Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
Ari
T he first thing I do after I leave Cody—heartbroken Cody—at the concession stand, is head to the parking lot and pound on Doug. Some might say violence isn’t the answer, and I’d usually agree with those some, but this is the only way to get through to someone like Doug. It’s not the first time I’ve warned Doug to quit bullying Cody. It’s like the man’s emotional maturity never left high school.
“Fuck, Meyer. You and your damn iron fist.”
“Leave him alone.”
“I hate that grouchy little prick. He stuffed jalapenos into my hot dog bun. Nearly burned my mouth off.”
If I don’t bite my lip, I’m gonna laugh my face off. Doug fucking deserves every fiery jalapeno, but Cody is a grouchy thing. I find it adorable. Besides, I know it’s a front for something. A protective shield. I want to crack it open so badly and make him smile.
I’ve caught him smiling. Smiling at me. I know he likes me. Maybe not as much as I like him, but there’s a spark there. Pretty sure his boyfriend’s fake because he was uncomfortable after what Doug did. All I could think up on the spot was that job thing. Canadian Thanksgiving is three weeks from now. I have that long to get him to date me—or think up another reason I need to keep my concession stand job. If that’s the only way he’ll let me be close to him, I’ll work there forever.
It wasn’t a total lie. We could always use the extra money in the Meyer house. Currently, there are six of us, and with the way Dad multiplies, there could be news of another Meyer any day now. He has a new girlfriend, so it’s a matter of when, not if. I just spent my last fifteen dollars of spare cash. The rest of what I have has to go to gas for my truck.
And that date, if I get it.
There is some cool free shit we could do around town, but I’d love to take him for dinner. Cody deserves something special.
“Talk like that to him again and you won’t have to worry about jalapenos burning your tongue because I’ll rip it out.”
“Fuck, okay. I’ll leave him alone.”
“Was that so hard?”
“Just … don’t punch me for this,” he says, holding up his hands. “But what do you see in him?”
An image of Cody pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose tugs my lips into a smile. The dark feather of hair that falls over the lenses, hiding his shy eyes from me. I ache to push that hair off his face. Even his sour expression when our team meanders over to his stand sends my heart skating across invisible ice. There’s something else too, though, tugging me in his direction. Something too sad. Something too painful.
It holds him back. Robs his potential. Crushes his spirit.
“I see starlight.”
Brilliant lights scattered through utter darkness.
“You’re fucking odd, Meyer,” he says.
Don’t I know it?
P retty sure Rita’s Cody’s mom. They have the same pretty brown eyes. She gives me the job because I’m charming. I have to be charming. Merc sure as hell ain’t the charming one, so I gotta be. Merc’s the eldest of us Meyers. He looks after us, even when he’s away. Or, well, looked after us. I’m twenty-four now and don’t need looking after, but we band together as a family to look after each other.
Since hockey’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I work full-time during the day, I tell Rita that I can work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings.
“I need someone to sweep and mop the arena and help Cody with whatever he wants. Think you can handle that?”
I salute her. “Yes, ma’am.”
She likes me. I know she does. That shine in her eyes says so. “Also, he’s always walking to his car in the dark. Don’t like that. You look like a strong guy, Ari. I’ll pay you an extra hour’s wage to make sure he gets to his car okay.”
“Mom,” Cody complains.
Knew she was his mom. “On it,” I promise. “Free of charge.”
She didn’t have to ask. I never would have let him walk to his car on his own in the dark. Cody’s not even the smallest guy I’ve ever seen, but he doesn’t have a fighter’s build.
Cody scowls at me from the other side of the concession stand. I lean against his counter, still holding onto my mop. “Any chance I can get a soda?”
“No. Do you have any idea how much high-fructose corn syrup they put in those? It literally erodes your arteries. Besides, you can’t afford it.”
He says no a lot, but he’s so cute spitting those nutritional facts that I don’t mind. I work on sweeping and mopping. He helps customers. I watch him from afar because I can’t help myself. He doesn’t smile, he isn’t friendly, but he works with precision. He’s quick and gets through a long lineup of people without any hiccups.
Most everyone’s gone by ten pm. I saunter over to Cody’s counter, adjusting my hat. I was given a dark blue cotton button-up to wear over my shirt, but other than that it’s my jeans, ballcap, and a pair of boots. I wipe the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand and undo the top buttons of my shirt, noting Cody’s blue checkered mackinaw and black toque. He’s not sweltering in that thing?
“Need any help? No,” I say at the same time he does.
His mouth opens and then he closes it. “I don’t need help.”
“Okay, then I’ll sit here and wait for you.”
I hop my ass onto the counter. If smoke could escape his pores, he’d be a little dark rain cloud. Finally, he settles a hand on his hip. “Go home, Ari.”
“No. You’re not walking out to your car by yourself.”
He says I can’t have soda; I say he can’t walk to his car in the dark.
“You’re infuriating, you know that?”
“I’ve been told.”
“I walk to my car by myself all the time.”
I shrug. “You don’t anymore.”
