Page 74 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)
BEAR
IT’S NOT FIGHTING TIME
I closed the door behind me, taking slow, measured steps to the lounge, thinking it over.
Most of my teammates were gone, either avoiding me in their dorms or they left to give us as much space as possible.
The only ones who stayed behind were the ones I expected.
Fridge, Nick, and Montoya watched me from their chairs like someone petrified them mid-motion.
I stopped by them. “I need you to text?—”
“What’d June say?” Montoya said, words blurring together.
“Uh…she loves me, but we can’t be in a relationship because it’d push me from my family.” I shrugged. “Which, my family sucks so…it’s one of those things where you know but you don’t know until someone tells you, you know?”
Nick nodded slowly. “Yeah. Uh, no. Not at all.”
“I worked two jobs in North Dakota while I played hockey. Then I’d scroll through my feed and see Xavier jet-setting into the sunset—” A harsh laugh burst out of me. “June thinks this is a hard decision?”
“What decision?” Fridge frowned.
“Who should I pick? My shitty family who wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire or the girl who washed my hair when Pickles messed up my hand at practice?
I didn’t ask her to do it—June knew my hand was bruised and I’d been icing it, and she saw me fumbling with the shampoo bottle, and she just did it.
" I exhaled, remembering how her fingers stroked my hair and her soft murmur in the shower. "Do you know how nice it is to get your hair washed by somebody who loves you? It’s like an orgasm! And she did that on a Tuesday! When she has early classes! This isn’t a hard decision—why would she think this is a hard decision? ”
Nick grimaced at the others. “He’s talking really fast, I don’t like where this is going.”
“Hey, Bear?” Fridge held up a hand. “Let’s calm down, talk this out—this sounds like a big, life-altering?—”
“You need to text Denali,” I interrupted, already leaving for the stairs. “He needs to be prepared to say the hockey team isn’t involved because I’m going to kick my stepbrother’s ass.”
“ Huh? ” Montoya choked out.
The guys said something else, but I didn’t hear them. I headed down the stairs, mentally prepping my path. If I cut the crosswalks and jaywalked through the gardens, I’d halve the time to the student center?—
“Bear?” Nick shouted, jogging to me. “Are you joking?”
Ignoring his question, I picked up the pace. It was so beautiful outside. One of those late summer days when the weather’s perfect. Not really planetarium weather, we’d have to go when it was raining or something.
“Bear— Bear. ” Fridge tried to stop me, and I shook him off. “You can’t do this, you can’t fight your brother?—”
“Stepbrother,” I corrected.
“It’s not fighting time!” Nick interjected. “Everyone’s out for lunch! The streets are packed! If anything, kick his ass tonight. We’ll help!”
“Please, Bear, this is a bad idea,” Montoya urged.
I stalled in the gardens separating the main roads of campus and glanced at three of my closest friends. They had my best intentions at heart, and they cared about me. “Yeah.” I nodded. “You’re right.”
“Thank you,” Fridge muttered. “I thought you were actually going to do it.”
“You scared me,” Montoya admitted.
“If I did it now…it’d be stupid. And reckless.”
Fridge breathed out in relief. “Yeah, you’re finally?—”
My eyes slid to the side entrance of the student center, and I broke into a sprint, arms pumping at my sides. The guys yelled, their sneakers heavy on the pathway, but they weren’t quick enough. I threw open the door and locked it behind me.
“No, Bear!” Montoya banged on the glass. “ Bear! ”
I had maybe ten seconds on them, there were other entrances. I raced up the south staircase, two steps at a time, sprinting to the housing department. I stumbled to a stop at the front desk receptionist, mentally crossing my fingers Xavier was there at all.
“Hey!” I panted and she gazed at me, quizzical. “I’m looking for Xavier Lisco-Hodges.”
“Um…let me call him?—”
“Family emergency. Mom’s in the hospital. I’m his stepbrother.”
“He has a brother?” She blinked. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Um…he’s in room one-oh-four with the housing board, past the water station?—”
In a flash, I was gone. Students hurried out of my way while I ran down the hall. I wasn’t even nervous. Everything had been leading up to this point, I just didn’t realize it. I threw open the door and closed it behind me, locking it for good measure.
Xavier was in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation, the kind that called for a nice tie and chinos. It must’ve been important. Across the room, I could see his eyebrow twitch. “Bear, not today?—”
“You hurt her.”
Everyone around the table turned to look at me. Xavier froze, clicker in hand.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t give a shit about the stuff you did to me. I figured—you’re a twenty-one-year-old dipshit, maybe you’ll grow out of it.” I pointed towards Roman Villa without taking my eyes off him. “But the psycho shit you’ve done to June ?—”
He paled. “Bear?—”
“Kicked her out of her fucking house, out of her organization, spread lies about her. I saw that bullshit email you sent about the STD awareness workshops, dropping all those fucking hints connected to her. You ripped up her fucking garden—” I stopped myself, breathing hard.
“She had a pregnancy scare and had to call King because you wouldn’t make the drive! ”
Xavier wet his lips. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about?—”
“I used to wonder how big of a fucking idiot you are. She had an eating disorder, and you didn’t realize how bad it was?
How stupid can you be?” I narrowed my eyes.
“But that’s the wrong way of thinking, isn’t it?
I’ve seen June’s bad days. The headaches, how tired she gets, how she sees herself—you sick fuck, you got off on that!
You want her to have an eating disorder!
You want her weak and helpless because it makes you feel good! ”
“ What? ” A woman in a blazer stared at Xavier. “Xavier?”
I raised my voice. “I’ve been wishing—I’ve been fucking hoping—that you could apologize and we could somehow move past it because we’re family, but you know what?
I don’t want you to get a redemption arc.
Maybe it’s selfish, maybe it’d be better for her if she could forgive you, but you don’t deserve her forgiveness! I don’t want you near her!”
“I don’t know who this guy is!” Xavier said wildly.
“I told you what would happen if you didn’t leave her alone,” I warned. “So come outside. I’m beating the fuck out of you in front of everybody on campus.”
Silence.
Xavier searched for sympathetic faces in the audience, for someone to pipe up, but the table was silent, gaping in shock. Nobody dared to say a word. He took a long breath, eyes on me, before he darted away.
Oh, fuck, there’s another door.
With a curse, I ran after him, after his shoes squealing on the linoleum. The bastard knew the building better than I did. He shoved open another door to the outside stairs and I fumbled for the handle— locked . Shit! I jerked around for another exit.
Fuck it, if he was going downstairs, I’d follow.
I dodged past students until I burst out of the student center to see Xavier’s blonde hair bobbing in the crowd.
“Get back here, pussy!” I shouted.
“Fuck, Bear, no! ” Fridge yelled.
Xavier whipped back and screamed at me but that just spurred me on. “You think you can outrun me, bitch?! I’LL RIP YOUR FUCKING LIMBS OFF!”
“Bear, don’t do it!” Nick shouted. “Don’t do it!”
“Denali’s going to kill us!” Montoya warbled.
Xavier took a sharp left towards the law library, trying to weave through the food trucks, but I grabbed him by his jacket and swung him around, smashing my fist into his face.