Page 12 of The Puck Secret

“Oh fuck off, Brad, what are you even doing here?” She stops walking and turns towards him, utter disgust lacing her eyes, as she demands an answer from him. Amusement flares inside of me knowing it isn’t just me that she acts like a giant cunt towards.

“Me?” he scoffs. “You’re the one dressed like a slut and dancing like you are giving it away for free.” She flinches at his words, and she looks nothing like the confident girl who was just calling me out in the den in front of everyone.

In fact, this is the first time I have ever seen her look like she isn’t in control of something. She always has that air of ease to her, like this is her world and everyone else is just living in it, it’s one of the main things that pisses me off about her, but looking at her now it isn’t there. In its place is a small persona of someone I don’t even recognise.

“You’ve got some nerve to call me a slut.” Her tone is quiet and lethal, but I feel the words as if they were meant for me.

If I’m not mistaken she looks as if she is about to cry, but she turns too quickly for me to notice, giving him her back again. He reaches out though and snatches up her wrist, hauling her towards him. She pulls it away quickly, but it’s too late. I am already moving towards them as she shouts back at him, “I told you not to fucking touch me!”

The dick ignores her, reaching for her again, and the anger inside of me rears its ugly head. Maddie’s eyes flare in surprise as I approach, but still I don’t miss the small step she takes towards me and away from him.

I use the space to grab him by the back of the shirt and slam him against a nearby tree as I spit, “I’m pretty sure the lady said not to touch her.”

The prick looks me up and down, before flicking his gaze to her and then back to me. “Yeah, and what the fuck are you gonna do about it, Darkmore?” Ah so the meathead knows who I am. Good, that will make this simpler.

I take a slow measured step towards him, crushing my arm against his neck, narrowing my dark stare as I reply, “Touch her again and find out.”

The warning is clear in my tone, and I flex my fists in preparation for his next move. Truthfully, I’d love nothing more than teaching a prick like this a lesson. I’m used to taking plenty of hits on the ice, fighting with him would be a walk in the fucking park.

Thankfully he seems to take me seriously, looking to Maddie again before scoffing under his breath, “It’s not even fucking worth it.” I let him push me off as he takes a step back shaking his head, watching us before he points at Maddie. “Remember the deal, darling.” Then he turns away and heads back inside leaving the two of us alone.

As soon as he disappears I turn towards Maddie and watch as the tension in her body releases, her shoulders dropping completely. She must feel my stare on her because her gaze meets mine, and for once I see a hint of vulnerability in it, before she quickly takes a deep breath. “You didn’t have to jump in like that, I had it handled.”

Of course she doesn’t just say thank you, and I scoff at her assessment of the situation. “Yeah, it really looked like you had it handled, Princess.”

She ignores my statement completely. “What are you even doing out here anyway? Are you following me or something?”

God, could this girl be anymore self centered? She is actually infuriating. First, she can’t even say thank you for me helping her out, and now she thinks I am some kind of creeper. “In your fucking dreams,” I sneer, looking at her with nothing but disgust. “I am not following you.”

She grunts a laugh, turning to walk away from me, but in the opposite direction of the party as she yells over her shoulder, “I dream about a lot of things, Nova Darkmore, but you are not one of them.”

I stare at her retreating form for a few seconds, and then I jog after her until I can catch up with her. “Where the hell are you going?”

Her head snaps towards mine and she looks at me pointedly. “I thought you said you weren’t following me.” I mean, I guess I am now, but I don’t say anything, just stare at her until she adds, “I’m going home, what does it look like?” She holds her arms out to gesture to the street and the walking, as she starts to storm away even faster so I am left trailing behind her. I rush to keep up as she continues. “I don’t want to be anywhere near sad Brad and his bullshit,” she starts babbling, but then stops so suddenly that I almost smack right into the back of her. “Oh fuck, Hallie!”

She whirls around and finds me less than an inch from her and scowls at me. “You’re still following me!”

I take a step back, putting some space between us as I look down at her. “I know we don’t exactly like each other,” I start, and she glares at me because that’s putting it lightly. Still I ignore her and continue, “but I’m not about to let you walk home alone in the dark, Maddie. What kind of prick do you think I am?”

She has the nerve to arch her brow as if to say do you really want me to answer that, and I can’t help but smirk as I answer her unspoken thoughts. “Yeah, don’t answer that, let’s just go.”

I put my hand out to guide her in the direction she was already heading, but she takes a step back. “I can’t, I have to go back, I left Hallie and she will be worried.”

We’ve already walked a little bit away from the house in her outburst, and I’m already freezing my balls off and don’t fancy going back. So, I take out my phone to call Arch. “It’s fine, I will get one of the guys to walk her home so you don’t have to go back and see sad Brad.” She doesn’t smile at the nickname she used a minute ago like I thought she would, and instead I see worry form in her eyes.

“No, they can't, what if they touch her,” she sounds panicked, and I look at her in confusion.

“Touch her? Fucking hell, Mads, what kind of guys do you think I’m friends with?” The nickname slips off my tongue as if we are old friends, and I internally scold myself, but thankfully she doesn’t seem to pick up on it.

“No, not like that,” she quickly rushes out. “Eurgh, she just doesn’t like being touched okay, just tell him not to invade her space.”

Nodding as I let the phone ring to let her know I understand, I wait until Archer picks up. The music is loud in the background, but I quickly explain the situation and just like I knew he would, he agrees before disconnecting the call. Not even thirty-seconds pass before a text comes through.

“Archer has her.” I turn the phone so Maddie can read the message, but still her teeth sink into her bottom lip as if she doesn’t believe me. “Gray is the best guy I have ever known, he would never do anything to hurt a girl,” I add softly.

Her eyes bore into mine like she is searching for a lie, until she eventually nods and I hold my hand out again to gesture in the direction she was already going. A couple of seconds pass before she finally gives in and turns to continue on her way. I’m not sure how I expected this night to turn out, but it definitely didn’t involve being friendly with a member of the fucking Peters family.

What the hell is happening to me?

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