Page 31 of The Puck Decoy

I’m sure Maddie can see the tension rising in her brother as well as I can, because she quickly tries to change the subject. “Mom, this recipe is great, did you come up with it?” she asks, trying to turn the focus away from Josh, but of course his father doesn’t relent.

“Hallie, you’ll make a great wife, my son can charm the voters with his words, and you can charm them with your…” he trails off, his eyes gesturing towards my chest, and his son sees red.

“Don’t fucking look at her like that,” he seethes, pushing his chair back as he shoots to his feet. “And how many fucking times do I have to tell you, I am never going to be a fucking politician,” he yells, storming from the table, as I am granted a real look at the true colors of the mayor as he watches him leave.

Hugo stands to follow him, but I jump to my feet and stare him down. “I’ll go, you stay and enjoy your lobster,” I smile sweetly, as I yellfuck youover and over again in my mind, until he relents with a nod.

“That’s a good idea, dear, I’m sure you can persuade him to calm down and remember his manners better than I can,” hedrawls with a wink, and I have to refrain from giving him the finger as I leave. It’s that or an axe to the face, I’d enjoyed both.

By the time I catch up with Josh, I find him pacing along the corridor of his father’s office, tension and anger pouring out of him in waves. Gone is the Josh who joked and flirted with me over breakfast this morning, and the one left standing in front of me, is the one I hate the most. It’s the one who has been torn down and berated by his father time and time again, until he is barely a shadow of himself. I hate it, I always have, but I hate Hugo Peters even more.

This dinner is a fucking shit show, and that’s before I’ve even tasted my damn appetizer. I storm out of the room in a rage because if I don’t, then I am going to show my father exactly what I have learnt from hockey over the years, and it isn’t how to hit a fucking puck. Anger bubbles to the surface of my skin, and to stop myself from going back in there and letting him win, I smash my fist into the wall beside his office.

“Hey, those hands belong to me now, twenty-two, so you better not be wrecking them,” Hallie jokes, walking towards me, looking as sweet and sorry as always. I can’t fucking believe I dragged her into this mess.

“Not now, Hals,” I snap, ignoring the pain now ricocheting down my arm, as I try and fail to control my temper.

Of course she ignores me, coming to a stop by my side, and pulling my now aching fist up in front of her to inspect. “Peter Pan never stops fighting with Hook, eh?” she murmurs, tenderly brushing her fingers over my knuckles until she is satisfied that they are fine.

“Yeah, well, he’s a fucking asshole,” I curse back, moving until I can lean on the wall and drop my head back to take a breath.

“Oh, he’s a major asshole,” she agrees, before adding, “But so is Hook.”

My eyes snap down to her and I find her grinning at me wildly, and I can’t help but return it. “Brat,” I smirk.

“Psycho,” she tosses back instantly, and I blow out a breath as I shake my head at her with a laugh. “Now what’s wrong? Why are you so on edge? So your dad didn’t care about the wedding,” she shrugs, searching my stare for answers that I’m not used to having to give, but I can’t deny her what she wants, not when she has put so much on the line for me.

So instead of trying and failing to explain how my dad makes me feel, I reach into my pants pocket and pull out the small device that Lincoln Blackwell gave me. The one I need to get into my father’s office without being detected so he can search through his files and try and find some useful dirt on him. Flicking my stare up and down the corridor to ensure we are still alone, I lower my head to hers and slip it into her hands so she can see it.

“I need to plug that into my dad’s computer without him realizing so Lincoln can hack in and make a copy of all of his files,” I say in a low gruff tone, hoping she doesn’t question me too much about it, not here, not now.

Yet instead of her saying what I think she is going to say, she simply asks, “Is his office door locked?” She nods slightly to the door just behind me on the left, and I shake my head no. “Thenlet’s do this,” she demands, before throwing her arms around my neck.

Panic floods my entire system as the hair on the back on my neck stands on end. “Hallie, what the hell are you doing?” I whisper, letting my hands fall to her hips to keep her in place, so her body doesn’t touch mine too much.

“Acting like I want to fuck you.” she tosses back without pause, rolling her eyes at me in the process, and I almost choke on my damn tongue.

“I beg your pardon?” I splutter in response, as her hands come to my cheeks and force my stare to hers, her body pressing fully against mine, and I bite back a grunt.Fuck. First there was her wearing my jersey with no pants, then this morning with her rubbing her ass on my morning wood, and now this? A good man only has so much restraint, and I’m not a good man.

Yet she looks at me like I am the crazy one here as she states, “Come on, what else would we sneak into his office for?”

My hands tighten around her waist, willing her to stay still considering how long it’s been since I have had a girl pressed against me, as I grit, “And why would us pretending to fuck be the answer?” It takes everything in me to not act on her crazy statement, especially when I can feel the scrape of her rings against my cheek, and all it does is remind me that technically she does belong to me now.

“Well, doesn’t he have a camera in there?” she questions, and it’s only then that I realize she is right.

“Fuck, yeah he does have a camera in there,” I mutter back, feeling this plan falling apart before it’s even got off the ground.

“Does it have sound?” She questions me further, but I’m already shaking my head.

“No, all the cameras in the house are video only, god forbid one of his conversations gets picked up by anything” I toss back without thinking, and her smile only widens.

“Perfect,” she quips, before shoving me forcefully against my father’s door like we are locked in some sort of lover's tryst, while she feels around for the handle. The door gives way before I can even move to help her, and she forces me inside before closing the door behind us, never once letting me go. “Now pretend to kiss my neck and back me up to his desk,” she commands quietly, and I can’t help but laugh at how crazy she is acting right now, but is it so crazy that it might actually work?

“You’re insane, you know that right?” I tell her for the millionth time in our lives, as I spin her around and start leading her back towards his desk.

“So you’ve been telling me since I was nine,” she muses with a smile, before she adds, “Now can my fake husband please fake kiss me?” I let out a deep sigh before leaning my head down and pressing my lips to the side of her neck, making her yelp in surprise. “I said fake kiss, Joshua, do you have any idea how sensitive my neck is?”

Fuck. Does she have any idea how hard she is testing me?

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