Chapter Thirty
LUKE
The Grill Shack smelled exactly the way it always had—burgers searing on the grill and hot fryer oil hanging in the air as baskets of fries came up behind the counter.
I pushed through the door and spotted them immediately in the back corner.
Our booth. The same one we’d been occupying since sophomore year.
Jax sat sprawled across one side with Avery leaning against him while she talked with animated hands.
Theo leaned beside Tori, one arm hooked lazily along the top of the seat behind her shoulders.
Chase sat opposite them, shoulders relaxed in a way that hadn’t happened often lately.
Mila sat beside him near the end of the booth, turned slightly toward the door like she’d been waiting for me.
Mila noticed me first. Her gaze lifted the moment the door closed behind me, and the tension that had been sitting under my ribs all day eased before I even reached the table.
Her hair fell loose over one shoulder, the neon sign catching faint strands of copper in the darker brown. She had one hand wrapped around a milkshake glass, straw turning slowly between her fingers as she watched me cross the room. That quiet smile she gave reached something deeper than relief.
I stopped at the counter long enough to order then carried the basket back to the table after they called my number. I dropped into the booth beside her, and her knee brushed mine immediately, the contact natural enough that neither of us acknowledged it.
Theo glanced up. “Look who finally decided to show.”
I shrugged. “Coach wanted to go over something after practice.”
Chase raised a brow. “What, how many goals you’re supposed to score?”
Avery wadded up a napkin and tossed it across the table at her brother. “Don’t start.”
He lifted both hands in mock surrender. “I’m just helping manage expectations.”
Mila’s shoulder rested lightly against mine. Warm. Familiar.
“You look exhausted,” she murmured under the conversation, her voice soft enough that only I caught it.
“I’m fine.”
Her fingers brushed briefly against the back of my hand beneath the table. “You say that every time something explodes around you.”
“Because things explode around me more often than normal people.”
That earned a quiet breath that might have been a laugh.
Across from us, Theo leaned forward over the table. “All right, serious question.”
“That’s already a bad sign,” Chase muttered.
Theo ignored him. “Michigan. Are the dorms as awful as everyone says?”
Jax leaned back with exaggerated confidence. “Freshman dorms are character building.”
“You lasted two weeks before bribing someone to swap rooms at that summer hockey camp,” Avery pointed out.
“That guy wanted the view.”
“That guy wanted to get away from you.”
Tori laughed into her straw, and Chase shook his head slowly.
I watched them instead of joining the conversation.
The sound of the diner wrapped around the table. Orders called toward the grill, paper crinkling as baskets landed on trays.
The past few weeks had turned everything heavier than it should’ve been. Elise and Charles Dunn threatening Mila and her mom. Logan attacking her in that hallway. For a while, it felt like every move we made was part of a fight none of us had asked to be in.
And I’d come closer than I ever wanted to admit to losing Mila twice.
Sitting here now, listening to Jax and Avery argue over dorm bathrooms, the future felt… possible again.
Theo pointed at me suddenly. “You’re quiet. That means you’re hiding something.”
“I’m eating.”
“You’re not eating.”
I glanced down at the untouched burger sitting in front of me. “Okay,” I admitted. “That’s fair.”
Avery leaned forward immediately. “What is it?”
“The coaching staff is trying to help me get out of having to live in the freshman hockey dorm,” I said.
The table went silent.
Jax blinked. “What?”
I shrugged. “Coach Davidson and I talked after practice. I told him I’m trying to find a place off campus.”
Theo’s brows lifted. “Already?”
“If I stay in the freshman hockey dorm, the program controls everything.”
Theo frowned slightly. “Meaning?”
“Shared rooms. Curfew. Team rules about who’s coming and going.”
Jax smirked. “Ah. They’re not exactly designing that setup so girlfriends can hang around.”
I glanced around the table. “I’m trying to convince them it makes more sense if a few of us live together instead.”
Chase leaned forward slightly. “You mean us.”
“That’s the idea.”
Jax’s grin spread slowly. “You’re trying to get out of the dorms before the semester even starts?”
“I’m trying to avoid living somewhere the team decides who comes and goes.”
Theo raised a brow. “Meaning Mila definitely isn’t hanging out there.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
Avery tilted her head toward me. “So where do we fit into this plan?”
I glanced toward Mila before answering. “I’d find a place big enough for all of us. You, Tori, Mila.”
Jax leaned back, eyebrows climbing. “You’re planning a full migration.”
“We’ve been through enough already,” I replied. “I’m not starting Michigan by putting half the people I care about in another zip code.”
Jax leaned back, clearly pleased with where this was going.
“Oh no,” Avery muttered.
Theo’s head tilted slightly as he looked between the three of us. I could practically see the gears turning.
“Hold on,” he interrupted.
Tori glanced between us. “What?”
Theo pointed lightly at the table. “If Luke gets out of the freshman hockey dorm…”
Jax’s eyes narrowed slightly as he caught up. “…then he needs a place off campus.”
Theo agreed. “Exactly.”
Avery looked between them. “Why do I feel like I’m about to hate this idea?”
Theo leaned back, clearly pleased with himself. “Because we get a house.”
Chase stared at him. “You skipped about ten steps there.”
Jax finally let out a short breath that sounded suspiciously like agreement. “Actually… that might work.”
Avery dropped her head into her hands. “Oh my God.”
Tori smiled into her milkshake. “This is going to end in a fire inspection, isn’t it?”
Jax shrugged. “Details.”
Chase rubbed his face. “You two are insufferable.”
“You’re welcome to join us,” Theo replied.
