Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 7

Maya “Did Leo just punch Hayes?” Chloe’s voice cut through the noise. One second, Northridge was roaring chants, skates, sticks, and the next, silence. “No,” I said, adjusting my camera. “He just ended his career.” Through the viewfinder, everything sharpened to Leo Thorne. Captain, the Ice King, Campus royalty in a navy jersey with a gold “C” like a crown he never took off. He had everything talent, scouts, headlines. People watched him as if he were inevitable. And right now? He didn’t look inevitable. He looked out of control.The game was tight. Score tied, last minutes, tension stretched thin across the rink. Sticks clashed, bodies slammed, blades scraping ice layered under the roar of the crowd. Then Leo drifted toward the corner, chasing the puck. A defender Hayes who is Bigger.The kind of player who relied on force instead of finesse.Hayes was on the ice, blood at his mouth, Leo over him, chest rising, fist clenched like he hadn’t realized yet that the game had stoppe

Maya POVThe SUV door slammed shut, and just like that, the noise outside disappeared. Inside, it was all leather, silence, and the faint, sharp smell of adrenaline that hadn’t settled yet. My ears rang anyway, like the crowd was still there, still shouting.Leo didn’t let go of my hand. His grip was tight too tight now that no cameras were watching. His palm was damp, fingers locked like he’d forgotten why he was holding on in the first place.I turned my head. He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on the rearview mirror.Watching something or someone.”Leo,” I said softly “Let go.”He didn’t react. Didn’t blink.The car pulled into traffic smoothly and fast, the outside world sliding past in streaks of gray and gold.“Leo.” This time, he dropped my hand. More like he’d just realized it was there. He shifted away from me, pressing back against the opposite door..Like a line had been drawn. I flexed my fingers once, trying to ignore the lingering warmth.“Th

Maya POV“Chloe, wait!”I pushed through the library doors hard enough for them to slam against the wall, the sound chasing after her down the corridor. She didn’t slow, didn’t turn, just kept walking like stopping would break something she was barely holding together.“Please,” I said, catching up, my breath uneven from the sprint. “Just one second.”She stopped this time.Not because of me. Because she chose to.When she turned, her eyes were red but steady, like she’d already cried and decided she wouldn’t do it again in front of me.“I can’t do this right now, Maya,” she said quietly. No yelling, no accusation, just a wall sliding into place. “I need time. To think. To understand… whatever this is.”“It’s not what it looks like.”“That’s the problem,” she replied, a tired kind of smile pulling at her lips. “I don’t even know what it looks like anymore.”I stepped closer, but she didn’t move this time, didn’t step back either, just stood there like she was bracing herself.“You’re

MayaBy the time I moved back into my dorm two days later, Northridge had fully lost its mind.Someone had taped printed screenshots of me and Leo across the journalism building hallway like we were celebrities instead of victims of a badly managed public relations stunt. One photo showed him leaning toward me at the café while I glared at him like I wanted to commit a felony. Another had already been turned into a meme.ICE KING FINALLY DEFROSTED.I ripped one down on my way upstairs.My phone buzzed before I even reached my floor.Cassandra: Smile more today. Charity event starts at four.I nearly threw the phone into the stairwell.When I pushed open my dorm door, Chloe was sitting cross-legged on her bed with a laptop balanced on her knees. She looked up immediately, and for one awkward second neither of us spoke.Then she smiled.Not fake. Not forced. Just softer than before.“You’re back.”Something inside my chest loosened a little.“Looks like it.”She closed the laptop and stood