Kade POVWalking into Rook’s place is always a weird experience. It’s too big, too fucking clean, the kind of estate that screams old money and too many empty rooms. It’s the exact opposite of what I grew up with, and every time I step inside, I feel like I don’t belong in it.But I don’t hesitate. Not tonight.Kicking off my shoes, I ignore the grand entrance, the polished floors, the ridiculous amount of space that no one actually needs, and head straight for the stairs. I know where I’m going. I’ve been here enough times now to find my way to Rook’s room without thinking about it.His footsteps are steady behind me, not rushing, not pushing, just there. I can feel his eyes on me, probably waiting for me to snap, to change my mind, to run like I always do.But I don’t. Reaching the top of the stairs, I take a left, pushing open the heavy-ass door that leads into his space, the only place in this entire house that actually feels like him.The room is big, obviously, but not in the sa
Rook’s POVKade is asleep. He fell asleep too quickly, but then again, neither of us got much rest in the car. I should sleep too, I want to but my head won’t shut the fuck up, not with everything spinning in my mind.Sliding out of bed, I move carefully, making sure I don’t wake him before grabbing a shirt and heading downstairs. The estate is quiet, the kind of silence that feels unnatural, too heavy, too still. But my father?He’s already waiting.I don’t even sit before speaking. “What did you find?”His expression is carefully neutral, but there’s something in his eyes, something hesitant. I recognize that look.My stomach tightens. “You fucking knew,” I snap, not needing him to say it. He knew. He’s always known.“Let me explain.”I laugh, sharp and humorless. “Explain?” I drop into the chair across from him, leaning forward. “Go ahead, explain how you’ve known this whole damn time and didn’t think to tell me.”He exhales slowly, like he’s picking his words carefully. “Mercer’s
Rook POV“That’s supposed to fucking help?” My voice cracks, raw and furious. “That’s supposed to make any of this fucking better?” My hands tremble, my head shaking again as I pace, trying to get a grip, trying to breathe, but it’s not working. “I killed him.” The words taste foreign, bitter, acid burning the back of my throat. “I fucking killed him.”I remember that day, all I knew was he killed my grandfather. My father watches me, his expression unreadable, like he’s trying to gauge just how far I’m about to spiral.“You did what you were told to do,” he says simply. “You were sixteen. You didn’t even know who he was.”I let out another bitter laugh, sharp and broken, dragging my hands through my hair. ”And that makes it okay?"He doesn’t answer, because there is no fucking answer.The weight of it crashes down, pressing on my chest like I can’t fucking breathe. My hands drag over my face, trying to ground myself, but it does nothing. Nothing makes this better. Nothing makes this
Kade’s POVWaking up tangled with Rook isn’t new.It’s happened enough times that my body doesn’t immediately tense, doesn’t instantly react like it used to. His arm is slung over my waist, his breath warm against the back of my neck, his leg heavy over mine like he’s trying to make sure I don’t go anywhere. Normally, I’d roll my eyes, shift just to mess with him, shove him off when he starts clinging too much.But something is off.The air feels wrong, thick in a way that has nothing to do with sleep, and before I can stop myself, my body locks up, instincts kicking in. It’s subtle, almost too subtle to catch if I didn’t know him like I do, but Rook isn’t himself.He’s too still. The usual heat that radiates off him like he’s always ready for something, an argument, a fight, some way to piss me off, isn’t there.There’s no lazy smirk pressed against my skin, no cocky, half-mumbled comment about how I can’t resist him or how I must secretly love waking up wrapped in him. There’s no te
Kade POVSighing, I push the covers off and sit up, stretching before standing. The shift in movement has Rook pulling his arm back, exhaling as he rolls onto his back, one arm resting over his face. He still doesn’t say anything, just lies there like he’s trying to keep himself grounded.I grab my clothes, moving around the room with purpose, pulling my shirt over my head and grabbing my jeans off the floor. I can feel his eyes on me, can sense him watching, but he doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, doesn’t throw out some smug comment like he normally would.I’m not sure I like it.“You getting up, or are you just gonna lie there like a lazy fuck all morning?” My voice is steady, casual, like I’m not watching him for any cracks, for any more signs that something’s still off.Rook doesn’t react at first, but after a few more seconds, he shifts, dragging himself upright with a heavy exhale. “Yeah, yeah,” he mutters, running a hand through his hair before finally swinging his legs over the si
