Chapter 127: Is That Real?

NORA’S POV

The silence in O’Malley’s quickly turned icy cold.

Every single conversation had evaporated, replaced by the low hum of the jukebox and the glare of dozens of glowing phone screens. A hundred pairs of eyes were locked onto Knox and me in the back hallway, wide with shock, morbid curiosity, and malicious delight.

My knees felt like water. My hands trembled so violently against my sides that I had to curl them into tight fists just to keep from collapsing onto the floorboards.

Then, the whispers started.

"Is that real?" a girl near the booth hissed, staring down at her screen. "Look at the signatures. That’s her handwriting."

"I knew it," another voice chimed in from the bar rail, dripping with smug satisfaction. "I fucking knew it from day one. How does a girl who breaks his nose with a puck on ice suddenly become his girlfriend five days later? It made zero sense!"

"Six thousand a month," someone else scoffed, loud enough to carry over the room. "The captain bought himself a tame little honors pet to fix his probation."

Every word felt like a dagger to my chest. Weeks and months of hard work, sleepless nights, and honest effort were suddenly reduced to a cheap rumor on campus.

Knox hadn’t moved. His large hand remained on the small of my back, but under my palm, every muscle in his frame was coiled like an overwound cable.

Then, a tall guy near the center taps swaggered forward. Holding a half-empty draft beer, he raised his phone toward my face with a drunken sneer.

"Hey, Sheridan!" the guy called out, laughing into the quiet room. "Is the tutor still taking private clients? How much for an A in macroeconomics? Or do I have to cut a five-thousand-dollar check to her mom’s bakery like you did?"

The world seemed to stop spinning.

Without any warning, Knox moved as fast as a forward breaking off the blue line.

Before the guy could react, Knox closed the distance in a single stride, lunging forward with open hands. He shoved his palms hard against the guy’s chest with force.

The guy flew backward, crashing hard against the bar rail. His pint glass ripped from his grip, shattering on the brass footrail in an explosion of foam and splintered glass.

The sickening crack of the guy’s back hitting the wood echoed across the room as he collapsed against the counter, gasping for air, the smug sneer wiped completely from his pale face.

Knox towered over him, his chest heaving, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Say her name again," Knox rasped in a barely restrained voice. "Say one more word about her. I dare you."

The guy cowered against the rail, raising his hands raised in defensive terror.

"Knox, don’t!" I cried out, my voice cracking as I rushed toward him, my fingers digging into the black cotton of his sleeve. "Don’t do this!"

Bear and Jake were already there, moving like a wall of granite.

Bear stepped directly between Knox and the cowering heckler, planting one massive hand against Knox’s chest to hold him back, while Jake squared his shoulders to block the barrage of camera phones pointed straight at them.

"Not here, Cap," Bear said with a clenched jaw. "Look around. Every phone in the county is recording you. Don’t give them an assault charge."

Knox’s breath ripped through his teeth. He stared at the heckler for three endless seconds before slowly stepping back, shaking off Bear’s arm.

He didn’t look down. He didn’t hide his face.

Instead, Knox turned back toward me, his expression softening for a fraction of a second as his fingers slid firmly between mine. He interlocked our hands, pulling me directly to his side in the center of the open floor.

He raised his chin and swept his cold, steely gaze across the crowded pub, daring anyone to meet his eyes.

"Anyone in here has something to say about my girlfriend," Knox announced, "step up and say it to my face right now."

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

The entire bar shrank back under his stare, athletes and frat brothers alike looking away, staring down at their boots or sliding their phones back into their pockets.

"Out," Bear muttered under his breath, stepping in front of us. "Now."

Knox pulled me flush against his side, his leather jacket wrapping around my shoulders as he guided me forward.

Surrounded by Bear, Jake, and Milo, we walked quickly through the crowd, pushed open the back patio door, and stepped out into the cold night.

—

The cold hit my skin like an open palm.

Steam rose from our mouths as our boots crunched on the gravel alley behind O’Malley’s. After the deafening noise of the bar, the quiet winter night felt sudden and cold.

By the driver’s side of Knox’s black truck, the convoy ground to a halt.

Bear stopped, running a massive, trembling hand over his face. He turned slowly, looking between Knox and me, his eyes filled with a raw mix of shock and betrayal.

"Cap," Bear choked out. "Is that real? Were you... were you actually paying her?"

The question hung in the freezing air, heavier than lead.

Knox didn’t look away. He stood in front of his alternate captain, his jaw set like iron.

"At the beginning," Knox admitted, his voice stripped bare of all swagger. "Two months ago, when I was an arrogant bastard trying to buy my way out of academic probation so I wouldn’t lose my roster spot."

Bear stared at him, his mouth opening, then closing.

"None of that paper matters now, Bear," Knox said fiercely, stepping closer to his defenseman. "What we have is real. Nora is my girlfriend. I love her. And if anyone on this team thinks differently, you look me in the eye and say it to me right now."

Bear looked at Knox, then shifted his gaze to me.

I swallowed past the lump of gravel in my throat, stepping out from behind Knox.

"Knox paid off the five-thousand-dollar mortgage penalty on my mother’s bakery," I confessed. "Sugar and Spice was forty-eight hours away from foreclosure. I took the deal because I was desperate to save my family. But every single grade Knox earned, he earned himself. And everything between us after that... none of it was part of that paper."

Bear’s broad shoulders dropped. The hurt on his face gave way to a slow, grim understanding. He let out a long breath that puffed white in the air.

"We believe you, Bennett," Bear said quietly, glancing back toward the pub’s rear exit. "The team’s got your back. But campus is about to tear itself apart over this. You two need to get out of here before things get crazy."

Jake nodded sharply, tapping Knox’s shoulder. "Take her home, Knox. We’ll handle the guys inside."

Knox nodded once, pulling open the passenger door of his truck and lifting me up onto the leather seat.

He slammed the door shut, rounded the hood in three strides, and climbed behind the wheel. He fired the engine, the heater roaring to life, and threw the truck into reverse, tires spinning over the slush as we tore out of the alleyway onto the dark, empty street.

Inside the quiet cab, the adrenaline finally ran out.

A sudden tremble shook my entire body. I struggled to breathe as panic tightened in my throat.

"Nora," Knox said, pulling the truck into an empty commercial parking lot two blocks away and slamming it into park.

"My fellowship," I choked out, pressing both palms against my face as hot, scalding tears broke through my eyelashes. "The honors committee... Hastings will freeze it. They’ll say I committed academic fraud. They’ll say I sold grades for a six-thousand-dollar payout... my mother... the bakery..."

I couldn’t breathe. My vision swam in blurred, terrifying waves of panic.

The console shifted as Knox unbuckled, leaning across the seats.

His large, warm hands caught my wrists, gently pulling my hands away from my face. He cupped my cheeks in his calloused palms, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"Look at me, Nora," Knox commanded softly. He looked straight into my eyes, with an intensity that grounded me. "Look at me. Don’t you look at the floor."

I looked into his eyes, my chest heaving against his chest.

"You did not commit fraud," Knox whispered, his forehead resting gently against mine. "You tutored me. You saved my season with honest hard work. We both signed that stupid deal when we were treating this like a transaction, but I’m the one who brought money and arrogant rules to the table. And we tore past that paper weeks ago. We are fighting this together. Do you hear me? Together."

My breath hitched, a fresh wave of tears spilling over my lashes.

I gripped the rough leather of his jacket, my fingers curling into the fabric as if he were the only solid thing left standing in a world that had just collapsed beneath my feet.

"Together," I whispered back.