Page 2 of Puck My Life

I choke on my dismay before spinning to face the bedroom at the end of the long hallway, ignoring Deacon in favour of my new target. “RAYNOR! Get your ass out here and clean this up!”

The music that was pulsing at the back of the house turns up to an ear-thumping volume.

I close my eyes and pray for a moment of calm, but it’s shattered when I hear running feet.

I let out a squeak of protest, but it’s too late. I’m picked up and spun around, my shoes bouncing off the walls, leaving marks I’ll have to clean off later.

“Vae, I missed you.”

This alpha melts my heart and crushes it all the damn time. All of them do. They torture me.

I wrap my arms around Malcolm’s neck, burying my nose in the salted caramel scent of him and snuggle close. He’s the youngest of the guys, though still almost two years older than me in our weird little family. Mal is super cuddly, emotional, and also the rookie on Deacon’s hockey team, the Scented Scorpions. I think we all sighed in relief when he was drafted there. We couldn’t have split up the family. Separating was unthinkable.

It still is.

Deacon, who I’ve almost forgotten about, waits until I open my eyes, flicks me a wicked grin, and drops his towel on the floor, leaving me gaping at the blinding memory of his half hard cock and ass as he saunters away. I really hope he’s going to put some clothes on. That image is going to be distracting me all night long.

Damn him.

“I missed you, too, Mal. How about you put me down now, and we can go discuss dinner?” I say, even though I want to stay in his arms forever.

“No can do, sweet cheeks. Indy wants to go out tonight.”

Mal drops me to the floor, but I feel like I’m still falling. I crash onto the ground, and the familiar pit of despair opens up and swallows me whole. Mal reaches out and ruffles my hair like I’m a kid. Like I’m just his sister. I bat his hand away, gritting my teeth.

I yelp when he picks me up again, squeezing me up against him the way I’ve seen kids hold cats. I wonder if I am a pet or a toy to these alphas.

“You’re so cute, Vae.”

Pet, definitely pet.

I manage to hide my facial expressions just before he sees my dismay. Concealing my feelings has become a champion sport, and I’m a trophy-winning veteran these days. I don’t need these guys to know just how much I hate their girlfriend. I tried so hard to like her, I really did, but she’s not just dumb, she’s vindictively dumb. Her hair is bleached perfectly blond, and her cornflower blue eyes are wide with lies and venom. They go perfectly with her pouty, filler-filled lips.

She’s everything I’m not. Rich, flawless, with a job as an influencer, and, of all the things I might be jealous of, the only thing she has that I want…are my boys.

I’ve got tanned skin and exotic hazel eyes from a heritage that disappeared when I was dumped into foster homes when I was too young to wonder. To my dismay and the bane of too many diets to count, I’ve got curves and a big ass that looks amazing in a pair of jeans but leaves me feeling a bit self-conscious, especially with my smaller breasts and the fact that I’m quiet, studious, and intense. I might have even gone to college, except Deacon, Mal, and Raynor had dreams, and I was waiting for a miracle that didn’t come.

Mal drops me again so suddenly I stumble back, catching the wall, but he’s already turning, shining that painfully gorgeous smile at the puck bunny who is walking towards us. Her hips tilt seductively; her eyes ooze sex appeal. She’s like a perfume ad.

I hate her.

But more than that, I hate that Mal forgets I exist. I study them and try to maintain emotional distance. As usual, her pale colouring beside his golden is striking. His hair is always messy, and he’s always smiling, with two dimples that melt people’s hearts. He’s not as built as the dark-haired Deacon, but his bubbly personality and smile win people over in a way that Deacon’s command can’t.

I slip into the kitchen so I don’t have to speak to her. It’s a mess. Worse than a mess. There are dirty pots and pans, plates, mugs, and food all over the table. This was clean when I went to work twelve hours ago. How do they make so much mess in so little time?

I pull out a chair and sit at the small table. There is only enough room for four chairs. Which had been good, up until Indy came along. Now I eat alone in the garden, and they eat with her.

“Vae? What’s up with you?”

I shake my head, not even lifting my face to look at him. It doesn’t matter; I know him well enough that I know the exact expression he’s pulling.

“Hard day?”

Raynor is the intuitive alpha in the family, often seeing and calling me out for my feelings, but I’ve gotten really good at telling half truths, like it’s the messy kitchen that’s breaking my heart and hiding the fact that loving them is the most painful part of my existence.

I exhale roughly, really struggling with those tears. “I got yelled at again.”

He moves into the room, closer to me. I can feel that huge aura of his surrounding me. My walls crumble a little bit more. What would it be to lean into this love of my life and have him look at me the way I’ve been dreaming of?