Theo ignored him. “Michigan. Are the dorms as awful as everyone says?”
Jax leaned back with exaggerated confidence. “Freshman dorms are character building.”
“You lasted two weeks before bribing someone to swap rooms at that summer hockey camp,” Avery pointed out.
“That guy wanted the view.”
“That guy wanted to get away from you.”
Tori laughed into her straw, and Chase shook his head slowly.
I watched them instead of joining the conversation.
The sound of the diner wrapped around the table. Orders called toward the grill, paper crinkling as baskets landed on trays.
The past few weeks had turned everything heavier than it should’ve been. Elise and Charles Dunn threatening Mila and her mom. Logan attacking her in that hallway. For a while, it felt like every move we made was part of a fight none of us had asked to be in.
And I’d come closer than I ever wanted to admit to losing Mila twice.
Sitting here now, listening to Jax and Avery argue over dorm bathrooms, the future felt… possible again.
Theo pointed at me suddenly. “You’re quiet. That means you’re hiding something.”
“I’m eating.”
“You’re not eating.”
I glanced down at the untouched burger sitting in front of me. “Okay,” I admitted. “That’s fair.”
Avery leaned forward immediately. “What is it?”
“The coaching staff is trying to help me get out of having to live in the freshman hockey dorm,” I said.
The table went silent.
Jax blinked. “What?”
I shrugged. “Coach Davidson and I talked after practice. I told him I’m trying to find a place off campus.”
Theo’s brows lifted. “Already?”
“If I stay in the freshman hockey dorm, the program controls everything.”
Theo frowned slightly. “Meaning?”
“Shared rooms. Curfew. Team rules about who’s coming and going.”
Jax smirked. “Ah. They’re not exactly designing that setup so girlfriends can hang around.”
I glanced around the table. “I’m trying to convince them it makes more sense if a few of us live together instead.”
Chase leaned forward slightly. “You mean us.”
“That’s the idea.”
Jax’s grin spread slowly. “You’re trying to get out of the dorms before the semester even starts?”
“I’m trying to avoid living somewhere the team decides who comes and goes.”