Kiss My Ice

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5.

Mark Hansen's office was a foreign place.

The room was small for an office, but it had enough room to house his large wooden desk in the center of the room and two solid gray chairs sat in front. One of them currently occupied by me. In one corner of the room he had an old file cabinet and in another sat a large green plant. A dull blue carpet sat under the chairs the chair I was sitting in, barely big enough for both chairs to fit.

A clock over the door drew my attention. Click. Click. It had been way longer than ten minutes. Why wasn't Aiden here yet?

Mark spun in his chair. The wheels to his chair rolled over the hard wood floor as he scooted his way over to the filing cabinet. He stood, pulled open a creaky top drawer to pull out a few papers. I watched him awkwardly. My anxiety grew by the second.

"I'm sure he won't be too much longer," Mark said when he sat back down in his chair. The chair rolled back to his desk.

I wasn't so sure that I believed him. Fifteen minutes had passed by and he still hadn't bothered to show up. There was no way that it took Aiden twenty-five minutes to get changed. I guessed he just didn't care that we were in trouble.

Mark set down the papers onto his desk; only adding to the giant mess it already was. Papers scattered about, a bag of chips, three half-drank water bottles. The mess made me cringe.

The door swung open.

"Timeliness is not a suggestion around here Mr. Gray." Mark spoke sternly. I noted that he didn't bother to look up from his file. "It is expected."

I turned my head to see Aiden had finally decided to bless us with his presence. Fifteen minutes late and he was dressed in the same hoodie and sweats he wore on the ice. Of course. I fought back the urge I felt to roll my eyes as he made his way to the empty chair.

"Sorry," Aiden mumbled as slumped down into the chair beside me. His tone didn't sound the least bit sincere. He just sounded annoyed.

Mark looked up from the files on the desk, his hands folded on top of them. "Look, Aiden." Mark's eyes found Aiden's and he sighed. "I realize that your dad is the new rink sponsor, but will not get you any special treatment here. Are we clear?"

My eyes widened. How had I missed that? I turned to Aiden, my head titled to the side as I studying him. His expression was cold. His jaw visibly clenched. Everything suddenly made perfect sense. It explained why he happened to be joining the hockey team at the same time the rink got a new sponsor. Why he was the talk of everyone at the rink. And it definitely explained why he was unphased about the two of us being in trouble. He was untouchable. Mark couldn't kick the son of the new sponsor out of the rink.

"Crystal." His voice was low and filled with anger. Aiden's dark eyes were trained on the window behind Mark.

"Good." Mark was either oblivious to how insincere Aiden was being, or he chose to ignore it. "Now," he said. His gaze turned from Aiden to me before he focused them evenly on us both. "You both know exactly why I called you to my ice."

I chewed on my lip. My fingers tapped against the bottom of my chair. Pointer, middle, ring, pinky, repeat.

"We have a zero tolerance at this rink for fighting." Mark's eyes narrowed briefly onto mine. "Miss Lodge, I know that you are very aware of this fact."

My hands felt clammy. I could feel the sweat droplets starting to form on my forehead. He was making me feel like I was some sort of criminal with the look of disappointment he was showering me with. I swallowed a lump in my throat and tugged down the sleeves to my hoodie to cover my palms.