In the present, 22-year-old Preston Armstrong and his college hockey team, the Graystone University Vipers, prepare to face their rivals, the Stanton Wolves. Preston’s teammates and friends, team captain Kane Davenport and Jude Callahan, warn him against his usual tactic of psychologically antagonizing opponents. Preston deliberately researches opposing players’ vulnerabilities and exploits them until they lose control and make mistakes, and he takes pleasure in the prospect of pain and violence because they make him feel alive. Ignoring his friends’ warnings, Preston attempts to provoke a Wolves defenseman named Richardson into attacking him and earning a penalty.

Before he can succeed, Marcus Osborn intervenes and sends Richardson away. Preston and Marcus have had a rivalry since high school, and Preston recalls repeatedly failing to provoke Marcus during previous games, even when targeting his family. Preston is unsettled specifically because he cannot read Marcus’s eyes or provoke any reaction from him—unlike his other opponents—making Marcus an anomaly he finds deeply destabilizing. Marcus calls Preston “fairy prince,” though Preston does not understand why, and warns him to leave the Wolves players alone. When Marcus grabs Preston’s collar, Preston is also disturbed to realize that he momentarily forgets his usual aversion to being touched and does not initially register the contact. Later, Preston recognizes in Marcus’s expression the same sadistic desire to hurt others that he experiences himself. Marcus lifts Preston’s chin and declares, “You’re all mine tonight, prince” (28).

During the game, Marcus increasingly targets Preston, disrupting his efforts to manipulate the Wolves and repeatedly provoking Preston himself. Preston attempts to unnerve Marcus with insults about his mother, but Marcus retaliates with a crude sexual remark that causes Preston to lose his composure. Preston lunges at Marcus, who checks him into the boards, and Preston is sent to the penalty box. While Preston is off the ice, Marcus scores a goal.

Throughout the game, Marcus continues to taunt Preston. One particular comment—” Oh no, Mommy, come pick me up” (36)—triggers a severe internal reaction in Preston, including a buzzing in his ears, the sensory impression of peppery musk and burnt cigarettes, and nausea. Preston is alarmed because he believes no one knows what Marcus’s words have apparently touched on and later wonders how Marcus knew exactly what would affect him. Later, Preston loses control again and slams Marcus through the boards, earning the first five-minute penalty of his hockey career. He struggles to focus for the remainder of the game, and the Vipers lose. As the teams leave the ice, Marcus mouths to Preston that his sexual offer still stands, leaving Preston questioning how Marcus seems to know more about him than he should. Preston also recalls that Marcus, now the Osborns’ only male heir after Lance’s death, may be brought into the main Osborn family. Knowing that Kane’s father wants Marcus removed, Preston decides to deal with Marcus himself.

After the game, Preston is forced to go home by Lenin, his father’s right-hand man. At the Armstrong estate, he shares a warm moment with his beloved seven-year-old half-sister, Miley, who has stayed awake after his loss and saved her favorite pastry to cheer him up, before having a tense exchange with his stepmother, Lilith. Preston recalls that, after his mother’s death, he initially trusted Lilith because she treated him maternally, only to overhear her admitting that she had manipulated his need for affection and planned to send him to boarding school once she married his father.

His father confronts him in his study, questioning why Preston lost control during the game and whether he has been taking the latest dosage of his medication. He also observes that Preston’s behavior changed drastically after Marcus said something to him, though Preston denies that Marcus affected him. After their talk, Lenin waits for Preston outside, and Preston becomes frightened when he realizes what is about to happen. When Preston resists going with him, Lenin threatens to send Miley to boarding school, compelling him to comply. Lenin takes Preston away from the house to administer a “correction”—a beating on his father’s orders—as punishment for embarrassing the family. Preston reflects that he does not mind these beatings and enjoys the pain and blood because they make him feel alive, but dislikes that his father sees him as a disappointment who needs to be punished and corrected. As he is taken away, Preston blames Marcus for the situation and vows to make him pay.

The perspective shifts to Marcus, who is talking on the phone with his mother, June, after his team’s victory. He falsely tells her that the Osborns were not at the game and suggests that she has scared them away. Later in the club parking lot, he is confronted by Lyra, the Osborn family lawyer. She offers Marcus and June a life of immense wealth if he agrees to join the Osborn family, but he flatly refuses. Lyra warns that the family may resort to “drastic measures” in the future.

