His Reckless Winger

Crestline's hockey team is Matteo Vasquez's inheritance. He takes the hits, keeps the score, and answers to a father who has never once asked him what he wanted. Then Wren Halloran transfers in — a defenseman with a chip the size of the program, a past that got her thrown out of two schools, and a photograph in her wallet that has Matteo's father in it. The coaching staff asks him to handle her. She asks him for nothing, which is worse. What starts as leverage turns into parking-lot arguments at three in the morning and a season nobody on this team will talk about afterward. When Matteo's father orders him to hand Wren over as a scapegoat, Matteo does the only thing he's never been allowed to do: he tells the truth out loud, and it costs him everything with his name on it. Wren gets a choice after that. She makes it in about four seconds.