Hate On The Ice, Mine In The Dark

6. Back On Campus

**Nathan’s POV**

The bus ride back to campus felt longer than usual. I sat near the window with my hoodie pulled up, earbuds in even though no music was playing. Theo dropped into the seat beside me about twenty minutes into the trip and didn’t say anything at first. He just looked at me the way he always did when he knew something was off.

“You’re quiet,” he said eventually.

“I’m tired.”

“You’ve been tired since before the Summit. This is different.” He leaned closer, voice low. “Did something happen with Silvermane? You’ve been weird ever since that last game against them.”

I kept my eyes on the window. “Nothing happened.”

Theo didn’t look convinced, but he let it drop. The rest of the ride passed in silence. When we finally pulled into the campus lot, most of the team scattered toward the dorms and the dining hall. I headed straight for my building, hoping to reach my room without running into anyone else.

I almost made it.

Miles was leaning against the wall near the side entrance, phone in his hand, looking like he’d been waiting. He straightened when he saw me.

“You’re back,” he said.

“Obviously.”

“We need to talk.”

“Not here.”

“Then where?” He stepped closer. “Your room? Mine? The weight room after hours? Pick one, because I’m not doing the whole ignore-each-other act now that we’re back.”

I glanced around. A couple of students were walking past on the main path. “Miles, people can see us.”

“Then walk with me.”

He turned and started toward the quieter path behind the athletic building. I followed because arguing in the open felt worse. Once we were out of easy sight, he stopped and faced me.

“How’s the mark?” he asked.

My hand almost rose to my shoulder before I stopped it. “It’s fine.”

“Let me see.”

“No.”

Miles’s jaw tightened. “Nathan. Let me see it.”

I pulled the collar of my hoodie aside just enough. The bite was still dark and bruised, impossible to mistake for anything else. Miles stared at it for a second longer than necessary.

“You covered it well during the bus ride,” he said.

“I had to. Theo already asked too many questions.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That nothing happened.”

Miles let out a short breath. “We’re going to have to do better than that if we keep this up.”

“There is no ‘we keep this up’ if someone finds out.” I stepped back. “My father will lose his mind. Your father will use it. The team will—”

“I don’t care about the team right now.”

“I do.”

We stared at each other. The silence stretched until Miles finally spoke again, quieter this time.

“I’m not going to force you to walk around campus holding my hand. But I’m also not going to act like I don’t know what you sound like when I’m inside you. That version of us exists now. You can’t erase it just because we’re back on familiar ground.”

I didn’t have a good answer for that.

Practice started an hour later. The ice felt the same, the drills felt the same, but everything underneath was different. Every time I caught sight of the Growlers’ side of the rink during the joint warm-up period, my attention snagged. Miles skated past once and didn’t even glance at me, which somehow felt deliberate.

After practice I stayed longer than usual in the showers, waiting until most of the team had cleared out. When I finally stepped into the hallway with my bag over my shoulder, Miles was there again, leaning against the opposite wall.

“You’re making this a habit,” I said.

“You’re easy to find.” He pushed off the wall. “Walk with me to the parking lot. We need to finish the conversation from earlier.”

“Miles—”

“Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”

I followed him out the side door. The lot was mostly empty. He stopped beside his car and turned to face me fully.

“I meant what I said at the Summit,” he said. “I’m not pretending. But I also understand you need time to figure out how this works in real life. So here’s what I’m offering. We keep it quiet. No public displays. No risks in front of the team. But when we’re alone, you stop looking at me like I’m something you have to survive.”

“That’s not—”

“It is.” His voice stayed even. “You look at me like you’re waiting for the part where this becomes a mistake you have to clean up. I’m not interested in being that.”

I rubbed a hand over my face. “You make it sound simple.”

“It’s not simple. I know that. Your father, my father, the alliance, the packs — none of that is simple. But us, when the door is closed? That part doesn’t have to be complicated unless you keep making it that way.”

Before I could answer, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw my father’s name.

“I have to take this.”

Miles nodded once and stepped back, giving me space. I answered.

“Nathan.” My father’s voice was cold as usual. “You’re back on campus?”

“Yes.”

“Good. The alliance requires continued visibility. There will be a joint media appearance next week with the Silvermane heir. You will attend. You will be polite. You will give them nothing that suggests conflict.”

“Understood.”

“And Nathan.” He paused. “Whatever happened during the Summit stays there. Do not create problems now that the public face of this agreement is established.”

The line went dead.

I lowered the phone. Miles was still watching me.

“Joint media appearance,” I said.

“I got the same message from my father an hour ago.” He opened his car door. “Looks like we’re not done being forced into the same rooms after all.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

Miles hesitated, then spoke again. “Come to my place tonight. Not for anything you’re not ready for. Just to talk without looking over your shoulder every ten seconds. If you don’t want to, say so. I’ll leave it alone for now.”

I should have said no.

Instead I heard myself answer, “Text me the address.”

Something shifted in his expression — not victory, exactly, but relief that he quickly covered.

“I will.” He got into the car, then looked back at me one more time. “And Nathan? Stop covering the mark so carefully when you’re alone. You’re allowed to remember it’s there.”

He drove off before I could respond.

I stood in the parking lot for a long time after he left, phone still in my hand, the weight of the day settling in. Campus looked the same as it always had. The buildings, the paths, the familiar routine. But nothing felt the same.

Theo texted me as I finally started walking toward my dorm.

**Theo:**

You disappeared after practice. Everything good?

I stared at the message for a few seconds before typing back.

**Nathan:**

Yeah. Just tired. Talk tomorrow.

I put the phone away and kept walking. The mark on my shoulder throbbed once, as if reminding me it was still there. Miles’s words from the parking lot kept replaying in my head.

*You’re allowed to remember it’s there.*

I wasn’t sure I was ready for what that meant yet.

But I had already agreed to go to his place tonight.

And I already knew I wasn’t going to cancel.