All Chapters of Romance In The Hockey Pitch: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The morning breeze was very cold. We both were up early but we barely spoke to each other. It felt like we were strangers again. I tried to focus on my books, but all I could see was Jax’s back. He hadn't looked at me once.After last night, I thought I could go back to my old life. But life had other plans.I was sitting at the desk when the door opened. It wasn’t Toby. It wasn’t a teammate.It was my father.He wasn't alone. Two men in suits stood behind him. They were holding empty cardboard boxes. My father looked around our messy room with a look of disgust. His eyes stopped on Jax, who was sitting on his bed."Get your things, Liam," my father said. His voice was like ice. "The car is downstairs. You are moving to the athletic dorms right now."I stood up, my heart racing. "Dad, I told you I wasn't moving.""And I told you that I pay the bills," he snapped. He looked at Jax. "I spoke to the Dean. This room is no longer yours. You have ten minutes to pack your clothes, or these m

"We have to be normal," I whispered to Jax the next morning. We were standing by the vending machines, pretending to argue about which protein bar was better.Jax didn't look at me. He was staring at the glass. "Normal? Liam, normal for us is fighting. If we start acting like friends now, it’ll look even more suspicious.""No," I said, finally grabbing a bar. "Normal means being teammates. We need to hang out with the guys. Together. If we are in a group, the two people in the shed won't look like us."Jax sighed, finally meeting my eyes for a split second. "Fine. But I hate this."That night, for the first time in weeks, we went to Toby’s dorm for a team movie night. The room was packed with hockey players, pizza boxes, and loud laughter. I sat on the floor near the door, and Jax sat on the far end of the couch.It was working and everything was going well. But then, Swiss sat down next to Jax. He was hyped up from the win earlier that week and kept talking about Jax's last goal."I'

The air in the bedroom was so still it felt heavy. After the chaos of the steakhouse and the suffocating ride back, the silence of the room was loud. The only light coming from the moon was casting long shadows across the rug.Jax was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head down, his hands resting on his knees. He hadn't taken his hoodie off yet. I stood by the window, watching the way his chest rose and fell. "You shouldn't have done that," Jax said. "Done what?" I asked, though I knew."The napkin. The leg. The look." Jax finally looked up."You almost blew it, Liam.”I walked away from the window, stopping a few feet from him. "I wasn’t thinking Jax. I am sorry. I just saw you were uncomfortable. I just wanted to help.""That’s the problem!" Jax stood up suddenly, pacing the small space between the bed and the desk. "You aren't supposed to care. We had a deal. We were getting it out of our systems. It was supposed to be physical. It was supposed to be easy.""Easy?" I laughed, b

I didn’t knock. I still had the spare key he’d joked about me losing weeks ago. When I stepped inside, the apartment was quiet. Jax was in the kitchen, leaning over the sink, a bag of frozen peas pressed against his left shoulder. He didn't turn around, but I know he knew it was me. He knew the sound of my breathing by now."Jax," I breathed, closing the door behind me and locking it. "I’m so sorry. That hit... I didn't mean to go that hard. I just saw Toby watching, and Coach was screaming, and I…”"I know, Liam. You did what you were supposed to.” "It felt like I was hitting myself," I said, walking toward him. I reached out, my fingers trembling as I touched the edge of the ice pack. "I hated every second of it. I hated the way they cheered for me when I saw you on the ice."Jax let out a long, shaky breath. He stepped into my space, wrapping his good arm around my waist and pulling me close. "It worked, didn't it? My shoulder will heal, Liam. As long as no one suspects anything."

The drive from Oakhaven back to Northwood was the quietest two hours of my life. I finally pulled up to the curb in front of the dorm, the snow was thick on the ground, muffling the sound of the engine. Jax insisted he could walk from here since it wasn’t so far anymore.I didn't turn the car off. I looked at Jax, his face half hidden in the shadows of his hoodie."See you at six," I whispered. My voice felt fragile, like it might shatter if I spoke too loud."See you at six, Captain," he replied. He leaned over, his lips brushing my cheek before he slipped out into the cold.I watched him until he disappeared through the front door. My heart felt like it had been left on the sidewalk. I drove the rest of the way to my dorm in a daze, my mind looping through the image of our hands locked at the diner. I just wanted to crawl into bed and hold onto the scent of him that was still clinging to my jacket.But when I opened the door to my room, the smell of vanilla and expensive hairspray h