Off the Ice (Penalty Kill 2)

“Uh, I think she might have went out back with Zack?” His words slur and he seems unsure of himself.

“Thanks.” I pat his shoulder a little too hard before walking away. Zack’s here? Great. Why would they be way back here anyway? Quickly, my long legs gets me through the crowd to the back porch that is empty with the exception of Presley and Zack, sure enough. Before I can open the screen door to go outside, Zack, who is standing too close to Presley, leans forward and kisses her.

My heart stops.

Five seconds. It took five seconds of seeing her kissing him to turn and walk away. Memories of how my teammate said he thought he saw her holding hands with a guy and Sunny saying she thought she was with him and Marley rush forward. Presley lied to me. I shove my way through the damn people, so I can get out of here. My thoughts turn to earlier this afternoon with my father. The worries I had, the wants I told him about.

And she’s been playing me? With Zack? It doesn’t make any sense. I’m surprised and hurt and really pissed, especially since I’m walking away instead of beating the shit out of him. I get into my car, far too calm than I should be, and drive away. Presley, who was so jealous over an ex at the festival, has been lying and cheating on me.

What the fuck?

Is this her way of getting back at me? For what I did in the beginning? It doesn’t make sense. How-? I don’t get it. She’s been around my dad and other than the now obvious lying and going behind my back, nothing seemed wrong. I hit my steering wheel and keep driving until I get to where I want to be.

And I don’t even want to go there. Not when I feel this way. But it doesn’t matter because soon, I park my car and switch off the igni

tion. I don’t bother to even take the keys out. Seconds later, I’m sitting on that cold damn bench, staring at the engraved stone. My hands are clasped together in front of me, and I rest my chin on my knuckles. The last time I had these same angry, hurt emotions running rampant, overwhelming my heart, my mom had just died.

I clench my jaw, wishing that she was here so I could talk to her. But she’s not. My heart is beating like crazy, and it feels like it’s working on triple overtime, about to burst at any second and just stop beating all together.

What the fuck just happened?

The quiet around me is interrupted when my phone starts ringing. It sounds too loud compared to my surroundings. I fish it from my pocket and see that it’s Presley. For a second, I’m tempted to ignore her.

“What?” I answer, and my voice is completely empty of any emotions.

“Levi? Where are you? Is everything okay?” I can faintly hear the music in the background and wonder if she’s still on the back porch with him.

“Everything is fine. You just enjoy your night with Zack, okay?” Again, my voice is bland and monotone.

“What? What are you talking about, Levi?”

I squeeze my eyes closed and try to control my temper. “Don’t. Don’t lie to me anymore, Presley. It’s pointless now.”

“Levi, I’m not lying. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell me what’s wrong.”

My laugh falls flat. “You don’t know what I’m talking about? So is this where you tell me that you didn’t kiss Zack? That you pushed him away when he tried to kiss you? Or where you actually tell me that you did in fact kiss him for at least five seconds. Do you know what I’m talking about now, Presley?” It takes everything I have not to blow up at her.

Her voice is shaky as she says, “Levi. Levi, let me explain. It’s not what it seems. I swear. Please listen to me. He kissed me and I swear I pushed him away. I don’t want him. I want you. I love you.”

“Yeah, I could tell as I watched you kiss him back. I could see exactly how much you love me.” A bit of anger slips into my voice, and Presley starts pleading with me.

“It wasn’t like that. Please listen to me. I don’t want him. I want you.”

“I don’t care anymore,” I say and then hang up, turning my phone off immediately. My eyes find their way back to my mom’s name. I do care. I care so much, but it doesn’t matter. It can’t matter. I’m not going to let it. I was fine before Presley, and I’ll be fine now without her. I stare at nothing as my eyes lose focus, and I sit on that stupid bench for hours. When I finally leave the cemetery, all I know is that I don’t want to be found for the rest of the weekend. I don’t want to see her or hear her voice. I’ll go stay at a hotel outside of town until Monday. I don’t want to deal with her until then.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Presley

The party was supposed to be a fun night. I wore some of my new sexy lingerie for Levi. I rode over with Marley and Trevor because I was going to leave with Levi later. I was having a great time, laughing, and hanging out. Then Zack asked to talk to me out back. We had been becoming closer, and I kept reminding him that we were just friends.

When we got out on the porch, he started telling me how much he missed me and how much he cared about me.

“Zack, we’re friends. That’s it.” I put my hand on his arm and gently squeezed. He grabbed me and kissed me. I didn’t know what to think, at first. I just stood there. Zack was kissing me. It was when he tried to slip his tongue in my mouth that I came back to reality and pushed him away.

“What the hell?” I roughly rubbed my lips to remove the remnants of his lips on mine.

“Pres, we belong together.”