It was the day before the tournament and I had just finished packing my things when my phone started ringing. My mind filled with dread as I lifted it off of my nightstand, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was Fox that was calling and not my mother.

"Hey," I answered, sitting down on my bed.

"Come over," he replied.

My lips quirked up slightly. "Why?"

"Because," Fox said instantly.

"Why?"

He let out a long sigh. "You're going to make me say it?"

I laughed. "Say what?"

"I miss you..."

I felt my face flush at his words. I had to remind myself that we weren't actually together and that I needed to stop letting his words effect me. But it wasn't that easy.

"Okay," I said. "I'll come."

I could practically hear the smile in his tone. "See you soon?"

As soon as I hung up the phone, I headed to the shower. I was only in there for a few minutes before I dried off and got dressed. Leaving my room with my new car key, I bumped face first into Josh in the hallway.

"Why are you in such a rush?" he asked me, lifting an eyebrow as he studied my face.

"I'm gonna use the car," I said, holding up the key. "If you're not using it."

"Yeah, go ahead," Josh replied with a shrug.

I knew Josh was dying to ask me questions, even though he had made the promise to keep his mouth shut about it. To ensure he kept his promise, I turned away from him to walk down the stairs before he could say anything.

"Are you going to Fox's?" he asked as he followed me toward the stairs.

"Josh," I warned, looking at him with narrow eyes. "You said you were keeping your mouth shut."

"I know, I know," he agreed with a sigh, shoving his hand through his hair. "Are you though? That's all I want to know, I swear."

I showed him an unamused expression. "Yes. I'm going to Fox's."

"Okay," he replied. "Have fun."

I snickered at his words and his eyes widened.

"I mean, uh," Josh stuttered. "Not too much fun?"

"Josh."

"I mean— I mean." He let out a heavy breath. "I don't know what you guys do."

"I'm leaving now," I said, shaking my head at him.

After letting Dad know where I was headed, I left the house and started the journey toward Fox's place. Once I arrived, I parked on the road outside his house and made my way up to the front door. Fawn answered the door after I knocked with a distressed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, taken back by her expression.

"There's a bit of an issue," she said. "Maybe you can calm Fox down."

"Calm him down?" I wondered, stepping into the house, my eyes darting around the room in search for Fox.

Fawn led me into the living room where I saw Fox's dad, Leo, and Robin holding Fox and Wren back from each other while Vanessa and Raven stood in the middle. Fox's face looked angrier than I had ever seen it. His jaw was tightly set, looking as if his teeth would break if he pressed them together any harder. His eyes were dark and formed into slits as he looked straight through his sister and mother over to Wren. I could see a slight bruise forming on his cheek.

"Fox?" I called out.

His gaze immediately turned to me, his eyes widening slightly as if he forgot I was going to be coming over. He shook himself out of Robin's grip and motioned for me to follow him up the stairs without a word.

I took a moment to look over at Wren. He had quite a few bruises forming on his face and his usual devious expression was gone. He looked more defeated and distant.

As I went up the stairs, I heard Leo begin to question Wren but I stopped paying attention as soon as I was in Fox's room where he was pacing the floor and pulling at his hair.

"What happened?" I asked in a curious tone, shutting the door behind me.

"He knows," Fox replied in a raspy tone. It didn't take much thought to figure out what he was talking about.

"Fox..."

He continued pacing around his room, not even looking over at me. I noticed blood on his knuckles as his fist closed on his hair.

"Hey," I called out, walking over to him and grabbing his hand from his hair. "You need to clean this."

"He knows," Fox repeated, this time looking at me with a vulnerable expression. His eyes were wide with worry and a muscle in his jaw twitched as he tightened it.

"It's okay," I assured him.

"No it's not!" he snapped, ripping his hand from mine, gazing at me with an expression mixed with anger and fear. "He's gonna use it against me. He's gonna tell everyone!"

"Fox," I said in an almost pleading tone, firmly grabbing onto his shoulders. "Calm down. You don't know that."

"You don't know him, Elijah!"

I didn't know him, but I could tell by the look on his face downstairs that telling his brother about what he knew hadn't gone as he had hoped.

"Fox, he's know for years," I started. "Don't you think he would have already done something if he was planning to?"

