Page 21 of Two Minutes for Holding

“Saturday, nine in the morning. Not a minute later,” he said, and then turned and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

I stood there, tears filling my eyes until the entire room was blurry. My stomach rolled. Maybe I should just be like Mom, I thought. We talked the other night. She’d expressed an interest in changing her life and had wanted me to consider the same. She told me, for now, only to pay one month’s rent, and by that time she’d have her answer whether she was going to move to Vancouver to be closer to Lorelai and Knox or return to Vermont. Maybe, just maybe, I should do the same, I thought and made my way back to the kitchen just in time for the microwave to go off.

Chapter 7

Clay

There was lessthan a minute to go. I stood in the net, sweat dripping down my body as I watched the opposing team slay their way through the boys, heading straight for me. I’d lost the time and prayed I could either stop the puck when they shot it toward the net, or the buzzer beat them to it. Almost immediately after the opposing player shot the puck toward me, I blocked, and the buzzer sounded. I did not know if I’d stopped the puck from going in the net or not until the arena broke out in cheer.

Winning the game on home ground was always unlike any other.

The sirens went off and the boys all came skating over, piling into me, while the crowd continued cheering.

We were one step closer to securing our spot in the playoffs once again.

“Killer save!” Dylan yelled.

“Amazing, I thought we were done,” Colton said, fist-bumping me.

Lucas, Knox and Levi bro hugged me, and then I met with the rest of the team as they came out on the ice. Once we’d done the end of the game rounds, we headed back to exit the ice, but first we stopped to sign a few things for some fans.

“We should go out and celebrate,” Levi said as we made our way to the locker room.

“I’m down,” Colton agreed.

“I’ll check and see if Aurora’s okay with me going,” Dylan said. “You guys going to come out with us? Illusions just announced their grand reopening tonight.”

“Yeah, you know, if we are going there, then I think I will go,” Knox said, looking at me, waiting for my reply.

The last thing I felt like doing was going out to celebrate our win. It hadn’t helped that I hadn’t been able to get my mind off Peyton since she’d left the other night. The entire situation was eating at me on so many levels. I’d barely been able to look Knox in the face. I wanted to confess everything, take my beating and be done with the entire situation. Then tonight, right before we were going on the ice, Peyton had texted asking if we could talk. I made sure I was alone when I quickly responded, constantly checking over my shoulder as I told her I’d message her after the game once I was home.

“Well? What do you say?” Knox questioned.

The music was pounding,so was my head as Knox and I made our way out of the washroom. We were on our way back toour private room where the food hadn’t stopped coming in since we’d arrived, when I felt a hand grip my shirt.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Sonya smiling at me. “Hey, Clay. It’s been a while.”

Sonya was a girl I’d fallen in and out of bed with many times over the past two years. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, and I’d heard it from the guys many times how I was wasting a good thing, and I should just snap her up. We were compatible in the bedroom, that much I knew, but the rest of the stuff didn’t add up.

“Sure has. How have you been?” I questioned.

She nodded, then smiled, leaning into me, “I’ve been good. I was just thinking about you, and I’d love it if we could spend the night together.”

I nodded and looked at Knox to see he was staring off into the distance. When he looked my way and saw me answering her, he gave me a wink and turned to leave me with Sonya.

Sonya pushed her body against mine, attempting to dance with me while Knox walked away. Then she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, turned around, and rubbed her ass against me as my eyes washed over her body. She was attractive as hell, and normally I’d have my hands all over her by now, but not tonight. Something was different. I felt different, and she didn’t excite me the way she had before.

“What’s wrong, Clay?” she questioned when I didn’t grab her. She looked up at me with those full, pouty lips.

“Sorry, sweetheart, not into it tonight, I guess,” I said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Not tonight?” she questioned, taking offence at my answer.

“I’m sorry, Sonya, maybe next time,” I said, hoping I’d let her down gently enough. I took off toward our private room.

When I walked in, the guys were all sitting around talking about the game, eating, and relaxing. I grabbed a plate andthrew some food on it and then sat down over in the corner, looking for a little time for myself while I took a couple bites of the pizza they’d just delivered.

I was just about done my first slice when someone sat next to me. I turned to see Knox sitting there, looking at me while he talked on his phone. I turned my attention back to my food, but the moment he finished his call, he leaned forward and looked at me.

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