Page 30 of The Puck Chase

“At least she’s doing better,” I reply, knowing the pain of losing a mother all too well, and not wishing it on anybody.

“Yeah, I bumped into Gray when I went to Maddie’s this morning, and they said she is looking stronger every day,” hemumbles, half paying attention to the movie, and at the mention of our teammate I flinch slightly.

“Any luck with your dad?” I change the subject again, not wanting to think about that insufferable asshole prick, and Josh scoffs.

“You mean is he going to let me out of the business marriage meant for my sister, now I’ve offered to take her place?” he asks, and I nod, making him laugh without a trace of humor.

Remember how I said he was a fucking martyr?

Well, apparently it doesn’t matter how much he hates Nova Darkmore, because if his sister is happy, that’s enough for him. Which is why he stormed into his father’s office, and offered himself up on a platter in exchange for Mayor Peters to leave Maddie alone. An offer he wasn’t sure he would even accept, yet it wasn’t long before he produced a list of potential wives for his son to choose from.

“My father is the most powerful man in this town, and what he wants, he gets,” he spits, grabbing the whiskey from me and taking a long pull. “So I think it’s safe to say you’ll be attending my wedding soon,” he grumbles, passing me back the bottle.

“Even though you haven’t picked a wife yet?” I ask, taking another drink, and his stare snaps to mine as I smirk.

“Even though I haven’t picked a wife yet,” he repeats with the shake of his head, and I can tell from the look on his face that there is nothing he wants less in the world.

“You know, even powerful men can perish,” I tell him softly, and he nods slowly, letting my words soak in, before he grabs the bottle back and holds it up in the air.

“To the day they perish,” he toasts, knocking back some of the liquid and offering it to me to do the same.

Then we spend the next two hours passing the bottle back and forth until I feel numb enough to fall asleep, and this time, I don’t have any nightmares. No, instead my mind is clouded withsarcastic blue eyes and cocky smiles, no matter how hard I try to forget about them.

I guess I’ve got yet another demon to contend with.

It’s still dark when I wake, my head pounding, and when I spy Josh still sleeping on my floor, I know it must be early. I know I won’t be able to get back to sleep, so I slip out of bed and head to the bathroom. I make quick work of taking a shower and freshening up, before grabbing some workout clothes and heading to the gym.

I’m not surprised to find it nearly empty, since almost everyone on campus has already headed home for Thanksgiving, but still I put on my headphones and get to work. The exhaustion from last night still clings to me, but like always I push myself, in the hopes that it will be enough to make me sleep without remembering that fucking night, or all the ones that came before it.

I work through the motions of my upper body workout, until my back is slick with sweat and my arms are shaking, and when I finally leave the gym, the sun is up. I power walk the short trip back to my street, but before I can even reach my house, a familiar voice calls out to me.

“Been working up a sweat without me, Forbes?” Archer calls out from across the street, and when I turn, I find him placing two large rucksacks into the trunk of his car.

Ignoring his obvious innuendo, but unable to ignore him, I nod towards his bags. “Going somewhere?” I ask, and he looks surprised that I’m even responding, even if it isn’t to answer his question.

He looks between me and his bags before he nods, leaning back to take a seat against the open trunk. “Yeah, I’m heading to the city for a couple of days for the holidays,” he explains, and I nod, already knowing this information from Aurora, but for some reason I felt the need to converse with him.

After everything that happened with Diana, I haven’t seen him at practice the last few days, and now with the holidays coming up, it will be almost another week. I’m not sure why the thought of that bothers me. Just because we shared a drunken kiss doesn’t make him any more significant in my life.

“So I can finally expect some peace and quiet for a few days then, huh?” I toss back, and the prick smirks in that insufferable way that only he can, his stare dancing down to his feet and back up again.

“Have you got any plans for the holidays?” he asks, and I am once again reminded why I don’t try and make friends with anyone, because they wouldn’t understand.

The last time I willingly made a friend, I lost everything that was important to me because of it, and it’s not like they stuck around for the fallout. Once my father was arrested, the word freak became insignificant in comparison to what the kids at school started calling me, but it didn’t matter, I could take it. After all, it wasn’t the worst thing I had endured, and even though nothing like that can happen again, I don’t let people in.

“None of your fucking business, Gray,” I snap without thinking, and I swear I can feel his sigh from all the way across the street, as he holds his hands up and rises back to his feet. Just like I am used to him and his bullshit, he is used to me and mine.

“Okay, well try not to miss me too much,” he tosses back sarcastically with the shake of his head, slamming his trunk closed, before moving to the side of his car.

“Yeah and try not to stick your tongue down anyone's throat,” I snap without thinking, and he pauses with his hand still on the door, turning towards me and cocking his brow.

“Oh yeah? Is that an order?” he asks with a smirk, and knowing I’ve already said too much I remain silent, but of course that doesn’t deter him in any way. “Damn, one kiss and suddenlyyou’re possessive of me?” he purrs, like the idea thrills him, and I internally curse.

Possessive? Yeah fucking right. All I want is to get away from the prick, but he can’t seem to get the message.

Anger burns inside of me, going to war with my exhaustion, and I can’t help but grit, “Get fucked, Gray.” Before turning on my heels and moving towards my house.

“With pleasure, Forbes,” he yells at my back, before I hear the slam of his car door, and the start of his engine, and I don’t know why, but I turn to watch him drive away.

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