Page 54 of The Puck Secret

“You’re so fucked,” Archer says with a laugh of his own, watching me watch her, and I can’t help but smile again.

“Isn’t she beautiful when she’s mad,” I say, finally breaking my stare and turning to my best friend, who only now looks in her direction.

“She sure looks good walking away from you,” he teases, smacking me in the shoulder and pulling me towards the bar to grab another drink. “Who’d have thought, my best friend has got his first crush,” he jokes, ordering two more beers as I let my eyes flick back to her.

“I don’t have a crush on Madeline Peters,” I reply, rolling my eyes, not because it isn’t true, but because crush isn’t a strong enough word for what I feel when I look at her.

“Well, that’s good,” Levi, Josh’s best friend and our teammate, cuts in. “I mean, besides the fact Josh would kill you for trying to mack on his little sister,” he jokes, like I haven’t seen him staring at her in the same way. His greedy little eyes are on her now, trailing over skin that not even three hours ago was pressed against my own. Fury burns beneath my skin as I flex my fists to stop myself from using them on his face. “She’s spoken for,” he adds, cutting right through my wrath.

“Spoken for?” Archer asks, looking at me with worry as I remain shocked into silence, as my mind moves back to the only guy he could be talking about. Clearly he doesn’t mean me.

“Yeah, my dad called before the game, we just got invited to her engagement party in a few weeks, looks like she and Thorne will be tying the knot, I’m sure you guys have seen them together round campus.” He is saying the words so casually, like he isn’t shocked by them, and I don’t know why I am. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t seen her around with that football douche, but surely he must be mistaken.

Engaged. No, she can’t be, I don’t believe him, she would have told me. Ignoring him completely, I grab my fresh bottle of beer off the bar and move towards where she is now locked in a game of poker with Josh and some other guys from the team. I watch her every move, not taking my eyes off her, even when her brother keeps giving me questioning looks. No, my sole focus is her, game after game, and win after win. She thrashes every single one of them, which only makes me smile with pride. No, there is no way in hell she is getting engaged, not after everything that has happened between us.

When she throws down another winning hand, Josh and the others groan. “Alright, sis, you can stop now, I get it, this is payback for the last time we played.” he complains, tossing his own useless hand on the table.

“Yeah, baby Peters, you’re killing him,” one of the other guys adds with a chuckle, but Maddie just shrugs.

Her eyes are light and free as she reaches over and drags the money she won from him towards her. “One thing you should know about me, Josh, I always pay my debts.”

Words.

Simple meaningless words.

Words that slice right through me so completely, that I almost choke on the beer sliding down my throat, because it isn’t the first time I’ve heard them, or should I sayread them. Eyes still on the satanic siren in front of me, I reach into my pocket and fish out my phone. It takes me a few minutes of scrolling but then I find it. The picture of tits and the menacing words that were sent with them.

I always pay my debts.

That’s what she said to me, her,Grim, the girl who shared all her secrets with me, it’s her. It has to be, and as I think that so many things about her messages finally make more sense. The complaining about her family, the pulling away from me, the ending it after I brought up the library. She’s the one. The one standing in front of me with her head thrown back as she laughs at her brother's response. A brother I despise, just like her, except I don’t hate her anymore.

No, instead I…nope not going there.

A rage like I have never known flies through me, and I can barely breathe as I stumble around the table right towards her. She doesn’t notice me until I am right upon her, and when I grab her and start dragging her from the room her face is completely startled.

“Nova, what the hell are you doing?” Her eyes are wide and panicked as she turns back to the people I just dragged her from, her brother included, all of them watching us with confusion, but I don’t give a fuck about any of them right now.

In fact, I ignore her completely, unable to listen to her pleas when endless thoughts and feelings go to war against one another inside of me. I don’t stop until we reach the alleyway behind the bar, pushing through the staff entrance and letting the door close behind us. I drag her a little deeper still, not stopping until I can push her against a bare brick wall.

When I finally release her she pulls her arm away from me and curses, “What the fuck, Nova?”

I can’t speak, I can’t even breathe, as her betrayal threatens to swallow me whole. I pull the phone in my hand back up and scroll until I find Grim’s number.Her number.

No, it can’t be, but as her eyes go wide when she no doubt realizes what I am doing, I feel my spine stiffen. “Nova, wait,” she begs, but then the sound of her ringtone piercing through the night air, pierces my heart as well.

“Answer the phone,” I say as calmly as I can manage, ignoring the tears starting to gather in her eyes.

“Nova, please, I can explain,” she whispers, her hands trembling as she pulls the phone from her bag to stare at it.

“Answer the fucking phone, Madeline,” I snap, and she jumps, her stare colliding with mine as she finally accepts the call and our phones connect.

Still needing confirmation, I snatch the phone from her hand, and sure enough I see my number under the nickname she chose for me. No, it can’t be. This isn’t happening, but as I see the knowing look in her eyes, I know everything we had was a lie.

It really is her.

“All this time,'' I ask in disbelief. “All this time it was you.”

“Nova, I…” she starts, but I cut her off, slamming my lips to hers and tasting the poisonous lies straight from her tongue.

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