Page 25 of The Puck Chase

After speaking with Josh, he confided in me that his father arranged a business marriage for his daughter, and now my best friend is on a mission to foil it anyway he can, but like mine, his father is a powerful man. My eyes search him out, finding him actively listening to the reaming out Archer is getting about Nova’s absence, and I see his jaw grinding in anger. Josh cares about his sister more than anyone in this world, and I’m sure it’s not easy for him to know that she was secretly hooking up with our captain behind his back.

By the time Archer stalks from Coach’s office to get dressed, most of the team is already on the ice, yet for some reason I find myself lingering. When he rounds the lockers, his stern and pissed off stare meets mine, but moves past me instantly, as he pulls his shirt over his head and rips open his locker. I’m fully dressed, I have no reason to stay standing here, but as he reveals the muscular planes of his chest, I can’t help but stare.

“Are you okay?” I ask, surprising not just myself, but him too, because his head snaps towards me instantly.

“Finally remember I fucking exist again?” He spits in question, his anger palpable, and it should piss me off, but instead I find it intriguing. This is a side of him that I never see, he is always so chilled and cool-headed, so to see him losing his temper a little is a welcome reprieve.

“Not for lack of trying,” I tell him truthfully, and a wicked smirk curls at the corner of his mouth.

“As much as the thought of you not being able to forget me is intriguing, Forbes, I’m really not in the fucking mood right now,” he grits, pulling on his base layer, and now it’s my turn to smirk.

“Then welcome to my life on this team with you for the last three fucking years, Gray,” I snap back, slamming my locker shut, and turning to look at him fully.

Of course he doesn’t shrink under my attention, no, he meets me head on, holding my stare as he slips into his jersey, before taking a step closer to me. “You know, I missed your bark, Forbes,” he tells me, no doubt living for the fact I have broken my silence after two weeks, as he brushes past me to sit on the bench. “It’s almost as good as your bite,” he adds casually, his eyes flicking up to meet mine, and it’s only now when I look down at him that I realize the position he has put us in.

Images of him on his knees rush to the forefront of my mind, so vivid that they almost make me dizzy, and I inhale deeply, trying to calm my heart rate as it starts to rapidly climb. “When is Cap coming back?” I ask, changing the subject, and the prick smiles as if he can read my every thought.

I wonder if he knows I hate him and his fucking mouth?

“Probably when he is sober and done mourning the lying little princess,” he replies, as he shifts his focus to his skates, and I cringe under his assessment of Madeline.

“This isn’t her fault,” I find myself snapping at him, and as his fingers deftly move to tie his skates, his eyes dance back up to meet mine.

“Is that right?” He finishes tying his skates, before rising back to his full height and bringing us almost nose to nose.

“When you grow up with a powerful father, you do whatever you can to survive,” I reply simply, not comfortable with my best friend’s sister being painted as the villain in his best friend’s story.

“Is that what you did?” he asks, surprising me with his change of direction, yet like with his sister, I don’t back down from his question.

“Every single day,” I reply without pause, knowing he could never understand the depths of what people like me, Josh and Madeline have been through, while also hoping he never does.

“Even if it costs you the love of others?” His question is so simple that I know he has never known anything except unconditional love.

He’s never experienced a loss so severe that it almost killed him, one that changed him so completely so that he would never be the same, but I have. Which is why I pour as much truth and sincerity as I can muster in my two word response.

“Especially then.”

I don’t bother waiting for a response, just grab my stick and head out onto the ice to find my best friend. He was the one person who helped me when I had no one, and even though everything might be a shit show right now, I will do whatever I can to change that for him.

My friendship with Nova Darkmore is something I cherish deeply. Like, I love that fucker like he is my own brother, so to see him spiral into his own drunken destruction has been hard to watch. I saw his relationship bloom with Maddie so quickly, that I almost couldn’t believe it, so when we found out she was engaged to somebody else, it came as a bit of a shock. One I was easily able to absorb, focusing only on helping him through it, yet what I didn’t expect is to find out the whole fucking thing was bullshit.

I mean, who the fuck forces their child into a fucking business marriage? Mayor Hugo Peters, that’s who. I knew the guy was a grade A dickwad, but this is even worse than what I could have ever imagined. I'm not sure why, I grew up in similar circles in New York, surrounded by wealth and privilege, yet myparents would never do something like this. Hell, I know I could confidently call any one of them right now and talk out my spiral about my sexuality, and they wouldn’t even bat an eyelid. So to know there are people who not only don’t have that same level of love and support, but are also dealing with shit like this? Well, it fucking infuriates me.

After getting into a fight last night at the bar, I had no choice but to call Maddie in for reinforcements in helping us get Nova home, and the second she turned up I knew I made the right decision. Even before I knew all this getting married bullshit wasn’t her choice, I saw the way she looked at my best friend, the feelings she has for him. Feelings she probably hasn’t even admitted to herself yet, the same ones I see in him, and now I’m grateful to know I might be able to save them.

There is a level of relief flowing through me as I hand Nova today’s newspaper, relaying the events of my morning. From reading the article about Maddie’s future husband being exposed for cheating, to seeing Josh’s roommate in the gym, and being told that the whole thing wasn’t her choice. My best friend listens to it all, his eyes a mixture of confusion and regret, as he tries to process what I’m saying.

“I need to see her,” he exclaims firmly, moving to leave instantly, before Jake cuts in to stop him.

“Shouldn’t you shower first,” he says carefully, no doubt not wanting to rile him up more than he already is, and before Nova can respond, his phone begins to ring.

He dives for his so fast that I’m not sure how he doesn’t pull a fucking muscle, answering it instantly. “Maddie,” he breathes in greeting, not even bothering to check the caller ID, and Jake, Reign and I wait silently for her response.

There is a short pause before we hear a firm female voice reply, “Am I speaking with Nova Darkmore?” My frown isinstant, as is his, as he pulls the phone away from his ear to check the screen.

Whatever he finds there clearly doesn’t give him an answer, because he puts the phone back to his ear, and replies, “This is he.”

“Mr. Darkmore, this is Jennifer, I’m calling from Fairfield Medical Center. It’s about your mother, Diana Darkmore.”

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