Noah's P.O.VAfter Jaxon kicked me out of his room, I decided to go by myself to the library. So I was walking across campus and minding my business when I spotted him.My heart beat instantly kicked up and the damned organ began slamming itself against my ribcage as if it was trying to escape and jump into his hands. God, he looked heavenly.Dorian was clearly on a run, wearing a pair of low-hanging track pants and black headphones that made him look infuriatingly hot. He was also wearing his lip ring and it caught the sun, adding to his sex appeal. There was a sheen of sweat covering his rippling muscles as he jogged but the longer I looked, I realized there was something different about his appearance.And then it clicked. Dorian has gotten a fresh haircut. Most of the time I’d seen him at practice in the last forty-eight hours, he had his helmet on and besides, I avoided him like the plague. His red hair has been shaved to the low buzzcut he was wearing the first time he came int
Noah’s P.O.VImogen was ridiculous.We walked through the rows of bookshelves, her mouth running nonstop, and I barely had the time to process the fact that I’d just met someone who actually had MY love for classical literature.She ranted about everything–why she hated first-person narrative (“I don’t care what the protagonist thinks, I want to see them just fucking act and fuck up in real-time.”) why Hemmingway was overrated, (“Good for him and his six-word stories. I could do that too, you know. Here see, ‘Man is sad. Drinks. Dies. The end.) that was actually very funny even if I didn’t totally agree with her. She talked so much she even explained why bookstore coffee tasted like burnt sadness, but was still somehow superior to Starjucks.And I found myself actually listening…and enjoying it.People didn’t talk to me like this, not as Noah Carter, hockey captain and Son of NHL royalty, but as just as some guy, who happened to be returning books in a library. Hell, I dare say a nerd
Noah’s P.O.VNew sets of drinks had arrived and we’d fallen back into our easy, comfortable rhythm which was basically laughing, drinking, and throwing jokes around like we are both just bunchs of idiots with no midterms, no existential crises, and no…secret confusing sexual awakenings hanging over our heads.I was throwing back a gulp of beer when Imogen leaned in, her breath warm with alcohol and mischief. “Okay, but if you could…which guy in this bar would you kiss?”The beer went down the wrong pie and I had to set my bottle down, coughing while she cackled like I’d just been caught watching gay porn in church.“Jesus,” I wheezed, wiping my mouth. “What is wrong with you?”“Oh, come on,” Imogen whined, nudging my arm. “It’s hypothetical.”I shook my head, but she kept at it, her eyes wide and goading, until finally, with a put-upon sigh, I relented. “Fine.” then I angled my body so I could scan the room.The bar was packed now, filled with a chaotic mix of students and locals, som
Noah’s POVThe night air was crisp against my flushed skin as I slumped back on the bench, laughing breathlessly. Imogen was curled up beside me, head tilted back as she cackled into the sky."Okay," she gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. "Tonight has been iconic." "I can't believe we walked back and forth three times like idiots.""We're so stupid," she wheezed, and we dissolved into another fit of laughter.Then my phone buzzed.I frowned and pulled it out, blinking against the sudden brightness. 20 profile views. 15 new message requests from the Smashers site."...What the fuck?"Imogen leaned over my shoulder, eyes widening. "Oh my god." She grabbed my arm, shaking it. "I told you! The shirtless pics are bringing them in!"I stared at my screen, baffled. "Already?""Baby, the second a looker like you upload a thirst trap on a hookup site, the floodgates open."I hesitated, then tapped on the message requests. My eyes widened at the sheer number of profile pictures featuring shir
Noah’s P.O.VI knew I was fucked the second I stepped onto the ice. My head was pounding in a dull nauseating throb that made my vision blur at the edges. And to make matters worse, I’d forgotten to put my contacts in, so everything was blurry as if I was looking at the world through a dirty windshield. It didn’t help that my stomach was still churning alcohol. And the noises of the skates against ice and puck, they kept stabbing straight through my skull and of course, Coach fucking noticed.“Get your head on straight, Carter. Or get the hell off my ice.”My grip on my stick tightened as a few of the rookies snickered.I deserved that. I knew I deserved that. I’d skipped practice, and now I was showing up hung-over and sort of half-drunk and sweating out last night’s shenanigans. But I was already pissed off and humiliated by Coach O’Rourke when I joined them this morning. He called me aside once I skated out and chewed me out for missing practice and my irresponsibility because of
Dorian’s P.O.VCarter had some fucking nerve.Ignoring my texts after running out on me that night like I was some kind of mistake he had to scrub off his skin. This was why I never messed with people like him. And that was the fucking cue I needed to let it go; let him crawl back into whatever straight-boy delusion he was living in and move the fuck on. But anytime I saw his face, all I could think about was how good he’d looked falling apart under me. How easy it would be to make him crack again, and how much I wanted to be the one to do it.But I needed to remember that a game was all this was fucking allowed to mean to me. Get Carter to give into his needs for me, make him fall, and then remind him what it felt like to be stepped on. That was my plan so I wasn’t supposed to take Carter running out on me personally. So why the fuck did it feel personal? It felt as though I was…a dirty secret that Noah was trying to run away from. As I watched him skate onto the ice, still managin
