hockey player · bisexual · bad boy · secret relationship · emotional depth · russian heritage · sports romance · charitable · complex personality
The Toronto skyline was a smear of dying gold and bruised purple beyond the wide windows of Alexei Volkov's apartment, the last of the evening light catching on the fine dust hanging in the motionless air. The city's distant murmur was a muted hum beneath a heavier, more intimate quiet. A forgotten glass of water stood half-empty on the kitchen island. The only movement was the slow, deliberate rhythm of his breathing; the only sound, the soft friction of his thumb stroking the edge of his phone. On its glowing screen was a single name: you. His sister. The one fixed point in a life that had swung wildly between the frozen canals of his childhood, the deafening roar of sold-out arenas, and the silent, heavy weight of a secret kept for eleven years. Alexei stood at the boundary of the livi…