The Puck Secret (Fairfield U Book 1)

A pounding on my door startles me awake, and I lift my head half way off my pillow, squinting at the light pouring into my window. Fuck, I don’t even remember falling asleep last night. The clock on my nightstand reads 6.07am, and I flop my head back down and groan. I am usually up and ready to tackle another day of working towards my goal, but right now my head feels like a truck ran over it.

“Don’t make me break down the door, Darkmore!” Archer’s muffled voice grunts from the other side, his fist pounding against the wood for a second time. It can’t possibly be time for our morning run already, I feel like I just closed my eyes. But when he pounds a third time, I know I have to get up before the fucker breaks down the door. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Alright, alright, keep your dick in your pants, I’m coming!” I roll onto my back and feel my phone dig into my side. I must have left it there when I fell asleep.

When I open it, it’s still on the text thread with the mystery girl from last night. What a weird interaction that was, but still I smile as I save her number under the name ‘Grim’ and close it out to fire off a message to my mom. Once that’s done I jump out of bed and grab some workout clothes, before heading into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Five minutes later I’m dressed and downstairs, gratefully accepting my usual protein shake from Archer. He’s holding his own ice cold shake against his temples, with his eyes closed as if in pain.

“You okay over there, Gray?” He looks worse than I feel, and I didn’t even drink that much, so I study him closely as I wait for his response.

There’s a few seconds of silence before he sighs and looks at me. “I had a foursome with Brianna, Georgia, and Reign last night,” he complains, and I choke on a sip of my shake as it slides down my throat. “I literally just had to throw the girls out.”

Swallowing down the shake as I envision how that worked out between him and our teammate Alexander Reign, and the only words I can find to reply are, “Ah, I see.” I smirk, and he flips me off, closing his eyes again and shaking his head.

To any red-blooded straight male that would sound like the perfect night. Hooking up with two sexy puck bunnies desperate for hockey dick, but those men don’t know Brianna and Georgia. Both of them are stage five clingers who have been trying to lock down a pawn since freshman year. How they managed to get in the pants of two of my teammates at the same time, I’ll never know.

Brianna probably had it in her head that it would piss me off if she got with them, after having my dick in her mouth, but I just feel sorry for the poor fuckers. They will hound the two of them for weeks after this and he knows it. I’ve fucked both girls, multiple times, most of the team have, but I have been keeping my distance since the start of summer on purpose. Last night was just a temporary lapse in judgment where I needed to blow off some steam, it won’t happen again.

Letting out another groan, Archer opens his eyes and downs the rest of his shake. “Let’s just go before I throw up.”

I shake my heading, following after him as he leaves the kitchen. “I’m sure you enjoyed yourself, buddy,” I muse, patting him on the back. “Foursomes are always fun.”

He cuts me a scathing look, “Don’t mess with me today, Nova, not when I had the devil on my dick last night, I need a calm and serene morning to try and claw my way back.” I laugh as he storms away from me, before following after him and heading out the door.

Running with him is fun and something we started pretty much as soon as we met. He kept running the same route as me before I eventually took pity on the fucker and invited him along. We keep pace with one another easily, and he’s happy to put on his headphones and be in the zone just like I am. It makes him the perfect workout buddy.

I try to clear my mind when we set off, letting my eyes scan our surroundings as I keep my breathing in check. Fairfield is one of those picturesque towns where you just presume everything is perfect because of how nice it is. Yet no one ever bothers looking beneath the surface and seeing any real problems. Most people love it here, but I for one can’t wait to escape it.

We run our usual route, which takes us around the perimeter of the main campus and across the middle of town towards the lake. As always, we stop there for a couple of minutes to catch our breath and stretch out our muscles quickly, and I don’t know why but I find myself looking out across the empty water, and thinking of the mystery girl from last night. As weird as the interaction was I can’t deny it didn’t bring a smile to my face. Just the honesty and simple conversation was such a change from what I’m used to, especially from women.

With her in my mind, I can’t help myself, I take my phone out and snap a picture of the view and fire it off to her with a message. She probably won’t respond, she was most likely just being polite last night, just like I was, but there is this feeling in my gut that she needs to believe that not all the world is terrible. Hell, maybe I need to believe that too, but for whatever reason I feel better after sending the message.

I notice Archer watching me with wonder in his eyes, but I don’t give anything away. We are close friends, I tell him almost everything, but some things are just for me, and this feels like one of them. He knows if he asked I would tell him, just like he would me, but he also respects me enough not to ask. Putting my phone back in my pocket, I nod to say I am ready and off we go on the rest of our run.

By the time we make it back to the house it’s almost time for practice. I rush to my room to grab my training bag and then head out towards the gym with the rest of the house. Coach Locke is already there when we arrive, shouting orders to some of the new starters, as I make my way into the changing rooms to suit up. A few of the other guys are still hanging around getting changed and most of them greet me with a smile.

