Breaking the Ice

Chapter Fourteen: The Ridiculous Suggestion

Marcus's POV

The moment my lips left hers, my mind began to fold upon itself as Anna looked up at me, her mouth gaping open like a fish out of water. There were audible gasps and whispers in the gym, Courtney and Peter being the only people jumping up and down in a spot while high-fiving each other.

What the hell did I just do?

"Is this a f*****g joke Anna?" Carter growled from where he stood, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out of their sockets. "Tell me this is just a God damn joke!" Carter took a step forward, looking as though he was ready to lunge at us.

Shifting Anna behind me, I met Carter's enraged gaze, my smirking face and casual stance not at all reflecting the hell that was muddling my mind or the rampant rate my heart was beating. Anna still remained in shocked silence behind me as Carter tried to catch sight of her from behind me.

"I asked you a question, Anna! What is going on with you and McKay?!" Carter shouted, and I heard Anna suck in her breath behind me. As the sound of her shifting to move out from behind me caught my ears, I found myself speaking up for her.

"She doesn't need to answer you. As far as I'm aware, she's done with you," I say as the surrounding whispers grew quiet.

Carter let out a nonchalant chuckle as he glared back at me. "I dumped her. She was nothing but a cold and useless little rag doll that never put out. But that's besides the point. There are rules here. We don't date the enemy. She knows that. So she better give me an explanation."

Before I could respond to that, a blur of brown moved out of the corner of my line of vision and a basketball flew across the court and smack-dab into Carter's face. The sound echoing throughout the gym.

Carter howled out in pain as his friends rushed to help him to his feet as blood spewed onto the floor, making it somewhat slippery. What happened next kept me both rooted in the spot I stood and had me intrigued at the same time. Anna closed the distance between her and Carter on the floor, her steps equally sure and sound.

She shoved his friends out of the way and leaned down, her right hand grabbing hold of Carter's t-shirt. For a girl of her stature, her strength was something to be amazed by, because in a split second, her grip on Carter's t-shirt allowed her to physically drag him to the center of the court. She then pulled out her cellphone and took a selfie with Carter, while his nose bled profusely and his left eye looked like it was bruising with an ugly bruise.

Anna then pulled out what looked like a kerchief from her back jeans pocket and threw it on the floor beside Carter, while leaning down to eye-level with him. Her lips moved, but I couldn't hear a word of what she said to him, but judging by how his face turned white like a blank sheet, I would bet my savings that it wasn't anything good.

Anna then straightened and turned around, walking back towards me with a grin on her face that said that she had the situation handled. When she reached beside me, she paused and turned her head to look up at me. Her eyes shifted from cool confidence to unsure before she looked over to Courtney and nodded towards the door. Courtney quickly rushed to her side and looped her arm into Anna's before they both began making their way towards the gym doors.

The hushed whispers filled the air once more as everyone began trying to figure out what exactly just happened.

Anna suddenly stopped by the gym doors and turned her head slightly. "Hey Marcus!" she called out and my head turned to meet her gaze.

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget our date on Saturday. I'll let you know what time later. Have a good practice!" And with that, she winked and then turned to walk out the door, Courtney's flabbergasted expression on her face being the last thing I saw before the doors closed behind them.

My brain became muddled again, and my heart began to beat double time as the gym erupted into an array of voices. People crowded into groups and began to speculate about what just went down as Carter's cohort moved to help him off the ground and towards the nurse's room.

A hand slapping on my back jolted me out of my jumbled thoughts as Peter's grinning face came into focus in front of me.

"Bro, I have so many questions. But most importantly, did you just kiss Anna Donovan? When did you two move past the awkward conversation phase?" Peter was eyeing me with anticipation, but my eyes landed on Damian, whose expression was unreadable.

Peter snapped his fingers to get my attention, but I just ignored him and moved to walk out of the gym.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, McKay?!" Carter's voice called out as his friends helped him to stand and walk over to where my brothers and I stood.

Turning to him, I had to hold back the laughter at how badly Anna had hit the guy with a mere ball. His nose was no longer bleeding, but it was definitely broken in some way by the ugly hue of red and purple it was turning at the bridge. His right eye looked a little better than before, but it definitely had a bruise that would last a day or two.

"We'll practice at home today. You obviously won't make it on the ice today," I nodded to his face and his expression shifted as though he was considering doing something, but in that same breath, he remained silent and allowed his friends to help him walk towards the doors, stopping just like Anna did a few minutes ago.

"This isn't over, McKay," he said before moving through the doors and out of sight.

Taking a deep breath, I collected my duffle bag that I dropped at the door and walked out the gym and down the corridor towards the adjoining car park beside the building. Peter and Damian followed me quietly as we approached the black X-trail.

"Anybody up for burgers? Maybe we could---" Peter's words died off as Anna and Courtney appeared around the back of the vehicle. "Oh boy. Forget the burgers. This I want to hear."

Anna stood with her hands dug deep into her back jeans pockets as Courtney stood beside her, her gaze darting between Anna and me. Peter walked over and threw an arm around Courtney, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Please tell me you know what's going on here," he asked as Courtney shook her head.

Damian planted himself at the rear of the vehicle as I stopped a few steps from where Anna stood beside the driver's door. She watched me silently for a bit until it made me skittish, so I moved to get the keys out of my pocket, desperate to do something, anything.

"Marcus," Anna breathed out in a voice that caught me off-guard, the keys falling out of my hands and onto the stone-covered floor of the car park.

I leaned down to retrieve them and my hand clashed with Anna's, who moved to do the same. I lifted my gaze and almost choked as dual pools of soft chocolate stared back at me. Anna's lips moved, but no sound came out as my eyes kept themselves locked onto hers. When her eyes narrowed slightly, it immediately registered that she had just said something to me and I was looking at her like a dummy lost for words.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked as I mentally cursed myself.

Smiling awkwardly, Anna took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "I asked you if you would be my fake boyfriend until graduation."

Jesus f*****g Christ. Did I just hear that correctly?