Chapter 2 Chapter 2

DAVIS’S POV

I wake up already irritated, not because of anything specific. Just the usual pressure waiting for me before the day even properly starts.

My phone vibrates across the nightstand for the fourth time.

Felix, I let it ring once more before answering. “What?”

“You missed media prep.” I shut my eyes again briefly. “Good morning to you too.”

“Davis, I’m serious.” Felix is always serious lately. “You disappeared for almost an hour,” he continues. “Sponsors are already nervous about tonight, and you skipping meetings doesn’t exactly help.”

I sit up slowly, rubbing sleep from my face while a dull ache pulls through my shoulder. I barely slept. “I said I’m coming.”

“Dad’s already pissed.” That’s the real reason for the call.

I lean back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling while frustration crawls steadily under my skin. Sometimes it feels like nobody around me knows how to talk about anything except hockey, sponsors, reputation, interviews, draft projections.

Felix keeps talking. “And try fixing your attitude before the press conference today. Reporters are already circling that emotional instability narrative again.”

The call ends a minute later, I stay sitting there for another minute staring at the ceiling while sports commentary plays softly from the TV in the living room. I forgot to turn it off before sleeping. Or technically attempting sleep.

Silence in this apartment feels too loud lately, so I leave noise running constantly even when I’m not listening to it.

By the time I get dressed, my shoulder already aches badly enough to piss me off. I grab my hockey bag near the door and stop halfway out of the apartment.

One of my old game pucks sits on the kitchen counter beside my keys from the Lakeside match last season, probably the worst game of my career, but for some reason I still keep it anyway.

John notices immediately during warmups. “You look dead.” I snort. “Thanks, man.”

“I mean it.”

“So do I.” He skates beside me for another second before lowering his voice slightly. “You sleep at all?”

“A little.”

“That bad, huh?” I shrug. John watches me quietly for a second before shaking his head. “You keep grinding your teeth like that, they’re gonna fall out.”

“Appreciate the support.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Practice feels terrible from the start. My shoulder burns every time I hit the boards, reporters hover near the rink waiting for drama, and Coach keeps watching me with that careful expression everybody suddenly uses around me now.

During break, the team crowds around the benches yelling over each other while music blasts through the speakers.

“Yo,” one teammate says while tossing tape toward me. “You coming to Zara’s party tomorrow or are you still pretending to hate fun?”

“I don’t hate fun.” John nearly chokes on his water beside me. I glare at him. “Shut up.”

“You skipped three parties this month.”

“Maybe I just don’t like you people that much.”

“That’s fair actually.” For the first time all day, I laugh a little. It disappears the second Felix texts again.Remember scouts are attending tonight. Don’t embarrass yourself.

My jaw tightens automatically. By evening, the arena is already packed. Students scream from the stands while cameras flash nonstop across the rink. Giant Ravenhawks banners hang from the ceiling, and somewhere above the noise announcers keep repeating my name like I’m some product everybody paid to see.

Usually hockey clears my head. Tonight the pressure follows me onto the ice.

Ryan Mercer notices immediately. He crashes into my injured shoulder during the first period hard enough to send pain shooting down my arm.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Ryan skates backward with a grin. “You good, Ford?” I ignore him.

Second period gets worse, another hit.Another shove after the whistle and comment designed to get under my skin. “You know people only tolerate your attitude because your family’s rich, right?”

I skate away before I answer something stupid. By third period, my shoulder feels half numb. The crowd noise pounds through the arena while Ryan keeps circling me like he already knows exactly how this ends.

Then he slams into my shoulder again. Pain flashes through my arm so fast my vision blurs for a second. Ryan laughs. “Damn. Scouts seeing this? You’re falling apart out here.”

I try ignoring him. Then he says, “Pathetic.” Something in me gives out after that. The next few seconds happen too fast.

I shove him first, Ryan swings back immediately. Suddenly gloves hit the ice while the crowd erupts around us. Players rush forward, people scream from the stands, and somebody crashes hard into the glass near the bench.

Hands grab my arms from behind, but I barely register who’s touching me anymore. “Let me go!” My voice sounds rough even to me.

Security drags me toward the tunnel while cameras flash nonstop from every direction. Everything around me blurs together, noise, anger, people shouting my name.

Then suddenly…….“Stop acting like you’re proving something!” A girl’s voice cuts through the chaos sharply enough that my entire body locks up.

I turn toward the tunnel entrance and see her. Dark hair pulled back loosely. Event staff badge hanging around her neck. Papers pressed tightly against her chest.

But it’s her expression that catches me off guard. She doesn’t look nervous or look impressed either. Mostly she looks annoyed like I’m exhausting her personally.

Security still grips my arms tightly, but my breathing slows anyway. The girl keeps staring directly at me, completely steady while everything around us stays chaotic.

No fake sympathy or careful expression and I can’t stop looking back. 

Later that night, I sit alone in my apartment replaying the moment in my head instead of sleeping. The sports channels keep replaying the fight across every network anyway.

“Concerns continue rising around Davis Ford’s behavior……” I mute the TV before the sentence finishes. Silence settles across the apartment afterward.

Then my phone vibrates again. Another tagged video, I open it without thinking and there she is again.

The clip pauses right at the moment she shouts at me from the tunnel. The comments underneath move so fast they’re almost impossible to read.

*Why did he calm down so fast?**Who even is she?*Bro looked possessed then suddenly peaceful

I should close the app Instead, I replay the clip again. Then once more. Eventually I open a search bar without fully meaning to.

Pearl Arlo……..The name appears on my screen, and I immediately lean back against the couch, annoyed with myself.

What the hell am I doing? I toss my phone onto the cushion beside me. Twenty seconds later, I pick it back up anyway.