Chapter Fourteen
LUKE
The shift hit the second I stepped inside. The locker room dipped into silence, as if I’d stepped into a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear. My presence was something they hadn’t prepared for.
Logan, never one to shut the hell up, leaned back on the bench and threw out a smirk that was too damn pleased with itself. “You’re getting sloppy, King.”
“She’s not yours to mess with, asshole. Stay the fuck away from her.” The rest I left in my stare. It shut him the hell up, and he bent his head, finished unlacing his skates, and left the locker room.
Chase closed his locker hard enough to make the metal ring. “He’s not wrong. One minute you’re telling us to steer clear, the next you’re playing fucking bodyguard.”
My jaw locked. “Doesn’t matter what it looks like. She’s off-limits. Anyone touches her—even as a joke—they answer to me.”
“Yeah?” Theo asked from across the room, arms folded. “You know we got your back, but are you sure about that?”
The air snapped between us as I gave him a curt nod.
That was the problem—I wasn’t sure. Not about any of it.
Mila was unraveling shit in me I didn’t even know was still knotted.
Stuff I’d buried deep enough I thought it couldn’t hurt anymore.
But now? It was rising—and I didn’t know how to stop it.
Doubts crept in. Family loyalty ran deep, but something in my gut kept saying things weren’t right.
Then there was the note. She shouldn’t be here. Fix it.
It had to be Elise. I swore it was her handwriting, and it reeked of her flavor of petty.
Especially lately, with desperation written all over her red matte lips.
She wanted more—more status, more control, more of me.
What we’d had wasn’t a relationship. It was convenience.
Temporary heat in the dark when I needed to forget. Nothing that had ever held weight.
She spun fantasies out of our past, dressing them up as promises I never made. She thought a ring down the line would save her. That being Mrs. King would buy her freedom from her father’s leash and lock her into a lifetime of easy power.
She was delusional. We’d hooked up a few times before I’d met Mila and once at a party a few months ago.
I wasn’t sure why she kept pretending we were a thing when I’d made sure to clarify that it was a one-time event.
Either way, I wasn’t playing along. I’d outgrown the game.
And I was done letting parasites feed off my name.
By lunch the next day, whispers started.
Elise worked fast—weaponizing truth and half-truths the way only someone with money and motive could. I caught pieces of it in the halls, fragments that hit harder because they weren’t entirely false.
Mila, sleeping her way into Blackwood. Her mom, conning her way through the board. Social climbers in counterfeit couture, cashing in on reputations that weren’t theirs to claim.
The worst part? I knew Mila’s mom wasn’t clean. I’d heard enough. Seen enough. I was aware she was seeing Principal Miller. Knew she’d charmed him the same way she had every man with a title. And yeah, maybe she took a little here and there. Maybe more. But Mila? Mila wasn’t like her.
I saw Mila on campus, walking next to Avery, chin high, as though she wasn’t breaking apart beneath the weight of the rumors. But I noticed the way her eyes blazed in challenge, her fingers curled into her palms as if she was preparing to strike out.
Avery played it cool—loyal as hell, ready to go feral if someone said the wrong thing. But even she couldn’t stop the stares. The barely masked judgment in every sideways glance.
Outside the auditorium, I cornered Elise. She was laughing too loud with Tori and Nina, basking in the aftermath of her own chaos.
“Drop it,” I said, voice low, threading steel through the warning.
She turned, all venom in silk. “You’ll have to give me something in return, Luke.”
I stared her down. “I wouldn’t touch you again if you paid me.”
Her smile thinned. “Careful who you piss off.”
I walked. But I knew she wasn’t done. She would never be done until I made it hurt to keep trying.
The guys would get the message. Anyone thinking about crossing my line would find themselves corrected. And if they didn’t? I’d make an example.
That night, I stood outside the arena. Hands in my pockets.
Heart pounding the way I’d just run sprints, even though I hadn’t moved.
I had no reason to be there. Except… I knew she would be inside.
The light above the side entrance cast a pale glow over the ice, and even before I stepped in, I felt her.
Mila always used to haunt the art studio on the boardwalk. That was her place. Her escape. Her rebellion. Her mom hated it. Called it a hobby for the hopeless. Something that would land her on the streets instead of behind a desk with a six-figure salary.
But the rink? That was mine. Which meant it was familiar. Safe. And maybe… maybe she came here tonight because she wanted to feel tethered to something.
To me. She wouldn’t admit it, but I felt it. That pull. That ache. Every movement deliberate but heavy with something she couldn’t shake. Like she wasn’t just clearing her head. She was fighting it. Trying to outrun the whispers. The past. Me.
I stayed for a while and watched her skate, needing an escape just as much as she did. The rink was quiet except for the scrape of her blades carving into ice. Her reflection shimmered beneath her, a second shadow. She moved with purpose, but it wasn’t peace she was chasing.
It was distance. And it gutted me. Because I remembered what we had.
I remembered the first time she let me pull her into the far corner, and she kissed me as if I was her only anchor.
