Page 71 of The Puck Player

“I don’t give a fuck,” she replies simply, and Malorie blinks back in surprise.

“What?” she stutters, looking between us again, and Aubree takes a step toward her.

“You heard me, I don’t give a fuck,” she tells her, repeating herself. “I don’t give a fuck about him, about you, about any of it,” she laughs with a shrug, and Malorie is shocked silent. “This last year has been the worst year of my fucking life, andyou sat there with me when I cried. You comforted me and then what? Turned around and fucked my boyfriend?” she asks with another laugh.

“It wasn’t like that,” Malorie rushes out, tears spilling down her cheeks, but Aubree waves her off with a hand.

“I don’t care what it was like. I don’t care about him. I don’t care about you. I don’t care about any of it. Not anymore.” Her words are loud and clear, and fuck I’m so proud of her. “So, leave, go home, go find Ben, whatever you need to do, I don’t care, just don’t be here. We’re done,” she tells her firmly, before turning to me with a soft smile, and brushing past me to walk into my house.

Malorie and I both watch her leave, and before I join her, I turn back to Malorie and take one more step forward. “Come near her again and I’ll fucking ruin you,” I warn her, before nodding my head toward the guard who approached behind her. “Take out the trash for me,” I tell him, before grabbing mine and Aubree’s bags and heading inside.

I expect to find Aubree pacing or anxiously waiting, but by the time I enter, she is already embraced in Archer’s arms, who no doubt ambushed her the second she came through the door.

“Hey, get your own girlfriend, Gray,” I tease, and the chaotic little wanker smirks.

“Can’t, I only have boyfriends now,” he replies easily, pulling back, just as Daemon rounds the corner.

“Boyfriends huh?” he asks, and Archer whips his head around.

“No, baby, that’s not what I meant,” he rushes out, but Daemon is already dragging him against him.

“You’ll pay for that later,” he mumbles against his mouth, before turning to Aubree and I. “Everything good?” he asks, searching my stare, and I know his need for answers, it’sprobably almost as high as mine given his past, and I offer him a firm smile.

“No new updates,” I confirm. “Where’s everyone else?” I ask, pulling Aubree to the kitchen, and my two teammates follow.

“Cap and Mads are at Diana’s, and Evie and Jake are having date night,” Archer tells me, which means he and his boyfriend have had a free house.

“I’m about to make tea on this counter, do I need to clean it first?” I ask, glaring at them firmly, and the wanker smirks.

“Maybe,” he laughs, and Daemon reaches under the sink for the cleaning supplies, passing them to him as I roll my eyes.

They both make quick work of cleaning up, and then I make us all a pot of tea and give them a quick rundown of the weekend.

“Yeah, my mom saw your guy's picture in the society pages this morning,” Archer tells me. “You were looking good, Troublemaker,” he adds with a wink at Aubree.

I lean forward and flick his nose. “Stop flirting with my fucking girl, you sex maniac.”

“I thought you were the sex maniac around here,” he claps back, before tossing another wink to Aubree. “Although not anymore, right?” His eyes flick down to her purity ring, but he finds her now empty finger instead, and then snaps back to me. “Or maybe you’ve been worshipping someone new,” he teases, making Aubree blush, and when Daemon sees it, he starts pushing him out.

“Alright, time-out for you,” he tells him, much to his dismay, but then he whispers something in his ear that has him scrambling away from him and up the stairs.

“I think you’re my new best friend,” I tell Daemon, and he rolls his eyes, but I see him hide a smirk, as he follows after his boyfriend, leaving Aubree and I alone.

Fucking finally.

I pour us both another cup of tea, passing one off to Aubree, and she has barely even taken it and placed it down, before she lunges forward and kisses me. I capture her lips with my own, kissing her swiftly, before pulling back and looking at her in confusion.

“What was that for?” I ask, and she shrugs.

“I just felt like it,” she shrugs, and fuck if I don’t love her, especially when she leans in to kiss me again, but I stop her, batting at her hand when she places it on my thigh.

“Well keep those lips of yours to yourself, Trouble, now is not the time for fraternizing, it’s tea time, we can’t sexualize it, it’s sacrilege,” I tell her sternly, and she sits back with a knowing smirk.

“Are you my teapot daddy now?” she asks, holding her cup out for a clink, and I meet it with my own.

“You better believe it,” I tell her, cheering our cups. “Now be quiet and drink your tea, while I silently plot how to ruin the pastor and his whore’s life.”

I fire off a few messages to the security team and Duchess, and she replies instantly.