Início / YA/TEEN / Stuck between Hockey Player and his Quarterback Brother / Capítulo 101 - Capítulo 110

Todos os capítulos de Stuck between Hockey Player and his Quarterback Brother: Capítulo 101 - Capítulo 110

113 Capítulos

The Ultimatum

Tamine’s POVThe duplex looked exactly the same as it had when I left for Chicago in August.The paint was peeling off the siding, the front yard was overgrown with dead weeds, and the heavy, suffocating aura of misery hung over the property like a dark cloud.I stood on the cracked concrete walkway, staring at the front door.Behind me, Atlas’s black SUV idled quietly at the curb. Atlas was leaning against the hood, wearing dark sunglasses, looking like a heavily armed bodyguard. Sitting in the passenger seat was a man in a sharp suit Atlas’s fixer. He had a manila folder resting on the dashboard, filled with admission papers to a private facility in Vermont.I didn't knock. I still had my key.I unlocked the door and pushed it open. The smell hit me instantly stale cigarette smoke, cheap vodka, and unwashed laundry."Who's there?" a raspy, slurred voice called out from the living room.I walked down the narrow hallway and stepped into the living room.My mother was sitting on the st

The Flashdrive

Tamine’s POVFive Months Later. Late April.Chicago was finally thawing out. The brutal winter winds off Lake Michigan had shifted into a mild, rainy spring. But inside the College of Architecture, the temperature was boiling.It was the final week of our sophomore year. The Vanguard City Internship selection was only days away.The internship wasn't just a summer job. It was a guaranteed, fast-tracked career in global urban development. Only one student from the sophomore cohort would be selected, and the decision rested entirely on our final, solo 3D-rendering projects.I was sitting at my drafting table at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday. The studio was mostly empty, save for a few exhausted students sleeping on the floor under their desks.My laptop screen was glowing with the final, polished rendering of my project: The Green Grid. It was a fully sustainable, self-powering residential complex designed to replace the decaying industrial sectors of the city. It was brilliant. It was the best

The Lupar and the Legacy

Tamine’s POVFriday morning. The air in the Vanguard judging auditorium was practically vibrating with tension.The room was a massive, amphitheater-style lecture hall. The judging panel five of the most prominent, ruthless urban developers and architects in the Midwest sat at a long mahogany table at the front.I sat in the front row, my heavy canvas bag resting at my feet. I wasn't shaking. My hands were perfectly steady. I had spent the last two years surviving Blackridge Academy, Richard Thorpe, and the grueling Chicago studio. I was ready."Julian Hayes," the head judge, a severe-looking man named Marcus Vance (no relation to Richard’s crisis manager), called out. "You're up."Julian stood up, adjusting the lapels of his custom-tailored suit. He looked confident, but I could see the slight, nervous tremor in his hands as he walked to the podium. He had tried to steal my backup drive, which meant he knew his own project was fundamentally flawed.He plugged his laptop into the proj

The Vip Box

Evans’s POVThe Boston arena was vibrating with the deafening roar of fifteen thousand fans.It was the Frozen Four National Championship. We were playing Denver University, the reigning champions. The energy in the locker room was thick enough to cut with a skate blade.I sat at my stall, taping the blade of my stick, my jaw locked. My phone buzzed in my bag.I pulled it out and read Tamine’s text. I crushed the grid. Your turn. Win the Frozen Four.A fierce, incredibly proud smile broke across my face. She had done it. Against every obstacle, she had won."Alright, listen up!" Coach Kavanagh roared, pacing the center of the locker room. "This is it! Sixty minutes of ice time! You bleed for the guy next to you! We do not let Denver out of the neutral zone!"Kavanagh hadn't spoken directly to me since the scrimmage where I humiliated Hayes. He knew I was his best center, so he kept me on the first line, but the toxic resentment between us was a palpable, living thing.The heavy locker

The Broadcast and The Blockade

Tamine’s POV"He's down. Tamine, he's not getting up."Chloe’s voice was a terrified, high-pitched whisper. We were sitting on the floor of my dorm room, my laptop resting on the bed between us, streaming the ESPN broadcast of the Frozen Four.My heart had completely stopped the second the Denver player made contact.I watched the replay, my hands flying to my mouth. I watched Evans twist mid-air. I watched the back of his helmet slam against the ice. And then, I watched him lie completely, terrifyingly still.The stadium announcers had gone quiet. The camera panned out, showing a wide shot of the medical staff swarming the ice with a backboard."I have to go," I choked out, shoving my laptop off the bed. I didn't pack a bag. I grabbed my coat, my wallet, and my keys."I'll drive you to O'Hare," Chloe said instantly, jumping to her feet and grabbing her own keys. "We can make the midnight flight. Let's go."The flight to Boston was the longest three hours of my life. I paid for the ti

