Ice Cold - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Landon Reilly
By the time hockey practice ended on Friday evening, I was ready to sleep for twelve hours straight. When I stepped foot into the room, Kyle standing in the doorway, just about to leave.
"Hey, are you coming out with me and Stella?" he asked me, looking up from his phone.
"No, I'll pass," I said, moving past him to place my bags down.
Kyle shrugged. "Okay, later."
I relaxed down onto my bed once he left the room. My eyes closed, but I only had a few moments of peace before my phone was buzzing in my pocket.
From: Unknown
its livi going to call you from this number
About a minute later, the unknown number came up on my screen and I immediately answered it.
"What's up?" I asked her, holding my phone with one hand while putting my other over my face.
"Landon, I'm stressed," she said in a hurried tone.
I sat up. "Why?"
"Because Mom and Dad are psychos!" she exclaimed. "I overheard them talking about how they have to take you off their health insurance, and how they have to close your savings accounts and it's freaking me out!
I let out a sigh, trying to think of the right thing to say to my sister. She knew this thing with my parents wasn't going to just blow over, but hearing them talk about such permanent things, about really severing all ties with me must have been hard for her.
"And they want to give me your car and I told them absolutely not!" Livi continued frantically. "If they want to be assholes then I'm going to make it as difficult as possible for them."
"Liv, no," I interjected. "Just go along with them. It'll be easier for you."
"No!" she exclaimed. "What about you? They're taking everything from you and they don't even care! What if something happens and you show up to the hospital with no health insurance?"
"I have health insurance through school."
"And they're just taking away money that they specifically put away for you and leaving you with nothing!" she yelled. "Who the hell does that? What is wrong with them?"
"Olivia," I said in an effort to calm her down. "Don't worry about me, okay?"
It was enough that I had to worry about myself and what I was going to do with my future. I couldn't rely on the Hansons forever. But I didn't want to have to worry about Olivia worrying about me.
"Landon," she said in an exaggerated tone. "You need to do something. I don't know what, but you need to do it."
"There's nothing I can do," I told her. "And it's okay. I don't need them or their money. I'm fine with how things are." That was a bit of a stretch, but she didn't need to know that.
Livi didn't respond.
"I'm okay," I reassured her. "Don't stress about it."
"Okay," she replied after a moment, taking a deep breath. "It just freaks me out when they talk like that."
"I know."
Livi and I only stayed on the phone for a few more minutes before hanging up. Whenever she used someone else's phone to call me, we were on borrowed time. She was probably at the ice rink at this time of night, using the phone of one of the other figure skaters she trained with.
Even though I had told my sister not to stress out, that phone conversation had stressed me out to the max. I was hoping my parents wouldn't touch the money they had put away for me before I could move it to a new account, if I could even do that. I had no idea how any of that worked or if they made sure I couldn't touch it without their permission. But now it was as good as gone and I had no idea what I was going to do.
I tried sleeping, but I spent the whole time tossing and turning, not able to keep my eyes closed for more than a few minutes at a time. I shook my leg under the covers, a nervous habit of mine that I really needed to break. I hadn't noticed it much until Wren had pointed it out in the car.
I needed something to get the edge off, something to make me relax and forget about what I had just talked about with Livi.
The first thing that came to mind was not something I wanted to do. But I knew there was a bar in town that didn't check IDs, one where there would be people I knew. The one Stella had invited Kyle and I to. There were a few problems with going there. One was that some of my teammates were most likely there, and I wasn't looking to get too close with them socially. An even worse problem was that Wren was most likely going to be there, and he would automatically put me on edge.
But I wanted alcohol and that was the only place I could get it, so I got out of bed and changed into something more presentable and took the bus across town toward the bar.
It was crowded when I walked in, and initially, I didn't see anyone I knew which I took as a good sign. I quickly ordered my drink from the bar and looked around to locate a seat.
That was when my eyes landed on Wren sitting at a high top table with a bored expression on his face as he looked into a book. Stella, Kyle, and a couple other people stood around the table, all with drinks in their hands.
