CHAPTER 10: ONE DAMN PHOTO

CALIX'S POV

I dashed into my dorm room and flung the door shut behind me.

My chest was heaving so hard it hurt, my throat burning as I tried to catch my breath.

“Whoa, look who finally decided to show up!” Miller yelled over the sound of explosions coming from his computer screen. He was sitting in his gaming chair, locked into a first-person shooter game, furiously tapping his keyboard.

He didn't even look back at me. “The big hockey captain is finally back from his first date with the campus queen. How was it, Cap? Did you guys hold hands?”

I couldn't speak, I just stood there against the door, my hands shoved deep into my hoodie pockets so he wouldn't see the insane shaking. My mind was replaying the feeling of Noah’s mouth on me, the way I had tangled my fingers in his blonde hair, and the way I had shamelessly moaned like a slut. I felt dirty, terrified, and somehow still horn—

“Hey, I'm talking to you,” Miller finally paused his game, pinning his chair around with a teasing smirk on his face. “Did she break your brain or what?”

But the moment his eyes landed on me, his teasing smirk disappeared and his face went dead serious. He stood up from his chair, walking closer to me with his eyebrows pulled together.

“Yo, Calix... what the hell is that?” He asked, pointing a finger directly at the lower front of my hoodie.

I looked down, and my heart instantly jumped into my mouth.

Right there, stark and glowing against the dark fabric of my hoodie, was a dry white stain. A huge smear of my own cum had somehow gotten onto my clothes.

“Holy shit,” Miller gasped, a loud laugh tearing from his throat. He started slapping his knee, backing away from me like he couldn't believe it. “No way! You and Isla already moved to the next level on day one? Dude, you are a freaking savage! Look at your shirt!”

My face burned with a heat so intense I thought my skin was going to melt right off my bones.

I felt tapped in a corner that I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't tell him that the stain on my shirt wasn't from Northcott’s hearthrob, but from the billionaire Ice King who had pinned me down and used his mouth to destroy my sanity.

“Shut up, Miller,” I choked out, my voice cracking horribly. I quickly grabbed a clean hoodie from my drawer and threw it on over my head, hiding the evidence. “It's... it's not what it looks like. Just drop it.”

“Right, right, totally not what it looks like,” Miller taunted, still laughing hysterically as he walked back to his desk. “Whatever you say, Cap. But your face is as red as a tomato.”

PING.

The sound of Miller’s phone buzzing on his desk cut through his laughter. He picked it up, sliding his thumb across the screen. I watched as his smile slowly faded, replaced by a look of confusion.

He looked up at me. “Hey, Calix... did you lose your phone?”

My hands instantly flew to my pockets,

Empty.

My heart flipped inside my chest. “Shit. Yeah, I can't find it. Why?”

“Some unknown number just texted me,” Miller said, squinting at the screen. “It says… ‘Tell Sinclair I have his phone. If he wants it back, tell him to meet me at Halo Café first thing tomorrow morning.' Who the hell is that?” He frowned.

My throat went tight.

My phone didn't have a password on it. I had always been too lazy to set one up, thinking nobody would ever dare touch my stuff in the lockers. I didn't even remember where I had dropped it, ugh!

I started praying silently, my palms sweating, hoping to God that whoever found it was just a decent student who had looked up Miller’s contact to be helpful.

“I don't know,” My voice shook. “But I need that phone, Miller. My... my girlfriend might be trying to reach me.” I forced the word ‘girlfriend’ out of my mouth, trying to convince myself more than him.

“Well, you have to decide” Miller said, tossing his phone back onto his bed. “We have our sports management class first thing tomorrow morning.”

“I'm skipping it,” I said.

And by the next morning, Miller wasn't even up yet when I bolted out of the dorm room, running down the stairs and straight toward the campus gates.

The morning sun was just starting to peek through the clouds when I pushed open the doors of Halo Café. The little bell above the door chimed loudly.

Because it was so early, the café was still empty and quite. The chairs were still flipped on top of most of the tables, and the barista usually behind the counter was in the back room, out of sight.

I scanned the room, my eyes searching for a stranger. But my footsteps froze when I saw the lone figure sitting calmly in a booth near the back corner.

Noah.

He was wearing a fresh white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, looking relaxed as he sipped from a coffee cup.

My stomach twisted into a tight knot. A deep frown plastered onto my face, and I immediately spun on my heel, intending to walk right out of the café.

I couldn't handle him today. I just couldn't.

“Leaving so soon, Calix?” Noah’s voice drawled through the quiet room.

I stopped reluctantly, turning back around to see him raising his right hand, and clutched between his fingers was my cheap, cracked phone.

My blood boiled. So it was him.

I marched over to his booth, stopping right at the edge of his table, glaring down at him. “Give me back my phone, Kensington. My girlfriend must be worried sick looking for me, and I need to text her.”

Noah didn't flinch, and he didn't get angry at the mention of Isla either.

I watched as a slow, wicked smirk curled his lips. “Your girlfriend?” He let out a dry, mocking chuckle. “Sit down, Sinclair.”

“I'm not sitting anywhere with you,” I hissed, reaching out to snatch my phone from his hand. “Give it to me.”

Noah swiftly pulled the phone back out of my reach, his blue eyes turning dark.

He kept his face calm as he tapped the screen a few times, then turned the phone around, holding the screen directly in front of my face.

“I think you should look at this first,” He stated.

My eyes landed on the screen, and the blood drained from my face so fast I felt dizzy.

It was a photo of me… an old, freaky mirror selfie I had taken in my dorm bathroom months ago. It was the first night I had ever tried hard alcohol, and I had gotten stupidly wasted and reckless.

In the photo, my face was fully visible, my eyes half-opened, while my hand was pulling down my underwear—leaving my cock hanging loose and fully exposed for the camera.

I had completely forgotten the photo still existed in the deep depths of my camera roll. And now, Noah was staring right at it.

“You know,” Noah beamed. He turned the screen back to himself, licking his lips in a weird way. “The lighting in your bathroom is terrible, but the view is excellent. You really shouldn't leave treasures like this unprotected, Calix.”

“You... you dirty pervert,” I choked out, my hands clenching into tight fists, a cold sweat breaking out across my neck. “Delete that right now! You went through my private stuff!”

“Of course I did,” Noah said, leaning forward on the table, his eyes locked onto mine almost seductively. “And I already sent a copy to my personal drive. So deleting it from here won't do you any good.”

“What do you want from me?” I whispered weakly.

If this photo got out, my life was over. The university board would strip my captaincy, my team would look at me with disgust, and Isla would leave me in a heartbeat. I would be ruined.

Noah’s cold smirk grew wider as he leaned back in the booth, crossing his arms.

“It's very simple, Calix,” He began, his tone dripping with power. “You're going to keep your little public relationship with Isla, pretend to be the perfect straight hockey captain, and I’m going to stay with Ariana in public, just like my father wants for the family empire.”

He paused, his eyes burning into mine. “But behind closed doors… You will belong to me.”

He leaned forward. “Whenever I call, you answer. Whenever I want to touch you, you let me. You are going to be my secret, obedient lover on the side. If you say no, this photo goes to various university forums by noon today. Your choice, Captain.”