All Chapters of Fallen In Control : Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

Darren's PovI didn't sleep at all that night. Just lay there watching the ceiling, phone on my chest in case Stella called with an update that never came.By morning my hands wouldn't stop shaking, small tremors I kept trying to hide by shoving them in my pockets. I skipped breakfast because the thought of eating made my stomach turn. I skipped it the day before too. I couldn't remember the last real meal I'd had.Mark noticed before I even got my skates laced."You didn't eat this morning," he said, dropping down on the bench beside me. Not a question."Wasn't hungry.""You never eat lately.""I eat.""When?" He said it flat, no teasing in it at all, which was worse than if he'd been joking. "Darren, I'm not blind. You're shaking. You missed a pass yesterday you could make in your sleep. You almost fought me on the ice last week over nothing.""It wasn't nothing.""It was nothing, and we both know it." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, voice dropping lower. "Something's wrong.

Darren's PovScouts lined the stands that morning, more than I'd seen all week, clipboards and stopwatches and the kind of quiet, watching stillness that made every drill feel like it mattered twice as much as it had the day before.Coach called us in before we even hit the ice."Change of plans," he said, looking between me and Asher. "Leadership drill. Both captains, together, full session. Scouts want to see how you two operate under pressure, working with someone outside your usual system."Philip made a low whistling sound from somewhere behind me. Cole didn't react at all."Together," I repeated, flat."Together," Coach said, already turning away like the conversation was over. "Get out there."I skated out onto the ice with my jaw tight, already dreading a full session standing shoulder to shoulder with Asher in front of every scout in the building. He fell into step beside me without a word, unreadable as always, and for a second neither of us said anything, just skated toward

Darren's PovI woke up angry. Not at the deadline, not at my mother, not even at the sponsor thing Coach had dropped on me — angry at myself, for the bar, for how long I'd sat there, for how easy it had been to let my guard down in front of someone I was supposed to despise on sight.I got to camp early, before anyone else, and ran through my own drills alone on the ice just to burn some of it off before the team showed up. It didn't work. By the time everyone filed in, I still felt like something coiled too tight, ready to snap the second anything gave it a reason.Asher gave it a reason without even trying.We were ten minutes into a passing drill, same drill as yesterday, same rhythm we'd found together, except today I wasn't interested in finding it again. He called for the puck on the left, same as before, and I sent it hard, harder than the drill needed, forcing him to reach for it instead of catching it clean.He recovered fine. Didn't say anything. Just looked at me for a seco

Darren's PovI sat in the car before practice with my bank app open, running the numbers again even though I already knew every possible way they added up. Sold car money, still stuck in limbo. Gym paychecks, small and slow. Pawn shop cash, already spent trying to fix a hole I'd only made bigger. Betting money, gone entirely.None of it moved the number where it needed to go. I stared at the screen until the digits blurred slightly, then closed the app and sat there another minute, forehead against the steering wheel, breathing through it before I had to walk in and be captain for another two hours.Coach called me into his office the second I stepped off the ice."Sit," he said, no preamble this time.I sat."I've been getting calls," he said, folding his hands on the desk. "About you. About your performance the last few days. Missed passes, late arrivals, that blow-up with Reyes on the ice yesterday. Scouts are asking questions I don't have good answers for anymore.""I know I've be

Darren's PovI didn't go straight home after the drive back from the hospital that night. I went to the rink instead, the practice one, not the shared camp facility, using the spare key Coach had given me back when I first made captain. Empty. Dark except for the emergency lighting along the walls. Exactly what I needed.I sat on the bench for a long time before I even put my skates on, gear bag open beside me, phone silent in my pocket for once. No calls. No texts. Just quiet, the kind I hadn't let myself sit in for weeks.I laced up slow and skated out onto the ice alone, no drills, no plays, just moving in long, aimless loops to feel something other than the tight, constant pressure sitting behind my ribs.It didn't work the way it used to.I stopped near the boards eventually, breathing hard even though I hadn't pushed myself that hard, and stood there a moment with my forehead resting against the cold glass. Everything from the last two weeks sat there behind my eyes at once. The