All Chapters of THE HOCKEY ALPHA WANTS ME: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

114 Chapters

DOES HE HAVE A HAND IN WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

Chapter 11MaxThe pain was everywhere.It started in my knee but spread through my whole body like fire. I couldn't breathe right. Every time I tried to move, the pain got worse."Don't move him!" Coach Williams was shouting. "Get the trainer here now!"I heard footsteps running, voices talking fast, but everything sounded far away. My vision kept going in and out of focus. The gym ceiling had these bright lights that made my eyes water."Max, can you hear me?" I turned my head. Coach was kneeling next to me, but his face looked blurry."Yeah," I managed to say, but my voice came out wrong. More shaky."Where does it hurt?"I pointed to my knee, but my hand was shaking too. "Can't... can't move it."The trainer showed up then. I'd seen him around before but never really talked to him. He had gray hair and gentle hands."Okay Max, I'm going to take a look at your knee. Try to stay still."When he touched my leg, I screamed again. I couldn't help it. The pain shot up my spine and made

Last Updated : 2025-09-22

SURGERY CAN'T FIX THAT KIND OF DAMAGE

Chapter 12MaxThe surgery went better than expected, but that didn't make waking up any easier. The anesthesia left me groggy and sick to my stomach, and my knee felt like it was on fire even through the pain medication.When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Mom sitting in the chair next to my bed. Her face was puffy and red, like she'd been crying for hours. She had tissues clutched in her hand and when she saw me wake up, fresh tears started rolling down her cheeks."Mijo," she whispered, reaching for my hand. "How do you feel?"I wanted to tell her I felt like my whole world had collapsed, but the words wouldn't come. Instead I just squeezed her hand and tried to smile.Dad was standing by the window, his back to us, but I could see his shoulders shaking. He was trying to hide it, the way he always did when he was upset, but I knew he was crying too. In all my twenty years, I'd only seen my father cry twice. Once when his own father died, and once when Sofia had gotte

Last Updated : 2025-09-23

DID YOU KNOW? ABOUT MY INJURY?

Chapter 13MaxThe truth in their words was like a knife twisting in my chest. Because they were right, weren't they? Deep down, I knew they were right."You should probably find a new major," Damon added with a shrug. "Something that doesn't require working knees."The laughter that followed that comment was the final straw. I turned around and hobbled out of the gym as fast as my crutches would carry me, their voices echoing behind me.They were right. They were absolutely right, and I hated them for saying what I'd been trying not to think.I made it back to my dorm room and slammed the door behind me, then collapsed onto my bed fully clothed. The crutches clattered to the floor, and I didn't bother picking them up.For the first time since the injury, I let myself really think about what my future might look like. No basketball. No professional dreams. No NBA scouts. No championship games. Just nothing.The pain medication made everything feel fuzzy around the edges, but it didn't

Last Updated : 2025-09-24

I STILL DIDN'T MATTER ENOUGH FOR HIM TO STAY.

Chapter 14Max"What do you mean?"My hands were shaking now. I could feel sweat starting to form on my palms even though the room wasn't hot. This was the question that had been eating at me for days. The one I was terrified to ask because I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer.How would I want to hear that my girlfriend's brother had a hand in my career ending injury, because he hates me."I mean, did you know it was going to happen?" The words came out in a rush. "Damon. The guy who stepped on my knee during practice. Did you tell him to do it?"I watched Ace's face carefully. Looking for any sign that would give him away. A twitch. A flash of guilt. Something. Anything.But his face went completely blank. Which somehow made him look more dangerous than when he was angry."I've seen you two together," I continued, my voice getting stronger as the suspicion that had been growing in my mind finally found its voice. "You and Damon. Talking. Laughing. Did he do it for you?"The si

Last Updated : 2025-09-25

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THIS EARLY MORNING ACE?

Chapter 15MaxI wanted to say something else.Something that would make him stop. Make him turn around and finally give me the answers I needed. But I didn't know what those words were.He stopped with his hand on the door handle but didn't turn around.The panic in my chest was getting worse. If he left now, I might never get another chance to understand what all these was. "If you leave now, don't come back."I meant it. I couldn't keep doing this. Couldn't keep letting him mess with my head and then disappear whenever he feels like.His shoulders tensed. For a long moment he didn't move.Then he turned the handle."Take care of yourself, Max. Do the physical therapy. Don't give up."And then he was gone.The door clicked shut behind him and I was alone again. The silence hit me like a wall. Everything he'd said kept playing over and over in my head. The way he'd looked at me. The way his voice had cracked when he said he was sorry.I limped back to my bed and collapsed onto it. M

