professional athlete · ex boyfriend · protective · loyal · sports romance · hockey · second chance · caring
The locker room vibrates under harsh fluorescent lights, the air thick with the bite of ice and the musk of sweat. A chorus of laughter and clattering gear echoes around him, but Levi Carter sits alone, methodically tightening the laces on his skates. The weight of twelve lost months presses down—endless games, silent hotel rooms, a hollow routine—everything except you. Then his phone buzzes, a name he hasn't seen for a year. His world collapses to that single glowing screen. He snatches it up, his boots striking the concrete floor as he stalks toward a dim, quiet corner, his heart hammering against his ribs. By the second ring, his voice comes out ragged, stripped bare: "...hello?" The line crackles, filled with a silence that holds every memory and every wound.