Chapter 13
Jason’s face drained of all color, a cold numbness spreading from his chest to his fingertips. The world around him seemed to recede, voices becoming distant and muffled as the truth crashed over him in relentless waves.
“Ballet school? But she said she wasn’t going to college.” His voice emerged as barely more than a whisper, foreign to his own ears.
Kelsey’s roommates stared at him in confusion, their expressions shifting from puzzlement to dawning realization.
“Kelsey was undecided between staying in the States or studying abroad, but she made her final decision a few days ago.” Zoe’s words hammered against his consciousness. “Aren’t you two close? Didn’t she tell you anything about this?”
Each question was another nail in the coffin of his delusion. She hadn’t told him because he wasn’t important enough to tell. Because he’d never really known her at all.
Mia couldn’t help adding, “Seriously, isn’t that why you were apologizing to her yesterday? To make things right before she left for London?”
“Yeah, we all thought she went to the lake this morning to reconcile with you before heading to the airport. Wasn’t that what happened?”
A painful pressure built in Jason’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. He’d been played–expertly and completely. All this time he thought he was the one in control, the puppetmaster pulling strings. But Kelsey had been ten steps ahead of him, already planning her escape while he congratulated himself on his cleverness.
Without another word, he turned and sprinted toward the parking lot, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. Each footfall echoed with a single thought: Too late. Too late. Too late.
There was only one daily flight from Indianapolis to London.
It would take off in thirty minutes.
A desperate, irrational hope clutched at him. If he could just get there in time–if he could just see her face one more time–maybe he could fix this. Maybe he could make her understand that something had changed, that he wasn’t the same person who had started this cruel game.
Jason drove like a madman, his hands white–knuckled on the steering wheel. Red lights blurred as he sped through intersections, the blaring horns of other drivers barely registering. His vision tunneled, focused only on the road ahead and the impossible distance between him and the departing plane that
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Chapter 13
carried Kelsey away from him.
He screeched to a halt in front of the Indianapolis International terminal and ran inside, desperation etched on his face, his perfectly styled hair now wild, his designer clothes rumpled and sweat–stained.
“I need a ticket to London! Right now!” The words tore from his throat, raw and urgent.
The ticket agent looked at him strangely, a mixture of concern and wariness in her eyes.
“Sorry, check–in is closed. We can’t sell any more tickets for that flight.”
Jason had expected this answer, but still shouted, the control he’d maintained his entire life crumbling around him. “I’ll pay whatever it costs! Just let me through security! I need to find someone!”
His voice cracked on the last word, a vulnerability he’d never allowed himself to show in public before.
The agent shook her head sympathetically. “I’m sorry, but the plane has already departed. Even if I could get you through, you won’t find who you’re looking for.”
The words landed like a physical blow. Jason staggered backward, bumping into another traveler without even noticing. She was gone. Really gone. Thousands of miles away and still moving farther with each passing second.
He barely remembered driving back to campus. His mind replayed every moment with Kelsey in excruciating detail–her smile when she thought he wasn’t looking, the way her eyes lit up when she talked about dance, how her hand had felt in his. Had any of it been real? Had she ever cared for him at all, or had she seen through his scheme from the beginning?
He parked haphazardly, not caring if he got a ticket, and wandered in a daze back to the lake where he’d been waiting that morning. The place where they’d first kissed, where he’d first noticed that flutter in his chest that he’d dismissed as nothing important.
He sat down on the dock and remained there from daylight well into darkness, the wood hard and unyielding beneath him, the discomfort a fitting companion to the hollow ache inside him.
At first, curious onlookers lingered nearby, hoping to witness the dramatic reunion between Jason and Kelsey. Their whispers and stares pricked at his awareness, but he couldn’t summon the energy to care about his reputation for the first time in his life.
But as hours passed, the crowd gradually realized Kelsey wasn’t coming, and they drifted away one by one, until Jason was left alone with the lengthening shadows and his own thoughts.
He could hear their whispers as they left.
“Did Stan just get dumped? His girlfriend never showed up.”
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My Hockey Drivest
Chapter 13
“I heard she left for London… looks like he really did get dumped.”
The gossip swirled around him, each word a confirmation of his unprecedented failure. Jason Stan–who had never been rejected, never been denied anything he wanted–sat abandoned and forgotten.
