Coach Addison is already at a corner booth, hands wrapped around a mug of coffee. He looks up as soon as we approach, eyebrows lifting.
“You two got here at the same time,” he says, like that alone means something.
Maybe it does.
Talia slides into the booth. I take the seat beside her. Not across. Not diagonally. Right next to her.
Her thigh just barely brushes mine.
My heart slams so hard it feels stupid.
I shift like I’m making room, but my leg doesn’t move far. And she… doesn’t move away. She leans into the heat, just a fraction, seeking the contact even while she’s angry.
Small. Insignificant. Monumental.
“Good game last night,” she says softly, staring at the table. “I didn’t see your texts until this morning.”
My throat tightens.This morning.
She didn’t see them because she was asleep.
She slept.
After everything—the stalking, the fight, the fear—she went back to her room, sent me one word, and felt safe enough to close her eyes.
“Yeah,” I manage, the realization hitting me harder than the pucks. “It was— It felt good.”
“What did you mean?” she asks. “About it being my fault?”
Oh.
I breathe once, steadying myself. This is the moment. The one where I tell her the truth for once instead of letting it rot inside me.
“You steady me,” I say. “I played like that because—”
“Alright,” Coach says, clearing his throat—not rude, just interrupting at the worst possible time. “We need to talk.”
Talia straightens.
I go still.
Whatever I was about to say evaporates.
Coach looks tired—real, bone-deep tired. He folds his hands on the table.
“Your father pulled the grant,” he says, looking directly at me. “Said unless I discourage your… involvement with Talia, the funding won’t be restored.”
Talia’s breath catches like she’s been hit.
She blurts, too quickly: “We’re not together.”
The sentence slices through me with more precision than any slap.
Coach watches both of us carefully. “That’s what I told him. But Alistair insisted that Declan is… choosing you.”
“What?” she says, shocked. “How does he even know? Why does he even care? Declan is engaged.”
My stomach twists. Hard.
