Page 46 of The Puck Decoy

My wife looks good every day, she always has, but standing in the privacy of my room in jeans that showcase her thick thighs and gorgeous ass, while her tits are barely contained in the scrap of lace she is passing off as a bra, well it’s safe to say I’m in trouble.

Ignoring my rapidly hardening cock, I move back across the room towards her, coming to a stop at her back as she stares in the mirror. I hold the shirt up in front of her, clearing my throat. “Here, put this on.”

Her stare flicks to mine in the mirror, her skin tinted in a pink blush as she lets the towel drop and quickly grabs the shirt from my hand, muttering a quiet thank you. I don’t turn around as she puts it on, not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t, like I physically can’t make myself turn away from her. Not after what happened and why, I just need to make sure she is okay.

She slips her arms into my shirt, and of course it drowns her tiny frame, but she still rushes to button it up before she lets herself meet my stare in the mirror. I’m sure she can see the intensity there, hell, I can fucking feel it all around us, but she quickly focuses back on the shirt.

“Well this doesn’t look ridiculous at all,” she laughs, trying and failing to style it in any way, leaving her to just roll up the cuffs on the sleeves so her hands can pop out.

“I don’t know, you look pretty perfect to me,” I tell her honestly, and her stare snaps back to mine.

“Joshua,” she laughs, my name falling from her lips like a prayer. “There’s no one around, you don’t have to pretend right now.” Her words cut me a little, but it’s the look in her eyes that tells me she really doesn’t believe me, that hurts me more.

Before I can stop myself, my hands are on her hips and I am pulling her back against me until our bodies are tight against one another. “Does this feel like I’m pretending, Tink?” I ask, letting my very obvious erection for her dig into the bottom of her back.

All thoughts of her being my best friend have dissipated, and at this moment I can’t understand how I have been looking at her for over ten years but not really seeing her.

Her eyes widen slightly, before she pulls away, and I start to panic that I have ruined everything, but then instead of movingfrom me, she turns in my hold, bringing her stare up to meet mine. “Why did you come over when you saw Brianna talking to me?”

Her question catches me off guard, mostly because the only thing I can think of right now is how good she looks in my shirt, the feel of her body against me, my hands on her hips, and her eyes on mine. “Because I knew she would be talking shit to you,” I admit quietly, wishing I didn’t know Brianna so well to know that.

I wish I could erase anyone that isn’t Hallie right now, wanting nothing more than to feel her lips on mine, not caring that she’s my best friend, or how long we have known each other. In fact, it only makes me want her more. Fake or not, the rings on our fingers mean she belongs to me and I belong to her.

“So? It’s not your job to protect me, Joshua,” she huffs, her hands moving up to my chest as if she’s going to push me away, but I capture them in mine and keep her in place.

“First of all, it is my job to protect you,” I tell her, knowing full well I have been doing it since the day I met her, and only just starting to ask myself why. “And second of all, I won’t stand for anyone saying shit to you, especially because of me.” Just because I have fucked around with half the girls on campus doesn’t mean I want her tainted by it.

She deserves more than that, and she definitely deserves more than me, but I don’t think I have the restraint to stay away from her, not when we were kids, and definitely not now.

“Why?” she whispers, her voice so quiet that I almost miss it, and the answer is simple.

“Because you’re mine, Hals,” I respond without thinking, her eyes instantly taking on a frown as I quickly add, “I mean, you’re my wife, my best friend.” Neither of them are far from the truth, yet somehow it still doesn’t explain what I mean.

Her hand reaches up absentmindedly and her thumb skims the cut on my lip that I got from the fight in the game. “But none of this is real,” she says in wonder, and my heart beats wildly in my chest.

I drop my forehead to hers, relishing in the feel of her touching me as I plead, “So? Let’s break the rules anyway.” Then I am leaning down, bringing my lips towards the girl who I warned everyone else away from, but just as they are about to touch.

Knock. Knock.

“Hals?” Maddie shouts through the door. “Hals, it’s me, let me in.” And that’s all it takes for Hallie to push away from me like she’s on fire.

I blow out a breath, reaching down to rearrange myself before I move over to the door and open it to find my sister. Of course she doesn’t take a second to read the room, or my mood, and just barges past me to get to her best friend.

“Hey, I just wanted to check if you were okay,” Maddie starts, cutting across the room until she reaches Hallie, who is still standing by the mirror. “Do you need me to go get you some fresh clothes from home or anything?” she asks, her gaze dropping to the shirt of mine she is now wearing.

“I’m fine,” Hallie lies with a bright smile, not even looking in my direction, as Maddie tries to come to her rescue.

And all I'm left with is the realization that I almost kissed my wife.

Fuck.

Iconsider myself very lucky to have a best friend like Madeline Peters, but right now as she fusses over me after what happened downstairs, I am barely even listening to her. No, instead I am reeling from all the events of the last few hours. From the fight at the rink, to the run in with Joey, then the confrontation downstairs with Brianna. Yet all of those are overshadowed by the fact that he just almost kissed me. Josh Peters, my best friend since I was nine, and the boy I have loved ever since, almost kissed me.

He almost kissed me.

My gaze flicks from his sister to him, finding him still idling by his open bedroom door, not looking anywhere near as freaked out as I currently am. Why would he be freaked out? From the things those girls were saying, a barely not even happened kissis probably nothing on his radar. My mind is swamped with the things Brianna and them were saying about what he likes, about his need for control and dominance to get off, and all I can do is compare it to how gently he just leaned down to kiss me.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to run and get you another top to wear?” Maddie asks, cutting into my thoughts, and my stare snaps back to her, already shaking my head.

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