Page 1 of The Puck Decoy

Ihate my father’s office. It’s cold and miserable, just like him. What’s worse is, he knows I hate it, and it’s why every time we have something to discuss, he always makes me meet him here. It’s a power move, one that allows him to think he is in control, but the truth is, his games don’t matter to me. They never did. I let him rule with his iron fist, and went along with whatever bullshit he demanded, because I knew I would soon be free. I was happy to keep doing that, but then he involved my sister.

There was no way on this earth I was going to stand by and allow him to force her into marrying some piece of shit just because he was friends with his father. Thankfully, it was easier to dig up some dirt on her intended and flush his reputationdown the toilet, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. It’s the only reason I am here, because I know what I have to do next.

It’s another twenty-minutes before he finally deigns to show up, citing overrun meetings as his excuse. Yet I don’t miss the lipstick on his collar, rolling my eyes at his sloppiness. I honestly don’t know how he ever got elected as Mayor. As he rounds his desk, he loosens his already astray tie, and searches through some papers on his desk until he finds what he is looking for.

“You cost me a lot of money by ruining the Thorne deal,” he snaps, leaning over and placing a stack of sheets in front of me. I don’t even let my eyes drop, keeping my focus on him as I wait for him to continue. He doesn’t have concrete proof that it was me who foiled his plans, but he knows I did it, and it’s that knowledge that has me smirking. “Not that it matters now, I know you’ll do your duty.” He leans over again and taps on the list in front of me. I still don’t look at it.

“I will do what’s required,” I start, measuring my words slowly. “But you will keep up your end of the deal and leave Madeline alone. You won’t insert yourself in her relationship, you won’t mess with her tuition or place at FU, and you won’t disrupt her life in any way. Do you understand?” I hold his stare, not letting the smile that crosses his mouth affect me. I’m not the little boy he used to be able to scare away with just the boom of his voice. I’m a man now, and I will do what I need to in order to protect my sister.

“You should consider following my footsteps into politics, son, you’d make quite the show.” I don’t take his false praise for anything other than what it is, and his smile drops when he realizes his words no longer have an effect on me. “You have my word that I will not interfere with your sister’s life in any way. The Darkmore boy is an acceptable enough choice given his trajectory. As long as you do your duty, I will stay away from them.”

I am already on my feet and grabbing the list from his desk before he has even uttered his last word. “Consider it done.”

Now I really do try and make it outside before I let my eyes drop to the list, I do, but I’ve never been good at delayed gratification, and with my future at stake, my restraint breaks. I’m not surprised to find the usual hoard of socialites, and businessmen’s daughters, but as my eyes scan to the bottom of the page, I almost stumble at the last name on there, coming to a complete stop.

No, that can’t be right, it must be a typo, a misprint, but as I read her name once, twice, three times, I have to force myself to face my father again.

“Hallie’s name is on here?” My words come out as more of a question than I’d like, and my father lifts his eyes from his computer to me, but he remains silent waiting for more. “Hallie Rose Sanders, as in Maddie’s best friend.”

My father shrugs. “Yes, and? She comes from a good, wealthy family, her father runs a respectful, successful business, and Hallie is a nice, good girl.” He returns his focus back to his screen as he adds in a mumble, “Lord knows you’ve done worse.”

I know his words are dismissing me, and too shocked to say anything else, I turn on my heel and storm my way out of there, not stopping until I am behind the wheel of my car. Only then do I let my eyes drop to the list again, ignoring every other name on there and dropping back down tohers.

Hallie Rose Sanders, my sister's best friend, and the girl who has gotten under my skin since she was nine and I was eleven. I wonder what she would make of her name being on such a list? The thought is laughable. She would be the worst choice I could ever make. But then again, what if she wasn’t?

No, wait, this is perfect. Hallie knows all about what was going on with Maddie being forced into an engagement, and she knows I’m the one who ultimately saved her. If I just explainedthe situation, then surely she would agree to helping me out just long enough to see Maddie and I graduate and get out from under our father’s thumb.

Yes, this is perfect. Why tie myself to a real wife when I can tie myself to a fake one?

It’s time to ask my sister’s best friend for a favor.

Isold my soul to the devil the day I was born, I just didn’t realize it at the time, but now he wants to collect with my signature on the dotted line. It doesn’t matter that the devil in question just so happens to be my father, or that the deal was made to protect my sister. No, the only thing that matters now is that I have no other option than to marry someone that my father approves of. My father, Hugo Peters, esteemed Mayor of the town of Fairfield, and a complete joke of a family man. I hate him, and I know hate is a strong word, but if I could come up with one solitary word for how I feel about the man who raised me, that’s what it would be.Hate.

