Page 80 of Pucked Around and Found Out

So I can finally end this.

“I have a request,” Toren mutters quietly.

“You want me to give your brother my sister's pendant to hold while I kill him?” I mock, unable to help myself.

Her eyes narrow as the memory of that night plays out in her head—the night I planned to kill her right here.

“Don't be a dick, Xaden!” she snaps.

My face hardens into stone. “Watch it, Tink. You aren't exempt from my wrath.”

She throws her hands in the air, frustration radiating from every line of her body. “I don't care! I'm done playing this game of cat and mouse with you.”

I flick my gaze from her to her fucking mutt standing at the edge of the rink, then back again.

She scoffs, reading my expression perfectly. “Whatever you're thinking, don't!”

“So you're not fucking peace and serenity over there?”

Fury engulfs her features. I hear Carnage spewing threats from the sidelines but I ignore him, keeping my focus locked on her.

“Fuck you!” Her voice cracks with emotion. “I didn't come here for you to berate me and make implications that I'm some whore who sleeps around. I'm not a puck bunny like those other thots you're used to, Xaden. When I tell a guy I love him, it means he's it for me. I don't see anyone else.”

Her words hit like a sucker punch to the gut.

It takes more effort than I want to admit to keep my composure, to not react to the raw honesty in her voice.

“The files,” I snap, redirecting.

She rolls her eyes and reaches into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a flash drive.

I study her face intently, blocking everything else out as I watch for the signs.

The tells.

The lies.

She holds the drive out to me. “This is everything I have on everyone.”

And there it is.

The hitch in her voice on the word ‘everything.’

Her left eye twitched.

That button nose scrunched up on the last word.

Liar.

Something inside me shatters.

I push off my stick, gripping it like it's the only thing keeping me tethered to sanity, and begin skating a slow circle around her and Cas.

She watches me with confusion written all over her face.

I stop and shoot a puck across the rink with vicious force, then continue skating. Around and around, shooting pucks at intervals, trying to get myself under control.

Trying to find the words.