ꕤ₊˚︵ 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋 ─── ໒꒱ ✧˖° ❝ 𝑖 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, "𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, 𝑛𝑜 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡" 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑤? ❞ She doesn't know how to let go. He doesn't do girlfriends. Valerie Montgomery is exhausted. Exhausted of the cheating. The screaming matches. The humiliation. The revolving door relationship she can't seem to escape with Briar University football star Aaron Carter. So after one betrayal too many, Valerie decides she needs one thing: A distraction. Enter Garrett Graham. Briar U's hockey golden boy has rules when it comes to women, no attachments, no sleepovers, no feelings. With the pressure of being legendary hockey player Phill Graham's son crushing him from every angle, Garrett only has time for hockey and sex. Valerie should've been temporary. And Garrett should've been easy. But somewhere between late-night hookups, bruising chemistry, and the quiet moments neither of them were supposed to care about, lines begin to blur. Because the problem with pretending not to feel anything...is eventually, you do. And when toxic love comes back demanding another chance, Valerie is forced to decide what hurts more: Losing Aaron or risking Garrett.