Page 51 of On Thin Ice

Sean:

‘You better. I miss you already, call me as soon as you wake up.’

I fall asleep clutching my phone, Sean’s words swirling through my mind and allowing me to drift into a peaceful sleep.

Sean

“Is that blonde still there?” I say the second Kyle picks up the phone, the noise of the bar in the background taking over his muffled voice. He chuckles a drunk laugh. “Hello to you too.”

“Focus Kyle, the blonde, is she still there?” I snap, not in the mood for his jokes after the night I’ve had. Someone manufactured this whole thing and I'm going to find out who.

He pauses before speaking again. “Yeah, she’s in the corner with her friends, why?”

“Give her the phone.”

“What?” Kyle squawks and I crack my neck from side to side, loosing my patience by the second.

“Give her the fucking phone Kyle.” I hiss and I hear him curse at me under his breath before muttering something I can’t hear to someone else. I hear a girly sigh. “What do you want?”

“I need to know why you approached me tonight.” I say, trying to keep my voice from wavering and letting the burst of anger fly out.

She sighs again. “Because I wanted sex.”

She’s an even worse liar than Callie.

“No,” I grit my teeth, forcing the seething anger to calm. “That’s not the only reason. Did someone tell you to approach me tonight?” Silence. “Tell me who it was.” I hiss and I hear her heels click clacking across the laminate flooring of the bar. The music immediately muffles and I hear a door squeak closed.

“I didn’t ask him why he wanted me to approach you ok? He said he’d buy me a drink so I just did what he wanted.” She whispers, her tone tense and nervous.

I gulp hard, the anger fighting it’s way up my throat. “Who was it?” “Do you know Joel? Joel Steller?”

My heart beat kicks up a notch and I feel every muscle in my body go into fight mode hearing that arsehole’s name. I hang up the phone without so much as a ‘thank you,’ but I don’t care in this moment. All I know is I need to get over to Joel’s dorm, right fucking now.

I don’t even know how late it is when I get to the five story dorm building that Joel lives in, I only know this is his block because Callie mentioned that he insisted on being in the building nearest to the football field and having the number 48 on his door because it’s his lucky number. Fucking weirdo.

On my way up to the fourth floor in the lift I flex my fist, knowing it’s about to get some action, preferably against Joel’s face. I try to calm my ragged breath but I just can’t, I’ve totally lost control and the closer I get to his door the more animalistic I become. I feel like a tiger protecting his cub right now, claws at the ready as I bang my fist against the door hard. The sound echoes through the deserted hallway but the door swings open fast, the smell of weed permeating the air around me as a cloud of smoke floats out of the door and down the hallway.

“What do you want?” The guy on the other side of the door slurs, his eyes have red rings around them and his irises are twice the size of a sober person’s.

But I'm not here for him, the wide eyes of the guy I'm actually looking for lock onto mine from the living room and before he can blink I'm inside his dorm room. I grab him by the neck, smacking him into the wall and pressing my palm deep into his throat as he claws at my hand. The adrenaline is racing through my veins now and it’s like I have superhuman strength as I hold him forcefully against the wall and lean into his face. “What the fuck?” Joel yells, wiggling his legs and fighting to break out of my tightening grip on his throat.

I crack my neck, feeling the heat crawling up my skin. “You know what, I'm not even mad that you tried to set me up.” I say, watching his face pale as the realisation of why I'm here sinks into his puny brain. “What I'm really fucking mad about, is that you made my baby cry, you made her doubt my feelings for her.”

“I knew that fucking slut wouldn’t keep her mouth shut.” He pants, still clawing at the hand that’s trapping his neck against the wall. I sigh with contempt, ready to leave this fucking weasel with one last warning before I go. “Let me make this crystal clear for you, you’ll never have Callie again. Doesn’t matter what you do to me, how much you try to destroy my character, she’ll never want you.” I take my hand off his neck and he coughs, gripping it with his own sweaty hands and panting like he’s been held under water and only just allowed up for air.

I turn to leave, Joel’s friends are still wide eyed and silent as I reach the door. “Oh by the way,” I say, turning my head back to look at Joel who’s still holding his neck. “If you ever look twice at my girl again I’ll break your neck.” I shake my head with a dry chuckle, “Sorry that sounded like I was joking, I will actually break your neck.” I say, eyes darkening as I watch him gulp hard. I leave, letting the door slam shut behind me and tap a quick text out to my girl for her to read when she wakes up.

Sean:

‘It was Joel who tried to set me up tonight, but don’t worry, I’ve handled it. Call me when you wake up.’

Chapter 41

Callie

I fly down the stairs into the entryway of my dorm and look out of the foggy glass into the pouring rain. The water is pelting down, bouncing off the concrete and making it almost impossible for me to make out where anything is outside. I pull open the door, hovering under the canopy that is sheltering me from the torrential rain as it batters the pavement and all of the cars in the lot. I’m peering, eyes squinting as I try to work out if Sean’s car is here yet when I hear a door slam and see him jogging through the violent onslaught of rain towards me.

Why does he look so damn sexy just by existing?

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