“I existed before you, you know?”
“Debatable.” I smirk.
He scowls, spinning away from me to lock the rest of the concession items away. I stare the whole time. I don’t think the man knows how hot he is. Does he do Pilates? Because damn, that ass in those jeans.
“I don’t have a person,” he admits as we’re walking out of the building. “Keeping up the lie is exhausting.”
I haven’t asked him about it, so I’m left to assume he was experiencing some kind of internal dilemma about it.
“I knew you didn’t—not because you couldn’t,” I add just in case he goes there again. “You flirt too much with me.”
“I do not flirt with you.”
“Yes, you do.”
I close the door to the rink for him, and he locks it behind us. Cody’s position is somewhat managerial. His parents own the rink. Didn’t know that. But it does beg the question, why didn’t Cody play hockey?
“Do you skate?”
“N-No,” he stutters.
We step into cool night air that only feels warm by comparison to being in an ice rink for the past six hours.
“Why not?”
“Leave it, Ari.”
“Okay, but I need to know this kind of information. What if I’d chosen the rink for our date? That would have been embarrassing.”
“Just because I’m not dating anyone, doesn’t mean I’m dating you.” We pause by his car and have a stare-off.
“Alright, fine, but will you at least tell me why I’m not good enough for you?”
“It’s not that … it’s … look, I’ve gotta go. Thanks for escorting me.” He’s in his car so fast, and I’m left with nothing but his taillights.
M y first week at the arena passes quickly. Cody still hates me, or he at least pretends to hate me. I don’t want to be that guy, the one making creepy assumptions, but he’s too obvious. His gaze is forever searching for me, needing to know where I am. Sometimes I wave, one hand on the mop, chin rested on that hand. Other times I let him stare without interruption.
I always walk him to his car at the end of the night.
I’d ask him out again, but I already have so many times that doing it anymore feels wrong. If I’m going to ask him out, it’s got to be when I’m sure he’ll say yes, so I shelve that and settle for his company, giving myself the end date of Canadian Thanksgiving. If my charm doesn’t work on him by then, it’s never going to work, and I’ll have to accept that he’s not into me past mild flirtation.
Monday night is the arena’s fall grand opening. Even though the small rink’s been around for over two decades, they do a grand opening for fall every year to celebrate the start of the hockey season. It’s a lot quieter around the rink in the summertime.
We get slammed, and Cody needs me behind the counter with him.
“Tell me what you need. I’ll do whatever you say, Codes.”
He almost breaks his vow of not smiling—a vow that wasn’t said aloud, but I know he must have taken one with how stringently he refuses to smile in my presence—at the nickname and maybe because he gets to boss me around. He can boss me around behind the counter all he wants. When he’s in my bed—if he ever gives me that honor—I’ll be the one in charge.
Cody puts me on the till, claiming that only he knows how to properly run and stock the concession stand. I do my best, and whoa! People are generous with the tips around here. I haven’t been paying attention to things like that. My attention’s always on Cody.
“So, hot stuff, you get off soon?” one of the pretty ladies says as I’m handing her the bag of chips she asked for.
I get hit on a lot, so I’ve got plenty of lines in my arsenal to turn people down nicely without making them feel like shit, but I don’t get the chance. Cody has his whippy little cloth out.
“Shoo, she-devil.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Sorry, didn’t know he was yours.”
Cody doesn’t accept her apology or forgive her ignorance. He doesn’t correct her either. All she gets is a murderous glare potent enough to send her running. Her friend is left standing there, jaw dropped.
“He bites,” I say, shrugging.
Once the rush is over, I attempt to show Cody how full the tip jar is, but he’s silent. Won’t talk to me. Barely looks at me.
“Did I do something?”
“No.”
“Then why are you pissed at me?”
Some might be annoyed by such behavior, but the pain is plain on his face. An ache freezes me, pounding into my chest—his pain is my fucking pain.
“Never mind. Doesn’t matter.”
I step toward him, and he stiffens, breathing carefully. He backs against the counter, and I use a knuckle to nudge his chin upward.
“It matters to me.”
He twists his lips but doesn’t move away. My heart’s about to explode. I want to kiss him so bad. I’m dying to suck on that sturdy jaw of his.
“She was really pretty,” is all he says.
“You’re prettier.”
His hands clench. “Don’t lie to me just to get into my pants.”
I let go of his chin. “I won’t lie. I do want in your pants, but I definitely think you’re prettier. I think you’re the prettiest man I’ve ever seen.”
That gets me a gorgeous blush and a smile. “Be for real, Ari.”
His body leans toward me and his delectable-looking jaw is so much fucking closer. “I think I should kiss you,” I whisper. Normally, I’m an attack-first kind of guy, especially when I’m getting the kind of signals coming off of Cody that I am. But this is different, he definitely wants me to kiss him, he’s unsure if he trusts me enough to let it happen.
So, I wait.
He bites his lip.
He nods.
Was that a fucking nod?
