Page 55 of Puck My Life

“Come dance with me?” Mal whines and half spins away from me.

“Oh, no. I can’t.”

“I’ll dance with you.”

My whole body freezes when I hear her voice. Why can’t I escape her?

Indy grabs Mal’s hand and pulls him off me whilst she shoots daggers from her eyes. She’s wearing painted-on short shorts and a halter that clearly shows she’s not wearing a bra, but then she probably doesn’t need to. She looks amazing, and I look exhausted and twenty years older than her.

I stand there feeling beyond empty as she walks away with him. They dance to no music, just a filthy, barely PG version of dance that makes me feel ill.

A protest tries to rise out of my throat when she kisses him, but Mal falls into her kiss like he’s starving. It only lasts a few seconds because Deacon’s there pulling them apart. But it is still happening, again, I am an idiot.

I can’t breathe, I can’t do this, I can’t keep doing this.

I am done. I am so done.

They’re never going to change.

What am I doing here?

Still, I can’t look away from them. Deacon wraps her hair around his hand and tugs her head back, exposing the long line of her throat as he whispers in her ear. They look so good together.

I turn away, sure I’m going to be sick.

Raynor sits down beside me and grins. “I haven’t seen you in days. Deacon and Mal said you were at the game.”

“I was.”

He winces. “Awful, wasn’t it?”

“It…wasn’t hockey.”

He chuckles. “So, I’ve got another gig in a few weeks, another wedding. I wanted to ask your opinion of the set.”

I frown. “You’ve never asked me before.”

He shrugs. “I’m taking this a bit more seriously. Perhaps you’d like to come over tomorrow; we can look it over.”

“Don’t you have the charity event at the Andrews Memorial Theatre tomorrow night?”

Raynor scowls. “I’m not going.”

“You’re a pack, you have to go.”

“Why?”

“Because what you do and say affects people’s opinions of them, just as their behaviour reflects on you. You want to go because you care about their careers. Because you love them.”

Raynor scowls. “I will just unlove them for the day.”

I laugh and reach out to lay my hand on his wrist. “Just trust me on this; break out your penguin suit and be a good boy.”

Raynor’s eyes darken. He leans in close, catching my wrist before I can escape. “I’m not a good boy, Vae.”

My stomach jumps, but I cannot look away from the intensity of his eyes.

“Well, what are you, then?”