LOGINWhat the fuck are those?ā I blurt before I can stop myself.He doesnāt look at me, gaze fixed a few inches to my left. āTheyāre pajamas, Bennett. Sleepwear. To avoid making others uncomfortable.āāHate to break it to you, bud, but those arenāt pajamas. Theyāre jammies.āHe says nothing, but a tiny exhale slips past his lips silent judgment for my insolence. Then, in that infuriatingly precise way of his, he gestures primly toward the bathroom. Posture stiff, almost ceremonious, like a man whoās attended black-tie galas in another life.The bathroom itself is spotless. Floors gleam. Sink, shower, everything wiped immaculate. Toiletries tucked neatly. Only the damp towels and a faint scent of citrus and man musk betray his presence.I have nothing better to do, so I shower. Again. Even though I just scrubbed off the rink sweat, even though two showers this close together feel absurd. But I donāt care. Because in a few minutes, heāll step out. And whatever that is, whatever tension coils
Luca Moretti povShort story: I owe Tyler Bennett ten thousand dollars. And I hate it.Not to shame anyone, but when you insist on parading around hotel rooms in nothing but tight boxer briefs and the sluttiest, most distracting socks known to manā¦this is the exact shit that happens.It wasnāt just the socks though, yeah, they were a problem. White knit. Snug. Two perfect blue lines circling the cuff like they were made to draw your eyes upward. The way they hugged his calves, an inch below the curve of muscle. Shadows dipping and disappearing as he moved. Shadows that tempted, tormented, branded my mind. Shadows that spelled my name across every wall, every corner, every inch of this room.Now heās on his knees, cheerful, wiping long streaks of me off the floor with balled-up toilet paper. And Iām collapsed in the armchair, utterly spent, legs splayed, twice failing miserably to sit upright.āI take cash or check,ā he says, almost teasing. āPayPal, Venmo, Zelleā¦honestly, any cash app
Luca Moretti povIf fuck around and find out had a face, it would be mine.Same mouth. Same nose. Same body built for bad decisions. Same hardheaded stupidity that refuses to learn even when the lesson comes with teeth. Iāve done this before donāt get it twisted. I know this road. I know the ending.Itās ugly.It always is.Getting tangled up with someone like Bennett is a worst-case scenario. Strip away the Bennett of it which you canāt and heās still my teammate. One of the guys Iāll see nearly every day for months. Thereās no dodging him. No clean exits. Weāre barely four weeks into the season, and it stretches out ahead of us like a punishment: practices, flights, locker rooms, team dinners.Endless.A minefield I have to cross with my eyes open.What the hell was I thinking?I should have my head checked. Seriously. Locked in a room until I stop self-sabotaging. Because thatās what this is me taking a blowtorch to the boundaries I spent years building. Lines I needed to survive.
āShow me your dick.āAnd I know whatever heās about to do next will finish what he started.I donāt say a word as I hook my thumbs into my waistband and push my boxer briefs down.Iām painfully hard. So much it burns. I hiss, teeth clenched, when the elastic drags over the swollen head too slow, too rough. Every nerve screams.Moretti leans in.Heās so close his eyes swallow everything else dark, endless, inescapable.āYouāre a mess, Princess,ā he says softly. Almost gentle.I nod. Unsteady.He smiles.He lifts his hand, studies it, then drags his tongue across his palm slow, deliberate from wrist to fingertips. Then he reaches between my legs and closes his hand around me without warning.The world detonates.Every nerve ignites. Pleasure slams through me so violently I donāt even have time to breathe before it tears me apart. I come instantly so hard it folds me in half. I crash forward onto my hands and elbows, choking on the sound that rips out of me as my body convulses.Iām wre
Tyler Bennett povOne of the most mortifying moments of my life happened years ago nineteen, stupid, and lying half-naked on a doctorās table because Iād decided, for reasons I still canāt explain, to go commando on the day my groin decided to swell like a warning sign from hell.I didnāt think about the exam. Didnāt think about exposure. Didnāt think at all.Not until the zipper came down.The memory still burns hot, sticky humiliation crawling over my skin as I realized there was nothing between me and the fluorescent lights. The doctor froze. I froze. My dignity died quietly on that table. For years, that image has haunted me at the worst possible times when Iām drifting off to sleep, buttoning a tux, even once mid-sentence while meeting my girlfriendās parents.I thought that was rock bottom.I was wrong.Because now, Luca Moretti is sitting across the room.Heās planted in the armchair by the window, freshly showered, smelling like wild mint and citrus clean, sharp, infuriating.
Luca Moretti povDetroit ice. Third period. Deadlocked at twoātwo.The Blackbirds are monsters this season fast, brutal, merciless. They were monsters last season too. Even if Bennett and I could summon whatever magic ignited between us in practice yesterday and we havenāt thereās no guarantee it would be enough. This game has been a grind from the opening faceoff. Stop. Start. Reset. Again. And far too much of it has been played in our end.The only reason weāre still breathing is our goalie. Bennettās been unreal. An iron wall. A slab of reinforced glass. Heās moving like the universe bends for him, seeing pucks before they exist, stopping shots that should have torn the net apart. Without him, weād already be buried.The pressure never lets up. Their Jaces crash into ours in a violent, grinding war along the boards. Every second stretches, every minute drags and in hockey, a minute is an eternity when youāre hanging on by your teeth.Iām on the bench, chugging water, pulse hammeri