"Landon?" someone called from beside me. I looked to see that it was Jess with a kind smile looking up at me.
"Oh, hey," I awkwardly replied.
"I didn't think I'd see you here," she said.
"Yeah, well," I said with a shrug, taking a long sip of my drink.
"Do you know them?" Jess asked, pointing over to where Wren and his friends sat. Stella was calling out to me and waving her hands around to get my attention.
I grimaced. "Sort of. Not really." But I started walking over there any way with Jess following next to me.
"Kyle said you weren't going to make it!" Stella said with a wide smile. Her eyes were already glossed over and I could tell she had a bit to drink.
"Changed my mind," I muttered, glancing over at Wren who hadn't even bothered to look away from his book.
"And who's this?" Stella asked, gesturing toward Jess who was looking at her in awe.
"Uh, hi, uh I'm Jess," she timidly introduced herself. In the brief time I had known Jess, I didn't know her to be timid. She had no problem introducing herself to me.
"Jess," Stella repeated. "Nice to meet you, Jess. Do you want to come dance with me?"
Jess just nodded and allowed Stella to grab her by the hand and drag her toward the dancing crowd.
Kyle's attention was on whatever conversation he was having with the rest of the group. That left me awkwardly off to the side while Wren sat silently, turning the page in his book.
I quickly downed the rest of my drink and smacked the cup down on the table. That caused Wren to finally look up at me.
"You drank that fast," he said. "Having a rough night?"
"None of your business," I retorted, narrowing my eyes at him. "How are you even reading that in here?" It was so loud I could barely hear my own thoughts. I had to yell for Wren to hear me, but he didn't put much effort into being heard.
"Not everyone is easily distracted by a bit of noise," Wren replied, closing the book and putting it on the table. Who the fuck brings a book to the bar? I swore he just did it to let everyone know just how intelligent and intellectual he was.
I leaned forward, bracing my hands on the table in front of me and looking straight ahead. I could feel Wren's stare on me as he took a slow, long sip from his cup.
"Do not try to analyze me right now," I snapped. That only caused Wren to grin at me over the rim of his cup.
"I wasn't," he said.
"You're a liar."
"I am."
We held each other's stares for a moment, and I was the first to look away. I picked my glass up from the table and turned to go back toward the bar for another drink before Wren stopped me.
"Wait," Wren called out, causing me to turn back to him. He was holding out his own cup for me to take. "Grab me another water while you're at it."
I rolled my eyes at him and snatched the cup from his hand. I could tell by the way his eyes shined and how his lips turned up slightly that he was quite amused with the situation.
When I got to the bar, I slid the cups in an area where quite a few used cups had accumulated and ordered new drinks. Wren had picked up his book again when I reached the table where he sat. I put his drink in front of him and took a long sip of mine. When I placed my glass down on the table, Wren was looking at me over the book.
"What?" I snapped.
He chuckled. "I can't say. You told me not to analyze you."
I narrowed my eyes at him, bracing my hands on the table.
"Just say it," I said in a clipped tone. I knew I shouldn't give into his games, but I couldn't stand the thought of not knowing his judgements of me, of him laughing at me at some joke I wasn't in on.
"It's nothing really," he said, placing his book down on the table. His voice was smooth and sultry as always like he knew I would be hanging onto any word he said. "I just noticed you're drinking quite fast. Seems like there's something on your mind, something you're trying to temporarily forget."
"I'm on my second drink."
"In about twenty minutes," Wren added, raising his eyebrows. "Either you're trying to forget something, or there's so much pain and emotion within you that the only way to numb it is to get drunk."
I didn't answer him. His assumptions were right, of course. I wanted to forget about my parents and what Livi had told me. And maybe I was drinking to numb myself. I just hadn't thought of it like that.
"But I'm a man of my word and I will not be analyzing you tonight," Wren continued after my silence.
I scoffed. "No you're not." He just grinned. "Why do you even come here if you just sit and read?"
"Somebody has to make sure the drunks get back to the dorms alive," Wren answered.
"So, why don't you just pick them up after?"