Marcus reflects that he finds little pleasure in partying or sex, with hockey and his motorcycle being the only things he says give him pleasure. During the team’s celebration, he remains preoccupied with Preston and reflects on how satisfying it was to finally destabilize him after previous failed attempts. Seeking to ground himself when he cannot sleep, he goes to the empty Wolves’ arena for a late-night skate. There, he discovers a drunk and visibly injured Preston, who is wearing Marcus’s skates and breaking his hockey sticks. As Marcus watches him, he recalls their meeting fifteen years earlier and thinks about punishing Preston for forgetting him. After noticing a yin-yang tattoo behind Preston’s ear, Marcus confronts him, grabbing a fistful of his hair. He is exhilarated when Preston visibly reacts to seeing him and decides to test his limits, greeting him, “Well, this is one way to say you miss me, my prince” (69).

Still drunk and taking painkillers after Lenin’s beating, Preston faces Marcus in the deserted arena, where he has broken Marcus’s hockey sticks in retaliation. The confrontation becomes increasingly physical as Marcus moves close to Preston and drinks from Preston’s whiskey bottle, deliberately letting some of the liquor drip from his mouth into Preston’s mouth. Preston is disturbed by his own physical reaction to Marcus’s closeness.

Marcus taunts Preston and asks whether he is gay because of his flirting. Unfazed, Marcus says he is attracted to everyone and does not care for labels, while Preston insists that he is straight. Later, when Marcus grabs Preston by the nape and begins leaning toward him, Preston experiences a moment of panic, punches Marcus in the face, and leaves the arena. He vows to make Marcus’s life hell for touching him.

Preston discusses the incident with his therapist, Dr. Vivienne Duret. He admits to his deep discomfort with Marcus touching him and describes the encounter as painful in a way he does not enjoy, accompanied by static and the sensation of being pushed out of his own skin. He reveals his new plan for revenge: with Hayes’s reluctant help, he has stolen Marcus’s custom-built motorcycle from the Wolves’ college parking lot in Stantonville because he knows Marcus cares about it and wants to force him to come begging for its return. He and Marcus then exchange a series of taunting text messages about the theft.

Later, Preston joins Jude and Kane for a “hunt,” targeting one of the people who stood by while Jude’s mother was murdered. While brutally stabbing the man in the Armstrong family’s private forest, Preston is startled by a masked intruder. He gives chase but loses sight of the intruder. A familiar gloved hand then closes around Preston’s throat from behind, and the masked figure greets him, “Hello again, baby” (96).

From Marcus’s perspective, it is revealed that he made a deal with an unnamed man to gain temporary access to the Armstrongs’ private forest. He witnessed Preston’s killing of the target before grabbing him from behind. The two engage in a brutal fight. Marcus is intrigued when Preston stops fighting back and instead laughs manically, daring Marcus to hit him.

During the beating, Marcus realizes Preston has a visible erection, indicating that Preston is sexually aroused as Marcus hits him. Marcus finds himself becoming aroused as well. Their fight is interrupted by the arrival of Jude and Kane, prompting Marcus to escape. Preston prevents Jude and Kane from pursuing Marcus, calls Marcus “my prey,” and declares that he intends to hunt him himself. As Preston excitedly talks about hunting Marcus, Kane knocks him unconscious. Hiding nearby, Marcus overhears Jude and Kane discussing Preston’s mental state, noting that he has “lost his mind again,” (104) and expressing concern that unidentified people may be targeting him again.

Two days later, Preston lies to Jude and Kane about the identity of the masked man, claiming he doesn’t know who it was. Internally, he grapples with the realization that he was sexually aroused by being hurt by Marcus. He reflects that pain makes him feel alive and present in his own body.

Marcus sends Preston a series of provocative texts about their encounter in the forest. Preston finally responds, and their exchange leads to Marcus proposing a one-on-one hockey game to settle their score. Preston agrees, and they arrange to meet at the Vipers’ arena. Before the game, they make a wager: if Preston wins, Marcus must get on his knees and admit that Preston is the better player; if Marcus wins, Preston must allow Marcus to touch him. During the game, Preston experiences the familiar static and nausea, and Marcus helps him regain focus by telling him to breathe and keep his attention on him. As their physical contest intensifies, Preston becomes sexually aroused by Marcus again. Marcus wins the game and then wraps an arm around Preston’s waist and places a hand on his hip. Preston expects the touch to trigger his usual static and panic, but instead finds that it intensifies his arousal.

After losing the wager, Preston is confused by his sexual arousal toward Marcus because he continues to identify as straight and has never previously been attracted to another man. As Marcus approaches him to continue exercising the terms of the wager, Preston backs away until he hits the unlatched penalty box door, and they crash inside accidentally. Preston is immediately overwhelmed by a confusing mix of discomfort and arousal at Marcus’s proximity. When Marcus touches him, Preston experiences nausea, static, and difficulty breathing, a reaction he connects to his seven-year-old self, and asks Marcus to hurt him instead. Marcus obliges by spanking him, which leads to Preston having a powerful orgasm. Afterward, Marcus strokes Preston’s hair and kisses his forehead, causing the nausea and static to return. Preston punches Marcus and flees.