Dorian's P.O.VMy brows furrowed as the name struck a chord. Smashr….Smashr…where had I heard–It suddenly hit me like a pile of bricks. Smashrs was a fucking gay hookup site. The kind where guys traded dick pics like Pokemon cards and set up quick, meaningless fucks in parking lots and seedy hotel rooms. I stared at the notification for a long time, my stomach churning with rage. So this was why he ignored my tests after he ran out on me and hid behind a fucking light pole instead of talking to me. Rage and curiosity boiled something bitter in me and I pressed the home button, frowning as the lock screen popped up. It was a six-digit passcode.For a moment, I was lost, but then, I knew Carter was the type to keep the books on his table arranged in a particular color order. So I tried in his locker combination, repeating it twice.Bin-fucking-go! The screen unlocked. I swiped up and tapped the smashr notification and instantly Carter’s inbox filled my screen.40+ fucking messages.. M
Dorian's P.O.VThe vibration of my phone that I'd somehow shoved beneath my pillow woke me up. and when I looked around, I saw it was already morning. Yawning I picked up my phone and saw it was a notification from Smashr, specifically from DickensDatBooty.Blinking, I opened the message.DickensDatBooty: Sorry for disappearing last night. Pain meds knocked me out.Relief flooded my veins and I pushed out a hot breath, letting my head sink back into the pillow. If been so worried that my plan had already going up in flames and Carter had caught on to the fact that I was cat fishing him. but fucking clearly, everything was still on track. Rubbing the last traces of sleep away from my eyes, I started to thumb out a response, and then deleted it. Redline87 shouldn't know that Noah had an injury on the ice. I had to play dumb.Me: Oh, what happened?A few seconds later, three dots bubbled up and his message came in DickensDatBooty: It's not a big deal. I just fell down some stairs and
Noah's P.O.VFucking disgusting queers.My fists clenched around the wet paper towels, making them squelch in my grip, and I felt the heat crawl up my neck. but it wasn't from embarrassment this time. it was Rage and it burned through the last shreds of humiliation clinging to me gotten from that wet spot on my jeans clinging to me like a fucking badge I hadn't asked for. I dropped the tissues, letting them splat to the floor, and squared my shoulders, stepping into his space till we were chest to chest. He was bigger, sure, reeking of cheap beer and even cheaper hate, but I didn't give a shit... For the first time, I now understood just how Dorian must have felt when Matt kept putting him on the spot."Say it again," I growled, locking my eyes on his. A flicker of surprise flashed quickly through his eyes as though he hadn't expected me to push back. And from the experience I'd had with Matt, I knew guys like him never do. They think they could spit their poison and walk away with no
Noah’s P.O.V.On the way back to the lake house, my stomach grumbled quite loudly, reminding us that we didn't have breakfast so Dorian rolled up to this little breakfast cafe off the highway, some hole-in-the-wall spot with checkered floors and the smell of bacon thick in the air. I slid into the booth across from Dorian, and the second our eyes locked, it was like some sappy butterflies in the stomach type of shit, straight out of a movie—Dorian kept giving me these damn looks. Eyes soft, lips twitching in that lazy, knowing smirk. It made my stomach tighten, not with nerves, but with something sweeter.. He grinned at me, all messy red hair and sharp green eyes, and I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought happiness like this was off the table. Out here, miles from hockey, from the team, from my dad’s bullshit, I could just… be myself, Noah Carter. Not the star hockey player or the Golden boy captain. No masks, no pressure. Just me and him, and it felt so fucking good I almost didn’t
I woke up to a warm, firm hand kneading my ass, fingers pressing deep, massaging like I was something to be sculpted. Lips slowly brushed over my shoulders, the soft scrape of teeth sending a dull shiver through my sleep-heavy body.A small, satisfied smile curled at my lips before I even opened my eyes. Dorian.My body knew his touch before my brain fully caught up. His fingers spread, gripping my ass like he owned it, kneading the flesh before sliding down, teasing over my thighs. I stretched on the bed with a quiet groan, pressing back into his touch and feeling my cock stir despite the ridiculous number of times we’d gone at it last night, with the endless blowjobs and handjobs.Biting back a yawn, I muttered, “Mmm. Good morning to you too.” My voice was thick with sleep, but I was already waking up fast.A low grunt was the only answer I got, Then those lips started moving lower and mapping out my back with open-mouthed kisses.. His lips traced over my spine, down past the curve
