I go to my crease.
I’m ready.
Chapter twenty-nine
Nova
CarsonWebbcornersmebefore warmups.
Not in the press area. Not in a hallway where anyone could see. In the hall outside the equipment room — the one that dead-ends at the supply closet, the one where the cameras don’t reach. He’s been here long enough to know where the cameras don’t reach.
I know what this is before he says a word.
My brain does the thing it does when something is wrong — goes very quiet and very fast at the same time. Military kid emergency response. Read the room. Read the exit. Keep your face neutral.
“Nova Shaw.” He says my name like he’s been practicing it. “V. North. Same person.”
Keep your face neutral.
“I have photos,” he says. “You and Mercer. Candid. Private. Moments I don’t think you knew anyone was watching.” He pulls out his phone. Shows me three. I look at them just long enough to confirm what they are — long enough to feel my stomach drop and my face stay exactly where I put it. “My offer is simple. Confirm the relationship on record — full access, personal angle, your words — or I run it as a scandal. Journalist sleeping with subject for access. Career-ending framing. Your call.”
I’ve been on the other side of this choice before.
Different city. Different man.
Griffin fed me a story and I ran it and now Griffin’s instrument is standing in a dead-end hallway showing me photos of the man I — of Jax — and asking me to choose.
Same move. Different hands.
“I need twenty-four hours,” I say.
He looks at me. “Twelve.”
“Twenty-four.”
He puts his phone away. “Clock’s running.”
He walks away.
I stand in the dead-end hallway.
Great.
Great job, Nova.
Out loud.
To nobody.
I open his contact.
Jax Mercer.
My thumb hovers over the call button long enough for the screen to dim.
One tap and he answers. I know that. Probably before the second ring. Already asking if I’m okay. Already making himself steady enough for me to lean on.
Across the ice, he rolls his shoulder once and settles deeper into the ritual. Number 31. Thirteen wraps. Blocker last. The wall, already building himself for the game.
