All Chapters of Slapshot Awakening: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Ryker POVThe air is even colder outside now. I pull my jacket tighter and see Aiden already by his car. He doesn't get in. He watches as I step onto the sidewalk. His jaw is tight, and his fingers flex like he's thinking twice about this. He scans the street, making sure that no one can see us.I smirk, shaking my head. “Relax. No one cares.”Aiden huffs a breath, running a hand through his hair. “You don’t know that.”I do, but I don’t argue. Instead, I turn toward my bike and swing one leg over. “You coming, or what?”Aiden doesn’t answer, but after a beat, he gets into his car and pulls out, following me toward my place. Just like he always does.We stop at my place and I can see Jaxon's car is here, but Erin's isn't. No doubt she's at a friend's. Getting off the bike, I walk to the door and unlock it.Stepping inside Aiden follows me, I don’t bother with a tour, he knows the place well enough already. I walk through to my room, and he stays quiet as he does.He closes the door be

Jaxon POVSighing, I roll back over. My body is still aching, exhaustion weighing me down. I don’t have the energy for this right now.“Whatever,” I mumble, shutting my eyes. “I’m too fucking tired for this shit.” Just like that, I let sleep pull me under again.When I wake, Erin isn't in bed. She is getting showered and sorted, and I walk out and see her car gone. It's Saturday, so I'm not training today. My back aches though. I walk through the house and to the room we use for training. It's basically a gym, but with enough space for Erin and me to practice off-ice and a place for Ryker to train or work out.Moving, I stretch but it makes the pain fucking worse. Lying down, I suck in a breath. I'm going to have to cancel our next training sessions if this doesn't give up soon."That looks like a really complicated move to do on the ice." Ryker's voice has me groaning. I go to move and winch. "You've hurt yourself?" He moves to stand beside me.I move, trying to stretch my leg, hopin

Ryker POVI stare at him, still kneeling on the mat, watching the way he rubs the back of his neck like he’s trying to work the tension out on his own. He looks tired. Not just physically, but in that way you get when the people closest to you start pushing in all the wrong ways.“She’s acting like a fucking idiot,” I say again, and I mean it.Jaxon doesn’t even push back. That’s how I know it’s worse than he’s admitting.I shift, settling beside him now, both of us sitting with our legs stretched out in front. The silence stretches between us, but it’s not uncomfortable. Not for me.“She didn’t text back at all?” I ask, keeping my voice level.He shakes his head, eyes fixed on some spot on the wall. “Nothing. Not a single word.”I click my tongue and lean back on my hands. “So let me get this straight, she decides to pull some unplanned, dangerous shit during a performance, then does it again the next day, hurts you, argues when you call her on it and then ghosts you?”Jaxon exhales,

Ryker POV“You seeing anyone?” he asks casually, like it’s nothing, but there’s a curious edge to his voice.Smirking, I shake my head. “Nah. No one.”He gives me a look.I raise an eyebrow. “What?”“That’s not what it looked like this morning,” Jaxon says, his voice a little too casual to be convincing. “You were on top of him.”I blink, my glass halfway to my lips. “Wait, what?”He doesn’t look at me, just swirls the liquid in his glass like it’s the most fascinating thing in the room.“You were in bed. Naked. On top of him.”It clicks.“You opened my door?” I ask, frowning. “It was closed.”He finally glances at me, jaw tight. “Didn’t realize it at the time. I was going to knock, but when do we ever? I just didn't think and walked in.”Fuck. I sit back slowly. “Well. That’s a hell of a way to start your morning.”He shrugs, like it’s no big deal, but I’m not an idiot. His grip on his glass is tight, knuckles white, jaw working like he’s trying not to say what he actually wants to s

Jaxon POVThe room is mostly quiet now, save for the low hum of the fridge upstairs and the occasional creak of the old house settling. The leftover buzz from the party has faded, leaving behind nothing but the throb in my temples and the weight of everything I didn’t say.Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees, hands pressed together, just staring at the floor like it’ll offer answers.The fight with Erin’s still playing in my head on a loop. She was pissed. Said I was being dramatic. Said I should’ve been able to handle it. “Testing our limits” she called it.I told her she nearly dropped herself. Told her that pushing is one thing, but doing it without warning is something else entirely. That my back wouldn’t be hurting if she stuck to what we agreed on.To her, that was just me blaming her for something I should’ve been able to manage. She doesn’t get it, she doesn’t understand what it feels like to be the one holding the other person’s life in your hands.A shift of movemen