Noah’s P.O.VDorian pulled the old Chevy to a stop, a sputtering noise echoing from its engine before it finally stopped. We’d been driving for hours, the Minnesota wilderness stretching out endlessly until a little cottage appeared, nestled against a glassy lake that shimmered under the afternoon sun. In the silence that followed, I glanced over at Dorian. His long fingers were still gripping the wheel and his knuckles were scraped raw from his fight with Matt. The swelling around his eyes had lessened a lot, but honestly, Dorian was the only one I knew who still managed to look scrumptious while he was roughed up. When he noticed me looking at him, he flicked his green eyes to me for a second, before he yanked the keys out of the ignition.Neither of us said a word as we alighted and Dorian rounded the car to the trunk, opened it, and pulled out our bags before tossing mine at me. My fingers closed around the worn strap, still not sure why the fuck I even let him drive me here.Stil
Noah’s P.O.VI woke up way too fucking early, sunlight barely creeping through the blinds, but my heart was already hammering like I’d chugged three Red Bulls. It was stupid how excited I was just to see Dorian again, to grab my damn clothes from him. After last night—fuck, that shower, his mouth, the way he’d owned me—I couldn’t shake him. I’d been a coward for too long, holding back when every inch of me screamed to run toward him, not away. I rolled out of bed, dick half-hard just thinking about that heated green eyes glinting under the bathroom light, and stumbled into the shower. The hot water did nothing to calm me down; it just made me think of him slick and naked, smirking at me like he knew every dirty thought in my head.As soon as I scrubbed myself clean, I threw on a hoodie and jeans, and bolted out of the frat house like my ass was on fire. The walk to Dorian’s dorm was a blur—my pulse thumped in my ears, and I couldn’t tell if it was nerves or anticipation. His piercing
Noah’s P.O.VEver since I bolted out of Dorian’s room like a coward, the last time I’d ever been in close proximity with him was at the game where I ended up punching him in the face. I felt so cowardly and disgusted with myself after, that I had Jaxon’s roommate switch rooms with me so I didn’t have to face Dorian when he returned to the hotel room. Fear was a bitch and it had me running from the only one who’s ever made me feel emotions so strongly it resonated down to my bone. I was a gutless bastard, too terrified to own up to the way Dorian set me on fire. I’d known that I couldn’t avoid Dorian forever especially since I would soon return to hockey, but I’d hoped to drag it out for as long as I could because I couldn’t give Dorian the answers to the questions he would ask me. They were too raw to be spoken out loud and that was why I could only share it over text with Redline87. But when I heard Dorian had gotten into a fight with that meathead, Matt, and was in a really bad fuck
Noah's P.O.V A week after that book conference, I had just finished my last class of the day and was making my way down the corridor, contemplating a day in the gym to test how strong my knees had gotten, that's even if they healed at all, when a rough hand grabbed my arm and yanked me sideways. My back hit the wall of an empty classroom before I even had time to react. My brain stuttered, heart slamming into my ribs as I half-expected to see Dorian standing there, green eyes glaring at me. But it was Jaxon and he looked furious than I'd ever seen him in my life. “When the fuck were you planning to tell me?" He was breathing hard, eyes dark with something I couldn’t quite place, and my first instinct was to shove him off me. “What the hell is your problem?” I demanded, shaking off my disorientation. “Jesus, Jax, what is—” “The locks,” He stepped closer, his sneakers squeaking on the tile. “The locks to your apartment, Noah. They’ve been changed.” For a moment, I just blinked at
Noah’s P.O.VEver since that game that punched our ticket to regionals, the one I didn’t even play in, I’d felt ths weird, jittery freedom. Sure, Dad had slashed my allowance to practically nothing, and I wouldn’t be sitting through Mom’s stiff, overcooked birthday dinner this year, pretending to be Easton Carter’s perfect golden boy. My knee still throbbed sometimes, a dull ache that flared anything I shifted wrong. But honestly, I didn’t care as much as I thought I would. No alllowance meant I’d run lean on food, but I could scrape by. And that birthday dinner was something I’d always hated–sitting there with a fake smile, choking down dry roast while surrounded by dad’s businessmen and sportsmen that he never failed to parade me in front of them. So yeah, screw it. On the bright side, this injury I had brought me time. Time to crack open books and sink into beautiful fictional worlds without the weight of captain duties crushing my chest. I felt free, like a bird finally flapping
Dorian’s P.O.VI crouched behind a stack of gear bags, sweat still clinging to my neck from the game we just fucking smashed. My chest was heaving, high off the win, but I was here searching for Noah because he vanished after the final buzzer. Seeing the man towering over him come into view with Noah just standing there, arms crossed, head-dipped low, and looking like a kicked puppy instead of the smug, golden-boy captain I was used to hating, my throat worked with difficulty and it became increasingly hard to just stand by but I knew I needed to see and hear this.“You are a goddamn embarrassment, Noah,” the guy snarled, his voice gravelly and spiteful. From where I was, I could see his face which was literally an older and more refined version of Noah's. They had the same blue eyes, only his held disdain for a son he was supposed to love while Noah's held...emptiness. “I drove six hours to watch you play, and what do I get? Useless excuses from you. Concussion and a Knee sprain? eve