"Because then I'd have to come back, try to find them," he said. "It's easier to stay."
He closed the book and left it laying in front of him with the cover facing down, not even bothering to mark the page he had left off on. He was probably one of those people that could just remember without really having to think about it.
Wren and I didn't converse much, and I was on my fourth drink when Cooper stumbled over with some other guys from the team.
"Reilly, you made it!" he exclaimed, tossing his arm around my shoulder. "Did you see Jess making out with some chick? It was so hot."
I pushed his arm off me and looked toward the crowd of people dancing to see that Jess was still dancing with Stella, closer than they had been before.
"Are you going to come drink with us?" Cooper asked, holding onto the table to keep himself up. The others he was with started moving toward the bar. He didn't wait for my response before he started following them, and I was glad for that.
"He was one of the ones that left you," Wren said. It wasn't a question. He said it like he knew it without me having to tell him.
"Yeah, well," I said, finishing off my fourth drink. I finally sat down on the bar stool across from Wren. It was getting harder to keep myself standing the more I drank.
"I can see how that happened," Wren said. "He can't even take care of himself."
I just shrugged. It was shitty getting left behind, and the thoughts of what could have happened if Wren hadn't dragged me back to his place were unpleasant. But I was done thinking about them. I knew those weren't my friends, and I didn't expect anything from them.
"Need another drink?" Wren asked, standing from the stool. "Next round is on me." He grabbed our glasses and headed to the bar.
While I waited for his return, I picked up the book he had left on the table. The words were blurry and moving when I tried to focus on them, but I could just make out the title on the cover: The Secret History.
I jumped back slightly when Wren returned and placed my drink in front of me.
"Are you learning how to read?" he asked me, sitting back on the stool.
I slid the book across the table back to him before taking a sip of my drink. Wren watched me as I did and as soon as I tasted the liquid, my face scrunched in disgust.
"This is water," I said, placing the cup back down.
"Very good," Wren said in a mocking tone. "I'm glad you could identify it."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why did you give me water?"
"Because I think you should have some if you've been drinking," he said. "And you have."
I obliged him, though I wasn't happy about it. As soon as I finished the water, I went to the bathroom, then immediately went back to the bar for another drink.
Considering I didn't stop at that, it was no surprise that I ended up drunk with Wren looking annoyed at my very presence. I stood close to him, holding myself up by holding onto the table. My arm brushed up against his and I leaned into him.
"I need to sleep now," I slurred, feeling my eyes start to shut.
"Yeah, you do," he replied. His eyes searched the crowd, presumably looking for his friends.
I didn't even notice when Stella and Jess came over to the table, and I could barely hear what they were saying.
"—Kyle?" Wren asked. I had only caught onto the end of his question.
"He left already," Stella said. "He went to hookup with someone."
The two of them continued to talk while I was leaning more and more on Wren. He eventually had to put his arm around my waist to hold me up. His hand lightly brushed my side where my shirt had ridden up slightly, and his touch gave me shivers.
I didn't catch onto the rest of what they were saying, but eventually, Stella, Jess, James, and me were being led by Wren to his car. Wren had gripped my waist tightly and threw my arm over his shoulder as we walked out of the bar and into the parking lot. Then he deposited me in the front seat and leaned over me to buckle my seatbelt.
When we were back at his dorm, he brought me up to his room with the same care, holding onto me so I wouldn't fall as I stumbled.
Stella and Jess disappeared into Stella's room while Wren brought James and I into his. James got into bed on his own and turned away from us while Wren helped me up into his bed.
As I looked at him, it felt like it was the first time I really saw him. Saw his clear, slightly tanned skin, his hard angled face and his sharp jaw, the way his face softened when he kept his expression neutral. It was like he was a different person.
"Wren," I said, placing my hand on his chest as he stood over me. He raised his eyebrows at me. "You're... nice."
He quirked his head to the side in confusion.
"Nice?"
"When you're not an asshole."
He frowned down at me. I moved my hand upward, up the side of his neck and put my fingers in his hair. His expression didn't change, and I didn't remember anything after that before falling asleep.