“Introduce me,” I snapped.
His eyebrows shot up, but he nodded.
After the game, we cut through the tunnels to the parking lot. The cold bit at my sweat-soaked skin, but the moment I saw her, nothing else existed.
She was leaning against the hood of a car, headlights turning her hair to molten gold. She looked up and froze.
Nova launched herself at Austin, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him stupid, completely oblivious to the hurricane brewing a few feet away.
Luna pushed off the car and came straight toward me.
She stopped inches away, voice barely above a whisper. “You’re here.”
I tried to smirk, but something in my chest ached. “You watched me skate. So you knew.”
Her eyes flicked toward Nova and Austin—loud with love and laughter behind us. “Does she know?”
I shook my head. “He doesn’t either.”
She swallowed, and when she said my name, it sounded like memory and longing tangled together. “Jeremy... ”
God, hearing it almost dropped me.
I stepped in, close enough to feel her breath on my mouth. “I’m right here, Lune.”
It all came back to that memory—to the second time in my life I promised the most beautiful woman in the world I’d keep her secret. That I wouldn’t say a word. That I was hers. That somehow the world had spun right to bring us back together, and all I needed was to steal more of her air.
17
jeremy
It took me a moment to refocus on the game. I hadn’t told anyone on the team I was coming, so I kept to myself, tucked a little higher up in the back of the first section. Still center ice with a good view, but far enough back to disappear into the thousands of fans packed in around me.
Dirks looked fucking good out there. Even for the old man he was in his last season, he wasn’t taking the easy way out. He was all control and instinct, reading the play before it unfolded, gliding across the ice like he still had years ahead of him. The man didn’t half-ass anything... not the game, not his loyalty, not the people he let in.
I remembered the first time I skated with him, years ago, when I was trying to carve out space in the league.
We were teammates once. In the beginning, we weren’t particularly close, but there was respect between us. We both focused on the game and, afterward, liked to party. Over time, that respect turned into trust.
Luna entered the picture after that.
They connected quickly, and I watched it unfold without saying a word. He deserved something good, and he brought out a side of her I hadn’t seen, nor was I capable of giving her. He was dependable, caring, and steady.
What started separately became something shared. The three of us began spending time together outside the rink—late nights after games, slow mornings none of us wanted to end, those quiet in-between moments where everything felt right. It wasn’t something we planned, and it didn’t need a name. It worked because we trusted each other. The connection was real. She had a different bond with each of us, and somehow, it all fit.
It was after a Friday night game. A solid win. Most of the team had already filtered out, but Dirks and I were still in the locker room, moving slowly, dragging our feet through postgame rituals. He was sitting across from me, unlacing his skates, when he spoke.
“Hey,” he said, eyes still on his laces, “you been seeing anyone?”
I grabbed my water bottle, took a sip, and shrugged. “Kinda.”
Dirks glanced up. “Yeah? Who?”
I smirked and leaned forward a little. “A girl named Luna.”
It had been a couple months since I’d seen her for the first time, and truthfully, we were fucking inseparable.
He froze. Blinked once. “Luna who?”