He just sat there, staring at the water, watching the setting sun turn it to rippling gold, then deep purple, then black. The lake that had witnessed so many moments between them now reflected only his solitary figure.
He didn’t know what he was waiting for.
He knew perfectly well that Kelsey had boarded a plane and was now thousands of miles away. She wasn’t coming. And yet, he couldn’t make himself leave. Some stubborn part of him kept him rooted to the spot, as though if he waited long enough, the universe might take pity on him and turn back time.
His mind raced with questions, each one clawing at him more painfully than the last-
Why had Kelsey suddenly decided to study abroad?
Was it because of what happened that night at Tyler’s house? Because he had abandoned her to his teammates? Because he’d chosen Hannah over her safety? The memory of her fear, her vulnerability when he’d found her–it twisted in his gut like a knife.
Had she made this decision out of anger? Out of self–preservation?
No.
Jason quickly dismissed that thought, though the denial felt hollow.
Although Kelsey had received her acceptance letter early, finalizing plans to study abroad couldn’t happen in just two days.
So she had been planning to leave all along?
But why? What had he done to make her want to flee the country?
Jason strained to remember, tracking backward through their relationship until he recalled the Truth or Dare game at Tyler’s house. Each memory now tainted by the knowledge of his own cruelty, his casual disregard for her feelings.
Was it because he had defended Hannah that night? Had that been enough to make Kelsey give up on
him?
The more Jason thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, yet the explanation felt inadequate against the enormity of her departure.
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My Hockey Prince
Chapter 13
After all, Kelsey had started acting differently right after that party. The way she’d looked at him had changed–the warmth in her eyes replaced by something guarded, distant.
“Damn it,” Jason muttered under his breath, the words inadequate against the tide of emotion threatening to drown him.
Talk about an overreaction! All he’d done was stand up for Hannah when things got uncomfortable, and Kelsey’s response was to leave the country without a word?
Anger began to simmer inside him, a familiar emotional refuge. It was easier to be angry than to acknowledge the aching void her absence had created.
Jason had always been golden–born into wealth, blessed with good looks, talented at sports. Girls had been chasing him since elementary school. Any girl he wanted would fall at his feet with minimal effort, Hannah being the only exception until now.
He never imagined that Kelsey–sweet, obedient Kelsey who had always looked at him with adoring eyes–would just disappear without warning. Without giving him a chance to explain, to fix things, to figure out what he actually felt for her.
The rejection stoked his bruised ego, but beneath the anger lurked a deeper pain he couldn’t name, couldn’t face.
Fine, he thought bitterly. This whole thing was only about securing Hannah’s spot at Juilliard anyway.
With Kelsey gone, she wouldn’t be competing for the nomination anymore. Problem solved! He’d accomplished his goal without even trying.
The thought rang false even as it formed. If this had been his goal all along, why did victory feel so hollow? Why did the thought of never seeing Kelsey again create this yawning emptiness inside him?
Jason stood up, ready to walk away with these angry thoughts as armor against the hollowness in his chest. His legs were stiff from sitting so long, his body chilled by the night air he hadn’t even noticed until
now.
But a glance at his watch made him pause, the illuminated dial showing a time he couldn’t quite process at first.
It was 9 PM.
The day wasn’t over yet.
What if Kelsey hadn’t actually left?
What if this was just some test to see how long he’d wait?
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My Hockey Prince’s
Chapter 13
What if she planned to appear at the last possible moment?
Hope–irrational, desperate hope–flickered to life again, painful in its fragility.
The thought was enough to make Jason sit back down, ignoring the dampness that had seeped through his clothes, the hunger that gnawed at his stomach after nearly twelve hours without food.
He’d already waited this long, what was another three hours?
That’s what he told himself, but as each minute ticked by without Kelsey’s appearance, that flickering hope dimmed, guttering like a candle in a draft. The temperature dropped further, but he barely felt it. Physical discomfort was nothing compared to the emptiness spreading inside him.
Finally, at midnight, Jason’s hope completely collapsed. He stood to leave, defeated in a way he’d never experienced before. His body felt leaden, as though gravity had intensified just for him. The Jason Stan who walked away from the lake was not the same one who had waited there that morning, confident in his power over others.
That was when a familiar voice cut through the silence-
“How many times have I told you not to come to campus looking for me!”
