CHAPTER 23
Jul 10, 2025
LIAM’S POV
The moment it was over, everything changed. I could feel it in the way Kate’s body went rigid beside me, in the way she carefully extracted herself from my arms and sat up on the edge of the bed with her back to me.
The warmth and vulnerability that had been there just minutes before was gone, replaced by a cold distance that made my chest ache.
“You should go,” she said quietly, not turning to look at me as she reached for her discarded clothes.
The words hit me like a physical blow. “Kate, what—”
“My father will be back soon,” she continued in that same flat, emotionless tone as she pulled her sweater over her head. “And this… this was a mistake.”
I sat up, running a hand through my hair as I tried to process what was happening. “A mistake again? Kate, what we just shared—”
“Was nothing,” she interrupted, finally turning to face me, and the coldness in her dark eyes made my blood freeze. “It was just sex, Liam. Don’t make it into something it’s not.”
“Bullshit,” I said, my voice rough with hurt and confusion. “That wasn’t just sex, and you know it. What happened between us just now—”
“Was a moment of weakness,” she said firmly, standing up and smoothing down her clothes like she was putting on armor. “I was upset about Nate, and you were there, and we both made a poor decision. It won’t happen again.”
I stared at her, feeling like I’d been sucker-punched. This was exactly what had happened after the party – the same cold withdrawal, the same insistence that what we’d shared meant nothing.
But I’d thought this time would be different. I’d thought the conversation we’d had, the honesty we’d shared, had changed something between us.
“So that’s it?” I asked, pulling on my jeans with more force than necessary. “You’re just going to pretend this never happened? Again?”
“There’s nothing to pretend,” she replied, her voice maddeningly calm. “Nothing significant occurred here today.”
“Nothing significant?” I repeated incredulously. “Kate, I just told you things I’ve never told anyone. I opened up to you in ways I never—”
“And I appreciate the honesty,” she said politely, like she was thanking a stranger for holding a door open. “But it doesn’t change the fundamental reality of our situation.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
She turned to face me fully, and the expression on her face was so coldly composed it made me want to shake her. “Which is that you’re jealous of your brother and taking it out on me. This whole thing – your hostility, your sudden interest in me, even what just happened – it’s all about Nate.”
“That’s not true,” I said, but my voice came out weaker than I’d intended.
“Isn’t it?” she challenged. “Be honest, Liam. If Nate had never shown interest in me, if we’d never had that fake relationship, would you even care that I exist?”
The question hung in the air between us, and I felt something crack open in my chest. She had no idea. No fucking idea how wrong she was.
“You think this is about Nate,” I said quietly, my voice taking on a dangerous edge. “You think my feelings for you are some kind of sibling rivalry bullshit.”
“Aren’t they?” she asked, but I caught the slight tremor in her voice that suggested she wasn’t as confident as she was pretending to be.
“No,” I said simply. “They’re not.”
“Then what are they about?” she demanded, her composed facade starting to crack. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like textbook jealousy. You can’t stand that your brother had something you wanted, so you’re trying to take it away from him.”
“You’re not something to be taken,” I said, standing up and moving toward her. “You’re not a prize in some game between Nate and me.”
“Then why do you care so much?” she asked, backing away from me until she hit the wall. “Why does it matter to you what I do or who I’m with?”
“Because I’ve been following your career for years,” I said, the words exploding out of me before I could stop them.
Kate’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”
“Your skating career,” I clarified, my voice hoarse with the weight of secrets I’d been carrying for too long. “I’ve been watching you compete since you were sixteen years old.”
“That’s impossible,” she said, shaking her head. “You didn’t even know who I was when I got here. You called me Ice Princess like it was an insult.”
“I called you Ice Princess because that’s what the skating blogs called you after your junior nationals performance two years ago,” I said, stepping closer despite her obvious desire to maintain distance. “The commentators said you skated like a princess, untouchable and perfect on the ice.”
“You’re lying,” she whispered, but I could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
“Am I? Then how do I know that you fell on your triple lutz combination during your long program that year, but instead of letting it shake you, you came back and landed every single jump after that with more intensity and fire than you’d shown in the entire rest of the routine?”
