A Season to Stay

by Maren Quinn

Heat 2 / 5Novella · 12 chapters30,179 words2h 11m read~3h 21m listen

Five-forty in the morning, and the Northwood Civic Arena is already trying to kill the season. Rink ops lead Keira Keane has the pressure spike under control — barely — but the league clearance form waiting on a warped clipboard tells her the night is only getting harder. Two blank signature lines. One shot at saving the Wolves’ make-or-break home game. And the second signature belongs to York Nash, the team’s infamous enforcer, who walks into her tunnel before dawn with a bruised shoulder, three seasons of blame, and a grudge with her name on it.

They have been enemies long enough to weaponize each other’s reputations without breaking a sweat. York thinks Keira’s shortcuts wrecked his linemate’s career. Keira thinks York is exactly the kind of reckless that gets people hurt. Neither of them is entirely wrong — and neither of them is telling the whole truth.

Locked beneath the benches while the ice plant hums and the TV truck’s deadline counts down, they have no choice but to work. Together. In the dark. With the clearance form sitting between them like a question neither one is ready to answer honestly.

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