Page 27 of The Puck Secret

Everything.

I’m afraid that he won’t like me as much as he does now. Or worse, will like me too much and I will have to break his heart as well as my own. I’m afraid he knows me already and will be disappointed in my real identity, or use it to his advantage like most other people do. I’m afraid that this crush I have on him when we haven’t even met will turn into something so real, that I will never escape the regret of not being able to fall in love with him.

Maddie: It’s just better if we stay friends

Maddie: In fact I need you to make me a promise

The Lonely Charm: Anything for you Grim

Maddie: No falling in love with me

The Lonely Charm: That would be hard to complete without even knowing your real name

Maddie: Just promise me

The Lonely Charm: Okay I promise

After things turned a little too serious in my text messages, I spend the rest of the day kind of zoned out, especially when I know I am heading out the door to meet my parents and the Thorne’s at a restaurant uptown. The dinner is meant for us to all spend some time together after my dad lectured me about not being seen out with Bradley on campus. I guess I could have told him we were seen together at two parties, one where he called me a slut, but I doubt he would be interested in that story.

So instead of spending a girls night in with Hallie, I am dressed in a cream corset top, with a black silk skirt, and heeled pumps as Julian leads me towards the car. The restaurant isn’t too far of a drive, but the nervous anxiety churning in my stomach makes me want to fling open the door and dive head first into oncoming traffic. Practical?No. Rational?Absolutely not. Still a better alternative than dinner?One hundred percent.

By the time we make it to the restaurant I am practically hyperventilating, and when I spy my father waiting outside for me, it makes me feel even worse. Julian pulls up in front of the restaurant and rushes around the car to open my door. I gratefully thank him, ignoring the few people that call out hello to my dad as I close the distance between us.

“Dad,” I say by way of greeting, no other words capable of escaping my mouth right now, as I lean up and kiss his cheek.

His eyes trail over my outfit before he huffs, “You’re late.” He turns without waiting for a response, and holds the door open wide for me to enter, where I find my mom, and the Thorne’s waiting for us. Mr and Mrs Thorne are talking to one another with their heads close together, and Bradley has his eyes on his phone, it’s only my mom that notices our arrival.

“Oh there you are.” She leans in close, air kissing both my cheeks before she steps back, and appraises me just like my dad did. “You look wonderful, darling. Bradley, doesn’t she look wonderful?”

I couldn’t feel more like a damn show pony as she prods my intended for an answer, and when he snaps his attention away from his phone, I instantly wish he hadn’t. “What? Oh yeah, sure, she looks nice.”Nice. I almost scoff a laugh. All the words in the dictionary and the only one my future husband can come up with is nice? God help our children.

“Shall we?” my father interrupts, holding his hand out to gesture towards where the hostess is waiting to seat us.

We are led to the best table in the house, my father expecting nothing less, and my cheeks hurt from the smile I am forced to keep in place as we greet the people around us. Unsurprisingly I am directed into a spot right beside Brad, who looks about as happy as I do to be here, and we all take our seats. The waitress rushes off to bring over the wine menu, and we are left in an awkward silence that doesn’t exactly set the tone for a good night.

It doesn’t take me long to zone out, offering smiles and nods when I need to as their conversation picks up, and we pretend we are all just one big happy family. It’s not exactly hard, I have been doing this every week for the last few years, the addition of the Thorne family changes nothing.

Instead I subtly cast my eyes around the restaurant, taking in its usual clientele. Nothing surprising in their presence, it’s the same people all the time. Yet when my attention snags on a familiar hulking frame with dark hair, I feel my eyes widen. Nova Darkmore is here. He’s here in this restaurant. I pray he doesn’t see us, and thankfully he seems too lost in conversation with his dinner guests to notice me staring. He’s with a man and a young woman, and I can’t help but wonder who they both are.

I spend most of the dinner playing my part and pretending that my eyes don’t keep flicking over to the hockey player whose cock I have had in my mouth. It isn’t until my dad says the words spring wedding that I zone back in and almost choke on my drink.

“Spring wedding?” I interrupt, sparkling water dripping down my chin no doubt, as I look at him in disbelief.

He looks annoyed, which isn’t surprising, he hates being interrupted, but still he sighs and answers me like I am nothing but a petulant child. “Yes, a spring wedding,” he snaps. “It follows on nicely from a Christmas engagement, don’t you think?”

His question is rhetorical, he doesn’t actually want me to answer that, and given the lump now in my throat, I don’t think I am capable anyway. I swallow thickly, before pasting a smile across my face and nodding in agreement.Ever the dutiful daughter. I half wonder why they didn’t invite Josh, but now I understand why. They know he would step in and try to disagree with them, and they don’t want anything derailing their plans.

With my mind swimming, I push the chair back and stand on shaky legs, as I excuse myself from the table. “I am just going to head to the ladies’ room,” I announce, not waiting for a response, as I turn and calmly walk away, putting one foot in front of the other until I can make my escape.

I bypass the ladies’ room completely, and head down a dark corridor that I know leads to the back of this place. I push out of the staff entrance and gasp for air. My lungs are screaming at me, but no matter how many breaths I take, I can’t seem to make it stop. It’s as if the world is spinning around me, and all I can do is drop down and hug my knees, and wait for it to pass.

God I don’t think this night could get any worse.

Dinner is unbearable, just like I knew it would be. My dad made a show of signing a few autographs when we got here, and his wife has spent the last hour trying to play footsie with me under the table. I’ve had to remind myself several times of the reason I am here, of the work I need to put in pretending I give a shit about him at all.

“You really need to work on your game, son. Drafts aren’t far off, and if you want to follow in your old man's footsteps you need to work a bit harder.” His voice grates on me as Clarissa, his wife, drags her foot up my leg once more. Her actions and his words force me from the table as I stand abruptly.

“Excuse me for a moment.” I don’t even explain where I am going, not even sure myself, but I head in the direction of the back of the restaurant in the hopes I can escape for a few minutes before having to suffer some more.

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