Kate’s face went pale. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I was there,” I said simply. “In the audience. I watched you get up from that fall, and I watched you turn what should have been a disaster into the most incredible comeback I’d ever seen. You didn’t just finish the program – you owned it. You made everyone in that arena believe that falling was part of your plan all along.”
“You were there?” she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I was there for regionals too, when you won by twelve points even though you were skating with a sprained ankle you never told anyone about. I was there for sectionals when you landed your first clean triple-triple combination in competition. I’ve been following your career since you were a junior.”
Kate stared at me like she’d never seen me before. “But why?”
“Because you were extraordinary,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. “Because watching you skate was like watching someone defy gravity and physics and every limitation that’s supposed to exist. Because you were everything I wanted to be as an athlete – fearless and graceful and completely uncompromising in your pursuit of perfection.”
“That doesn’t explain why you applied to Ridgeview,” she said, though her voice was softer now, less defensive.
I felt my face heat up, knowing that what I was about to admit would either change everything between us or destroy any chance we might have had.
“I knew you were coming here,” I said quietly. “When the news broke about your situation at Wintercrest, when the skating magazines reported that you’d be transferring to Ridgeview for your senior year, I… I made sure I’d be here too.”
“What do you mean, you made sure?” she asked, though I could see in her eyes that she was starting to understand.
“I mean I had already committed to Boston University for hockey,” I said, the words coming out in a rush. “Full scholarship, everything set up. But when I found out you were coming to Ridgeview, I broke my commitment and applied here instead.”
Kate’s hand flew to her mouth. “You gave up a scholarship at BU? For me?”
“For the chance to meet you,” I corrected. “For the chance to be in the same place as someone I’d been admiring from a distance for years.”
“But you were so hostile to me,” she said, confusion clear in her voice. “If you’d been following my career, if you came here because of me, why were you so cruel?”
I laughed bitterly, running both hands through my hair. “Because you were even more beautiful and talented and perfect than I’d imagined, and I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell with you.”
“What?”
“Kate, you’re Katya Melnyk,” I said desperately. “You’re skating royalty. You’re destined for the Olympics, for endorsement deals, for a life that’s going to take you all over the world. What could I possibly offer someone like you?”
“You could have tried being nice to me,” she said, tears starting to gather in her eyes.
“I couldn’t,” I admitted. “Because being nice to you would have meant admitting how I felt about you, and I knew that was impossible.”
“So you decided to make me hate you instead?”
“I decided to protect myself,” I said. “Because wanting something you can’t have is torture, and I thought if I could make you hate me, maybe I could convince myself I didn’t want you.”
“Did it work?” she asked softly.
“No,” I said without hesitation. “It made everything worse. Every cruel thing I said to you, every time I saw hurt flash across your face, it killed me. But I didn’t know how to stop. I didn’t know how to be anything other than hostile because being anything else felt too dangerous.”
Kate was quiet for a long moment, processing everything I’d just told her. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible.
“The Ice Princess nickname,” she said. “You weren’t mocking me.”
“I was trying to maintain distance,” I confirmed. “Trying to remind myself that you were untouchable, that you belonged in a world I could never be part of.”
“And seeing me with Nate?”
“Was torture,” I said honestly. “Watching him be everything I couldn’t be – kind, supportive, the kind of guy you deserved. Watching you laugh with him, watching you let him touch you, watching you pretend to be happy with him when I knew it was all fake but wishing it was real because at least then you’d be happy.”
Tears were flowing freely down Kate’s cheeks now, and she was looking at me like she was seeing me for the first time.
“Liam,” she whispered, “why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Because I’m a coward,” I said simply. “Because I’d rather have you hate me than risk you rejecting me. Because admitting I’ve been in love with you since before we even met felt like handing you a weapon you could use to destroy me.”
The words hung in the air between us, raw and honest and terrifying. I’d said it. I’d finally said the thing I’d been running from since the moment she’d walked into my world and turned everything upside down.
“You’re in love with me?” she asked, her voice full of wonder and disbelief.
“Completely,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. “Hopelessly. From the very beginning.”
