《Across The Ice: Falling for my ex’s biggest rival》全部章節：第 51 章 - 第 60 章

The puck had barely touched the ice before Mason drove one of Easton’s players into the boards, and the crowd reacted like they’d been waiting all week for someone to draw blood. I kept my camera trained on the play. “Okay. So this is how we’re starting.” Briarwood had been physical, but this was different. Easton and Northbridge played like every check came with a personal grievance attached. Players kept talking after whistles, hits were finished harder than necessary, and Dean and Mason somehow always knew where the other was. I knew better than to make myself the center of a rivalry that had existed long before me, but after what happened before the game, I wasn’t stupid enough to believe I had nothing to do with tonight’s extra hostility either. Northbridge scored six minutes into the first period. Mason collected the puck near the blue line, slipped past an Easton defender and fired before the goalie could set himself. The red light flashed, and the arena erupted around me a

The second time I woke up, Dean was still in my bed.Sunlight had replaced the dark outside my window, which made everything considerably harder to ignore. Night had been generous. It had hidden the clothes on my floor and allowed me to forget that I had invited Dean over to end whatever was happening between us, only to end up naked beneath him instead.Morning, apparently, believed in accountability.Dean opened his eyes while I was searching for my underwear. “You’re panicking.”“I’m looking for something.”“Your underwear is beside my shoe.”I found it exactly where he said and frowned at him. “Why do you know that?”“I’ve been awake for ten minutes.”“And you didn’t think to leave?”“Good morning to you too.”I pulled on my underwear while he remained annoyingly comfortable in my bed. It was almost nine. Classes had started, people were awake, and somewhere on campus, someone with too much free time was probably refreshing my name on Instagram.“You need to leave.”“I gathered th

By the time I walked out of my two-hour media law exam, I had been accused of defamation, contempt, and possibly a crime against the English language.The students around me immediately started comparing answers, which I considered a form of psychological warfare. Whatever I’d written was between me, my professor, and God now, and I preferred to keep it that way. I was halfway down the stairs when I turned my phone back on and watched two hours of notifications flood the screen.Ava’s message sat near the top.Ava: Before you open Instagram, please remember that murder will interfere with your graduation.I stopped walking.Me: What happened?Her reply came almost immediately.Ava: Read the whole thing before you get angry.There had never been a good reason in human history to tell someone that.I opened the link.MASON HART BREAKS HIS SILENCE: “PEOPLE SAW THIRTY SECONDS AND THOUGHT THEY KNEW TWO YEARS.”The interview was supposed to be about hockey. Mason talked about Northbridge’s

I made it all the way home before I fell apart.My father had barely opened the door when I dropped my bag and walked straight into his arms. He said, “There’s my girl,” and apparently that was all it took. I started crying so hard I couldn’t explain why, which felt ridiculous considering I had at least fifteen excellent reasons.“Hey, hey. What happened, princess?”“I’m tired.”“I know.”“No, Dad.” I pulled back enough to wipe my face, although it was pointless. “I’m really tired.”He took one look at me and stopped asking questions. He led me inside, sat me on the couch, and held me while Ava brought me water. Once I could speak properly, everything came out. The scholarship, the blogs, Mason’s interview, strangers discussing my life as though they’d been personally appointed to investigate it. I’d spent months forcing myself to keep moving because stopping felt too much like letting everyone win, but somewhere between losing my scholarship and slapping my ex across the face, I had

“Engaged?” The word escaped before I could stop it. Dean nodded, and the room seemed to shift around me. The half-eaten birthday cake, the gifts we’d been laughing over five minutes earlier, even the oversized hoodie I’d stolen from him and fully intended to keep, suddenly faded into the background. I sat on the edge of my bed, more because I needed a second to process than because my legs had given up. “Can I ask you something?” “You can.” “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” “I won’t answer if I can’t.” I studied him for a moment before asking the question that had been quietly waiting in the back of my mind since he’d mentioned Lucas. “What happened between Lucas and Melissa?” Dean reached for the bottle of water beside him, turning it slowly between his hands before answering. “They met in high school. They were together for years. Long enough that nobody questioned it. If you knew Lucas, you knew Melissa.” “I’ve only known them a few months,” I admit