Page 16 of Two Minutes for Holding

“Fuck, I’m starved,” Levi and Colton said at the same time.

“Me too. What do you say we head out for some pizza and wings at The Tilted Flask? They have amazing food there,” Lucas said, more to Levi and Colton than Dylan and me.

As the memory of Saturday night filled my mind, I immediately jumped up. I couldn’t go back to that place tonight.

“Anywhere but that place,” I muttered under my breath, swallowing hard as everyone turned and looked at me.

“You love their food. At least you used to until you got spoiled over at Illusions.” Dylan chuckled, looking over at me.

“Yeah, isn’t that the place you’d wanted to go to the other night?” Colton questioned.

Everyone turned and looked at me, and it was then I realized they’d heard me.

“Well, I’ve ah, heard through the grapevine their food’s gone way downhill. What about The Rusty Anchor?” I said, proud of my quick thinking.

“The Rusty Anchor?” Both Lucas and Dylan said in unison.

It hadn’t been the greatest choice off the top of my head. The Rusty Anchor was fan central for us. They were one of the only pubs in town that prided themselves on being Dominator Central for fans. We’d done our best to avoid the place, unless we were forced to make a public appearance. That was why we always went to Illusions when we went out. Not that we went out a lot, but when we did, we liked to remain somewhat anonymous. Illusions gave us that opportunity.

I nodded, praying that if they agreed that tonight no one would recognize us. That was why Illusions was great. We had access to the private rooms, where we could kick back and hang out without worry, but until renovations were done, we’d have to settle with what options we had.

“You’re so fucking lucky Knox isn’t here right now,” Dylan said, slipping his hat on backwards.

“I know.” I chuckled.

Knox hated attention, as we all did, and I knew there would be no way he’d ever set foot in there, unless perhaps Lorelai was stuck inside and the building was on fire, but I severely had my doubts he’d go in there even at that point. If he were here, we’d be having food at The Tilted Flask, and I’d have to hide the fact that I’d been there only two nights earlier with his sister.

“I don’t give a shit where we go, as long as they have food,” Colton added, grabbing his jacket and throwing on his hat. “Let’s go.”

Luck wason our side tonight, or I guess I should say mine, because the bar was practically empty. We sat in a booth in the back, a half-eaten tray of nachos in the centre of the table when a tray of wings and a pepperoni and mushroom pizza were placed down in front of us.

“Fabulous,” Colton said, grabbing a slice of pizza and holding up his glass, asking for another beer.

“Anyone else want another?” the server questioned, smiling.

The rest of us nodded, and just as we were about to dig into the pizza, she cleared her throat and looked at me, an unsettled look on her face.

“I hate to ask, but would it be possible to get a picture of you guys? I mean, for the wall, of course. Our patrons will die knowing you were here, and they’ll never believe me without proof,” she nervously asked as she pulled her phone from her apron.

I glanced over at the rest of the guys and saw a slight nod from them.

“Sure thing,” I answered. “As long as you won’t post the picture on social media now or ever.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t do that. We, um, we’ve been told by the owner if ever any of the players from the team were to come in here and we did anything like that we’d lose our job.”

“We don’t want that now, do we?” I said, winking in her direction, feeling a lot better knowing we would not get mobbed.

The five of us posed for the picture and then dug into the food in front of us while she went and got us more drinks.

“Knox is missing out,” Lucas said, adding some nachos to the top of his pizza.

I shook my head as I watched him take a bite of the odd combination, nachos falling all over his shirt.

“Where is he, anyway? Wedding planning?” I questioned.

“Nope. Aurora and Ella are working with Lorelai tonight on some things while Knox takes Peyton back to the airport,” Dylan answered.

The second Dylan said Peyton’s name, the beer in my mouth hit the back of my throat, causing me to choke.

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