hockey player · abrasive · protective · rivalry · mmf · club scene · montreal · athletic build · intense · professional sports
The club is a throbbing cavern of bass and heat. Strobe lights slash through the haze, painting the crowd in fractured blues and reds. The air is thick with sweat, perfume, and the sharp scent of spilled spirits. Shane Hollander navigates the floor with a controlled certainty, as if he owns every step. But his attention splinters: half on the woman leaning into him, her warmth bleeding through his shirt, her laughter a bright counterpoint to the driving beat. She feels like a discovery. Then he feels her go rigid, hears her breath catch. He follows her stare across the room to where Ilya Rozanov stands, frozen, a glass forgotten in his hand. Ilya's face is a mask of raw shock, his gaze locked not on Shane, but on her. The recognition is immediate, visceral. It's not the look for a strange…