All Chapters of FAKING IT ON ICE: DATING THE SPORT KING: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

SEVENI noticed something was different the moment I stepped onto the ice. My body felt lighter than usual, almost as if someone had taken a heavy weight off my shoulders while I slept, and every movement came easier than it should have. During warm-ups, I reached loose pucks before players who normally beat me without even thinking about it, and when I changed direction, my skates responded so quickly that I nearly lost my balance from surprise. I slowed down and stared at my hands for a moment, wondering if I was imagining things, but when the coach blew his whistle and called us into the next drill, the strange feeling was still there.“Move it, Seven!”I pushed away the thought and joined the drill. The first time I went against one of the bigger defensemen, I expected him to overpower me like he usually did, but when we fought for the puck along the boards, I drove him back with almost no effort. He looked at me in surprise, and honestly, I was just as shocked as he was. I won th

SEVENThe victory celebration continued inside the locker room, with music playing loudly while the players shouted, laughed and congratulated one another. Someone had turned the speakers up so high that I could feel the beat in my chest, and even the coaches looked more relaxed than usual as they went over the best moments from the game. I was still riding the energy of the win when I noticed Mikka standing near the coaching staff, holding her notebook against her chest while the head coach praised the tactical plan she had created. The analysts were already discussing several adjustments they wanted to keep using, and even some of the veterans who had once questioned her presence were openly admitting that her work had helped us win. I watched Mikka smile as she accepted their praise, and something warm spread through me because I remembered how nervous she had been before her evaluation, how badly she had wanted to prove herself without my help, and how hard she had worked to earn

SEVENBy the time evening came, Mikka had been staring at screens for so long that I could see the tiredness in her face even when she tried to hide it. She was sitting in the study with her laptop open, several pages of notes spread across the table, and a replay of our last game running quietly in the background. She had spent most of the day dealing with the photograph, the rumors and Levi's stupid comment, yet somehow she had still found the strength to keep working. I walked into the room carrying a plate of food and placed it beside her laptop before she could pretend she wasn't hungry. She looked up at me with a tired smile."You know I can feed myself, right?""I know," I said. "That's why I brought you food instead of trying to feed you."She laughed softly, and some of the tension in her face disappeared. I pulled a chair across from her and watched while she took a few bites, still studying the screen between mouthfuls. After a few minutes, I closed her laptop halfway, earn

SEVENMonday's practice felt brutal from the moment I stepped onto the ice. The coaches pushed us harder than usual, preparing us for the next major preseason game, and I refused to slow down even when my lungs burned and sweat soaked through my shirt. I was faster than everyone during the skating drills, stronger during puck battles and somehow still had energy when most of the players were already breathing heavily. Instead of feeling tired, I felt restless, almost like my body was asking me to do more. I tried to ignore the strange feeling and focused on Mikka's tactical system, determined to prove that our last game had not been a lucky night."Again!" the coach shouted.We reset the drill, and I exploded forward before the whistle had even finished echoing through the arena. My skates cut across the ice, and I reached the puck before the defender expected me to. I slipped around him, passed to the wing and moved into position so quickly that the defense struggled to follow me. Wh

SEVENSleep refused to come easily that night. I tossed from one side of the bed to the other, staring at the ceiling while my mind replayed everything that had happened during practice. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mikka watching me with that worried look she had been giving me lately, as if she knew something was wrong even though I couldn't explain what it was. Eventually, exhaustion won and gradually, it pulled me under the soothing arms of sleep. But instead of finding peace, I found myself standing in a forest beneath a huge, bright moon.I started running before I even understood why. My feet moved across the cold ground so quickly that the trees became nothing more than dark shapes rushing past me, and yet I never stumbled or lost my way. I could hear everything around me with impossible clarity, from the soft movement of leaves beneath my feet to the distant sound of animals moving between the trees. Somewhere far away, a wolf howled, and the sound sent a strange feelin