Kade POVThe silence is unbearable.It presses against my skin, suffocating, making my head fucking pound with the weight of everything Rook isn’t saying. His grip is still tight on the wheel, his jaw locked, his entire body tense, like he’s bracing for something. Like he knows what’s coming and refuses to stop it.I shouldn’t have fucking said anything. I should’ve let this ride out until it was obvious, until I caught him slipping away instead of forcing him to admit it.But he won’t even fucking do that.“You know what’s worse than you deciding I wasn’t worth it?” My voice is sharp, but there’s a shake to it I hate, a fucking weakness I can’t control. “The fact that you don’t even have the balls to say it.”His fingers flex against the wheel, his mouth pressing into a hard line. “Kade...”“Don’t.” I cut him off before he can try to smooth this over, before he can say something that sounds like an excuse but is really just a way to push this under the fucking rug. ”Don’t say my name
Rook’s POVThe moment Kade disappears into his apartment, I grip the wheel tighter, staring at the door for a second longer than I should before finally pressing the gas. I don’t know where the fuck I’m driving, but I need to move, need to put distance between me and the way he looked at me before he walked away.Sleep never came last night, not that I expected it to. How the fuck could I sleep knowing what I know? Every second I spent lying next to him, feeling the warmth of his body against mine, I knew it was temporary. I knew the truth was coming, and when it did, it would rip through everything we built and leave nothing behind.Getting over what my family did to his is one thing, hell, getting over my family killing his dad as some fucked-up revenge after he killed my grandfather? That would take more than just time. But him finding out it was me? Even if I was just sixteen, even if I had no idea who the man was at the time—no. There’s no way back from that.And even if somehow
Rook POVI grip the wheel tighter, my jaw clenched as I pull onto the highway, but my mind is still in that fucking locker room. My body aches, not from playing hard, but from playing like shit. I had no rhythm, no edge, no fucking fight in me, and everyone saw it. I couldn’t even pretend I was fine.I should go home. I should go back, shower off the loss, sleep off the weight pressing against my ribs, and move the fuck on. That’s what I’d normally do.But I know that if I go back, if I lay in that massive, empty bed, I’ll think about him. I’ll think about how his body felt against mine when we woke up yesterday, how he was warm and steady and mine, even if neither of us said it out loud. I’ll think about how, for once, I actually fucking believed I could have something real.And then I’ll remember the way he looked at me when I didn’t answer him. When he knew.My fingers flex around the wheel as I exhale through my nose. I need something else. Something that will pull me out of this.
Kade POVFinally, he exhales, looking out toward the lake. “I used to imagine what it’d be like if we weren’t always fighting, you know?”I stay silent, letting him keep going.“If we weren’t always trying to one-up each other on the ice, or arguing over who was the bigger dumbass in the relationship,” he continues. “What it’d be like to just… exist together. Without all the extra shit.”I take a step closer. “And?”He shrugs, eyes flicking back to mine. “I think I’d like it.”I grin because that’s as close to a confession as I’m going to get from him.Rook sighs, shaking his head. “You’re so fucking smug right now, aren’t you?”“A little.”He huffs but doesn’t push me away when I grab his wrist and pull him closer. The lanterns glow softly around us, the lake stretching o
Kade POVSitting here, I watch Rook, really watch him, and I can see it. The way his fingers tighten slightly around his glass, the way his jaw tenses just a little too much. He’s worried.I get it. This is a shift neither of us expected. I didn’t even expect it. But the more I think about it, the more I know this is what needs to happen.Sure, I love hockey, and I always will, but it takes time away from work, which then takes time away from Rook. If I have to choose, I’ll take him every time, and maybe that’s the biggest difference.For years, I didn’t think I had a choice. Hockey was survival. Work was control. Everything else was just existing between the cracks. Rook just existed between the cracks. Now, I can choose, and I want to I choose him.Leaning forward, I rest my arms on the table, waiting until his eyes flick back to mine. “I’m not saying I won’t play again, Rook. I’m saying I wan
Rook POVI swallow, gripping the edge of the table. “So, what? You’re just done with it?” I need to know, I need to try and understand his reasoning behind this. It's not a small change, it's big. It's not simply cutting back how much he plays and trains, it's stopping, entirely. I can't just, accept that, not without knowing that he's sure. Totally sure.“I don’t know.” His voice is quieter now, like even he doesn’t have a clear answer. “I just know that for the first time in my life, I have a choice.”A choice, that's what this is all about, this isn’t just about hockey at all, this is about everything. About him finally feeling like he’s not fighting for every single thing in his life. I don’t know if I should be proud of him for realizing that… or fucking terrified of what it means for us.I shake my head, trying to process this. “How do you suddenly go from loving ho