I remembered the way she used to wait for me here, hoodie swallowing her frame, nose red from the chilled air, fingers always cold.
Now she didn’t wait for anyone. Not even me. And maybe that was my fault.
But as she moved—strong, precise, so goddamn alone—it was a bruise under my ribs. If she wasn’t the villain in this story—what the fuck did that make me?
The chill clung to me even after I left the rink.
I didn’t let Mila see I’d been standing there.
She moved as if nothing touched her. Watching her that way—so sure, so alone—it twisted something raw in my chest. I wanted to go to her.
Drag her off the ice and demand answers she would never give me.
Or maybe just press my hands to her hips, ground us both in something real for a second.
But I didn’t. Because no matter what I wanted, I didn’t trust her. Not anymore. Probably never again.
By the time I got to Jax’s place, the bonfire was already raging.
Flames licked the air, casting golden light over the lawn that sloped toward the lake.
Sparks floated up like fireflies. The thud of bass pulsed from a speaker someone had set near a cooler, mixing with laughter, the crinkle of chip bags, the pour of the keg, and the hiss of popped beer tabs a select few had access to.
I dropped onto a log near the edge of the fire, elbows on my knees, hands threaded together. The guys were already halfway through a case, but the air was off. It was impossible not to feel the undercurrent. The shift.
Theo nudged my shin with the toe of his boot, a mischievous smirk curving his mouth. “You skip your nightly meditation skate or just miss being worshipped at school?”
I gave him a flat, borderline murderous look. “Keep running your mouth and I’ll show you how cold that lake really is.”
Jax grinned, leaned over, and tossed another log on the bonfire. “Nah, man. It’s Mila. Girl shows up, and suddenly our fearless leader’s short-circuiting. Never seen you this edgy.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered, eyes locked on the fire.
But something in me was breaking down. Piece by piece. Mila had come back and taken every rule I’d built and lit them on fire. I didn’t know what she was after. I couldn’t tell if she was toying with me like her mom had played half this damn town—or if the hurt in her eyes was real.
It felt real. And that was the problem.
Chase wandered out of the shadows and over to us, hoodie pulled over his head, shoulders tense.
“What’s going on with him?” I elbowed Jax.
“He hasn’t said much all night. Not sure what it is.” Jax cracked open a fresh beer. “Where’s Avery?” he asked Chase, testing the waters.
Chase just shot him a glare that said everything.
“Just asking, man. You said you thought she would show and to watch out for her,” Jax said, hands raised in mock surrender.
I let the silence stretch, eyes flicking over the rest of them. For a second—just one—it felt like before. Before secrets and threats and old ghosts returned with familiar eyes and a wicked tongue.
“I ever tell you guys,” Jax started, tipping his head back to look at the stars, “I miss when our biggest problems were game day and who had better hair?”
I smirked, just a flicker. “You peaked sophomore year.”
“Still have better stats than you this season,” he shot back, grinning like he hadn’t just lit a match.
“Keep dreaming.” Laughter sparked around the fire. Easy. Surface-level. But it didn’t last. Because none of this was easy anymore.
I glanced at Theo, who was nursing a beer and pretending not to pay attention. “Still screwing around with Tori?”
He blinked, caught off guard. “Why?”
I shrugged, ready to get to the heart of the problems going on during the day. “Because Elise and her crew don’t do anything without an angle. And right now, she’s gunning for Mila. That makes it our problem.”
“You want me to spy?” His lips twitched. “That’s cute. You going to pass me a note in class too?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
I leaned forward, voice low. “I don’t care what you do with Tori. Just find out what Elise is planning. If she’s got dirt. If she’s targeting on Mila. I want to know first.”
Jax let out a low whistle. “And here I thought you were just trying to get laid.”
I ignored him. This wasn’t about pride or jealousy. It was about control. About Mila. And the gnawing, gut-deep knowing that I didn’t want anyone else touching her. Not Logan. Not anyone.
But every time I got close, there was another shadow. Her mom. Her past. The silence she wrapped around both. It all felt too close—a fire I hadn’t put out and now couldn’t stop from burning through everything.
But when she was on that ice… When she looked like the same girl who used to steal my hoodies and press freezing fingers to my neck just to watch me flinch?
I wanted her anyway. Even if she destroyed me. Especially if she did.
Jax passed me another beer. “You gonna keep staring at the fire, or are you gonna tell us what you’re really thinking?”
I cracked the tab but didn’t drink. “I’m thinking,” I said, “that the next guy who tries to put hands on Mila is going to need dental reconstruction. Things have changed with her.”
Theo snorted. “Duly noted.”
“And I’m thinking Elise better pray she’s smart enough to back off.”
“Do you think she will?” Chase asked quietly.
I looked at him. Dead serious. “No. And when she doesn’t… I’ll manage it.” Somehow, despite the “play nice” mandate from my father.
The guys didn’t argue. They just nodded. Because they knew. This wasn’t about romance. This was our territory, our rules.