Last Updated : 2025-09-26

BUT ACE'S HAND FOUND MINE UNDER THE WATER

Chapter 16MaxI didn't move, I just stood there holding the clothes he'd thrown at me, trying to process what was happening."I told you last night not to come back," I said.He looked at me with those dark eyes and for a second I saw something flicker across his face, hurt maybe, but then it was gone."Get dressed Max."His voice was quiet but there was steel underneath it, the same tone he used when he was about to do something that would piss off our coach or get him suspended.I wanted to throw the clothes back at him and tell him to get out, tell him he couldn't just show up whenever he felt like it and expect me to follow orders, but something in the way he was looking at me made me hesitate.He wasn't looking at me like I was broken, or like I was something to pity, he was looking at me like he expected me to fight back.And honestly? I was too tired to fight.I grabbed my crutches and went to the bathroom to change, my hands were shaking as I pulled on the jeans, I couldn't f

Last Updated : 2025-09-27

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF HOCKEY DISAPPEARED TOMORROW?

Chapter 17MaxThe cold was everything and nothing all at once.I couldn't think about anything except the way my body was screaming, how every muscle had locked up tight, how my skin felt like it was on fire even though I knew it was ice water surrounding me.But Ace's hand in mine was warm somehow, or maybe it just felt warm because everything else was so damn cold."How long do we stay in?" I managed to get out through chattering teeth."Fifteen minutes.""Fifteen minutes? Are you out of your mind?""Probably."He said it like it was funny but his face was pale and I could see he was struggling just as much as I was."I can't do fifteen minutes.""Yes you can.""Ace seriously I think I'm going to pass out.""Then I'll catch you."The way he said it made me believe him, like he actually would catch me if I fell, like he'd been planning for that possibility all along."Why are you doing this?" I asked."Because someone has to.""That's not an answer."He was quiet for a long time, lo

Last Updated : 2025-09-28

IF ACE BELIEVES IT ISN'T THEN I SHOULD TOO

Chapter 18"Is that what this is?" I gestured at the ice bath, at the brutal cold we were sitting in together. "You taking care of someone who needs it?""Maybe.""That's not an answer, Ace."He was quiet for a moment, his jaw tight. When he finally spoke, his voice was lower, more serious than I'd ever heard it."This is me taking care of someone who needs it.""Why though? Yesterday you walked out of my room like you never wanted to see me again.""Yesterday I was angry.""At me?""At the situation, at your doctors for not pushing you harder, at the coaches for writing you off so fast, at you for giving up.""I didn't give up.""You were lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself instead of doing the work to get better."That stung because it was true, I had been feeling sorry for myself, wallowing in self pity and pain instead of fighting to recover."So you decided to drag me up here and torture me with ice water?""I decided to show you that you're not alone."The way he said it was

Last Updated : 2025-09-29

AND I WASN'T SURE I LIKED WHAT I WAS LEARNING.

Chapter 19MaxI didn't see Ace the next day, and by Wednesday night I was restless and bored and thinking way too much about the ice bath on Thursday. About sitting in freezing water with Ace's hand in mine, about the way he'd looked at me when he said 'you matter'.I needed a distraction.Which is how I found myself pulling on a hoodie and heading across campus toward the ice rink at seven-thirty on a Wednesday night, where I knew—because Freya had mentioned it about a thousand times—the hockey team had practice.I told myself I was just curious. That I wanted to see what Ace was like on the ice, to understand what hockey actually meant to him. It had nothing to do with the weird flutter in my chest every time I thought about him, or the way his voice had sounded when he'd opened up in the ice bath.Nothing at all.The ice rink was colder than I expected, and I immediately regretted not bringing a heavier jacket. But I was already here, already committed to this insane idea of wat

Last Updated : 2025-09-30

MAX, YOU'RE SO OBVIOUS

Chapter 20MaxThe walk back to my dorm should have cleared my head. Instead, all I could think about was Ace's smile on the ice, the way he'd looked at me in the parking lot, the warmth in his voice when he'd said "thanks for coming."I was so lost in thought that I almost didn't notice them until it was too late.Three figures stepped out from the shadows near the entrance to my building, blocking my path. I recognized them immediately, Daniel, Tyler, and Ben. Three guys from the basketball team who'd made it abundantly clear they believed my career was over.I kept my eyes forward and moved to walk around them, pretending I hadn't seen them. Maybe if I just acted like they weren't there, they'd let me pass without incident. I wasn't afraid of them, I'd never been afraid of confrontation, but I also wasn't stupid enough to pick fights I didn't need to have.No such luck.They shifted position, spreading out to block my path completely. I stopped walking, my jaw clenching as I star

Last Updated : 2025-10-01

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