Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 118

August's POV My grandfather's house was enormous. We stood at the gate and looked up at it, the four of us, taking in the stone pathway and the sheer size of the building at the very end of the driveway. It was the kind of house that had a name. People who lived in houses like this gave their houses names. "Okay," Dona whispered quietly beside me. "Yeah," I replied. Ursula was already ringing the doorbell. She turned around from it and caught the slightly terrified look on our faces. "They're slow to answer sometimes, don't worry." I wasn't worried about them being slow to answer; I was worried about everything else. My hand was in Dona's and I was turning her fingers over and back without realizing it, a nervous habit I apparently had now. I glanced at Kade. He was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets, and he had the same look of terror on his face. "Maybe they went out?" Dona offered. "They knew we were coming." Ursula replied calmly. Before long, we heard a loud

August's POV The day of every hockey match was always raucous. But this one was even more loud than the past ones. Everyone in the locker room was on a roll. Nate was sitting on the bench with his phone, reading out loud to whoever would listen. "So, the Gulf Coast University captain is a guy called Bryce Holloway," Nate announced, scrolling on his face. "He's six foot two, plays left wing, has scored seventeen goals this season." "Whoa, monster!" Diego muttered. "Damn right." Nate continued. "Their defense is physical, they like to crowd the boards and slow the game down." "Classic south Florida hockey," Mason replied. "They can't skate fast so they just make it ugly and messy, those gorillas." "But we skate faster," Diego answered, throwing a jab at the air. "Simple." I was half listening, half staring at my phone. I pulled up Samantha's contact and typed quickly. ME: Are you coming for the finals today? She replied a few minutes later. SAMANTHA: I can't, sweetheart. Keish

August's POV The second we skated out onto the ice, the crowd roared at the top of their voices. I'd played in front of big crowds before, junior league games that packed out smaller rinks, and scrimmages with decent turnouts. But this was even crazier. Every seat was filled, the FSU student section was a wall of garnet and gold. The noise felt like a physical hit when I walked through the tunnel. It was like walking into a wave. I was still adjusting to the light when the commentator's voice roared through the speakers. "AND HERE COME YOUR FLORIDA STATE ICEHAWKS! Led out by captain August Reynolds, who we understand will be taking his talents to the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in January! This is the man's last outing as FSU captain, folks, and what a stage to go out on!" I stopped skating for half a second. How did they already know that? I'd told my teammates this morning. It had been approximately three minutes since that conversation happened in the locker r

August's POV "Mom, I found you finally. I don't know where best to start, so I'll start with the bad stuff and work backwards. Dad is in prison. I know you always believed he could change, and I know you loved him in your own way, but he couldn't and he didn't, and now he's exactly where he belongs. Russell too. You don't have to worry about either of them anymore. I made sure of that, with a lot of help from the people in my new life. About those people, I have found my grandparents, Fiona and Frank, and they are good people. I know you have your reasons for not telling me about them, and I understand now. Aunt Martha's boy, Kade, is in my life as well. He is the best man I know. I have a mother figure named Samantha who opened her home to me when she had every reason not to, and her daughter, who I will tell you about in a moment. I went to college like you wanted, and I played hockey there too. And I have a spot on the national team waiting for me in January. Do you remember y