Semua Bab Owned on the Ice M/M Romance: Bab 41 - Bab 50

"What’s it going to be, Noah?"Sterling’s voice was low, almost lazy, but beneath it was steel. He stood there, broad and shirtless, close enough that Noah could feel the heat radiating off his skin. The air between them crackled with tension, charged with a heat that wasn’t just from their argument.Noah narrowed his eyes, his pulse pounding hard enough to hear."Are you going to get back in bed, eat Chinese food, and tell me what stuff you need sorted? Or am I going to have to tie you to that bed and force-feed you?"They stood locked on each other, focused on nothing else now. Noah naked, the sting of that slap still hot on his ass, his pride and temper tangled up with the obvious fact that he was wildly, humiliatingly turned on.Sterling didn’t flinch. His gaze burned steady, unwavering. Not even a flicker of intimidation. His chest rose and fell with slow control, arms loose at his sides, but there was nothing relaxed about him. He looked like a beast on a leash.Noah's fists cle

Noah woke with a low groan, the dull ache in his ribs a constant reminder of everything that had happened, but it didn’t steal the lazy stretch of satisfaction in his limbs. His mind flashed back to the night before. Sterling’s weight, the warmth of his skin, the feel of being taken, then kissed, then fed cold Chinese like they hadn’t just ruined each other.Now, the morning sun leaked in through half-closed blinds, and a part of him expected awkwardness. Distance. Regret.But Sterling had brought coffee.Noah sipped from the to-go cup, eyeing the man who stood casually near the foot of the bed, already dressed in dark slacks and a sleek button-down that somehow made him look both powerful and annoyingly collected. Sterling didn’t look at him like a mistake. He didn’t seem rattled at all. Just… calm. Like what happened between them had been inevitable.Noah wasn’t sure what to make of that.They didn’t say much as Sterling helped him get dressed, gently, without the teasing dominance

Sterling leaned back in his office chair, one hand gripping the armrest, the other resting uselessly beside his keyboard. His laptop was open. His inbox full. His calendar screaming.He hadn’t typed a single word in fifteen minutes.Outside his widow, far below, on the other side of the rink, sprawled over a row of seats like a goddamn magazine spread, was Noah. Legs extended, head tipped slightly back, one arm tossed lazily over the seat beside him. He looked like he belonged there. Like the whole building had been built around him.Sterling repositioned his chair an inch, then another, until the view was nearly uninterrupted. A small tilt of the blinds ensured that no one would see him watching too closely.It should’ve been easier to focus. He had meetings, contracts, a thousand things waiting. But his eyes kept drifting.And then Jensen arrived late, and with a baby.Sterling’s brow lifted.Noah straightened at the sight, setting his coffee down. A moment later, the baby was in hi

Noah left the facility in a daze of fury.He didn’t say anything to the front desk staff. Didn’t answer the message from Ash asking if he was sticking around for dinner. Didn’t even look up as the automatic doors opened and the cool Crestwick air hit him like a slap.He just walked.The sun was still out, maybe beginning to dip, casting a pale gold sheen on the buildings around him. But he didn’t feel the warmth. Didn’t track the shifting light. He turned down street after street, his feet carrying him without direction.It probably took him hours to get back to the hotel.He had no idea.Every corner he turned, every familiar landmark he passed, felt distant. Like someone else’s life. The post-practice buzz of his teammates, the weight of the baby in his arms, even Sterling’s eyes watching him through the gym mirror—none of it felt real anymore.“You let her die.”Noah had said it. Spat it. And even as the words echoed through him now, he couldn’t decide if he meant it.He had been s

Three weeks passed like a fever dream.The season was in full swing. For teams like theirs, that meant chaos, an unrelenting sprint where they were lucky to sleep more than a few hours between games. The league’s schedule was compressed to fit as much action into the shortest time possible, and for players on the rise like Noah, it meant proving yourself constantly while dragging bruises and exhaustion from city to city.He hadn’t been allowed to play the first two weeks after the injury.“Coach’s orders,” they’d said.But Coach Jensen's frustration told Noah the leash had been yanked from above. No one said it out loud, but he knew it was Sterling. Pulling rank. Keeping him off the ice, as if that would keep everything else from unraveling.It hadn’t mattered how much Noah had begged Jensen to let him back in, how solid he felt, how often his teammates promised to protect him. He sat the bench, his ribs aching less with every passing day and his temper climbing higher.But now? The m