"Just tell me the truth." My chest ached. "Are you ashamed of me?"
The question hung in the air between us, heavy and sharp. Luca’s expression shuttered completely. His features went blank in that way that meant he was retreating behind every defense he had ever built.
"It's not about shame." His voice was flat. Emotionless. "It's about reality."
"Reality." I tasted copper. I had bitten the inside of my cheek without realizing it. "Reality is you telling me you’re falling for me, then icing me out the second your career is on the line."
"This is my life, Callahan." The formality of my last name felt like a slap. "Ten years I’ve worked for this. Ten years of perfect control, perfect image, perfect career. And then you..." He cut himself off, breathing hard through his nose.
"Then I what?" I stepped closer. "Made you feel something? Made you remember what it's like to be real instead of whatever hollow version of yourself you present to the world?"
"You made me lose focus." The words came out harsh. Brutal. "You made me forget what matters."
The floor seemed to tilt beneath my skates. "What matters. You mean the contract."
"I mean everything I’ve built." His hands came out of his pockets, gesturing sharply. "The captaincy. The respect. The career. Things you wouldn't understand because you just got here."
"So I’m too young. Too new. Too—what—naive to understand that hiding who you are is killing you?"
"I’m not hiding." But his voice wavered. "I’m protecting what I’ve earned."
"By pretending." My throat burned. "By lying to everyone including yourself."
Luca’s expression hardened. "You think because you came out in college and everyone applauded that it's that easy? That the world changed overnight?" He moved past me toward the door, stopped with his hand on the handle. "This league still has a hundred unwritten rules about what's acceptable. This team—this city—they see me as a leader because I’m focused. Dedicated. Untouchable."
"Closed off." I turned to face him. "They see a mask and you’re so afraid of what happens if it slips that you’d rather be alone than risk it."
"I’d rather have a career than..." He stopped.
"Than what?" The pain in my chest spread outward, numbing my fingers. "Than be with me?"
Silence. Heavy and suffocating.
"This was a mistake." Luca’s voice dropped so low I almost didn't hear it. "Us. All of it. I should never have—at the rink, at my place—" He exhaled roughly. "It was just physical. Heat of the moment. We got carried away."
The world narrowed to those words.Just physical.
Like the way he had looked at me meant nothing. Like his confession meant nothing. Like I meant nothing.
"You don't believe that."
"It doesn't matter what I believe." He still wouldn't look at me. "What matters is reality. And the reality is I have a contract meeting in..." He checked his watch. "...fifteen hours. I have a team depending on me. A legacy to protect."
"And I’m a threat to all that."
"You’re a rookie who should be focused on your own career." Finally he turned, but his eyes were empty. The man who had held me three nights ago was gone, replaced by Captain Moretti—polished, perfect, unreachable. "This ends now. We go back to being captain and rookie. Mentor and student. That's all we can be."
My lungs forgot how to work. "All we can be? Or all you’re willing to risk?"
"It's the same thing."
"No." The word came out strangled. "It's not. And you know it."
Luca opened the door. Noise from the hallway spilled in—voices, laughter, the normal sounds of a team winding down after practice. The normal world where I had thought I belonged, right up until the man I was falling for decided I wasn't worth the risk.
"We’re done, Callahan. Go focus on your game. Forget this happened." He stepped into the hallway.
"Luca..."