“What are you waiting f?—”
I steal his breath, his last word, catching his plush lips that are a little scratchy from the cold. Fuck, I want these wrapped around my cock. The way they’d scrape the sensitive skin of my shaft…
Delicate fingers dig into my scalp. I jump just a little—didn’t expect that—but he claws deeper, not letting me go anywhere.
I’m good with that.
Teasing him with my tongue, I test the waters. Will he let me inside? His lips part easily, and I slip in. Our lips continue to move as I suck and tug on his tongue with mine, coaxing it into my mouth. I’ve spent a long time watching these pretty lips, wondering what it would be like to have them against me anywhere, everywhere.
It’s so much better than my imagination could have dreamt up. A tornado corkscrews through my center while my body seeks his, still not close enough. He inhales a huge gust; his chest inflates enough to press against mine.
Our hearts just touched, and no one can tell me different.
I’m going to kiss this man forever.
There’s a loud fucking crash down the hallway. We jump away from each other. What the fuck? We’re supposed to be the only two people here.
“Let me go check that,” I say, still catching my breath.
“ No. ” That’s a different kind of no. “What if it’s an intruder with a weapon?”
“Then I’ll kick their fucking ass.”
“Not if they have a gun.”
I roll my eyes. “They won’t have a gun. It’s probably one of the neighborhood kids.”
Cody picks up a broom, following after me. His lips are swollen, and there’s some redness chafing his perfect jaw because of my scratchy face. Yeah, I’m gonna need to fuck him as soon as I make him all mine.
Down, boy. Loud noise. A maybe intruder. Focus.
Right.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask.
“Coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. Stay here.”
“What if that noise was a distraction and the real plan is to come after me when you’re not here? No way am I staying here alone.”
I might like that hero position a little too much, and now I’m just gonna be thinking about him being taken. “Alright, fine. But stay close.”
Creeping away from the concession stand and down the hallway, we make our way in the direction of the noise. All my cleaning shit’s been toppled, the mop strewn across the walkway, dirty water everywhere.
Muffled scuffles skitter across the rubber flooring. Cody jumps, his hand latches onto my biceps, his front presses against my side. He’s gone from prickly, bite-y Cody to terrified, “I need Ari to protect me” Cody.
Fucking score. Maybe our date should be watching scary movies.
“A-Ari.” His lip trembles.
“C’mere, sweets. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.” I let him curl into me as I relieve him of the broom. That’s when I spy our culprit, a fury, narrow-nosed interloper with claws. “Awww, look at him. He’s frickin’ adorable.”
“What is?”
“The raccoon.”
“Raccoon? That’s worse .” His arms find their way around me, and while that kiss was epic as fuck, I might like this even better.
Yeah, no. I can’t think of anything about this situation I’d call “worse”, not when he’s right where I wanted him all along. “How is that worse?”
I enjoy the warmth of him while it lasts. How do I get him to stay like this?
“They attack when they’re cornered. Fuck. Get rid of it! I can’t look.” He hides his face in my chest.
“I’ll get him out of here,” I say. For his part, the raccoon’s unbothered. He must encounter humans often while he’s ransacking the neighborhood. “You might have to let go of me, though.”
He nods, reluctantly letting go.
“Wait. Don’t go near him. He could have rabies.”
The raccoon studies me, probably wondering if he can go on about his business.
“He’s more afraid of me than I am of him,” I say, even though I’m sure this raccoon isn’t afraid of anything. I’d keep him as a pet if Merc would let me. But Merc still hasn’t forgiven raccoons because of the family of raccoons who turned our outside garbage bins into an all-you-can-eat buffet. We missed garbage pick-up because of it and with a family as big as ours, inconvenient doesn’t cover what we went through that week.
I shake the broom in his direction, in a coaxing manner rather than threatening. He’s well-fed and flipping adorable. Beauford—I’m calling him Beauford—slinks by us and out the back door.
I step forward, hoping Cody’ll let me hold him again. He’s shaking, removing his glasses to wipe his eyes, fighting to steady his breath.
“I-I-I had a dog once … raccoon killed it.”
Okay, fair. Raccoons are cute, but they’re still wild animals.
“Come back here.” I hold out my arms for him.
He stares at my open arms for so long that I think he’ll take me up on the offer. Instead, he sniffles. “No. I … lock the back door next time.”
“I will. I will, Codes. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s o-okay. I gotta go.”
He rushes from the hallway toward the front entrance. You can practically see the cartoon smoke.
Shit. I still have to lock that door and?—
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. “Cody, wait. Just a second!” I chase after him, wanting to reach out and yank him to me, but that’s not gonna go over well just now. Cody’s left the building literally and figuratively.
Nothing’s locked. He has the keys to the arena, which I usually borrow from him to lock the back.
“Cody, please.”
He won’t listen, feet pounding the pavement. He hops into his car, and then he’s gone, and I’m left with an unlocked ice rink.
And a raccoon.
Beauford slinks from the darkness, his back curved like a rainbow, walking on quiet feet. He stares up at me.
“You don’t have rabies, do you, buddy?” I sure as fuck hope not, or Cody will never talk to me again.