What Are The Chances (Phil-U #2)

30 We’d just broken Holloway

CHAPTER THIRTY

We’d just broken Holloway

WILL

Grace was sitting at the island, sipping a smoothie while highlighting something in her textbook.

“Hey, Hughesy,” I said, ruffling her hair as I passed.

She looked up. “Don’t hey Hughesy me.”

I frowned. “Okay?”

She slammed her textbook closed, her nostrils flaring.

Fuck.

I’d never seen Grace angry before. Had I done something? I tried racking my brains, but nothing came to mind. Had I said something to Levi? Had he said something to her? Grace and I had always gotten along incredibly well. Something sure as hell had shifted.

“What’s up?” I prompted.

Grace shook her head as a response. Classic girls. That wasn’t a fucking answer.

“Has Levi done something?”

“No.”

“Have I?”

She nodded.

“What?” I pressed.

She narrowed her eyes. “You know what.”

I didn’t. Not a fucking clue.

Levi strolled into the kitchen, dressed in his things to head to the barn. We were due there for our morning skate soon. We had another game this afternoon, one I didn’t feel prepared for. My shoulder was achy, and I’d slept terribly last night.

Levi stopped to kiss Hughesy’s cheek before continuing to the coffee machine. Grace smiled warmly up at him – apparently she was only angry at me.

“How was your breakfast yesterday morning?” I tentatively checked.

I’d been dying to ask since Grace and Riley had chummily walked out of the PT rooms.

Something flickered in Grace’s eyes. That’s when it clicked. She knew something. Something she shouldn’t know. Something I likely didn’t want her boyfriend knowing. Grace and Levi may as well have been the same person sometimes. What you told one generally filtered through to the other.

On cue, Levi looked up from his mug, shaking his head discreetly.

I groaned. “What?”

Not answering, Grace reopened her textbook, flicking through the pages until she landed back on the one with fresh highlights. Nah-ah. I stomped to the island and slammed the textbook closed. She snatched her hand back in the nick of time.

“Did Riley tell you about Saturday?” I interrogated.

Grace’s eyes widened at the same moment Levi whipped away from the coffee machine.

“What about Saturday?” he pressed, sounding alarmed.

Damn. I’d just thrown myself under the bus. Oh well. May as well front up now. Hopefully Levi could help me work through the clusterfuck in my brain.

“I slept with Riley.”

He was definitely surprised. Grace on the other hand wasn’t. So she did know, and she’d kept it from Levi for twenty-four-hours. Props. I would’ve complimented her if she wasn’t glowering at me.

“You knew?” Levi asked, rounding on Grace. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because Riley is my friend.”

“But I’m your boyfriend. We don’t keep secrets from each other, babe.”

Grace shrugged simply. “I don’t break girl code.”

Levi glowered. “Boyfriend trumps friend.”

Grace squared her shoulders defiantly. “You didn’t tell me Will cheated on Riley. Does that mean girlfriend doesn’t trump friend?”

Levi opened his mouth then closed it. Grace had him there. And also – ouch . I was in the room still.

“Nah-ah,” Levi bellowed, shaking his head. “This isn’t happening. Will, apologise to Grace. ”

I balked. “For what?”

“For screwing over Riley. Then apologise to me for not telling me you slept with her last weekend.”

“Um, no.”

Levi set his coffee cup down. “Come on, bro. I can’t have my girlfriend and best friend arguing. It’ll ruin the dynamic.”

“If anything, your girlfriend should be apologising to me,” I bit. “If she’s part of this house, she should be on my side by default.”

“I don’t live here,” Grace retorted.

“Please. You haven’t slept at your dorm once since you came back on New Year’s Eve.”

I roughly crossed my arms over my chest. Grace mimicked me and did the same. Levi chaotically dragged his hands through his hair.

“I – Grace can you – no, Will you’ve got to – FUCK!”

He shouted the last word before grabbing his mug and stomping from the room. In a stunned silence Grace and I watched him go. I think we’d just broken Holloway.

*

The winning streak was over, at least it was looking that way. Jersey State was handing our asses to us. We were down four-two with eight-minutes left of the third period. Our supporters were oddly quiet. It was an eerie feeling.

I charged at Jersey’s State’s centre, trapping him against the boards as we fought for the puck. He came off better, fluking a pass to one of his d-men. Levi was on him, but not quickly enough. They got the puck out of our offensive zone.

I headed for the bench, stepping through the open door as Ryan jumped over the boards. As our best defender, he’d been run into the ground tonight. He looked as spent as I felt.

Levi was silent beside me, which was unnerving. It wasn’t my fault we were losing, but I certainly wasn’t helping things.

Coach paced behind us, his dress shoes clicking in time with his heavy footsteps.

When my next shift came, I put my body on the line trying to move the needle. Our team needed momentum. I could see the defeat in the way each player skated. But no matter what I tried, nothing paid off.

When the final buzzer sounded, I skated off the ice straightaway so I didn’t have to witness Jersey State’s celebration. They were extra pumped considering we’d beaten them earlier in the season for the first time in six years .

I fell onto the bench in front of my stall, mentally cataloguing everything that’d gone wrong tonight. It wasn’t like anything specific had turned to shit as such, more or less that we hadn’t played with any excitement. There was no fight.

I knew no team won every game, but I fucking hated losing.

The team was silent as Coach let loose, berating us for things we already knew. Once he was done, Levi picked up his towel and stood.

“You gonna shower?” he asked.

“Nah. I’m going to hang back and work on a few things.” I scooped up my helmet and stick. “I’ll see you at home.”

Levi wasn’t impressed, I could see the argument building on his face. But clearly too exhausted to argue, he let it drop and headed for the showers instead.