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I STAND BY MAX RIVERA

Autor: Ray Nhedicta
last update Data de publicação: 2026-04-30 04:17:58

Chapter 168

Max

I woke up before Ace again. He was out cold beside me, one arm thrown over his face, his chest rising in a slow, steady rhythm.

It made me wonder when he actually slept.

After the meeting, we’d returned to his dorm and stayed indoors. We weren't hiding; we just needed each other’s company to stay grounded.

We didn’t make love, we just held each other close until we drifted off. I lay there for a minute, just watching him the way I sometimes did when I needed to remind myself th
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  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   I STAND BY MAX RIVERA

    Chapter 168MaxI woke up before Ace again. He was out cold beside me, one arm thrown over his face, his chest rising in a slow, steady rhythm.It made me wonder when he actually slept.After the meeting, we’d returned to his dorm and stayed indoors. We weren't hiding; we just needed each other’s company to stay grounded. We didn’t make love, we just held each other close until we drifted off. I lay there for a minute, just watching him the way I sometimes did when I needed to remind myself that this was real.Then, I reached for my phone.Bad habit. I knew it before I even touched the screen. But after yesterday, there was a compulsion I couldn’t shut off, like needing to check a wound to see if it had festered overnight.It had gotten worse. Obviously.Notifications had piled up while we slept, more tweets, more think pieces, more strangers with loud opinions about our lives. I scrolled past most of it without reading. I’d learned over the last twenty-four hours that reading the c

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   WE WERE DONE MOVING FOR OTHER PEOPLE

    Chapter 167AceThe athletic director's office smelled like coffee and polished wood. The kind of room designed to make you feel small before anyone said a word.Max and I sat side by side on the leather couch, shoulders touching, fingers locking. Our rings caught the light, I noticed it because the woman behind the desk noticed it.Her eyes dropped there for just a second before she looked back up, and that second told me everything I needed to know about how this meeting was going to go.Dr. Eleanor Drew sat behind a desk that was probably chosen for exactly this purpose. It was wide, dark and immovable. She was late fifties, sharp in the way that came from spending decades being underestimated and deciding to make everyone pay for it. Under different circumstances I might have respected that.She didn't waste time."Gentlemen," she said. "I'm going to be direct. The university is receiving hundreds of calls this morning. Donors. Alumni. Parents. The Board of Trustees is in an eme

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   WHATEVER CAME NEXT, I HELD ON.

    Chapter 166MaxHe pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. His thumb brushed a tear off my cheek I hadn't realized had fallen."We knew this might happen," he said quietly. "We talked about it at the ranch. The world isn't ready for us yet. But we're ready for each other. That's what matters."I didn't say anything. I couldn't. The words were stuck somewhere behind my ribs, tangled up with everything I was trying not to feel all at once.My phone buzzed again.This time it was a text from my coach.*Emergency meeting with athletic director at 9 a.m. Don't be late. This is serious.*Ace's phone lit up at the same time. His hockey coach. We stared at the screens in silence. The blue light caught the side of his face and for a second he looked tired in a way I hadn't seen before. Not physically tired. Something deeper than that."I'm sorry," I whispered. "I should've waited. Let you have your moment on the ice without turning it into… this."He didn't answer right away. Just loo

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   NOT FOR ANYONE

    Chapter 165MaxThe first thing I felt when consciousness dragged me back was Ace’s arm heavy across my waist, his breath warm and steady against the back of my neck. The second thing was the buzzing. A constant, angry swarm of notifications that made the nightstand sound like it was trying to drill through the wood.I cracked one eye open. The dorm room was still dark, the digital clock glowing 6:47 a.m. Ace was dead asleep, face slack in that rare, peaceful way he only got after a championship win and a night of slow, thorough sex. His new platinum ring caught the faint light from the window and sent a little spark through my chest.Fiancé.The word should have felt warm. Instead, the buzzing grew louder.I reached for my phone with the hand that wasn’t pinned under Ace. The screen lit up like a explosion. 347 new notifications. Instagram. Twitter. TikTok. Group chats. Coach’s number. Mom. Sofia. Unknown numbers. News alerts.My stomach dropped before I even opened anything.The

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   JUST THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER

    Chapter 164AceThe arena had gone dead silent.Twenty thousand people holding their breath at the same time. The only sound was the faint hum of the lights and the rapid thud of my own heart slamming against my ribs. Max was on one knee in front of me, right in the center of the ice, sneakers soaked from the cold surface, eyes shining with tears and absolute certainty as he held up that small black box.The platinum band inside caught every overhead light like it had been forged just for this moment.Even though we've spoken about marriage in the secret, it still all feels surreal to see him doing this.Max who used to be so ashamed of showing us in public, is now on his one knee.I couldn’t speak. My legs gave out before my brain caught up. I dropped to my knees on the ice, pads hitting the frozen surface hard enough to send a jolt up my spine. We were eye-level now. Close enough that I could see every tear track on his cheeks, every tremble in his fingers as he held the ring out

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   FINALLY OURS

    Chapter 163MaxThe arena was electric, the roar of the crowd vibrating through the boards and straight into my chest. I stood behind the glass near the bench, heart hammering like I was the one on the ice instead of Ace. He had shown up every single day. Six a.m. sharp, just like Coach demanded. No complaints, no excuses, even when his body had to be screaming from the way we’d spent the nights before—tangled, sweaty, and desperate like the world might try to steal us again. I’d watched him drag himself out of our bed before dawn, kiss my forehead, and head to the rink. Hours on the ice, hours in the gym, pushing until sweat soaked through his gear and his shoulders shook. And every night he came home to me, exhausted but glowing, pulling me into his arms like I was the only reason he kept going. Today it paid off. Ace was a goddamn force. He scored the first goal in the opening minute— a blistering wrist shot that ripped the net before the goalie even reacted. The crowd

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   DAD KILLED MOM!

    Chapter 79AceThe words didn't make sense. They bounced around in my skull without landing, without meaning anything.They couldn't make sense, I refuse.But still yet, I could feel my blood freeze, it stopped flowing entirely. "What?" My voice sounded strange and distant. "Freya, what are you...

    last updateÚltima atualização : 2026-03-27

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   ACE, PLEASE. MAKE HER GO.

    Chapter 79Ace"And I hate him, I hate him so much...""Sofia, stop." Max grabbed her shoulders, and I could see him trying to hold himself together. Trying to be the older brother even though he was breaking apart. "You're not making sense. Dad wouldn't... he didn't... what are you saying?""Mom c

    last updateÚltima atualização : 2026-03-27

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   SOMETHING INSIDE ME SNAPPED.

    Chapter 83AceTwenty minutes later, I was pulling into the parking lot of Freya's university. I'd been here a handful of times before, usually to pick her up for holidays or family dinners. The campus was smaller than mine and Max's, more compact, with brick buildings clustered around a central q

    last updateÚltima atualização : 2026-03-27

  • THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME   SHE CAUGHT US TOGETHER AND COLLAPSED

    Chapter 78Ace"Because I don't know how!" The words exploded out of me. I ran my hands through my hair, gripping hard enough to hurt. "I don't know how to tell him without breaking him completely, and I can't—I won't do that to him."Freya took a shaky breath. Then another. When she looked up at m

    last updateÚltima atualização : 2026-03-26
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