Chapter Thirty-Four
LUKE
The room had gone still as dawn approached, the air heavy with that in-between quiet before morning fully wakes.
I couldn’t resist her touch. One brush of her hand, and I’d followed her back upstairs.
Mila shifted in my arms, her head resting on my chest, breath warm against my skin.
A thin line of gray pressed at the blinds, hinting at daylight but not yet breaking through.
I lay there, tracing idle circles against her shoulder, my mind refusing to stop spinning.
She stirred, voice muffled against my skin “You’re thinking too loud.”
I huffed a quiet laugh. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” she mumbled, eyes still closed. “You just do that thing where your brain starts pacing.”
I smiled into her hair. “The University of Michigan wants me,” I whispered, fingers tangled in her hair. “Full ride. Their coach made that clear.”
“Congratulations, Luke.” Her lips brushed my collarbone, voice soft with sleep. “I’m not surprised, though. What are you thinking?”
“It’s everything I wanted.” I kept my voice low. “Or was. Because without you, it’s just a school. Another hockey team.”
I glanced down, needing to see her expression, but her eyes stayed closed. A faint smile curved her mouth—there, then gone.
“Mila?”
She didn’t answer, her breathing already evening out. I stared at the ceiling, her weight warm against me, the word future sitting heavy on my tongue.
Mila was asleep when I reluctantly slipped from the bed.
Sheets tangled around her waist; her bare shoulder caught the light leaking through the blinds.
Her hair fanned across the pillow, lashes casting spiked shadows across her cheeks.
Her lips were still swollen, cheekbones pronounced even in sleep.
She had a natural beauty that didn’t need polishing—it just was. Inside and out.
I didn’t want to leave her. Every muscle told me to climb back in, bury myself in her warmth, stay there until the sun forced us to move. But her mom’s car could pull in at any minute, and the last thing Mila needed was another fight on her doorstep.
What we had wasn’t something I could name.
It was more than I’d ever let myself want and nothing I’d felt with anyone else.
The pull to her was constant. She walked into a room, and every part of me turned toward her.
She didn’t even know how much power she held over me.
One touch of her hand could bring me to my knees.
At the door, I stopped. I looked back at her one more time and let myself memorize the curve of her full mouth, the shadows over her cheek, her dark hair spilling across the pillow.
She’s mine.
Soon, everyone would know it. No more hiding. No more half-truths. She was my girlfriend, and I wasn’t pretending otherwise. The school, our families, and, of course, Elise would know. Let them come for us. Let them try to split us. I would tear their world apart before I let them touch her.
I slipped outside, pulling the door until the latch caught. The night air cut cool against my skin. My SUV waited at the curb, a little way down the street. I slid behind the wheel just as her mom’s headlights swung into the driveway. Timing down to seconds.
I sat there for a while, engine cold, hands on the wheel. The weight of everything stacked against us pressed in.
Dunn’s takeover stalled only because Mila warned me.
Her mom traced the shell companies back to him—quiet buys of King stock, one percentage at a time.
My dad and Drew moved fast, snapping up shares before Dunn could.
They called it a Pac-Man defense—eat or be eaten.
For now, it was working. But none of it mattered if Mila wasn’t beside me.
Every defense, strategy, and share was empty without her in the middle of it.
There were deeper cracks. The reason Mila and her mom left Blackwood hadn’t gone away.
Darren Langley’s probable murder and cover-up.
Maybe at Lorne’s hands. Maybe not. Secrets like that don’t stay buried.
When they surfaced, the fallout would hit everyone—my family, Dunn, the town.
And when it hit, it wouldn’t be containable.
I started the SUV, pulled away from the curb, and headed home.
Elise had her own plans for me. But they wouldn’t work.
Not now. Not ever. Logan was the one I had to watch—every move, every shift on ice, every sideways word.
Trust was currency, and Logan was bankrupt.
Tori claimed she was with us, but trust wasn’t a given.
Avery and Jax were solid, and Chase was learning to live with it.
Theo keeping an eye on Tori helped keep her in line.
I drove through the empty streets, lights flashing across the windshield, thoughts turning heavy.
The truth could destroy us. But so could the lies. For once, I’d rather burn with her than survive without her.