Todos los capítulos de Hate On The Ice, Mine In The Dark: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

_Nathan’s POV_The building they chose for the meeting was too clean.It sat on the edge of campus, one of those administrative places with glass walls, quiet corridors, and staff who spoke in careful voices. Official enough to look legitimate. Private enough to make the whole thing feel like a trap with paperwork attached. I stood outside it with my phone in my hand and the formal notice still open on the screen, even though I already knew every line by heart.Miles was with me.He had not asked if he could come. He had simply been there when I left the dorm, leaning against the low wall near the entrance like the decision had already been made.“You’re not going in alone without someone outside,” he had said.“You’re not on the list.”“I don’t need to be on the list to wait.”So now he was here, a few steps away from the main doors, hands in his jacket pockets, eyes on the building like he was already measuring exits. The sight of him should have steadied me. Instead it made the pre

_Theo’s POV_Practice ended late, and Nathan was already halfway out of the locker room before most of us had finished unlacing.That was becoming normal. Not in a good way.I caught him near the door, bag over one shoulder, phone in his hand like he was already somewhere else.“You’re leaving fast,” I said.“I’ve got things to handle.”“You always have things to handle lately.”Nathan looked at me for a second, the same closed-off expression he’d been wearing for days. “I’m fine, Theo.”“I didn’t ask if you were fine.”He exhaled through his nose, not quite impatient, not quite present. “I’ll text you later.”Then he was gone, out into the corridor before I could push harder. I stood there with my gloves in one hand and the feeling that I’d been talking to a version of him that only gave out half-answers.“He’s been doing that all week,” Jax muttered from behind me. “In and out. Like practice is just a required stop.”“Yeah,” I said. “I noticed.”I took my time after that. Showered.

_Nathan’s POV_By morning, the almost-seen moment had turned into a loop I couldn’t shut off.It hadn’t even been dramatic. No confrontation. No accusation. Just a glance from the wrong people at the wrong time, and me stepping away from Miles fast enough to feel guilty about it later. All night I kept replaying the junction in the path, the staff members, the assistant coach, the way my body reacted before my mind finished assessing the risk.Miles texted once before classes.**Miles:** Stop overthinking the path.I stared at the message in bed, thumb hovering.**Nathan:** Easy for you to say.**Miles:** I didn’t say it was easy. I said stop.That was all.I got ready anyway, pulled on a hoodie, and headed out like it was a normal day. Campus looked the same as always. That almost made it worse. There was no visible sign that anything had shifted, which left me alone with the feeling that something had.Theo was already outside the lecture hall when I got there, talking to o

_Nathan’s POV_The morning after we told them felt strangely ordinary at first.Campus was the same. Same paths, same lecture boards, same line at the coffee stand outside the social sciences building. What had changed was the weight in my phone and the knowledge that when Theo looked at me now, he wasn’t guessing anymore.He was waiting outside the building when I got there, two coffees in hand.“You look like you expected me not to show up,” he said, holding one out.“I considered the possibility.”“I’ve been annoyed with you for less.” He started walking, so I matched his pace. “You sleep?”“Some.”“Some is better than none.” He glanced sideways. “Kane texted me this morning.”That caught me. “About what?”“About not making a production of anything in public. About patterns. About how if people are already noticing, we should stop giving them clean material.” Theo took a sip of his coffee. “He’s more practical than he looks.”“He always has been, according to Miles.”Theo made a lo

_Nathan’s POV_Miles didn’t drive us back to campus right away.He took a longer route past the edge of the athletic complex and parked under the trees behind the old practice lot, where fewer people cut through at this hour. When he finally shut off the engine, the quiet settled fast.“Say it again,” he said.I stared out the windshield. “He wants me. Not as a temporary formal contact. Politically. Personally. He thinks if he stays close long enough under legitimate cover, the people around me will start treating it as normal.”Miles’s hands flexed once against the wheel. “And he thinks I can be eroded.”“Yes.”“Good.” He gave a short, humorless breath. “Then he can learn how wrong that is.”“That’s not a plan.”“It’s a starting point.” Miles turned his head toward me. “Because endurance isn’t one. Showing up, surviving the room, leaving shaken, waiting for the next request — that’s how he wins. He said it himself. Time and legitimacy.”I rubbed my palms against my thighs. The formal