Charles Preston Carmichael is the most infuriating man I’ve ever met. I want to sock the golden boy of college hockey right in the mouth. He enjoys telling me everything I’m messing up. Publicly. And since he’s my roommate for the next year, I can’t avoid him. Yet there’s something about him that makes me watch him. Something dark. A secret I want to uncover. When he returns from a weekend away, broken and haunted, I can’t keep my distance anymore. He needs someone and I’ll be damned if it’s not me. Soon my life no longer revolves around hockey, but the nightmares he’s living with. Desperately I want to save him but I can’t, not yet. The timing has to be just right. Can I watch him destroy himself as he tries to hold tight to the things that matter or will I be the final hit in the destruction of his life?

I’ve been in love with my best friend for years. The problem? He thinks I’m straight. And now that I share a dorm with him, his insistent need to cuddle \-and lack of clothes\- are blurring the careful lines I’ve drawn. I'm struggling to keep my defenses up. I love him but I’m afraid. Afraid I’m not enough to make him stay. Afraid he’ll rip my heart out. Afraid he won’t love me back. But I see a side of him no one else does. In the security of our room, he lets his mask fall. Lets me hold him. Something lurks in the dark recesses of his mind that keeps him from going all in. He’s just as hesitant about this as I am, but I don’t understand why. Can I convince him to let me love him the way he deserves… or will he take my heart and run away with it?

The captain of the hockey team has a lot of responsibilities but when it’s just us, all he wants is to be my good boy. Senior year should have been the same as the previous years: football, hook ups, and homework. But after the season ended, somehow, Joey Carpenter happened. He’s weaseled his way under my skin. Into my heart. The strong, intimidating, hockey player melts so beautifully for me and I’m addicted. He pretends like he doesn’t need anyone, but I see him. See what he really needs. The longing to be cared for is there in his eyes. I desperately want to give it to him. If I’m being honest with myself, I need to matter. I need to save him. Save him from himself. Save him from his family. Will I be able to convince him that he deserves to be loved without conditions or will they leave him ragged and broken? Off SIdes is a one night stand to lovers, hockey, romance with daddy vibes and angst. To check trigger warnings, please check my website.