My childhood was basically a silent war that I was ill-equipped to fight at the time, and worse, I wasn’t the only person I had to protect from the battle. My little sister Madeline is theonly one in this world that I truly love, and I would do anything for her. Which doesn’t sound like the burden that it is, but unfortunately, just as I know that fact, my father does too, and he wields it against me often.

The only escape I ever had from him was hockey. From the moment I picked up my first stick and whacked it against my first puck, everything changed. It was my cold solace that eased the burn of the hell I was growing up in. It used to be the one thing I could count on, the one thing that could keep me grounded no matter what was happening, but I haven’t felt at home on the ice in a long time. There was once a time where the game felt fun and easy, where scoring a goal and winning a match meant everything to me, but as of right now, I can’t quite remember when I lost that.

I guess it started when my father realized I didn’t want to follow him into a career in politics. It was a speech I’d heard a thousand times about how his father was in politics, how his grandfather was in politics, and that it was just what Peters’ men were meant for. He doesn’t care about my love for the game, or my aspirations to be in the NHL. No, the only thing he cares about is the fact that I am a disappointment to the family, something he has made more than clear in private, but that doesn’t stop him from singing my false praises in public any chance he gets.

We have never seen eye to eye, not since I was old enough to understand the type of man he truly is, and all I have done since is try and shield my sister from him. A matter that he recently pushed the boundaries of like never before, when he tried to blackmail her into marrying his business associate's son, Bradley Thorne. Something I quickly rectified as soon as I was aware of it of course. It only took a little digging and some phone calls to expose his cheating on his college football team, and hequickly became unsuitable. Unfortunately though, that wasn’t quite the end of it all.

I knew my father wouldn’t stop. The only time he ever cares about Maddie or me is for reasons that aim to make him look better, and even getting Bradley Thorne out of the picture wouldn’t have been enough to stop him. If I didn’t step in, he would have just put the next suitor in line on the block and pushed my sister towards him. Maddie isn’t like me, she is kind, warm, and innocent. She would never survive the burden of a loveless marriage. So I gave my father an ultimatum, I told him to leave Maddie alone and I would take her place. Of course the bastard made me wait for his answer, no doubt trying to find someone else to take Thorne’s place, but then along came Nova Darkmore.

Captain of my hockey team and overall a giant man-whoring prick, yet somehow to my surprise he managed to fall for my little sister. A fact I am still having trouble trying to swallow, but the even bigger surprise is that despite the history of my father fucking his mother Diana, and basically ruining her life, he actually approves of Nova as a match for Maddie. Apparently being the star of the hockey team is good enough to make him a suitor for her, but not good enough for his only son. So I guess in the end she has won, but I will still pay the price to protect her.

The list of names of suitable future wives he gave me has been burning a hole in my desk for days now, and not just the list and the requirements that come with it, but the name that sits on the very last line of that list.

Hallie Rose Sanders.

My sister's best friend, a constant in my life since I was eleven years old, and a fiery tinkerbell-sized rocket who pushes me at every turn. I’m not sure what the hell my father was thinking putting her name on there, but now that it is, it’s like I can’t see any other. Hallie and I have a complicated relationship,but it wasn’t always like that. In fact, I used to consider her one of my only friends, I guess in a way I still do, even if I’m not one of hers, but I had no choice but to push her away. I was already stuck in hell, I wasn’t going to drag her down with me. Yet now it might be the only way for me to survive, for me to beat my father at his own games once and for all.

Today is Thanksgiving, and instead of arriving early at my parents' yearly gala, like I know they expect me to, I am pacing my room staring at the list of names in my hand. Fuck my father, fuck him for being who he is and forcing my hand in this way. He knows how much I love Maddie, how I would do anything for her, and now I’ve got to make a decision that will impact my life forever. And not just mine, someone else’s too.

Feeling both stressed and frustrated I storm from my room, move down the hallway, and barge inside my roommate’s door to get his take on things. Daemon Forbes plays on the hockey team with me and became a close friend from the moment we both started at FU. He has his own shitty background to deal with, and though I don’t know all the details, I know he has it far worse than I do. Something I remind myself of as I find him sitting alone on his bed on a day that should be spent with family.

“Oh, please, do come on in,” Daemon drawls, not even looking up from the sketchpad in his hand, as his pencil moves furiously across the page.

I pretty much always find him like this, tucked away and isolated in the solace that is his room, scrawling pictures he never lets anyone see, and avoiding interaction as much as humanly possible. The layout of his room is a mirror image of my own, except Daemon’s walls are lined with overflowing tall, black shelves filled with books and sketch pads. We have both been tainted by the sins of our fathers, but where I let my grief spur me into action, Daemon lets his consume him. It pours outof him in waves, and for the last three years I have been doing everything I can to not let him drown.

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