جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

NOAH’S POVSo, here is a quick update on my life.Yesterday, I was the sole heir to a multi-billion-dollar corporate empire, driving a sports car that cost more than a three-bedroom house, and living in a mansion with twenty bathrooms.Today? I am officially a broke motherfucker.It turns out that when you blow up your dad's company on live television, the company board of directors does not send you a thank-you fruit basket. They hit back hard. By eight o'clock this morning, every single one of my bank accounts was frozen. My high-limit credit cards were canceled. My personal trust fund was locked behind a giant legal wall until the federal investigation finishes.I literally tried to buy a cheap cup of coffee at a gas station on our way to campus, and my card got declined in front of a teenager wearing a paper hat. I had to dig under the bike seat to find three dollar bills and ninety cents in loose change just to pay for a plain black coffee.The untouchable "Ice King" of Kensingto

CALIX’S POVTobias glided slowly across the ice, moving in a wide, creeping circle around me like a vulture circling a dying animal.The dim yellow emergency lights hummed softly from the ceiling, casting long, dark shadows behind us. The blade of his hockey stick scraped against the ice with a low, grating sound that made the hairs on my arms stand straight up.I held my stick tight in both hands, keeping my knees bent and my center low.“What the hell are you doing here, Tobias?” I demanded, keeping my voice loud and steady. “The building is closed. Get out before I call security.”Tobias let out a dry, raspy laugh that echoed off the empty concrete bleachers. He didn't stop moving. He just kept skating in that slow, hypnotic circle, keeping his bloodshot eyes locked onto mine.“Security?” Tobias mocked, shaking his unkempt head. “Oh, Calix. You really think those low-wage guards care about what happens in here? The lights went out for a reason, little boy. I paid the night shift fi

CALIX’S POVThe clock on the wall read eleven o'clock at night.Tomorrow was the regional championship game—the absolute biggest match of our entire hockey season. The entire campus had been buzzing about it all week. If we won tomorrow, Kensington University would go straight to the national finals. But if we lost, our season was officially over.The pressure was huge, hanging over my head like a thick cloud. I was sitting on the edge of the couch in our small, temporary apartment, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. I had my right skate sitting on a towel on the coffee table, adjusting the blade screw with a small screwdriver.My mind was running in wild circles. I couldn't stop thinking about the game tomorrow, about Coach Miller trusting me to play left wing, and about Tobias stalking us in the dark shadows.*Where the hell is Noah?* I thought to myself, glancing at the front door. He had been gone for hours, off tracking down Tobias’s old room.The front door lock turned,

CALIX’S POVThe horn blew loudly, signaling the start of the third period.The score was tied at two all. The whole arena felt hot and loud, full of people screaming, stomping their feet, and banging on the glass walls. The air inside the rink was thick with tension. Every single hit on the ice was harder, faster, and more aggressive than before. It was a complete bloodbath out there.My lungs were burning, and my legs felt heavy, but I didn't slow down for a second. I wanted this win so badly I could taste it in my mouth.I skated down the middle of the rink, keeping my knees bent, my eyes tracking the black rubber puck.A heavy opponent defender tried to hit me against the side wall, but I dipped my shoulder, spun to my left, and dodged him completely. The crowd roared as I burst into open ice, speeding straight toward the opponent's goal line.“Sinclair!” a voice shouted from my right.I looked up. Oliver Wells was skating parallel to me, wide open near the left post, his hockey s

CALIX’S POVThe bright yellow lights of the gurney flashed across my face as four campus medics lifted Noah’s limp, bloody body onto the rolling bed.Oxygen mask pinned over his nose. Thick white bandages wrapped tight around his leg and head, already turning dark red from his blood. Noah’s eyes were closed tight, his face pale, his chin resting uselessly against his chest as the medics yelled at each other and wheeled him fast through the shattered glass doors toward the waiting ambulance outside.“He’s losing too much blood! Clear a path!” a female paramedic shouted, running alongside the bed.I stood completely still on the red-stained ice, watching them wheel him away.My jersey was soaked in Noah’s blood. My gloves were covered in it. My heart was thudding so hard against my ribs that my whole chest felt numb. Every single drop of fear, doubt, and hesitation inside my mind burned away into a cold, lethal heat.I turned my head slow, looking up at the high metal catwalks near the