Page 84 of The Puck Decoy

From experience, I know that it will only take one more word for Daemon to absolutely lose his shit, and for once I won’t stand in his way. Not with the bullshit pouring from Levi’s mouth, not with the way he is looking at me as if he despises me. I stare him down, daring him to say one more word directed at me, but his gaze flicks to Daemon as if he is completely beneath him.

“Don’t even get me started on your father, Forbes, Josh’s may be a piece of shit, but yours is a fucking murderer.”

The punch lands before he can stop it, the fist moving so fast none of us even spot it until it’s too late, only Daemon hasn’t moved an inch. When I turn my head to the side I find Archer staring down at Levi, his whole body shaking with rage, as he spits, “Get the fuck away from my house, or the only murderer around here will be me.”

All of us are frozen on the spot as we stare at Archer in utter shock, before Levi does the first smart thing today and scrambles back away from him. When I bring my focus back toDaemon, he is staring at Archer with a look I have never seen before, and it’s only now I understand what Hallie meant when she said their dynamic was interesting.

I think it’s more interesting than any of us have ever realized.

“What the fuck is going on out here?” Nova stalks onto the porch, flicking his stare across all of us, and when his eyes land on his best friend, he looks nothing short of confused.

“Josh, you’re still here?” Maddie asks, coming from the front door to join him, and I know from the multiple sets of eyes on me that they don’t have a clue what is going on.

I open my mouth to speak when my ringtone cuts through all the tension, and when I pull the phone from my pocket, I find my mom’s name flashing across the screen. I send it straight to voicemail, and only now notice the multiple texts and calls from her and my grandmother, leading to only one conclusion. The Mayor has finally fallen.

I flick my stare to Madeline and announce, “Dad has been arrested.” Shock flows through my teammates, but Maddie just stares at me with nothing but relief. It’s finally done. With that in mind, before any of my teammates can say anything I add, “My father is a lying, corrupt, piece of shit, who tried to force Maddie into a business marriage. I ruined it, but my father forced me to take her place. I was told I had to pick a wife, and Hallie’s name was on the list of approved choices. I picked her because she was my friend, and I knew I wanted an ally as I took him down.” Reign, Gray, and Landon all look at me like I have gone insane, but Maddie, Nova, and Daemon already know all this, so I force myself to add, “I have since realized that I am madly in love with my fake wife, and I need to fucking fix it, so I am not leaving here until I see her.”

I expect some backlash, maybe some pissed off rant about what I did was wrong, but what I don’t expect is Gray to groan, the anger leaving him completely as Reign bursts out laughing.“I fucking knew it,” Reign brags, jumping onto his friends back and rubbing his knuckles on his head. “Pay up, you little prick.”

My stare flicks between them in confusion, before Gray sighs, “Reign bet me your marriage was bullshit, I bet him it was real.”

If my chest wasn’t still burning with pain I would probably laugh, but instead I reply, “Then I guess we all lost, because my marriage may have been bullshit, but it was somehow the realest thing I have ever felt.”

All of them look at me in stunned silence, before Nova nudges Maddie. “You heard your brother. Go and fetch his wife, the man is in love.”

And to my surprise, she turns on her heels and heads back inside.

Hmm, I guess Nova Darkmore isn’t so bad afterall.

“Fuck, I love watching her walk away from me,” he grits, his voice laced in lust as he rearranges himself in his shorts.

Nevermind. He is a prick.

The smell of the bed sheets beneath me are fresh but unfamiliar. Archer changed them when I arrived, before making himself a bed on the floor and lending me one of his jerseys to sleep in. When Daemon led me here last night instead of home I was confused at first, but when we reached the door, he explained that Maddie was inside. My best friend knew as soon as she saw my face that something was wrong, and when I broke down in her arms she let me stay there and cry for over an hour.

All the guys in the house avoided us thankfully, until it was almost 2am and Nova and Archer came down and insisted we get some sleep. Maddie left me reluctantly, but Archer promised he would look after me, and he did. Yes he still made a joke about me being the only girl to ever sleep in his room without fuckinghim, but even his attempt at humor couldn’t save me. I was already at the bottom of the abyss of Josh Peters, and just like I knew at nine years old, there was no way out.

Archer’s room is almost identical to Josh’s, yet looking around it I feel nothing. I always thought the worst pain you could feel was physical, like getting hit by a car, or losing a leg, but nothing can compare to your heart being ripped out of your chest.

I’m curled up in the center of his bed, and haven’t moved since I laid down here in the early hours of this morning. Not even whatever commotion is going on outside could get me to move, nothing could. So when the bedroom door opens and in comes my best friend, I don’t even flinch.

Maddie lays down on the bed beside me and brings her face up to mine. “What’s happening outside?” I ask to distract my mind from the constant pain, before she can ask me any questions.

“My dad has been arrested, I guess whatever Josh orchestrated has finally happened, my mom is calling us non-stop.”

Lincoln must really be good at his job for how fast it has happened, and I can’t say I feel sorry for Hugo, he deserves every single thing coming to him. I just wish her words brought me some comfort, after all, the only reason I even went through with this marriage was to get to this outcome. That was the plan all along, marry Josh, save Maddie, and take his father down. So why do I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything?

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, because I’m not really sure any other words would suffice. Hugo Peters may be an asshole, but he is still her father.

“Don’t be sorry, Hals, you saved me, you and Josh. If it weren’t for you guys I’d be engaged to Bradley Thorne rightnow, or maybe even someone worse,” she scoffs in disgust, and knowing what she has with Nova, I can’t say I blame her.

“Is there anyone worse than Sad Brad?” I question, and she smirks.

“Jockstrap Jerkoff?” she tosses back, but the reminder of Joey only causes the pain in my heart to hurt even more.

“Is that all that happened? I thought I heard arguing?” I ask, changing the subject again, and she cringes a little.

“Oh, well, Archer punched Levi in the face,” she replies casually.

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