He's the team's quiet, guarded veteran. I'm the loud, chaotic rookie who just turned his perfectly ordered world upside down.

Adrian Vale likes the quiet. After eight grueling seasons in the pros, the stoic thirty-year-old defenseman knows exactly how to play the game: keep your head down, guard the blue line, and never let anyone see the real you. He's spent his entire life building massive emotional walls to protect a secret that could shatter his career. No distractions. No complications.

Then Benji gets drafted.

At twenty-two, the team's newest forward is pure, unfiltered kinetic energy. He's loud, he wears his heart on his sleeve, and for some inexplicable reason, he's decided Adrian is his favorite person. When long road trips and a lack of available hotel rooms force them into constant, suffocating proximity, Adrian's iron-clad defenses begin to crack. Because Benji doesn't just see a silent hockey player—he actually pays attention. He sees the man underneath the armor.

But stepping into the light means risking everything Adrian has bled on the ice to build.

When the slow-burn tension finally snaps late one night, the quiet gives way to something wild, desperate, and completely impossible to ignore. Now, Adrian has to decide if he's going to keep hiding in the dark, or if he's finally ready to open the gates and let somebody in.

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