All Chapters of A TASTE FROM THE POPULAR HOCKEY PLAYER: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

JEREMYI knew I was the second choice.I didn’t need a confession for that. I didn’t need proof. You don’t marry someone like Hunter without understanding the shape of his silence. I knew where his thoughts went when the room went quiet. I knew the name he never said but never let go of.Leo had been there before me.Leo had left something behind.I made peace with that years ago.Or I thought I had.I’d been gone a week. A stupid work trip. Nothing important. Long enough, apparently, for Hunter’s body to give up on pretending it was fine.They told me he’d been sick again. Stress, the doctor said. Overthinking. As if there were a switch in his head he could just turn off.I came home earlier than planned.The apartment smelled the same. Familiar. Lived-in. Safe.That was the lie.Hunter was asleep when I walked into the bedroom. Pale. Too still…. Oh my baby His arm was exposed above the blanket and I saw the small bruise where the injection had gone in. My chest tightened. I sat on

SKY I learned about death the first time when I was seven. It smelled like hospital disinfectant and burnt toast from the vending machine downstairs. It sounded like whispered apologies and the flat line of a monitor that didn’t care about my age. I learned that day that when adults say “be strong,” what they really mean is “don’t fall apart because we already have.” So when my phone rang in the middle of my dorm room and I heard Hunter’s voice break on the other end— I knew. I knew before he said the words. I knew because silence always comes first. “Sky,” he whispered. He never whispered my name. He always said it like he was proud of it. Like he chose it. Like he chose me. “Dad?” I asked. There was a sound on the other end. Not crying. Not breathing. Something worse. Something hollow. “There’s been an accident.” The world narrowed. I was standing by my desk. Ace was across the room pretending not to listen. I remember the way his pen stopped moving mid-sentence. “Whe

Sky POVI should have burned that diary.That thought had crossed my mind a thousand times since the first night I wrote about him.The professor.My mind had been overflowing.The tension was too much not to documentI told myself it felt wrong not to acknowledge this feelings since I couldn’t tell anyone about itOf course I had friends, but not friends friends that you could really tell things to, so it was more that I was alone with this feeling too good to be true, so of course I wrote.About his voice.About the way he spoke like everything had already happened before and he was just waiting for the world to catch up.About the way he didn’t look at me like I was fragile.About the way my chest felt lighter every time he spoke in class How… oh lord I can’t breatheI wrote about stupid things.Dangerous things.And now they were all staring back at me from the giant screen at the front of the lecture hall.Every single word.Huge, and impossible to ignore.“Why does he look at m

SKY POV ….“Just fuck me until I can’t remember anything”I was pleading too much, cause the pain was something that was capable of making me mad, maybe that is why I could do something this reckless Tears fell down my eyes before closing them shut, clutching unto the duvet of the bed, hoping and waiting for this one red hair to destroy my Virgin butt completely, and he wasn’t that bad at it…..The night air was cold enough to sting.I didn’t realize how fast I had been walking until the dorm building disappeared behind me and my chest started hurting.Not the normal kind of pain.The kind that sits right under your ribs and refuses to move.I stopped near the empty court and bent forward, hands on my knees, trying to breathe.It didn’t work.Nothing worked.My throat tightened.And then the tears came.I didn’t try to stop them this time.They fell hot and fast, blurring the lights of the campus until everything looked like smeared paint.“You people probably think it’s not a big

Sky POVThe conference was in two days.And I hated every second of it.Not because I was scared of the school or the professors.But because of Dad.Hunter had already given me his word that he was coming.And that was exactly the problem.I sat on the hanging net swing chair outside the dorm building, rocking slowly as the wind pushed it back and forth.What did they even call this thing?A hammock chair?A swing?I didn’t fucking care.All I cared about was the heavy feeling in my chest.Dad had already been through too much.Jeremy’s death was still fresh. The house must still feel empty. Every corner probably reminded him of Jeremy.And now he had to travel here because of my stupid university drama.I rubbed my face.“I shouldn’t drag him into this mess.”But Dad was stubborn.When he said he was coming, he meant it.I sighed and leaned back into the net.That was when I noticed something strange.Ace was sitting a few meters away.And he looked worse than me.At first I thought