Fox looked at me with a skeptical expression. "How do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"That he's know for years," Fox answered.

It didn't occur to me that Wren hadn't told Fox that he had told me about his knowledge.

I sighed. "He told me."

"He told you?" he repeated back, stepping away from me. "When the hell have you had time to talk to my brother about me?"

I sent him an irritated look. "It's not like that and you know it. I saw him at the skating rink a few nights ago. He talked to me, not the other way around."

He scowled. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because that's exactly what he wanted!" I exclaimed. "He wanted me to do his dirty work for him."

Fox let out a frustrated groan, holding his head in his hands.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked in a wary tone.

"I'm not mad, I'm just pissed off," he mumbled.

I looked at him in confusion. "Pretty sure those mean the same thing."

He looked up at me with a softened gaze, lowering his hands to his side.

"Not at you," he assured me.

I tried to hide my smile. Fox's lips twitched like he was trying to hide his own before he sighed and looked down at his bloody knuckles.

"I could use some help cleaning this," he uttered, looking up at me with wide eyes that were feigning innocence.

I playfully rolled my eyes but couldn't hide my smile any longer as I gripped his hand and let him lead me to the bathroom.

"Why did you punch him?" I asked as I cleaned his knuckles with a cloth and soft soap.

Fox shrugged. "He made me mad."

I shook my head at him, drying his hand and searching through the medicine cabinet for bandages. He leaned down and opened the door under the sink, pulling out a box and handing it to me. I wrapped a bandage around his knuckles and washed my hands.

"Are your parents going to punish you or something?" I asked once we were back in his room.

"I don't know," he admitted, lying down on his bed and pulling me on top of him.

We stayed in that position for a while, my head resting on Fox's chest while he ran his uninjured hand through my hair. He left a long kiss on the top of my head before letting out a deep sigh. I moved my head slightly, trying to look up at him.

"Hey," I said, grabbing his attention.

"Hm?"

I didn't answer him. Instead, I sat up and straddled his waist, causing him to shoot me a look of confusion. I leaned down and kissed his neck, feeling his body relax at the way my lips moved over his skin.

"Elijah..."

"Do you want me to stop?" I asked against his skin.

"Not particularly."

I answered him by continuing to kiss his neck, moving up to his jaw. He let me kiss him for a few more moments before he grabbed my head in his hands and forced me to look at him.

"I thought you said you weren't okay with distractions," he commented, lifting his eyebrows in question.

He was right, but at that moment, I couldn't find it in me to care.

"Do you want me to distract you?" I asked, studying his face as he pondered on the question. "Because I want to."

He took a deep breath, the dilemma in his mind evident by the look on his face. Instead of answering, he pulled my face down to his and grabbed my lips in a kiss. We remained in sync, in a quick rhythm before I detached my lips from his and kissed down his jaw and his neck.

My hands moved down to the waistline of his jeans and fumbled with the button. His breath hitched as I undid his jeans and pulled them down his legs.

"Elijah," Fox called out, causing me to look up at him. "Are you sure?"

"If you're sure."

"Okay."

That was all he had to say for me to continue, pulling his boxers off and putting my head between his thighs in my efforts to distract him.

***

Fox and I were both in considerably better moods after our distraction earlier, him returning the favor. The two of us were lying on his bed when a knock sounded at his door.

"Who is it?" Fox snapped in annoyance. I lightly smacked his chest and sat up.

"Me," Ian's voice called out. "I saw Elijah's car here and I definitely didn't want to walk in on that."

Fox sat up and told Ian to come in the room. Ian came inside, his hockey bag and a duffel bag slung over each shoulder as he held onto his hockey stick.

"You staying the night?" Fox asked, motioning toward his bags.

"Yeah," Ian replied with a sigh, dropping his bags onto the floor. He looked exhausted, his eyes dim and his stature stiff.

Fox and I shared a look as Ian sat himself down at Fox's desk, flipping the lamp on.

"You mind if I borrow some money for the hotel?" Ian suddenly asked. "I gave Coach most of it already but my fucking mom took the rest I needed."

Fox looked as if he was surprised. I figured it was because he didn't expect Ian to talk about this with me here rather than being shocked at what he told him.

"Yeah, no problem," Fox assured him.

