“You know it’s why they’re hesitant about bringing you back.”
Nate nodded slowly.
“And?”
“And I don’t want to skate like that anymore.”
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t a vow shouted at the sky.
“Think you can change?” Alexei pressed.
Nate shrugged, letting his vulnerability finally show in the way he unclenched his jaw. “I have to.”
Another beat stretched thin.
“You didn’t call,” Alexei said. “You didn’t send a statement. You didn’t tag me in some fake ‘respect’ post.”
“That would’ve made it about me.”
Alexei’s mouth twitched despite himself. “Smart,” he muttered. The hostility hadn’t vanished, but it wasn’t sharp enough to cut anymore. “You know what the worst part was?”
Nate braced.
“It wasn’t the pain. It was watching the replay and realizing you never even looked at me after. You just skated off.”
That one drove deeper than anything else. Nate nodded once. “I know.”
“You do?”
“Been replaying that part too.”
Something in Alexei’s posture shifted. Not forgiveness, but recognition. “You’re still a bastard. You hit anyone like that again, I’ll come for you myself.”
“Fair.”
A breath of air passed between them that felt almost like the start of something steadier. Alexei hesitated, then stepped aside just enough to widen the doorway.
“You want coffee?” he asked gruffly.
Nate didn’t mistake it for absolution. It was conditional territory.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”
Jerry - Agent
You out yet? How’d it go?
I told you this wasn’t about optics, and I meant it.
If he slammed the door in your face, that’s still better than not knocking.
Call me when you’re ready. And Nate?
Whatever happened in that hallway — that’s the version of you the League needs to start seeing.
Not the other one.
Sully
