Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 181 - Chapitre 190

CHAPTER 182UNDER REVIEWELLISI had never hated fluorescent lighting until that morning.It made everything look harsher than it was. The walls, the long oak table, the three members of the review board sitting across from me like judges in some low-budget courtroom drama.My name was printed on a sheet in front of them, and so was the word Complaint. Unsportsmanlike conduct.I stood with my hands clasped behind my back because if I didn’t, I’d start pacing, and if I paced, I’d look defensive. And if I looked defensive, they’d assume guilt. Asher stood slightly behind me to the right. He had that captain posture…. Controlled…. Silent support. Across the room, Daniel Hargrove sat with a faint bruise on his cheek like it had been placed there for effect.I don't remember giving him that. So definitely effect. “Ellis Grant,” the chairwoman began, adjusting her glasses. “A complaint has been filed alleging intentional targeting, excessive force during contact, and verbal intimidation f

CHAPTER 184FRAGILE THINGS THAT DON’T SHATTERISLAThe library has always been my favorite kind of quiet.This quiet was warm. Dusty sunlight slanted through tall windows, catching in the air like suspended glitter. Pages turned, pens scratched and someone coughed three tables away and immediately whispered an apology.It was just a different kind of peace.I sat cross-legged on one of the window seats, a textbook open on my lap and three more stacked beside me like I was actually planning on reading all of them. My highlighter rested between my teeth while my eyes skimmed the same paragraph for the fifth time.I hadn’t absorbed a single word. And that was because my mind wasn’t here. It was with a particular boy I couldn't stop thinking about. It was with Ellis.It had been less than a day since the board handed him that “formal warning,” and even though he’d acted calm about it, I knew better. Ellis doesn’t explode, he gets very quiet. And quiet Ellis was far more dangerous than lo

CHAPTER 186LITTLE, LITTLE JABSELLISThe email had taken me exactly twelve minutes to draft. Four to write and eight to make it untraceable. I didn’t fabricate anything, doing that would make it sloppy and look amateurish. And anything amateurish was easy to unravel. All I did was compile what already existed. Game logs, shift differentials, turnover spikes in specific matchups, video clips trimmed to thirty-second sequences that, when placed side by side, didn’t scream sabotage, But they whispered it.And whispers were more dangerous.I sent it from a burner account routed through two layers of masking, addressed to the league’s performance oversight inbox and cc’d to an internal athletics compliance address that loved phrases like pattern irregularities and integrity review.I didn't file it like an accusation or complaint. Just concern. Concern from an anonymous “supporter of fair play.”Then I closed my laptop and went to sleep like I hadn’t just lit a fuse.By afternoon the nex

CHAPTER 188WHEN SILENCE TURNS VIOLENTELLISAs I made my way back home, I couldn't stop thinking about a lot of things. Especially the look on Rowan's face. I’d seen him angry before. One the ice, at referees, at Victor, at himself, at badcalks and worse luck. But this wasn’t that.This felt eery in a way. It felt personal and it sat wrong in my chest.By the time I unlocked my front door, I already knew pretending it hadn’t happened wouldn’t fix it. I tossed my keys into the bowl by the entrance and fished my phone out of my pocket.The first person I texted was Noah, asking him and Noah to come to my place immediately. He gave me a subtle reply that I decided to ignore. He was coming anyway. Then I texted Rowan next. I didn't bother softening my tone with Rowan I simply told him to get over here immediately. Unlike Noah's, there was no immediate response. But when he did, he simply just typed an “ok”. If that's not enough to tell you something, Ellis, then I don't know what is.

CHAPTER 190STATIC IN THE AIRISLAThere's a certain kind of silence that follows silence. And that silence is not peace, it's just static. That's what I felt like on the inside the morning after the showdown Rowan forced me to winess. It was like the walls knew something had shifted and they were waiting to see what would break next. Today, I wasn't going to attend classes. That decision had been made sometime around three in the morning when I was staring at my ceiling, replaying every look, every word and every tension-filled silence between the four of us. I didn’t trust myself to sit in a lecture hall pretending to care about anything academic.I rolled out of bed and pulled on black jeans and a fitted grey sweater. If my life was going to feel messy, at least I wouldn’t look like it.For the first time in days, I felt the urgent need to call my best friend m I pulled out my phone and dialled her number immediately and after waiting almost a minute, she answered her phone. Whe