Page 9 of The Puck Decoy

I roll my eyes at their melodramatics and move to answer it, not surprised in the slightest at who waits on the other side. Nova Darkmore greets me with a smile that I’m sure would make most women's knees go weak, including my best friend’s, but apparently my affliction to blond haired assholes, who are now technically my fiancé, makes me immune.

“Hals,” he greets me warmly, not showing any disappointment at me being the one to answer. “How was the party?”

I step aside to let him in, given he finds his way here most nights and I am more than used to him frequenting our house now, as I grunt back, “It was… eventful.” Only then does he hear the shouting coming from the living room and his smile dropsas he looks at me in concern. “Like I said, eventful,” I add with a sigh, leading him towards the living room.

“Did you honestly think you could just choose your boyfriend and skip off into the fucking sunset?” Josh scoffs. “Wake up, Maddie, dad wanted a deal and he got one, and it no longer concerns you.” I approach the two of them with Nova by my side, and only then does Josh notice his arrival. “Why don’t you enjoy the aftermath of my decisions and stay out of my business,” he sneers, gesturing towards the captain of his hockey team.

“Everything okay here?” Nova asks, his question tinted with a dark edge, as he moves himself in between Maddie and her brother.

Josh’s stare only hardens as it flicks between them. “Everything is fine, Darkmore,” he spits, silently staring down at his sister, and ignoring Nova’s presence completely.

Maddie stares right back, but I see the moment she knows her brother isn’t going to back down, and her fight dissipates. She sighs heavily, looking at both of us with regret, before she turns her attention to Nova and pleads, “Just get me out of here, Charmer.”

Nova looks between the three of us confused before he nods slightly, pulling his girlfriend from the fray of tension circling around us, and we both watch in silence as they leave. That silence lingers a few seconds after the door is slammed behind them, before Josh curses.

“Fuck,” he yells, reaching up to loosen his tie, and cracking his neck at the same time.

“She’ll come around,” I tell him with more hope than I have, and he almost gruffs a laugh.

“Why are you always so optimistic that everything will just work out?” he snaps, and I can practically feel his shields going back up around him. Shields I have been trying to penetrateever since he found out what kind of man his father truly is, and failing every time.

“I guess I just see things black and white. She is your sister and she loves you, she will get over this fight and you guys will go back to normal,” I shrug, not really knowing how to answer him in any other way.

I have barely even finished my sentence when he interrupts me again. “None of this is fucking normal, Hallie.” His anger flows off him in waves, and all I want to do is reach into them and pull him out. “Normal would be a father who doesn’t force his children into ridiculous archaic notions just to satisfy his own needs to stay on top.” He turns away from me, placing his fists on the back of the sofa and dropping his head down towards the floor, inhaling deeply as if trying to catch his breath.

Moving towards him, I place my hand on his shoulder, something I have done multiple times tonight, only this time he flinches completely. His head shoots up, and he pushes away from me like my touch is poison, and looking back at me is someone I both recognize and hate. It isn’t the little boy who gave me a ring pop when we were kids, it isn’t even the man who asked me to marry him just a few hours ago. No, the only person who stands before me now is his father’s son.

“You did good tonight,” he tells me flatly, like I’m nothing but a damn show pony, and I steel my spine against his whip of words. “We can work out whatever other issues if and when they arise, but for now we should be good.” Then without waiting for me to respond, he turns on his heels and heads towards the front door. I don’t bother following him, I know when it comes to Josh Peters that I have to pick my battles, and right now this isn’t a war I want to wage with him.

So I let him leave, and just like always he takes half of my heart with him, and when I finally hear the slam of the door, I let my first tear fall. I don’t know why I cry, but I do. I letthe emotions of this entire night rush to the surface. All of the people, the music, the foods, the smells, the faking it, all of it consumes me until I barely even make it up the stairs, and I don’t bother taking off my dress before I crawl into bed.

I pull Percy the Penguin, a soft toy my husband-to-be won for me when I was a kid, towards me and cuddle him tight, knowing that just like every night I wish there was someone to hold me while I cry. I also know that Josh might make my heart hurt now, but it will be nothing compared to how it will feel when this is all over. I don’t care how temporary this thing between us is, I know I will barely make it out alive. Love really is the worst disease, isn’t it?

The announcement ran in the newspaper the Monday following our engagement, not that I was surprised. My father was efficient enough to have an affair while still running this town, so of course he was efficient enough to get the engagement in the paper less than 72 hours after it was announced. He is the mayor after all. A mayor that people bend over backwards to accommodate, hence why my phone has not stopped ringing for the last four days with the wedding planner on the other end of it. I only answered the first call, and only because I didn’t know who the number belonged to. Then I stayed long enough to discover the wedding plans that were already made for my sister's forced wedding in the spring–that I botched–were now going ahead as my own.How delightful.

I haven’t spoken to Hallie or my sister since the night of the engagement, though I’m sure they both saw the announcement. I imagine my father sent them a copy as he did me, but the only thing on my mind has been taking him down. After asking a few trusted friends, I was given the name of someone who might be able to help me. Someone I plan on paying a visit to this week, but first I have to find my fiancée and make her aware of the dinner my parents have invited us to. One to celebrate our engagement with just the family, which I know is just a ploy for my father to keep a close eye on us, but if he wants a show, I will give him one.

It’s Wednesday now, and thanks to a girl in the main office, for whom I promised an introduction to my teammate Levi, I now have access to Hallie’s class timetable. Hence why I am waiting outside the building that houses Hallie’s last class of the day. It’s late in the afternoon, but there are still a few people milling around, some of which pass and nod in greeting to me, but mostly I am left alone to wait.

After twenty-minutes or so the quiet building before me finally comes to life as people start filing out of it, and my eyes scan the crowd looking for her. Knowing Hallie she will probably be the last one out, waiting for everyone else to leave so she isn’t jostled and pushed as she makes her exit, especially given her aversion to most people’s touch. Unfortunately for me I am only half right.

I spy her at the back of the crowd like I thought, her brown head of curls piled in a bun on top of her head, with a few pieces at the front left down to frame her face. She is wearing leggings, tucked into a pair of black boots, matched with an oversized FU sweater and a bag slung over her shoulder. Except that isn’t the only thing over her shoulder. A large arm engulfs her tiny frame, and I follow the length of it around her until I find its owner.

Archer Gray.

Archer plays on my hockey team and just so happens to be Nova’s best friend. We aren’t enemies, but we aren’t friends either, just teammates. Kind of in the way that Hallie and I are just teammates in this fake marriage, yet that doesn’t stop me from storming towards them in a rage.

Hallie spots me first, her eyes flaring wide in surprise, as I interrupt whatever Archer is telling her. “I suggest you get your hands off my fiancée, Gray, or playing pro hockey will be a distant dream,” I seethe, holding him down with my stare as he takes in my arrival.

“Your fiancée?” Archer laughs, looking between me and Hallie as if this is just one big joke, but when neither of us join him in his humor, he goes from amused to confused.

“Yes, my fiancée, one who doesn’t like to be touched, so I’ll tell you one more time, get your fucking hands off her.”

Hallie still looks surprised at the turn of events, but at my second warning, she goes from shock to anger. “Don’t threaten him, you big egomaniac, he wasn’t even doing anything,” she argues, stepping out of his hold on her and moving towards me.

“He was touching you,” is all I respond, and she has the audacity to laugh.

“Fucking hell, Joshua, he had his hand across my shoulder, not in my damn pants.” Her defense does nothing to deplete my anger, especially with the people still milling around us and listening to our every word.

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