Page 117 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 3

The conversation shifted to next season’s prospects, to late-summer training plans, to who would take over as captain now that Phoenix was leaving. Names were thrown around. Arguments were made. Someone suggested rock-paper-scissors, which Mason took seriously until Toby pointed out he was still just a sophomore.

I half listened, content to observe. This was my team, my chosen family, the group of people who’d seen me at my worst, took my measure, and decided I was worth keeping anyway. They’d stood around me on the ice that night, protecting something fragile and new. They’d given us space to be honest when honesty felt impossible.

Andrei’s head rested against my shoulder now, his body warm and solid beside me. We’d stopped hiding months ago, stopped worrying about who was watching or what they thought. It had taken that grand gesture, that terrifying leap, but we’d landed somewhere better than I’d imagined possible.

Right after that, we went home for a winter break, and our families welcomed us with open arms. It wasn’t what they’d imagined the future would look like when we were peewees and inseparable, but they had never tried to push us into the places our shapes didn’t fit.

We were loved. We were alive. What more was there to ask for?

“You happy?” I asked him quietly.

He turned his head to look up at me. “Yeah. I am.”

“Good.”

“You?”

I thought about it honestly. The past year had been chaos and cameras, pressure and performance, fear and revelation. It had stripped us down and built us back up. It had tested every assumption I’d ever made about myself.

But sitting here with Andrei’s weight against me, surrounded by teammates who’d become brothers, celebrating someone who’d taught us all what leadership looked like, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m happy, too. I’ve been happy every day since the day I met you, Andrei.”

“Best friends forever,” Andrei said.

“Forever and ever.”

Phoenix caught my eye across the table and raised his glass slightly, a private acknowledgment between us. We’d both learned something this year about the cost of honesty and the value of being seen. He’d walked that path in the footsteps of giants, and he, too, made it easier for the rest of us. Now, he was moving on to new challenges, new cities, new chapters.

But tonight was for remembering. For appreciating what we’d built together in this strange, wonderful, complicated year.

Jaxon leaned over to whisper something to Andrei, who laughed and nodded. Phoenix reached across to steal a fry from Mason’s plate. Toby launched into a story about summer escapades that involved his family’s lake house. The evening flowed around us, ordinary and extraordinary at once.

I pulled Andrei closer, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. He hummed contentedly, fingers tracing absent patterns on my thigh under the table.

“I love you, Sokolov,” I said.

“I love you, too, Shaw,” he replied.

This was it. This was everything. Not the fame or the attention or the viral moments that had defined our fall. Just this quiet certainty that I’d found something worth keeping, someone worth spending my life with. And the knowledge that I’d found that guy in my best friend.

The Thinker buzzed on around us, full of life and noise and the bittersweet ache of endings that promised new beginnings. We’d make it through. We always did. Together.

ZERO PUCKS GIVEN

Chapter One

DAMON

Selene’s ass was still pressed against my leg when I woke up. She hadn’t bothered with underwear in the devil’s hours in the middle of the night when our strength had finally failed.

Neither had I.

The thin cover lay in folds over my waist and down my legs, a tent pitched just nicely over my crotch, the pole itching for action. The light that pierced through the window curtains was bright and hot, promising a terrible August day ahead.

I didn’t need to check the time to know I had none. Still, the warm body under my left arm fitting so nicely against the length of my torso was too inviting not to linger for a moment longer.

Then a hand moved from the right side, crawling up the bare side of my rib cage, and the intense eyes of Selene’s boyfriend, Harry, bored into my soul. “Morning,” he said.