Ryan Talonovich is the star of his college hockey team, until an accident during practice leaves him confined to a wheelchair. The doctors say he'll walk again but a new season is already underway and he's been replaced on the team, which leaves him feeling alone and betrayed. What's the use of fighting to get back on the ice now?<br><br>Then he meets Dante Espinosa, a short track skater on the city's speed skating club. Though he has to work overtime to afford his sport, Dante is hell on ice, and dreams of making the cut on the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team.<br><br>Their love of the ice brings them together, but too many obstacles stand in their way: Ryan's struggle with therapy. The memory of Dante's first boyfriend. Lack of funding to the event, Dante's harassing boss, a skating friend in love with him, and Wil Dietrich, who will do anything to win.

Power Play

That’s going to set him back, if he makes the cut. Whenhe makes it, he knows he’ll win, he’s the best skater in the whole club, any division, any gender. But the state competition is held in Atlantic City, which means group trip, hotel expenses, bus fare, dining, the whole works. Skaters who make it into the championships have to come up with a couple hundred dollars, Dante’s not sure on the exact amount just yet, but it has to cover two people, the skater and another traveler of their choice. He’s already thinking he can maybe talk to the skate club committee, see if he can just pay for himself. They want each skater to bring along a friend or family member, someone for support, but he knows his mother will be too busy to go. She’s always so busy with work—she’s never even seen him skate.


Chapter 15