The Emancipation

Tamine’s POVRoom 412 was dark. The only light came from the rhythmic, green glow of the heart monitor next to the bed.I stopped in the doorway, my chest tightening so painfully I could barely breathe.Evans was lying completely still. He had a thick white bandage wrapped around his forehead, and an IV line was taped to the back of his bruised hand. The arrogant, untouchable hockey captain was completely gone, replaced by a broken, exhausted boy.I walked quietly to the edge of the bed and carefully sat down in the plastic visitor's chair. I reached out, my fingers trembling, and gently wrapped my hand around his.His skin was freezing."I'm here," I whispered into the quiet room, pressing my forehead against the edge of the mattress. "I'm right here, Evans."I sat there for two hours. I didn't let go of his hand. I listened to the steady beep of the monitor, praying that the damage wasn't permanent.Just before dawn, his fingers twitched against mine.I shot up, leaning over the bed

The Result

Richard Thorpe had used my safety net to build a cage around her. The money wasn't a resource; it was a weapon.I picked up the silver pen.I signed my name right next to Atlas's, the ink bleeding slightly into the heavy paper."It's done," Sterling said, gathering the documents and sliding them into his leather briefcase. "I will have these filed with the state registry by noon. Expect extreme legal blowback from your father's corporate counsel, but the severance is ironclad. You are officially independent.""Thanks, Sterling," Atlas nodded, escorting the lawyers out of the room.The heavy door clicked shut. Atlas leaned against it, crossing his massive arms over his chest. He looked at me, a strange, exhausted smile touching his lips."How does it feel to be broke, little brother?" Atlas asked."I have two thousand dollars in my personal checking account," I grunted, shifting against the pillows. "And a massive hospital bill incoming. I think I'm going to need to learn how to budget

The Media Spin and the Summer Lease

Evans’s POVThe joy of Tamine winning the Vanguard internship carried me through the first agonizing week of my concussion recovery. But Richard Thorpe wasn't a man who lost gracefully. If he couldn't control his assets, he destroyed them.Two weeks after the Frozen Four.I was lying on my dorm bed, staring at the ceiling. The blackout restrictions had been slightly lifted. I was allowed to look at my phone for fifteen minutes at a time.My agent, David who had formally agreed to represent me after Atlas threatened to fire him called."Evans," David said, his voice tense. "Have you looked at the sports blogs today?""No," I replied, sitting up slowly. "Dr. Thorne still has me on a restricted screen-time diet. What's going on?""Your father," David sighed heavily. "He couldn't leak the medical records about Tamine's mother, so he pivoted. He's leveraging his media contacts to control the narrative around your injury and your severance from the family."A cold knot formed in my stomach.

The Domestic Grind

Evans’s POV"If you burn the garlic again, I am officially banning you from the hot plate."I looked up from the cutting board, wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead. Chicago in July without air conditioning was a special kind of hell."I didn't burn it yesterday," I argued, scraping the diced garlic into the sizzling pan on our single-burner hot plate. "I heavily caramelized it. It’s a culinary technique."Tamine snorted from her spot on the floor. She was sitting cross-legged on our deflating air mattress, her lap covered in heavy architectural blueprints. She was wearing one of my old Blackridge hockey t-shirts, her hair tied up in a messy bun secured with a drafting pencil."It was black, Evans," Tamine pointed out without looking up from her calculations. "It tasted like actual charcoal. Please don't ruin the pasta. It's the last box we have until Friday.""The pasta will be flawless," I promised, stirring the cheap marinara sauce.Living in the walk-up was the hardest, most in

The Return

Tamine’s POVLate August. The start of Junior Year.The alarm went off at 5:00 AM.I didn't groan. I didn't hit snooze. I sat straight up on the brand new, firm mattress we had bought with Atlas's money, my heart already hammering a frantic rhythm of adrenaline.Today was the day.I slipped out of bed, quietly padding across the hardwood floor to the bathroom. I showered, pulled my hair back into a sleek, professional bun, and put on the best outfit I owned: a crisp white button-down, a black blazer, and tailored slacks I had spent hours altering myself.I walked back into the main room.Evans was awake. He was sitting on the edge of the mattress, his bags already packed and sitting by the door. His flight to Boston left in three hours. The summer bubble was officially over. The distance was about to begin again.But as I looked at him, the crushing, terrifying panic that had defined our sophomore year goodbye was completely absent."Look at you," Evans murmured, standing up and walki

ANTERIOR

...

PRÓXIMO

ESCANEIE O CÓDIGO PARA LER NO APP

DMCA.com Protection Status