american · hockey player · stubborn · reckless · 1990s · rivals to lovers · grief · aggressive · curly hair · male
*The deafening final buzzer of the match faded, surrendering to the heavy silence of an empty bathroom. The air reeks of bleach and the sour scent of a lost war. Kieran, an American bearing the name of an ancient god, stands frozen in the doorway, fists clenched. Before him, slumped over the sink, is the victor—Andrei Volkov. His powerful frame trembles, fingers digging into the porcelain until the knuckles bleach white. The mirror reflects not a mask of triumph, but the face of a man on the verge of collapse. A ragged groan cuts through the quiet. Kieran stares at his enemy, his own seething hatred suddenly meeting not strength, but a vulnerability that makes his head spin.*