“Make me,” Perez shot back.
Elliot stepped into the middle of the fray. He pushed Trenton back with one hand and planted the other on Perez’s shoulder.
“Hey. Enough,” Elliot said, projecting his usual steady voice. “We won a tournament today. Take it inside and cool off.”
I dropped my bag and stepped up right next to Perez. My fists clenched automatically as I squared my stance. I was ready to swing if Trenton made a move, even though my heart was not in it.
My muscles were dead tired. But Elliot was standing right there, and he was a very convenient target for the frustration I could not take out on his brother.
“Or what, Captain?” I asked, keeping my tone flat and challenging. “You going to tell Coach to bench us for pointing out the obvious?”
Elliot looked at me hard, but did not take the bait. Nobody moved for a long second. The lines were clearly drawn in the gravel, with the legacy guys standing on one side and the scholarship kids on the other.
Eventually, Trenton scoffed and turned away. Perez spat on the ground and walked in the direction of the Ice House.
I picked my bag up again. The team was splitting right down the middle. If a real war broke out between us and the legacy guys, my secret with Karter would be the exact thing that destroyed me.
Twenty minutes later, I dropped my gear bag in my room and ignored the noise coming from downstairs. The rest of the guys in the house were breaking out cheap beer to celebrate the tournament win, but I grabbed my work uniform and headed right back out the front door.
For the first time all year, I was actually glad to walk into my night shift at the Food Mart. Staying at the Ice House meant sitting alone and staring at the thin wall separating me from Karter. The temptation to check if Karter’s roommate was gone so I could slip into his room was too much. So, stocking shelves was the only way to keep my hands off him.
I downed two energy drinks back-to-back to force my body through the shift. The cold air radiating from the open freezer doors helped keep me awake while I knelt on the floor to fill the bottom shelves. My muscles were burned out from playing such a physical game. Reaching for a plastic crate of soup, my fingersjust gave up. The crate crashed hard onto the linoleum and sent dented cans rolling under the display racks.
At the sound, my manager rushed down the aisle toward me. He surveyed the mess, then glared down at me. “You’ve got a real attitude problem, Zotov.”
Standing up slowly, my hands wiped down my dirty apron. “It slipped. I’ll clean it up.”
“The cost of this damaged inventory comes out of your paycheck,” he said. He crossed his arms. “Don’t forget you’re easily replaceable. One more mess like this, and you’re fired.”
Every muscle in my body wanted to tell him to shove the job. I wanted to leave the mess and walk out into the freezing night. But quitting meant coming up short on the money I wired home every month. And it meant my mother would have to pick up another night shift to cover the difference. I had less than a hundred bucks to my name, so I chose survival over ego.
I swallowed the anger down and kept my face blank. “I understand.”
I got back down on my knees and gathered the damaged cans off the dirty floor.
It was three in the morning by the time I trudged up the steep stairs to the third floor of the Ice House. And collapsing onto my bed was the only goal I had left.
But Karter was waiting right outside my door.
He looked wrecked, with one arm wrapped tight around his torso as if he were favoring a hit from the game. His other hand rubbed nervously at the back of his neck.
Seeing him made me shove my hands deep into my pockets so that I would not reach out and pull him towards me.
I had to get him away from my room before I did something stupid.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“You can’t keep doing this,” Karter said. He stepped into my path, blocking my door.
“Doing what?”
“Using me,” Karter said. His chin lifted, his eyes locking onto mine. “Using me and then pretending I don’t exist.”
I had no patience left. “Fuck this.” I grabbed his wrist and yanked him into my room before kicking the door shut behind us. He had never been inside my room before.
Karter stayed quiet while his eyes tracked over the empty walls and the single cheap duffel bag in the corner.
“This is it,” I said. I struggled to keep my voice steady. “This is everything I have to lose.”
