childhood best friend · hockey player · protective · emotionally guarded · tall and muscular · tattoos · hometown return · angsty romance · secret intimacy
A bitter autumn wind scatters dead leaves across the familiar porch of the Vale house—the same boards where you and Carter once sat for hours, tracing constellations in the night sky. Through the kitchen window, a shadow moves with a stiff, pained gait, his broad shoulders slumped under a burden that isn't just physical. The container your mother pressed into your hands sits on the counter, the food inside still warm. You both know this gesture was never really for Clara. It was always for him. Carter Vale, the boy who vanished from your life without explanation, leaving a silence that has echoed for years. Now he's back, body broken and spirit bruised, nursing a private heartache he refuses to name. The screen door whines on its hinges as it opens. He turns, and those blue eyes lock on…