ログインThe silence that followed felt unreal.Jamie hadn’t realized how loud his own breathing was until there was nothing else to drown it out.Max was still standing in the center of the wrecked room, chest rising hard, fists clenched at his sides.For a split second, Jamie wondered if he should be afraid of him.The friend he’d spoken to every night for two years was capable of… that. Of slamming someone into a wall. Of punching until his knuckles split.But even with fury still radiating off him, Jamie wasn’t afraid of Max.He sagged instead.His legs finally gave out and he dropped down beside the overturned chair, back sliding against the wall until he hit the floor.Max’s head snapped toward the sound.He was across the room instantly.“Jamie— hey. Hey.”His hands hovered first, like he wasn’t sure where it was safe to touch.“Are you okay?”Jamie let out a shaky laugh that wasn’t really a laugh. “I— yeah. I’m fine.”He wasn’t.Max crouched in front of him, close enough that Jamie cou
Max didn’t move at first.His face went blank.“What…” His voice came out low. Controlled. “The fuck are you doing?”Jamie had never been so relieved in his life.And never so humiliated.His face was pressed to the desk. His arm wrenched high. His cheek burning where it scraped wood. He must look pathetic. Weak. Small.And Max was seeing him like this.Dane shifted behind him.“Relax, Sullivan,” Dane said, voice casual. “Media was pissing me off. Just messing around.”The pressure on Jamie’s neck eased. His arm was released abruptly, and he nearly collapsed before catching himself on shaking hands.“Isn’t that right, kid?” Dane added.Jamie tried to straighten.His legs wouldn’t cooperate.They trembled so violently he almost dropped back down. He pushed himself upright halfway, leaning hard against the wall beside the desk, trying to make it look like a choice, like he just needed the space.His shoulder throbbed.His lungs still wouldn’t pull in enough air.“Yeah,” he managed, thou
Dane dropped into the chair with a heavy thud, spreading out immediately, elbows wide, knees apart, claiming space like it belonged to him.“Make it quick,” Dane said. “I’ve got shit to do.”Jamie forced his spine straight.Professional.Structured.It would be fine.He clicked record again.“Okay. Dane,” he began carefully, “can you walk me through the final stretch in the third period? What adjustments were you making as they pushed high?”Dane stared at him.Long enough to make the silence deliberate.“What kind of question is that?” he said finally.“A— a standard one,” Jamie replied, hating the slight wobble in his voice. “You had some key stops in that stretch—”“Because I did my job,” Dane said. “I don’t need a lucky bounce to get headlines.”Jamie’s stomach twisted.He kept his pen moving.“Right. So what did you see developing in their forecheck?”Dane’s eyes narrowed.“You writing all this down like it’s gonna make sense to you?”Jamie swallowed.“I— I’m just getting your pe
Jamie swallowed.He dragged his eyes back down to his notebook before he could say something reckless.“Fine,” he said, a little sharper than intended. “You launched the puck from your own crease. Walk me through the decision. Were you aiming for the empty net, or were you just trying to clear it?”Max’s expression shifted, less teasing now, more reflective.“I saw their goalie heading off late,” he said. “Bench was yelling. I had a second. Maybe two. I figured if I got enough lift, it might at least burn time.” A small shrug. “Didn’t think it would track that clean.”Jamie scribbled quickly, grateful for the normalcy of it. “So you were aware the net was empty?”“Yeah.” Max’s gaze didn’t leave him. “But I wasn’t thinking history. I was thinking don’t ice it and don’t screw this up.”Jamie nodded, finishing the last line in his notebook before looking up.Max tilted his head slightly.“My turn.”Jamie’s stomach dipped.“What do you do in your free time?” Max asked casually.Jamie blin
By the time Jamie made it down the hallway to the media room, the arena had settled into a strange, hollow quiet. The kind of quiet that made every footstep echo.He set his camera on the small table with more force than necessary and immediately began rearranging it.Tripod centered. Chairs angled. Audio checked.Checked again.He swallowed hard.Dane.He was going to have to sit alone in here with Dane soon. In an almost empty rink. At night. After watching him square up to another player.Oh God.Maybe he should’ve asked Beck to stay.Maybe he should’ve asked Larsson.Maybe he should’ve pretended the audio equipment wasn’t working and postponed the whole thing until morning.His pulse kicked back up.He imagined Dane in this small room, broad shoulders filling the chair, irritation still simmering, answering questions in clipped, unimpressed sentences.Jamie exhaled slowly through his nose.It was just an interview. Just ten minutes.A knock landed against the door.Jamie nearly ju
Northbridge pushed hard after the goal, the energy on the ice sharpening into something almost frantic, but the Direwolves held their ground. Dane returned for the final stretch, steady and composed, and when the buzzer finally sounded with the scoreboard reading 5–3, the arena erupted all over again.They’d won.And Max had scored a goalie goal in his first appearance of the season.The tunnel area dissolved into noise as players streamed off the ice. Jamie packed up on autopilot, coiling cords, sliding spare batteries into their pouch, forcing his breathing to level out.This was his job.He had to switch gears.By the time he reached the locker room corridor, it was already chaos. Reporters clustered near the entrance. Teammates were half-dressed, shouting over one another, replaying the shot in exaggerated pantomime.“Did you see his face?”“From his own end, man!”“Goalie goal! That’s insane!”Larsson stood a little apart from the commotion, beaming in a way Jamie had never seen







