All Chapters of Dirty Games Off Ice: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Damien I woke up and everything hurt so bad I thought someone had run me over while I was sleeping. My back felt like it was on fire and someone had poured salt all over it just to make sure I got the message. I tried to roll over and sit up but my shoulders screamed at me the second I moved. I ended up just flopping back down on my stomach with my face smashed into the pillow like an idiot. "Great start to the day," I muttered into the fabric. My voice came out all raspy and weak because my throat still felt raw from all the yelling and crying last night. I lay there for a while just breathing through the pain because moving sounded like the dumbest idea ever. Every little shift made the welts pull and sting worse. Dad really went all out with that belt. I could feel the raised lines across my skin even without touching them. My leg from the train thing throbbed too like it wanted to join the party and remind me what a mess I was. I finally pushed myself up on my elbows real slow

Alex I stared at my phone for what felt like forever, thumb hovering over Damien’s name. My head was a total mess. Every time I thought about him, the good stuff hit first, like how his body felt under me on that kitchen floor, all desperate and warm. Then the bad memories crashed in right after, the way he used to shove me into lockers, call me scholarship trash in front of everyone, laugh when his friends tripped me in the hall.I hated him for so long. Still kind of did. But my ass was aching in this weird sore way that made me shift on my bed and bite my lip. I wanted him to fuck me so bad it was stupid. Like, bend me over and just take it.Then the other memory slammed in, the one from a few days ago, that dark room and rough hands that didn’t ask. My stomach twisted. What the hell was wrong with me? Thinking about getting fucked by the same guy who used to bully me, with a rapist face I knew nothing of, after what happened? Am I sick or something . I shook my head hard. “Fuck

Alex His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re being annoying.”I nodded like I was considering it. “Yeah, well, you’re being a coward.”That stopped him.Fully.Just a pause.Then, quieter, “What?”I didn’t even think before I said it again, like it just came out before I could filter it. “You’re acting like a weakling.”His expression shifted at that. Not angry exactly, more like I hit something I wasn’t supposed to hit, and it landed wrong. His jaw clenched again, but this time slower.“I’m not a weakling,” he said.“Then what is this?” I gestured slightly between us. “Because it looks like you can talk fine when you want to, but the second anything real happens, you shut down.”“I didn’t shut down.”“You disappeared.”“I needed space.”I laughed again, but it wasn’t really funny. “Space for what exactly? To pretend it didn’t happen?”His eyes flicked away for a second, just one, but I caught it. That tiny hesitation pissed me off more than anything else.“See?” I said. “You don’t even

Alex The next day was somehow worse, which honestly felt impressive, because I didn’t think it could get worse than that conversation, but clearly life likes proving me wrong. I should have known something was off the moment I walked into school and people got quiet for half a second before pretending they weren’t looking at me, like I wouldn’t notice, like I’m blind or something. I ignored it at first, because what else was I supposed to do, confront every single person and ask why they suddenly developed interest in my existence? No thanks. I made it halfway down the hallway before it actually started. “Hey, scholarship boy.” I stopped. Closed my eyes for a second. I turned slowly, already annoyed. “Do you need something or are you just practising speaking?” A couple of them laughed, which was annoying, because that was my thing, not theirs. One of them stepped forward, smirking like he had something important to say. “We heard you’ve been getting a bit… friendly.” I blinked. “Wow

Alex I looked at him for a second, then away.“You don’t have to do that.”“I know.”“That was your chance to say ‘but I want to.’”“I do want to,” he said immediately.I rolled my eyes, even though something in my chest felt… weirdly lighter.“Fine,” I muttered.“Also,” he added, “you’re not going home alone.”I blinked at him.“I can walk myself, I’m not five.”“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” he said, already grabbing his bag, “I said I’m coming with you.”“That sounds like the same thing.”“It’s not.”“It is.”“It’s not,” he repeated, starting to walk like the conversation was over.“Wow,” I said, following him anyway, “so this is how it is now, you just decide things and I go along with it?”“Pretty much.”“Rude.”“True.”I snorted despite myself, which felt wrong considering everything, but also… not unwelcome.The walk was quieter than usual, which I appreciated because my brain was still doing too much, jumping from “you’re going to lose everything” to “maybe there’s a way” to “n