Avery turned toward Jax with narrowed eyes. “You burn toast.”
“That was one time.”
“You set a microwave on fire.”
Jax grimaced. “That was experimental.”
Mila’s shoulder pressed a little closer to mine as the conversation erupted around us.
“What about groceries?” Tori asked.
“What about cleaning?” Avery added.
“Chase can clean,” Theo announced.
Chase’s head lifted slowly. “Why am I the one cleaning?”
“You’re the most responsible.”
“That’s not a compliment.”
Laughter spread around the table.
I glanced toward Mila while the others debated which of us would survive shared housing the longest.
Her gaze had been on me the whole time. Something softer unraveled behind her eyes. “What?” I asked quietly.
“You look lighter tonight.”
I leaned back slightly against the booth. “Maybe I am.”
Her fingers slipped between mine under the table.
The contact felt grounding in a way that had nothing to do with the noise around us.
Michigan had always been about hockey. The next step toward the NHL.
But sitting here listening to my friends plan a house we might actually share this fall, something shifted.
It wasn’t just hockey anymore. It was the start of a life that belonged to me.
Theo snapped his fingers. “Luke.”
“What?”
“You’re the one the program is bending rules for. You find the house.”
I tossed a fry at Theo. “I’m not your real estate agent.”
Chase leaned forward. “You’re the one getting special treatment.”
“That’s not how recruiting works.” They didn’t know I’d already started looking.
“Sure it isn’t.” Theo snorted. “You’re an elite player. You had colleges pounding down your door. You can get the college to find us a house if you wanted.”
Avery leaned into Jax’s side. “You realize if you all live together, the place will be condemned within a semester.”
“Rude,” Theo muttered.
“Accurate,” Chase replied.
Tori got up and came back a few minutes later with another basket of fries she set in the middle of the table.
Conversation shifted after that—to classes, when hockey practice would start, how early we’d have to be there compared to when the girls would arrive.
The federal investigation hanging over Blackwood for weeks stayed outside the diner walls where it belonged.
My shoulders didn’t feel locked in place the way they had for weeks—waiting for Dunn’s next move or whatever else might come for us.
Eventually, the booth emptied one by one. Theo and Tori left first. Chase lingered long enough to steal the last fries before disappearing behind the door. Avery got out beside Jax, her hand tucked comfortably into his as they headed toward the parking lot.
Mila and I followed last.
The night air outside carried the cool edge of the ocean, eucalyptus drifting faintly on the breeze from somewhere down the street.
The restaurant lights reflected across the rows of parked cars. She stopped beside her door and turned toward me. The neon sign behind us flickered faintly, casting soft pink and amber across her face.
My hands rested lightly on her waist without thinking. Her fingers slipped up the front of my shirt. I studied her, the diner light catching faint strands of copper in her hair.
She glanced back toward the restaurant then up at me again. “I wish we could just skip to that part.”
“What part?”
“The house. Michigan. All of it.” Her palm rested higher against my chest. “I’d move in tonight if it were possible.”
I drew her closer without thinking. “Careful. I might hold you to that.”
Her smile softened, but she didn’t pull away.
Standing there with her in the quiet parking lot, the future didn’t feel distant anymore. It felt like the first step had already happened. And the thought clicked into place with a certainty that surprised even me.
It felt like the first night of the rest of our lives had just started.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, her warmth fitting against me the way it always did.
“Michigan feels real now.” She smiled up at me.
“It is.”
Her thumb brushed along the edge of my jaw. “You deserve a life outside everything happening in this town.”
I leaned down and kissed her. Slow and unhurried, like there was nowhere else I needed to be.
Her hands curved around the back of my neck as she leaned into me, and for a moment, the diner lights and the parking lot and the entire town disappeared.
When we pulled apart, her forehead rested lightly against mine. “You’re going to do amazing things there,” she whispered.
“Not without you.”
Her breath warmed my cheek. “Good.” She laughed softly.
I walked her to her car and waited until she pulled out of the lot before I headed toward mine. The night felt quieter than it had in weeks. Until I glanced at a message on my phone from Marcus: Documents delivered to Nick. You’re solid. I’d expect something to come of it soon.
Back home, the investigation hadn’t slowed down. If anything, it had intensified. Lawyers came and went from my father’s study at all hours, their cars lining the drive long after the rest of the house had gone quiet.
Drew had started sitting at the head of those meetings more often than my father, listening more than he spoke while the attorneys argued over financial records and offshore accounts that had existed long before I understood what King Enterprises actually did.
At first I assumed my father would take control of everything himself. Lorne had been his business partner for decades. Whatever mess the investigation uncovered should have landed squarely on his desk.
But that wasn’t what happened.
Instead, Drew handled most of the conversations about Lorne and whatever legal fallout followed his arrest, while my father focused on keeping the company itself moving forward. The separation felt deliberate, though I couldn’t tell whose decision it had been.
Drew had always deserved more authority inside King Enterprises than he’d been given. For the first time since I could remember, it looked like my father might actually be letting him have it.
Then again, the two of them were rarely in the same room long enough for me to know for sure.
Watching it unfold felt strange. The house I’d grown up in had always revolved around my father’s authority. Every room bent around his decisions.
Now the balance inside those walls had started to shift, almost quietly, as if the foundation of the place had cracked somewhere deep enough that no one could pretend it hadn’t.
That war was still happening. But standing there in the empty parking lot after Mila’s headlights disappeared down the road, something locked into place.
The future waiting for me didn’t depend on what happened inside those walls anymore. It depended on the life I was building outside of them. With Mila at the center of everything, the future felt solid.