Rook POVMaybe this trip really is what we needed and maybe, for once, we can actually just be.Dinner is easy. The kind of normal we don’t usually get. We order, we eat, and we talk. Actually talk, without me feeling like I have to pry every word out of him.At some point, the conversation shifts to hockey. It’s familiar territory, something we’ve always been able to talk about no matter how much shit was going on.Kade twirls the last bite of pasta on his fork, glancing up at me. “So, how pissed were you when I didn’t show up for the game?”I scoff. “How pissed? I was fucking livid. Thought about hunting your ass down and dragging you onto the ice myself.”He smirks. “Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve manhandled me.”Rolling my eyes, I groan. “Don’t try and turn this into something else. You left me to deal with a fucking rookie.”Kade c
Rook POVThe villa is fucking ridiculous. The kind of place you see in movies, huge windows that overlook the lake, open spaces, marble floors that I know I’m going to hate walking on in the morning when they’re cold as hell.Kade steps inside first, rolling his shoulders like he’s preparing himself for something, but I ignore it, walking straight past him and toward the bedroom. “Come on, we’re going out.”He groans behind me. “We just got here.”“And?” I glance over my shoulder, smirking. “Did you think I was going to let you sit inside and mope?”He mutters something under his breath, but I don’t wait for him, grabbing my bag and pulling out fresh clothes. By the time I’m dressed, Kade has finally dragged his ass to change too, standing in front of the mirror adjusting his shirt.He looks good. Annoyingly good. Like he belongs in this kind
Kade POV“If I handle my shit, me, not you, because it’s me fucking things up, then we come back to the conversation in six months.”He groans. “Six months?”“You’re acting like it’s years.”He nods quickly. “In Rook time, that is years.”“Rook time? What are you now, a fucking dog?” I laugh, and he nods without hesitation.“If it works for them, it works for me!”“You’re delusional. Do you agree or not?” I look at him, waiting.Chewing his lip, he tilts his head before finally nodding. “Deal. Six months, and we get a kid.”“No, that is not what I fucking said.” I glare at him.“Would you even know if I did it without you?” He smirks.I glare harder. “The screaming baby when I came home would be proof you had. Six months, and we talk.”His grin widens, but at least he doesn’t argue. Instead, he stretches out in his seat, looking far too pleased with himself.I narrow my eyes. “You’re not going
Kade POVThe sound of Rook pulls me from my sleep. Groaning, I try to get more comfortable.“Kade,” he whispers, and I groan.“No.” I’m sleeping. He can leave me alone.“Wake up.”Shaking my head, I keep my eyes closed. “Shh.”He chuckles quietly. “You need to wake up.”“Five more minutes,” I whisper.“As nice as it has been to have you this close for the last, like, eight hours, the plane is descending, and my body is numb.”I move slightly and realize. “Shit.” I fell asleep on him. I pull back slightly, and he’s smirking at me. “Sorry.”“It was highly amusing. One moment we were talking, then you were snoring in my ear. No warning, nothing.”I rub my face, trying to wake myself up. “I slept the whole flight?”“You did. On me.” He smirks, and I nod.“Sorry. You should have woken me and told me to move.” What sort of idiot doesn’t? I remember we got cleaned up and dressed. Then he pulled me back onto him.What the hell were we talking about? My mind tries to think back. I just remembe
Rook POVKade’s fingers move to undo the rest of my buttons, and I lift my hips to help him slide my trousers down. His eyes never leave mine, and I can see the fire in them. I reach up and run my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to me.His hand wraps around my cock and I shudder at the touch, my body betraying my earlier reservations. He smirks, knowing he’s won this round, and leans in to press a kiss to my neck. The sensation of his lips on my skin sends a thrill down my spine, and I can’t help but let out a low moan.Kade takes this as encouragement and continues to explore my body with his mouth. His tongue traces a path along my collarbone, and I can feel my resolve weakening with every passing second. I try to remind myself that this isn’t the right time, that we have more important things to focus on, but it’s hard to think straight when Kade is making me feel this good.He drops to his knees in front of me and I can feel his hot breath on my cock, and I know what’s
Rook POVKade hasn’t moved much since he finally let himself collapse into me. He’s still pressed against my side, his head resting against my shoulder, his breathing is slower now, but there’s still something off. He’s not asleep, but he’s not really here either. He’s stuck somewhere in his own fucking head, lost in thoughts I can’t pull him out of, so I just sit here with him, my arm around him, my hand rubbing slow, steady circles on his back.I don’t rush him, I don’t tell him to get up, get over it, and move on.I just wait, because for once, he’s not trying to pretend.The car slows, the subtle shift in movement telling me we’ve arrived at the airstrip. I glance out the window and see the jet waiting, the engines already running, ready to take us the fuck away from here.Damon is standing by the car before we even get out, his face unreadable as he opens the door. “Rose t