"I'll pay you back," Ian promised, not even looking at him.

"I know, don't stress about it."

Ian let out a groan, throwing his head back in annoyance. "I've been fighting with her all fucking day about it. I couldn't be around her any longer."

"Why did she take it?" Fox asked, leaning back against his headboard.

"Hell if I know," he replied. "I don't mind helping out when she asks but when she just helps herself to my tip money, it pisses me off."

"That would piss me off too," Fox agreed.

Ian finally looked over at the two of us sitting side by side on his bed. He gave us a knowing look and I swore I saw his lips quirk up for a moment.

"Why is your hand taped?" Ian asked, pointing to Fox's bandage.

Fox looked down at his hand. "I punched Wren in the face. Repeatedly."

Ian snorted, shaking his head. "What'd he do to piss you off?"

"Told me he knows I'm gay."

Ian laughed and I was glad that he was seeming to be perking up.

"No offense, dude, but you're not good at hiding it," Ian told him. "Especially when you're around him." He pointed toward me.

I couldn't help but chuckle at his words, causing Fox to glance at me in irritation.

"Both of you, shut up," Fox snapped.

Before either of us could reply there was another knock on Fox's door, causing him to let out a loud groan.

"It's Claudia," Claudia announced through the door.

"Fine," Fox said, causing her to open the door and step in, closing it behind her. She held a small wrapped box in her hand.

"What, are you guys having a party or something?" she joked, throwing herself down on the bed in front of us.

"Yes, that's exactly what we're doing," Fox sarcastically responded.

As the two of them bantered, my eyes lingered to the place on Fox's wall where he had hung pictures of him and his friends. I dwelled on the photo of him and Claudia for longer than I should have before noticing a new picture pinned there. It was the photo of all of us at the Bruins game on my birthday. I smiled at the memory, feeling some of the happiness I felt on that day.

"Fox, open it!" Claudia exclaimed, pulling my attention back to the two of them.

"I didn't get you anything," he groaned.

"It's fine!" she said. "I wasn't planning on getting you anything either but I saw this when I was shopping and I just had to get it for you."

"Open it," I encouraged him, nudging him with my elbow.

Fox let out a long sigh and took the box from Claudia. He tore the paper off and opened the box to reveal a signed picture of one of the Bruins players.

"Oh, sick," Fox said, taking the frame out of the box. "I was at this game."

"I know, duh," Claudia said. "That's why I got it."

Fox smiled at her. "Thanks, Claud."

"So..." Claudia trailed, looking between Fox and me, then over to Ian. "How's everyone doing?"

Fox rolled his eyes. "You're nosy."

"I'm just asking how you're doing!"

"But I know what you're really asking and it's none of your business."

"You'll tell Ian but you won't tell me?" she accused.

Ian shook his head. "He doesn't tell me anything."

The four of us talked for a while before I got a text from my dad, asking me to come home. I didn't blame him for not wanting me to stay out too late, and I had to bring the car back home anyway.

Fox followed me out of his room and down the steps, insisting on walking me out to my car.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said, getting into my car and putting the window down.

Fox leaned in my window. His eyes darted up to the house and then back to me before quickly pecking me on the cheek. A smile broke out onto my face as he leaned back.

"Goodnight. Be careful," he said, stepping away from the car so I could drive away.

When I got home, I was greeted by Dad and Mindy in the living room.

"Have a good day?" Dad asked, turning the volume down on the TV.

My cheeks burned slightly as I thought about what I had done today.

"Yeah, it was good," I told him.

"Are you all packed for the tournament?" he asked to which I nodded.

"I really wish we could go see you guys play," Mindy added with a disappointed look on her face. Neither of them were able get the time off work to make the journey to Maine for the tournament.

"Yeah, I wish you could too," I truthfully replied. As my family was getting closer, the more I enjoyed spending time with them.

Dad looked troubled, like he was itching to say something but not sure if he should.

"I need you to be really careful," he said after a few moments of silence. "Your old team will be there and I don't want them messing with you."

I didn't want that either, but I knew they had planned to.

"I'll stay with the guys, don't worry," I assured him.

Dad nodded, looking slightly less worried than before.

There was a feeling I couldn't shake, my insides trembling while my mind tried to convince them to be still.

**