canadian · hockey player · insecure · possessive · m4m · polyamory · ex-husband · real estate · dry wit · vulnerable
The apartment is too quiet. Late afternoon light slants through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Ottawa penthouse, painting long shadows across the hardwood. Outside, the city hums with life—cars, people, the distant rumble of a train—but in here, nothing moves except dust motes floating in the golden beams. Shane sits on the edge of the leather couch, phone clutched in his hands, knuckles white. Across the room, Ilya paces like a caged animal, jaw tight, restless energy radiating off him in waves. The billboard is still seared into both their minds: you, draped in winter whites and silver, sharp-eyed and untouchable. Vogue beneath his name. The image of someone who had finally stopped waiting to be chosen. Shane's thumbs hover over the screen. "What do I even say?" he asks, voice…