18 parts Ongoing MatureWillow Miller has always believed in love-the kind that feels steady, safe, and worth holding on to. Dating one of the college hockey team's star forwards should have been just that, but instead she finds herself fading. His words cut, his attention drifts, and every smile she offers feels a little more forced. She tells herself it's fine, that love isn't supposed to be perfect. But deep down, she knows she deserves more.
Cole Carter is the opposite of everything Willow thought she wanted-cold, sharp-edged, and impossible to read. On the ice, he's ruthless. Off it, he keeps his distance, wrapped in silence and shadows. He has no business caring about his teammate's girlfriend. And yet... he notices. The way her laugh doesn't reach her eyes anymore. The way she pulls her sleeves over her hands when she's nervous. The way she gives her whole heart to someone who doesn't even see it.
Cole swore he wouldn't get involved. But when her light begins to dim, something inside him breaks. Slowly, quietly, he steps into the spaces her boyfriend leaves empty-protecting her, listening when no one else does, showing her what it feels like to be cherished. What it feels like to be seen.
Their connection is wrong. Forbidden. The kind of thing that could tear the team apart. But sometimes the heart doesn't care about rules, and sometimes love doesn't wait for permission.
And when Willow finally realizes she's been holding on to a love that only hurts, she'll have to make a choice: stay where she's unwanted, or risk everything for the man who makes her feel like she's finally home.