Page 1 of Two Minutes for Holding

Chapter One

Peyton - Two Months Earlier

My fucking brother! Sorry half-brother! Anger boiled inside of me. Who the fuck did he think he was? Holding me while mall security was going to be breathing down my neck in a matter of seconds. I knew I should have just taken off. It had just shocked me so much when the security system had gone off. Figures the first time I take something I get caught. Then Knox, in all his mighty glory, had to look over in my direction.

Mom was so upset as the security guards searched me. She was crying, making a huge scene, which somehow made matters much worse. It was only fifty dollars’ worth of makeup. Not that big of a deal, and honestly, she should have been happy I hadn’t bothered her for the money. Things were tight enough already, and every time I’d asked her for anything, I got the lecture about needing to be more responsible.

Knox stood there, arms crossed against his chest, trying to calm our mother down. All the while, he looked at me with disappointment. I could still see the piercing gaze now as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

I’d locked myself in my bedroom after we’d got home, refused to have dinner, and told them both to leave me alone. It was finally quiet now, but for the longest time, all I could hear was our mother crying while Knox voiced his disappointment.

I’d heard it all. Neither of them were proud of me. I knew I shouldn’t have come on this trip. Tor had warned me. He’d told me they were trying to get me away from him, and he’d apparently been right.

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand, opening up a message to Tor.

Peyton: Miss you.

I stared at the screen of my phone, waiting for a sign that he was there, only there was nothing. Then I remembered he was going to a concert with a bunch of his friends. It was when I opened up one of my social media apps that I learned why he wasn’t messaging me back.

Anger flooded me, when my phone pinged with a message from my best friend Elise. She was at the same concert and sent me a photo, only it wasn’t of the band as I hoped it would be. Instead, I blew up the fuzzy photo on my phone. I immediately saw what I didn’t want to think was true. It was a picture of Tor and Leela, a girl who hung around his friends. He had her pressed up against the interior brick wall of the building kissing her.

I had a feeling Leela was bad news. I didn’t know why I was so upset; it wasn’t as if this was the first time I’d caught Tor cheating, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. Yet tears still flooded my eyes. I stared at the picture, hit forward, and sent it directly to Tor with the letters WTF in the message, and hit send.

I got up off the bed and paced my room. The house was quiet. While Mom had gone to bed after she’d calmed down and had dinner, Knox had stayed up for a bit, watching a movie while Isurfed on my phone, but he kept at me, asking why I felt the need to shoplift when all I had to do was ask for the money.

He did not know what things had been like. I worked. I picked up extra shifts when I could and helped with the bills and groceries since Mom lost her job. I made a decent wage for part-time while I was in school.

The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t afford what I wanted to buy. It was Tor. Since he didn’t work, he’d started taking money from me. It started with a few dollars here or there and then turned into larger amounts. Just recently, he told me he was in some trouble and needed money, so I cashed in what little savings I had, which left me with nothing, and he was right there the last few paydays taking whatever money I didn’t need.

The things I’d taken, I needed, but since I had no way to pay for them and I didn’t want to stress Mom out by asking her for the money, I just took them. I wasn’t proud of what I’d done. It was wrong on every level, and I knew it, but I felt I had little choice. Tor had bled me dry, and now, after seeing that picture of him and Leela, I knew he didn’t love me as he claimed.

I needed to cut him loose, and I knew that by leaving him it would solve so many problems. I’d have money again, after I built things back up. I’d stop having trouble in school because he was the driving force behind why I’d gotten myself kicked out.

I opened the bedroom door a crack and listened. The house was dark. The only light in the hall came from under the door to Knox’s room. I could hear him quietly talking, no doubt to his new girlfriend Lorelai, whom we were supposed to meet tonight, until my actions had messed that up as well.

I needed to get out of here.

I grabbed my sweater and tiptoed down the hall while opening up my maps application. I searched the area for some little bar to go to, finally finding a place called The Tilted Flask within walking distance from here. I checked my emergency spotin my purse to find a twenty tucked inside and figured I could at least buy myself one drink. It would be enough to pull me away from my troubles or allow me some space, because here, I felt like I was suffocating.

Music blaredinside the bar as the bartender slid a drink in front of me.

“Cheers.”

“Cheers.” I smiled and clinked my glass against his, taking a sip. “Thanks for the drink.”

“No problem, Peyton.”

I’d walked into The Tilted Flask and took a seat at the bar. Moments later, Clay Harris walked through the door. I’d met him last summer when Mom and I had come out for their end-of-season celebration. He played with the Dominators for the past five years and was their star goalie. We’d hit it off last summer, and when he walked in tonight, he noticed me immediately, came over, sat down and offered to buy me a drink.

“What brings you in here?” he questioned.

“My brother, my boyfriend…shoplifting… You?”

“Wow, okay, sounds like there may be a story there. I just felt like getting out and having a couple of drinks. Care to tell me what happened?” he asked.

I opened the image on my phone, looked at it, and then placed my phone down on the bar top, showing it to him.

“Two people kissing… I can see why that would upset you.” Clay smiled.

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