The rules were obey the captain, or get traded. Nobody told me obedience would feel like this. I'm Kai Easton—twenty-two, first-round draft pick, and the biggest mistake the Carolina Reapers ever made. At least that's what the media says. I fight too much, play too reckless, and every coach I've had has given up on me inside of six months. Enter Maxim St. James. The Saint. The Warden. The captain who doesn't raise his voice because the silence is worse. He's assigned to fix me — 24/7 supervision, mandatory curfews, a schedule so rigid it could double as a prison blueprint. I'm supposed to hate every second. Instead, his structure quiets the noise in my head that's been screaming since foster care. His commands on the ice make me dangerous. His commands off the ice make me desperate. And when he pins me to a wall and tells me I'm good — good, a word no one has ever wasted on me—I break apart in ways I didn't know I could. But the man who taught me discipline is terrified of his own chaos. And when his fear costs us the biggest game of our lives, he blames me for the obedience he trained into me. I did exactly what I was told. And we lost everything. Enemies to lovers. Forced proximity. Captain/rookie. D/s undertones. Hurt/comfort. He falls first, he falls harder. Guaranteed HEA.