The Hockey Captain's Secret Girl

9. The Unmasked Prodigy

We sat in the stands, Brandon constantly wrapping his arms around me to keep me warm. The irony was, I was more than used to the freezing temperature of an ice rink, not that he knew.

Nobody at Toronto University knew who I really was.

“Look at you, you're so gorgeous," Brandon murmured, playing with my hair. Every time a stray strand fell over my face, his fingers were right there to brush it away. "If that thug Vance so much as lays a finger on you, I’ll personally break his bones with my stick.”

To me, in moments like this, he was just Brandon. Not the untouchable hockey captain. His rigid, cold, and ruthless aura completely evaporated the second he wanted to be affectionate with me.

“You’re going to make me the center of attention if you keep dragging me out here every night,” I teased softly.

“Let them look. I want you, Hailey. That's all that matters.”

I tapped his broad chest gently, a small smile tugging at my lips. The things coming out of his mouth were seriously making me feel like I was floating.

“Are you always like this? I mean, with every girl you slide into the DMs of?”

Brandon let out a low chuckle. “You think I’m as cheap as Vance? Go ask your best friend with the glasses. Have I ever gone on a single date since I enrolled at TU? No one’s caught my eye. Not until you.”

“Why not? You’re handsome, you’ve got everything going for you.”

Brandon went quiet for a second. He leaned in closer, his lips crowding the space right next to my ear. The brush of his warm breath sent an immediate wave of shivers down my spine, making my entire body tense up.

“Because there’s no one like you, Hailey. You’re the first girl who’s driven me this insane, the first one who completely strips away my self-control. You have this pull on me, something I can’t even explain,” he whispered. Then, his teeth nipped playfully at my neck, making me flinch and let out an involuntary gasp.

He left a mark right there on my skin. A silent, bruising claim that I belonged to him.

•••••

The next morning, I was back in my apartment with slightly swollen lips and a chest full of anxiety. Brandon’s protective embrace at night always offered a false sense of security, because the second the sun rose, reality slapped me in the face all over again.

I couldn’t keep hiding under the Ice King’s wing forever.

The secret I’d kept locked away, the very reason I packed my life up and fled Vancouver, was starting to crack.

I wasn’t running from some dramatic family scandal. I was running from myself.

By 8:00 AM, the atmosphere in the business school's main hallway was suffocatingly tense. Usually, people gave me passing glances because I was the “mysterious new girl” caught between two rival sports captains. But today, the stares were different. It was a mix of shock, twisted admiration, and venomous whispers echoing from every corner.

“Hailey, this is insane! You need to look at this right now!” Lily suddenly burst through the crowd, her face completely pale as she shoved her phone in front of my face.

The screen was open to the top post on TU Underground—the campus's toxic anonymous forum. Someone had uploaded a side-by-side shot: a page from a national sports magazine from a year ago, next to a picture of me walking down the hallway yesterday.

The headline was blasted in bold letters that felt like a physical punch to my gut:

“The Girl in the Hoodie: Is She Hailey Cartenz, Vancouver’s Missing ‘Ice Princess’?”

Below the image, the vicious narrative spun by Jessica and her clones read:

"Who would’ve thought the innocent new girl who always hides behind a baggy hoodie is actually a gold-medal-winning figure skater from Vancouver? Word is she went ghost after a severe knee injury a year ago. Now she’s at TU, playing the victim card to score attention from both Brandon Walker and Alex Vance. What a desperate, disgusting drama queen.”

The air left my lungs in an instant. My hands shook violently as I stared at the magazine scan. There I was, a year ago, wearing a stunning, sparkling skating dress, smiling brightly on center ice with a gold medal gleaming around my neck. It was a brutal contrast to the girl I was now: buried in a giant gray hoodie and a cap pulled low to hide from the world.

“Hailey…” Lily whispered, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief. “You’re… her? The prodigy who just vanished from the news?”

I leaned my back against the freezing metal locker, closing my eyes tight. Right on cue, the phantom pain in my left knee started to throb. I didn't run away out of shame.

I ran away because I was broken. When the surgeons told me my torn ligaments meant I’d never jump the way I used to, my entire world imploded. I couldn't handle the pitying stares in Vancouver anymore. So, I chose to disappear and become a nobody in Toronto.

“Yeah,” I whispered, opening my eyes with the tiny bit of strength I had left. “That’s me.”

“This is messed up… Jessica leaked this to make everyone think you're clout-chasing by weaponizing your past,” Lily said frantically. “You need to talk to Brandon. He’s the hockey captain; he knows how to handle media heat—”

“No, Lily,” I cut her off sharply. “If Brandon gets involved now, our deal is dead. People will just say I’m using my background as a fellow ice athlete to leech off his spotlight.”

I straightened my posture and adjusted the brim of my cap. I refused to look weak. I was an elite athlete; I was trained to stand tall under blinding stadium lights, no matter how brutal the pressure got. If Jessica thought exposing my past would break me, she had no idea who she was dealing with.

I marched down the hallway, ignoring the burning stares of hundreds of undergrads who were now looking at me through a completely different lens—no longer as a quiet nobody, but as a fallen star in hiding.

And then, at the end of the quad, the Blackhawks hockey team appeared.

My pace faltered. Brandon was walking at the front of the pack. From his hard, locked jaw and the veins bulging in his neck, I knew instantly that he’d seen the forum post. His dark eyes locked onto mine. A split second of pure shock flashed across his face before it turned into a raging, terrifying fury directed at whoever had violated my privacy.

Brandon’s stride widened. He was about to break the rules. He was moving toward me, ready to shield me from the whispers of the crowd.

I looked him straight in the eyes and gave him the tiniest, most desperate shake of my head. A silent plea meant only for him: Not now, Brandon. Don’t ruin the deal.

Brandon froze mid-step. His chest rose and fell sharply as he fought the protective instinct roaring inside him. He shoved his hands deep into his varsity jacket pockets, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, forced into silence by the very contract we'd written.

He walked right past me, never breaking stride. But as our shoulders brushed, a dangerously low whisper escaped his lips, meant for my ears and my ears alone:

“Meet me at the rink tonight. We need to talk about your ice, Hailey.”