Page 73 of The Puck Player

“Aubree? What are you doing here?” he asks, not moving from his position on his knees, and tears burn the back of my eyes.

“What am I doing here?” I scoff, looking between them, and at least the girl has the sense to look uncomfortable, picking up on the tension. “What are you doing here? How long has this been going on?” I ask, hating myself for needing the answer, but fuck, this stings more than Ben and Malorie.

“Duchess and I?” Alexander asks, still confused, looking at her before shrugging. “About five years technically, but right now, like an hour,” he replies easily, like he isn’t shredding my heart in two, and I look at him in disbelief.

“So what the fuck was I?” I yell, and he frowns, placing his hand on her thigh and squeezing it gently as he rises to his feet, but still I push on. “I mean, I should have fucking known, everyone told me what a massive player you were, and I let myself forget and now here you are with her.”

It’s only now he has the audacity to allow his eyes to widen. “What? No, she’s not, we’re not,” he shakes his head vehemently. “Aubree, she is just a friend,” he tells me with a firm tone, but it’s too late.

“Please,” I scoff, looking between them. “This was probably all just some big game for the poor little rich boy who never gets told no, right?” I ask, kicking myself for being so stupid, for falling for his charm and allowing myself to be caught up in all of this.

“It’s not like that,” he claims, taking a step toward me, but I hold my hand up to stop him from coming closer.

“You’re a liar, at least Ben was honest about trying to fuck me,” I spit, and he blinks back as if I have slapped him in the face.

“Is that before or after he fucked your best friend,” he snaps, and his words hit me with so much force I’m surprised I don’t stumble.

“Alexander,” the girl says his name with a cursed cringe, but neither of us pay her any attention.

“All you’ve done from the moment I met you is try and worm your way into my pants.” And I almost let him.

“All I’ve done?” he repeats in disbelief. “That’s all I’ve done? Are you fucking kidding me right now?” he asks, closing the distance between us. “What about signing on to be your tutor just so I could spend more time with you? Or taking you to see your mother when no one else would? Or buying your apartment building, or hell, buying the fucking bar we met in?” he lists off, throwing it all in my face, and bile rises in the back of my throat.

“Don’t forget you paid two grand for the security footage first?” Duchess cuts in, and Alexander and I both cut her a glare, but she just shrugs apologetically.

“Can you give us a minute,” Alexander sighs, completely exasperated, and she flicks her stare between both of us.

“But watching you squirm is fun,” she complains, and his head snaps toward her again.

“Duchess, please,” he tries again, and she holds her hands up in mock surrender.

“Whatever you need, rich boy,” she drawls, giving me one last sympathetic smile, but I ignore her.

We both watch her leave the room, and when I meet his stare this time, he looks pissed off. Well good, because so am I.

“You said that bar was a good investment,” I toss back, unable to think of anything else to say, and he huffs a humorless laugh.

“Oh please, that place is a fucking shit hole and you know it,” he scoffs in outrage, shaking his head. “But I still fucking bought it, and I did that because I knew from the second I met you that you were special. And as for everything else, well, I did that because I couldn’t stop myself, because with every glare and barb I have fallen deeper and deeper into your trap. I haven’t so much as looked at another girl since the moment I met you, Aubree, and I’d never fucking cheat on you. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have been madly in love with you from the moment you walked away from me in that bar.”

I blink back at his confession. “You’re not in love with me.”

He only smiles. “Yeah, Trouble, I am.”

We remain in a stare off for a few seconds, mostly because I can’t believe what he just said, and just as I open my mouth to respond, another voice beats me to it. “Okay I probably should have left when you told me to, because now this feels really personal,” Duchess starts, and we turn to find her, stepping outfrom the hallway with an awkward smile. “Aubree, it’s nice to officially meet you, been low key stalking you for months now thanks to him, oh and I’m a huge lesbian and wouldn’t touch him if he were the last man on earth,” she tells me with a smile, openly checking me out. “You however, well I can see why this misogynistic asshole is so smitten.”

I look back at Alexander, but he only rolls his eyes, and it’s only now I see it, the friendship between them, and I feel a little stupid.

“Sorry, it’s nice to meet you,” I reply sheepishly, and she shrugs, as if it’s no big deal, before focusing back on Alexander.

“I expect hazard pay for this,” she warns him, but he shoves her playfully out of the room.

“Just get out and go and do your fucking job,” he calls out down the hall as her footsteps retreat, before stepping inside and slamming the door. “Now what am I going to do with you?” He storms toward me, not stopping until his hand is around my throat and he is pushing me against the wall. “It seems you need to be punished again, love, since you didn’t learn your lesson the first time.”

His thumbs ghosts across my lips possessively as I breathe, “Then maybe you need to punish me harder.”

My words have his eyes darkening and his hand tightening. “Don’t tempt me, Trouble, not when I am hanging by a thread every time I am near you.”

“Hanging by a thread?” I repeat half-dazed, and he nods, leaning in closer to breathe me in.

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