was hammering so hard I could barely breathe. I rushed through the doors, Noah closed behind me, and found Nurse Callahan waiting near the front desk, her expression carefully neutral in a way that made my stomach twist violently.

"Where is she?" I demanded. "Can I see her?"

"The doctor's with her now," Callahan said gently. "He should be out shortly to explain everything."

"Explain what? What aren't you telling me?"

Callahan hesitated, glancing briefly toward the hallway behind her before meeting my eyes again.

"Ivy, the fall wasn't the only concern. Her test results came back with something we need to discuss with you directly. It's better if the doctor explains, but I want you prepared…it's not good news."

The floor seemed to tilt beneath me. Noah's hand found mine, gripping tight, and somewhere down the hallway, a door opened, and a doctor in a white coat stepped out, his expression grim as his eyes landed on me.