“Hey.”
I looked up.
“Just...” He hesitated. “Try not to assume everybody’s playing by the same rules.”
Then the easy grin returned. “Now I’m going to do what I came here for and figure out how to beat you this week.”
“You won’t.”
“See?” Tomasz pointed at me. “That’s the arrogance I was talking about.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“We are. Which is why I’m warning you before I destroy your medal chances.”
He pushed away laughing before I could answer.
The conversation should have ended there.
It didn’t leave me so easily.
I braced both hands against the barrier and lowered my head for a second.
Jesus.
I’d spent days trying to understand why Luka kept stepping forward only to retreat again.
Now I had an answer.
If Tomasz was right, I had been treating this like a puzzle.
Luka hadn’t.
I pushed away from the boards and drove hard into the ice, forcing speed into my edges because standing still had become impossible. Cold air tore past my face while I built momentum fast enough to drown out my own thoughts.
It didn’t work. Luka stayed there anyway, threaded through every turn, every push, every breath.
And underneath all of it sat one brutal truth I couldn’t shake no matter how hard I tried.
I hadn’t dragged him into that moment alone.
He’d stayed too.
Chapter Eleven
Luka
I expectedan argument the second we stepped into the corridor.
Mila kept walking.
That unsettled me far more.
She didn’t speak as we left the arena, and I followed her through the streets without asking where we were going. Cold air burned in my lungs. Traffic rolled past in blurred streaks of light. People moved around us bundled in scarves and winter coats, anonymous and unconcerned while my entire internal balance threatened to come apart under the surface.
Then I saw the café ahead and understood immediately.
Neutral ground.
