Chapter 62 Push comes to shove
"Elena?" Jaxson’s voice was a whisper, but I could see his lips move.
I stood up so fast I knocked my chair over. "Jax! It’s not what it looks like!" I yelled, even though he couldn't hear me through the thick glass.
I ran toward the door, pushing past students.
By the time I got outside, Jaxson was already walking away, his pace fast and angry.
"Jaxson! Wait!" I shouted, catching up to him near the fountain.
He spun around. His face was red, and his eyes were full of a fresh kind of pain. "So that’s why you weren't answering your phone this morning? You were busy with the real brunch Tiffany was talking about?"
"No! I met him by accident! He’s an old family friend, Jaxson. He just showed up—"
"He didn't just show up, Elena!" Jaxson pointed back at the cafe, where Julian was now standing with Liam, shaking his hand and laughing. "Julian brought him here. And you fell for it. You went right back to the world where everything is easy and everyone has a trust fund."
"I was just having a coffee! We weren't doing anything!"
"It doesn't matter what you were doing!" Jaxson stepped closer, his voice shaking with anger. "It’s the fact that you fit in with him. I saw you through that window, Elena. You looked like you belonged there. You looked happy. You didn't look like the girl who was crying about standing up for me last night."
"I was just trying to be polite, Jax! I can't just run away every time someone from my past shows up!"
"Why not?" Jaxson asked. "Because you don't want to burn the bridge? Because you know that if things with the hockey kid don't work out, Liam is waiting with a ring and a house in the suburbs?"
"That is a horrible thing to say!" I yelled, tears starting to fall.
Leo stepped between us. "Okay, everyone calm down. Jax, he’s just a family friend. Our dads have worked together for twenty years. Elena isn't dating him."
"I don't care if she’s dating him yet!" Jaxson snapped at Leo. "I care that Julian is playing us like puppets, and your sister is following the script! She’s tired of the stress, Leo. She’s tired of the fights. She wants the easy life, and Liam is the easy life."
"You don't know what I want!" I screamed at him. "I want you! But you won't even let me explain! You're so busy feeling sorry for yourself that you’re pushing me away!"
"I'm not feeling sorry for myself," Jaxson said, his voice turning cold and quiet. "I’m seeing the truth. My life is a struggle. Your life is a choice. And today, you chose to sit at that table."
"It was just a coffee, Jaxson!"
"It was more than that," Jaxson said. He looked at Liam, who was now walking toward us with a concerned look on his face. "Go back to your friend, Elena. He can talk to you about London and the Gala. I have practice."
"Jaxson, don't walk away," I pleaded.
Liam reached us then. He put a hand on my shoulder, looking at Jaxson like he was a bug he found on his shoe. "Is there a problem here, Elena? Do you need me to call security?"
That was the final straw.
Jaxson looked at Liam’s hand on my shoulder. Then he looked at me. I didn't pull Liam’s hand away fast enough because I was too shocked by the question.
"No," Jaxson said, a bitter smile on his face. "She doesn't need security. She has everything she needs right here."
Jaxson turned and walked away. Leo looked at me with a sad expression, mouthed the words "I'll talk to him," and followed Jaxson toward the rink.
I shook Liam’s hand off my shoulder. "Why did you do that? Why would you say that to him?"
Liam looked confused or at least he pretended to be. "I was just trying to help, El. He looked like he was about to hit you. He’s a bit aggressive, isn't he? Your father mentioned he was a bit of a loose cannon."
"He’s not a loose cannon! He’s my boyfriend!" I yelled.
"Is he?" Liam asked, tilting his head. "Because it looked like he just broke up with you."
I didn't answer him. I couldn't. I turned and ran in the opposite direction, toward my dorm. I felt like I was suffocating. Julian had won again. He had brought back the perfect version of my life and waved it in Jaxson’s face, and Jaxson had believed every bit of it.
I got to my room and slammed the door. I threw my phone against the wall. I hated Liam. I hated Julian. I hated my father. But most of all, I hated that I had sat down at that table.
Jaxson was right about one thing: his life was a struggle. Every day, he had to prove he belonged at this school. And instead of being his peace, I had become just another problem he had to solve.
I sat on the floor and cried until I couldn't breathe.
The ice was thick, but the tension in the rink was thicker. I stood in the shadows of the upper bleachers, watching the afternoon practice. I knew I shouldn't be here.
Jaxson had made it clear he didn't want to see me, and Leo had told me to give them space. But I couldn't stay away. I had to know if he was okay.
He wasn't okay.
Jaxson was skating like a man possessed. He wasn't playing hockey; he was hunting.
Every time he got near the puck, he hit it with a violence that made the boards rattle. He wasn't passing. He wasn't listening to the coach's whistle. He was just a blur of red and white jersey, moving too fast and too hard.
"Miller! Easy on the entries!" Coach Reed shouted from the bench.
Jaxson didn't even look up. He rounded the corner, his skates spraying ice, and headed straight for Toby, one of Julian’s closest friends on the team.
Toby had the puck for a split second before Jaxson slammed into him. It wasn't a shoulder-to-shoulder check. It was a full-body collision that sent Toby flying into the goalpost.
The whistle blew long and loud.
"That’s enough!" Leo yelled, skating over to separate them. "Jax, what are you doing? It’s a light practice!"
Jaxson didn't back down. He stood over Toby, his chest heaving, his eyes wild. "He was in my way."
"He’s your teammate!" Leo shoved Jaxson back. "Get your head in the game or get off the ice!"