He was struggling just as much as I was.
I picked up my phone and typed back.
Me:I don’t care.
The screen glowed against my face. Three dots appeared. They vanished. Then they appeared again.
Aleksey:Go to sleep, Karter.
I grimaced, but I was not going to let him shut me out again.
Me:Where are we meeting?
The three dots bounced on the screen for a long minute.
Aleksey:Equipment room. 1 AM. Don’t let anyone see you.
With a grin, I locked the screen and slid the phone under my pillow.
I waited on my bed until Matt’s breathing finally evened out. The second he was fully asleep, I grabbed my coat, shoved my phone into my pocket, and slipped out the door.
The old stairs of The Ice House creaked under my feet, but I made it outside without waking anyone up.
The walk across campus passed in a blur of streetlights as I kept my head down, my boots crunching over salted pavement until the massive shape of the arena loomed ahead. Swiping my athlete keycard at the side entrance, I waited for the scanner to flash green, then pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The quiet inside the rink was different from the dorms. It felt heavy, filled with the low, constant hum of the ice plant vibrating under the floorboards. I walked down the dark hall and pushed open the door to the equipment room.
Aleksey was already there.
He leaned against a tall rack of spare hockey sticks, half swallowed by the dark. The sharp, rapid pops of him cracking his knuckles over and over, bounced off the walls.
“This is a massive mistake.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Becauseyouwouldn’t drop it.” He let his hands fall to his sides; the nervous ticking sound finally stopped. “Hastings is watching everything, Karter.”
“Elliot cornered me at the dinner,” I told him. “He knows Hastings is hunting for hazing evidence to tear up your scholarship. Corby’s been fighting him on it.”
Aleksey stopped moving. “Then you know exactly why I walked away.”
“You still shut me out.” My voice hardened. “We figure Trenton sent those photos, right? Then we can work to figure this outtogether. Instead, I’ve been sitting in my room for days thinking I was just some mistake you regret.”
“Figure it out how, Karter?” Aleksey stepped forward, his tone clipped and defensive. “By handing Hastings the exact proof he needs for a hazing charge? If they catch us in the same room now, I do not just lose my Chicago draft spot. I lose everything.”
My displaced anger from the dining hall flared up again. “But you looked fine playing the part tonight. You were sitting with Perez, laughing as if nothing was wrong. As if you didn’t even care about m—”
“It’s called keeping my head down.” Aleksey cut in, closing the distance between us to stop right in front of me. The harshness drained out of him, leaving him looking exhausted. “If I look panicked, Hastings gets what he wants. But I couldn’t even look at your side of the rink today without wanting to kiss you.”
I went still. “Then kiss me,” I demanded.
At that, he broke.
Grabbing the front of my jacket, he shoved me backward, slamming me against the cold wall next to the door. He remained rigid for a few seconds, looming over me in the dark.
Then he kissed me.
It wasn’t an attack. He simply pinned me to the wall with his entire body, as though he was desperate to close every inch of distance between us.
