Page 68 of Decked, Wrecked and Pucked
“You’re not gonna fucking do that, Mikey.” He opens his mouth like he wants to argue, but I step in closer, just enough to make my point hit home.
“You need to leave, Mikey,” Zeke says, like he’s just making a suggestion, but everyone in this hallway knows better.
Zeke is the calm in the center of the storm, always reading the room and feeding off everyone’s energy, and right now, he’s soaking up all of ours, making that calm crack.
Mikey backs up a step, scrubbing a hand through his blond hair like he’s trying to steady himself. But I watch it happen in real time—the shift from desperation to something darker. It takes asingle breath, and his eyes go cold, his mouth twists, and then he points.
“Now that I know this is actually happening,” he sneers, motioning toward the four of us, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near you again.”
He’s disgusted—like we’re something toxic, as if we’re the ones who should be ashamed. Screw him. He won’t be the last to have an opinion, and I’ve stopped caring what people like Mikey think.
“Make sure you get enough use out of her. She’s good for a fuck. Shame her pussy can’t do the one thing it’s supposed to.”
Motherfucker.
Everything inside me goes still, and my vision goes white. My fists clench so tight I feel my nails digging into my palms, and it takes everything in me not to lunge and break his face. This isn’t just cruel, it’s calculated. It’s meant to humiliate her in the lowest, most unforgivable way. I glance at Zeke and Jasper and see the shock flicker in their eyes, but they hold steady. They don’t rise to his bait or give him the satisfaction of reacting.
“How could you say that to me?” Addison’s voice cracks, disbelief and heartbreak crashing together. “After everything you’ve done—how could you throw that in my face?”
“You’re fucking three men, Adds. That shit stings, and I won't feel guilty about what I did anymore. At least now that I know I was married to a whore, I can walk away with my head held high.”
I don’t know which one of us moves first—me, Zeke, or Jasper—but it doesn’t matter. We all surge forward. I just get there fastest. I fist my hands in his shirt, dragging him through the hallway and out of the building. He pushes back and swings wildly, but Jasper is there in an instant, delivering a solid punch to Mikey's stomach. He doubles over, choking on the pain, which is pathetic because Jasper held back. That was just a warning, not what he's fully capable of.
I spin, making sure Addie’s okay, and see she’s in Zeke’s arms, face buried in his chest as he takes her back inside. Out of all of us, he’s the one who knows how to hold her together when she’s falling apart, and right now, she needs that more than anything.
I throw Mikey out into the snow, and he hits the ground hard, landing flat on his ass with a grunt. Jasper steps forward, towering over him like the final blow hasn’t even landed yet.
“You don’t step foot near her again, do you understand? I’m getting her out of this town and this life you tried to cage her in. She’s gonna have everything she ever wanted, while you—one of the worst hockey players I’ve ever seen—can sit here and wallow in your self-pity bullshit. You couldn’t satisfy your wife, couldn’t step up as a man, and couldn’t even fucking keep her. And now she’s gonna spend the rest of her life wrapped around me, Roman, and Zeke, and she’s gonna love every second of it.”
Mikey tries to push up from the snow, but Jasper just steps closer, pushing him back down.
“I know it fucks with your ego that we made it while you were too lazy to get your shit together, and now we’ve taken Addie, so maybe there’s a sliver of pity buried in me somewhere. But only because you’ve never actually known what it means to be loved by her. You got the version of her that was still trying to believe in you. The one who only ever wanted us but stayed with you anyway.” Jasper laughs, and it’s cold and smug. “That’s gotta fucking burn, huh?”
“Go ahead, take her,” Mikey sneers. “She’s ruined now anyway. I only got with her because I thought her dad could set me up with a team.” Jasper glances at me, and I give him the nod. His fist flies before Mikey can say another word, connecting with his jaw in a clean, brutal hit that snaps his head back and sends him stumbling.
“You fucking asshole!” Mikey screams, his hand pressed against his busted lip.
“You’re lucky it wasn’t Roman, because if he hit you, you’d be out cold and waking up drinking your meals through a straw.” Despite all his sarcasm, Jasper’s the one you want beside you when the shit hits the fan. “You don’t get to talk about Addie like she wasn’t a fucking gift. So here’s what you’re gonna do—you’re gonna get the hell out of here, and you’re not gonna look back. You’re done here.”
“You realize she hated you, right?” Mikey barks, jabbing a finger in my direction. “She told me once that you were her biggest regret.” I hold my ground, jaw locked, refusing to give him the reaction he’s so clearly starving for.
“Did he not just hear me?” Jasper snaps, whipping his head toward me, his dark eyes wide with disbelief. “Is he seriously that fucking dumb? I just told him, and he’s still running his mouth?”
Mikey scrambles to get his footing as he tries to stand, and I step in, closing the space between us until I’m so close I can see the flicker of fear in his eyes.
“She never hated me. She hated that she lost me, and yeah, maybe I was her biggest regret, just like she was mine, but guess what? I’m the one who gets to spend the rest of forever between her thighs, reminding her exactly how much shedoesn’thate me. That privilege is mine now. So I suggest you move, Mikey, because my hands are itching, and the only reason I haven’t put you in the ground already is because you’re not worth my career or my girl.”
This time, Mikey doesn’t say another word. He pulls out his phone and disappears into the snow, slipping away like the coward he’s always been. When he’s out of sight, Jasper steps in front of me and rests his forehead against my chest. I wrap my arms around him, my hands moving slowly up and down his back, doing my best to soothe him.
“We don’t ever tell Addie what he said,” I murmur against his hair. “He’s in her past, and that’s where he stays.”
He finally lifts his face to mine, and I kiss him. Nobody’s around, but even if they were, I wouldn’t care. My lips would still be on his, and I wouldn’t pull away.
“Let me see your hand,” I say, and he lifts it for me. I check his knuckles, turning them over, and press a kiss to each one. “What he said about Addie. Does it change anything for you?”
“Fuck no, not even a little,” he says, his eyes holding mine as if I should already know that—like it was never even a question. “Did you know?”
“Coach told me right before we came to find you. He knows Addie’s been up here, and he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t hold it against her the way Mikey did.” My hands slide up his arms, fingertips brushing his skin, trying to share the warmth I don’t really have myself.
