Chapter 135: Unexpected Caller

NORA’S POV

My thumbs moved quickly across the glass screen of my phone. I typed our state bakery license number into the wildcard registration portal: 04821.

Beside me, the engine of Knox’s truck idled.

The cold November wind whipped across the lawn, sending dry oak leaves skittering over the frozen asphalt. I filled in the final field on the online form: Sugar & Spice Bakery, Oakhaven. Category: Independent Artisan Wildcard.

My finger hovered over the blue submission button at the bottom of the screen.

Forty-eight hours to clear Knox’s name before athletic compliance stepped in. Forty-eight hours to prove Chloe’s guilt and protect everything we had built.

And now, a real chance to save my mother’s ovens.

I pressed submit.

The screen blinked white for two seconds as the circular progress wheel spun. Then, a vibrant green banner flashed across the display: Registration Confirmed. Entry #14 — Sugar & Spice Bakery.

A quiet, breathless laugh escaped my lips.

"We’re in," I whispered to myself, letting out a breath I felt like I had been holding all morning.

Before I could slip the phone back into my wool coat pocket, the device vibrated violently against my palm.

I glanced down, not sure who I was expecting. But it was definitely not who I was seeing. The caller ID displayed a name I hadn’t seen on my screen in weeks: Drew Miller.

My stomach tightened instantly.

Knox walked around the front bumper of the truck, his dark leather jacket zipped tight against the chill. He caught sight of my frozen expression, his gaze dropping to the buzzing screen in my hand.

"Who is it?"

"Drew," I answered, turning the display toward him.

Knox’s jaw set into a hard, rigid line. He didn’t tell me not to answer, and he didn’t reach for the phone.

He simply stood beside me with his shoulder brushing mine.

I slid my thumb across the screen and tapped the speaker button. "Hello, Drew," I said, keeping my tone completely level.

"Nora? Thank God you answered," Drew’s voice came through the speaker.

"Where are you right now?" he demanded.

"I’m on campus," I replied coolly. "Why are you calling me, Drew?"

"Why am I calling you?" Drew let out a harsh scoff. "My entire team group chat is blowing up with screenshots from some Briar blog," he continued. "The guys have been forwarding them around our locker room for the last hour, laughing their asses off at Sheridan."

A bitter chill washed over me that had nothing to do with the weather.

The leak wasn’t just circulating around Briar anymore; it was spreading across rival college hockey rosters.

"If your teammates want to gossip about campus blogs, that’s their problem," I said, my grip tightening on the phone. "It has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with me when I look at the second slide to see your handwriting, your signature, and Sugar and Spice Bakery!" Drew snapped.

Knox didn’t flinch, but the muscles along his jaw coiled tight.

"I zoomed in on that promissory note, Nora," Drew continued. "Five thousand dollars to your mom’s shop? What kind of mess did you get yourself into?"

"That note is none of your business, Drew," I told him sharply.

"Like hell it isn’t!" Drew barked. "I know your mom," he snapped. "I grew up eating rolls out of those ovens."

"Was Ellen really about to lose the bakery?" he demanded.

"Why didn’t you come to me?" he pressed.

"Come to you?" A sharp, disbelieving laugh broke from my throat.

"Yes, to me!" Drew insisted. "My uncle knows every commercial banker in the county. We could have floated your mom an emergency loan in ten minutes," he claimed. "Instead, you sold yourself out to Knox Sheridan?" Drew accused. "You signed a fake relationship contract just to get cash?"

"Watch your mouth, Drew," I warned, my voice trembling with sudden fury.

"I’m telling you the truth!" Drew pushed, completely blind to the hypocrisy dripping from every word. "Do you have any idea how bad this looks? You’re playing girlfriend to Briar’s golden boy because he bought you off! He took advantage of you when you were desperate!"

"He didn’t take advantage of anyone," I said, each syllable ringing like striking iron.

"Oh, come on, Nora..."

"Shut up and listen to me," I cut him off, refusing to let him speak over me.

Silence fell on the other end of the line.

"I don’t run around begging for charity," I said sharply. "I never have, and I never will. I fix my own problems, Drew," I continued.

Drew sputtered into the phone. "Taking a loan from family friends isn’t charity, Nora—"

"It is to me," I countered without hesitation. "I don’t trade on pity," I added. "And don’t you dare call me now and act like you were ever my savior."

"We hadn’t spoken since high school when this happened, Drew," I reminded him coldly. "You weren’t even in my life."

Knox stood motionless beside me, watching me stand my ground.

"Those sheets were ground rules between two people who barely knew each other, Drew," I continued. "Knox needed an academic tutor he could trust, and my family needed an emergency loan."

"I took an advance to save my mom’s shop, and I worked off every single cent of that five thousand dollars with four days a week of grueling tutoring under Briar’s academic accommodation program. I built his study modules, tracked his grades, and earned my pay through honest, legitimate labor."

"Nora, you don’t have to defend him to me..."

"I’m not defending him to you," I retorted. "I’m telling you facts. Knox Sheridan didn’t buy me," I stated firmly.

"He respected me enough to pay me what my work was worth, and he saved my family’s bakery without ever asking for a single thing in return."

"And what about now?" Drew pressed.

"What about all those pictures of you two together at games?" Drew challenged. "Are you going to tell me that’s part of your tutoring syllabus too?"

"What we have now has nothing to do with a contract," I said softly, looking up at Knox. "It’s real... more real than anything you and I ever had," I added. "And nobody is taking that away from us."

Drew let out a sharp, frustrated breath on the other end of the line.

"You’re out of your mind, Nora," Drew’s voice hardened into a dark warning. "You think he cares about you?" he scoffed. "He’s a Sheridan. His father owns half the commercial real estate in New England."

"You don’t know him at all," I said.

"I know hockey, and I know compliance," Drew shot back. "State’s athletic department already heard rumblings from the league office," he continued.

"The Briar board isn’t going to let this slide. When Monday morning comes and compliance drops the hammer, Sheridan is going to lose his captaincy and get benched for the season."

My pulse skipped a beat, but I kept my chin high.

"And when that happens," Drew added coldly, "he’s going to throw you under the bus to save his NHL draft stock."

"You need to walk away from him right now, Nora," Drew insisted. "Before he ruins your entire academic future."

Before I could answer, a warm, broad hand moved over mine.

Knox gently slid the phone from my fingers and turned off the speakerphone. When he spoke, his voice dropped an octave.

"Miller."

The sound of Drew’s voice on the line died instantly.

A dead, suffocating silence hung over the phone.

"Stay focused on your own games," Knox said coldly and calmly. "And stay the hell out of my business... and away from my girl."

Knox pulled the phone from his ear and tapped the red end-call button without waiting for an answer.

The screen snapped black.

Knox handed the phone back to me, his fingers lingering against mine.

The wind blew a stray lock of hair across my face, and Knox reached out, his thumb gently tucking it behind my ear.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

A rush of fierce warmth spread through my chest, chasing away the November cold.

"Better than okay," I said, gripping his hand.