Page 25 of Two Minutes for Holding

“Why the fuck would you say that to me? I’m not the enemy here. Do you have any idea how much fucking money I’ve given her to watch her almost not only throw away her education, then to steal in front of me and my mother because it was what her boyfriend Tor taught her, the same scumbag who got her thrown out of school because he doesn’t think an education is necessary. Then to watch her continue to lie to me again and again. The last time, right to my face when I asked her if she was done with him? The only reason I gave her the money this time to clear up rent and bills was because my mother wasn’t going back with her. I gave her one last chance and trusted her to do the right thing, and yet, here we are again…”

“Perhaps if you would take a minute and listen to what she has to say…”

“Don’t start that shit with me. I’ve given her chance after chance. She is literally killing my mother. It’s disgusting.”

“Like I said, maybe you should give her a chance to talk to you and explain….”

“Whose side are you on?” he questioned, glaring at me.

“Yours,” I said, swallowing hard.

“Then why the hell are you sticking up for her when you should side with me?”

Knox glared at me like he was looking right through me. I could see the questions in his eyes, the wonder why I was making him sound like the bad guy.

“Guys, calm the hell down,” Dylan said, punching me on the shoulder to pull my attention away from Knox and the situation.

“Fine,” I muttered, looking toward him.

“Do you think she’ll show at the arena?” Dylan asked. “Apparently, Aurora is having dinner with Lorelai and your mom tonight, and your mom has been asking,” Dylan said, looking at his phone and typing a response.

I watched Knox pull his phone from his pocket and shook his head.

“Lorelai didn’t message me,” he said, looking over at Dylan.

Dylan chuckled. “No, because she doesn’t want you to stress out, so she told Aurora to ask me to ask you. Guess it’s better if I stress you out,” Dylan said with a cocky smile. “You can take it out on me later on the ice.”

“Or, perhaps she is just another person who doesn’t feel she can come to you when she needs something,” I muttered under my breath.

Dylan lowered his phone and looked at me with an ‘are you serious right now’ look.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Knox said, looking at me his jaw tight.

“He said nothing,” Dylan intervened, trying to keep the peace between us.

“Stay out of it, Dylan. If Clay has something to say, he should say it. Perhaps he’d like Peyton to be his problem.”

I stood up, climbing over Dylan, and made my way to the back of the plane where Lucas sat with Colton and Levi and took a seat with them. Nothing good was going to come out of me saying another word to Knox, so it was best to remove myself from the situation altogether and keep my mouth shut.

The crowd roaredas the buzzer went off. The puck had coasted by me, even though I’d tried to stop it, handing the game to the Ice Hawks.

“What the fuck was that, Clay?” Knox yelled as he threw his shit into his locker.

“Of course it makes logical sense to blame the goalie, but did you asses look at how you played tonight?” I yelled, throwing my jersey to the floor.

“How we played?” Colton questioned, turning to look at me. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Yes, how you all played!”

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?” Levi questioned. “We played like we always do, to win.”

“If that was playing to win, you all better walk off this team right now.”

“You are the only one who didn’t give it his all tonight,” Knox said, pulling his jersey off and dropping it to the floor. “Just like the last couple of games. Where the fuck has your head been?”

“Yeah, man, don’t go blaming everyone else on the team,” Dylan said, unlacing his skates.

“I’m not, but when we lose, we lose as a team, same with when we win, and there was not a single play on behalf of any one of you that says we were winners tonight!” I yelled.

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