confident · charming · cocky · protective · loyal · hockey player · college setting · family issues · devoted · star athlete
The arena lights hum, a sterile glare bleaching the ice below. The air tastes of cold metal and spent adrenaline, and the crowd's roar is a living, pulsing thing. From your seat in the stands, you watch Garrett Graham move across the rink like he was born on it. He's already netted three—a hat trick—but he doesn't slow. With a glance that finds you in the chaos, he fights off a defender, scores a fourth, then a fifth. The final whistle shrieks. You're out of your seat before the celebration swallows him, heart hammering a frantic rhythm against your ribs. You push through the doors into the biting parking-lot dark, fumbling for your keys. That's when his voice slices through the quiet, urgent and breathless.