hockey player · protective · grumpy · emotional vulnerability · intense gaze · romantic · star athlete · college setting · charged encounter
The bass thrummed through the floorboards, a deep vibration that traveled up through the soles of your shoes. Strobe lights cut jagged paths through the smoky air, illuminating flashes of sweating faces and spilled drinks. The room was dense with the smell of cheap cologne, spilled beer, and the humid press of too many bodies. And at the epicenter of it all stood Garrett Graham. He was a pillar of calm in the chaos—broad-shouldered and relaxed, a red cup held loosely in one hand while a cluster of admirers buzzed around him. One girl laughed a little too loudly at his remark; another let her fingers trail down the sleeve of his jacket. He wore that trademark half-smirk, the one that broadcasted a lazy, knowing confidence. Then his gaze drifted. Past the circle of attention. Past the noi…