Chapter 190: Not Just a Stranger
Kayden
"We’re here," I announced to Soren as I drove the Audi RS7 into Rhys’s garage.
Once I parked the car in its usual spot, I climbed out, and Soren did the same. He moved quietly, almost mechanically.
"Let’s go inside," I told him.
Soren nodded without saying anything more. He had been like this throughout the entire ride home—responding to my attempts at conversation with only one or two words each time. It made the drive feel long and heavy, but I understood.
After everything that had happened on the bridge, he probably needed the silence.
Still, bringing him here felt like the right decision. Even though we had only just met, we had bonded surprisingly well during those raw moments on the bridge. Beneath his icy public persona, Soren turned out to be one of the calmest people I had ever encountered.
"So you live together?" Soren asked as we approached the front of the house. "You and Rhys Calder?"
I glanced at him with a small smile. "You were completely silent the whole ride here, and now the first thing you ask is this?"
Soren gave a half-shrug. "I’m just curious about how deep your love is."
I chuckled softly. "Why? Does it intrigue you?"
He nodded.
"Oh. That’s... nice. I’m glad it does." I paused for a moment, thinking. "Rhys and I have been living together ever since I joined the Northern Avalanche. Our arrangement wasn’t planned at first, but I will always be grateful that—"
I stopped mid-sentence. The memory of how it had all started flashed through my mind—my coach playing matchmaker behind the scenes by setting us up. The last thing I wanted right now was to reveal that detail. Soren might have good intentions, but he still hadn’t earned my full trust yet.
I cleared my throat and placed my thumb on the door scanner. The lights in the house were already on, which meant Rhys was home. That was a relief. It would make things less awkward if he was the one to greet us. The lock clicked open with a soft beep.
"Do you have any other questions you want to ask me before you meet Rhys?"
Soren shook his head.
"Great."
I pushed the door open wider. "After you."
He walked past me into the house, and I followed, shutting the door gently behind us. The familiar warmth of the living room wrapped around me, but my nerves were still buzzing at the thought of how Rhys would react once he saw Soren.
"Who are you?" Rhys’s deep voice cut through the quiet the moment we stepped inside. He sounded exhausted, drained in a way that made me wonder just how brutal the media rounds had been.
Just the reaction I had expected from him, I thought.
Rhys stood in the center of the room, holding a glass of water. His hair was still damp from the shower he had probably just taken, and a face towel hung around his neck.
"Hey," I greeted as I moved quickly toward him. "Soren Papanikos, meet Rhys Calder," I said, trying to keep my tone light.
"In person," Soren replied, his voice suddenly brighter, almost awed. "I’m a big fan." He reached out and shook Rhys’s hand firmly.
Rhys gave me a questioning look, then turned back to Soren. "Uhm... thanks. But I still don’t know you. Who are you?" His eyes flicked to me again. "Who is he?"
"Soren Papanikos," I repeated. "Does the name ring a bell?"
Rhys frowned, confusion clear on his face. "I have no idea who that is."
"Told you nobody knows me," Soren said quietly, pulling his hand back.
There was a heavy sadness in his tone that hit me hard. I couldn’t help but wonder what was running through his mind right now. Someone who had been ready to jump off a bridge could easily be thinking of other ways to disappear the moment no one was watching—especially now that he seemed to have faced fresh rejection.
I quickly stepped between them, forcing a light laugh to ease the tension. "I—"
Rhys’s eyes suddenly widened. He pointed a finger toward Soren. "Wait! I remember now. Papanikos... I know I’ve heard that name before." He paused, then snapped his fingers. "Soren Papanikos! You’re that famous figure skater—the one with the crazy move!"
Soren’s eyes brightened almost immediately, as if he had just won the lottery. "Yes, I am," he said excitedly.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, rubbing the ache that was starting to form on my forehead. "Thank goodness."
"What are you doing here?" Rhys asked, his voice sharpening again as he looked between us. "Why are you here with—" His gaze settled on me, and I caught the hint of possessiveness—maybe even jealousy—in his tone. "Are you two friends? The last I remember, you never mentioned knowing Soren Papanikos. So how did you two meet?"
"Uhm..." I hesitated, then led Soren toward the living room and gestured for him to make himself comfortable on the large sectional couch. "Just give me a minute," I told him quietly. "I need to explain things to Rhys."
Soren nodded again, sinking into the cushions without a word. He looked smaller somehow under the warm lights of the house, his earlier calm now mixed with that heavy exhaustion I recognized all too well.
I turned back to Rhys, who was still standing there with his glass of water, eyebrows raised in clear confusion. Before he could say anything else, I reached for his free hand and gently pulled him toward our bedroom hallway. "Come with me for a second. I need to talk to you."
Rhys let me lead him a few steps away, but I could feel the resistance in his grip. Once we were out of direct earshot, he lowered his voice. "Kayden, what the hell? You brought a stranger into our house without telling me first? And not just any stranger—a famous figure skater."
I squeezed his hand tighter, stopping in the middle of the hallway so I could look him in the eyes. "I know it looks weird. I found him on a bridge earlier today... he was about to jump, Rhys. He was really going to do it. If I hadn’t been there, he would have. I don’t know how he got there, but I couldn’t just leave him."
My throat tightened as the words came out. "I talked him down, but I couldn’t walk away. Not after everything."
Rhys opened his mouth, probably ready to argue, but I kept going before he could. I took both of his hands now, holding them between us.
"I see so much of myself in him. Those dark thoughts... I had them too, back when things felt impossible. Back when my father made living unbearable for me. I tried to end it all, but then I met Leo, Rhoda, and Gabriella. They were the ones who saw me for who I really was and pulled me back from that edge. They didn’t give up on me, even when I pushed them away. Knowing what that pain feels like, I couldn’t walk away from Soren. I just... I had to help. And besides, he’s in town to watch our finals."