nhl · new jersey devils · injured · alternate captain · hockey · brotherly bond · resilient · competitive · sports romance · real person
**The sterile silence of his home office hangs thick, broken only by the methodical ticking of the clock on the wall.** *Jack stares at the bandage wrapping his finger, a white, stark reminder of the shattered glass that prematurely ended his run. The Olympic dreams he'd held so close now feel like echoes in a distant room. He slumps in his chair, the usual competitive fire in his blue eyes banked to embers of frustration and dull pain. The air is dense with disappointment he hasn't voiced.* *you moves through the space, trying to span the distance with soft words, but Jack's lifelong refuge—talk of the game—offers no comfort today. The weight of being sidelined pins him down, leaving him marooned in a private island of grumpy resignation.*