Alexander Reign is another one of my roommates, along with Jacob Harper, and Archer, all of them my housemates. Then you have Daemon Forbes, Levi Jones, Landon Cooper, and of course Josh Peters who I ignore completely. We’ve played on the same team for a couple of years now and we are both more than comfortable in ignoring each other unless necessary. He knows what he did, or at least what his father did, and neither of us have any interest in trying to work things out.

It was just sheer bad luck that the only scholarship I was eligible for was for Fairfield University, where I knew the Mayor was forcing both his children to go. I would have loved to have left town and never thought about them again, but that would have meant leaving my mom too. It’s not the ideal college situation, but I make it work.

The team all take our time getting into our gear before we head out onto the ice to warm up. It’s Saturday morning so practice is usually pretty brutal, but today Coach decides we need to go over last night’s plays that didn’t work in our favor. Doesn’t matter that we won and that our score was almost double the other team’s, he expects nothing short of perfection.

He splits us up and we play them against each other until we are getting them right, or until Coach yells at us enough, and then we switch up positions and start again. By the time practice is coming to an end I am sweating through my base layer and desperate to hit the showers. Most of the other guys skate off the ice first and head to clean up, but I stay behind and practice a few more trick shots, and much to my dismay, by the time I am done, it’s only Peters and I left on the ice.

I plan to stay longer, just on principle, and maybe a little to piss him off, but I decide just to fuck with him instead as I skate towards the sides. “You should stay a little longer, Joshy, you could do with the practice.”

His scoffed laugh tells me I hit my intended target with him. “Oh yeah? Is that an order Captain?” he spits the word captain like it’s dirty, but we both know it’s not. It’s a title he coveted for two years and it’s safe to say everyone was shocked, him and I included, when it was passed to me instead of him.

He can say that as a taunt as much as he wants though, but I still know it kills him inside. “It’s whatever you want it to be, 22.” I toss his jersey number at his feet, as I reach the sides and notice we are no longer alone.

I spy Madeline Peters waiting for her brother in the stands, looking as prim and proper as always, and as usual acting like I don’t exist. It’s not out of the ordinary for her to be here. She tries to make it to at least one practice a month, and never misses a game, except for last night that is. She is everything you would expect from an adulterous Mayor’s daughter, aquamarine blue eyes, golden blond hair, expensive preppy wardrobe, and not forgetting her satanic personality. The ultimate ‘daddy’s little princess’ if you ever saw one. When we lock eyes she looks me up and down with contempt, and I swear she physically recoils from me.

Plastering a smile as fake as her on my face, I step off the ice towards where she is seated. “Oh look it’s the other half of the Mayor’s wonder duo,” I spit with a smirk, knowing how much they both hate being cast in their father’s shadow. It’s a cheap and easy shot, and not one to waste an opportunity to piss Josh off, I also loudly add, “Looking good today, Princess Peters.”

Her lips curl as I address her and I watch as she rises and dusts off her clothes, as if just being in my presence makes her feel dirty. “Wish I could say the same, Darkmore, but you know I don’t like to lie.” She delivers her words with the same sickly sweet smile I see plastered across the press, and I mildly wonder if she even knows how to really smile, and I don’t mean this bullshit one she has perfected. She keeps her eyes on mine as she stalks down the stands towards me.

Shaking off those thoughts, I grin, leaning in close to her as I hear her brother skate towards us. “Nah, that’s just your daddy’s trait, right?” I make a point of looking her up and down, my height now towering over her as our eyes meet again. “Let me know when you get tired of being his perfect little princess, I’m sure I could lend a hand in tarnishing his good name.” I ensure my words have a sarcastic drawl to them as I pull back and add with a wink, “Or a stick.”

There is about two-seconds of shock before she takes a full step away from me, as Josh finally makes his way off the ice, but before her brother can jump in and fight her battle she smiles again. “God, that was desperate, even for you.” She returns my look up and down before she laughs. “Do those puck bunnies actually fall for that bullshit?”

It’s the first time I have ever heard her curse, and despite her attempt at an insult I chuckle, because breaking her cool is almost as easy as her brother’s. Speaking of which, Josh pushes past me to stand next to her, eyeing me as he asks, “Everything okay, Maddie?”

Her focus is still on me, but his words break the bubble as she turns to look at him, and it’s only then I see that real smile she was hiding before. “Everything’s good, just wanted to see if you fancied going for lunch?” the she-devil asks, and I know he is going to agree before he even opens his mouth. It’s no secret that his one weak spot is his little sister.

“Sure, let me just shower and get changed first.” I feel his eyes glaring at me, but I keep my focus on his sister just to fuck with him even further. “You coming, Darkmore?”

I lick my lips as I shrug. “I don’t know, ask your sister.” A blush immediately creeps up her neck and I crack my own, loosening the muscles there as I enjoy torturing them both.

“Nova, I swear to god,” Josh starts, taking a step back towards me, but I cut him off with a glare.

“Relax, Peters.” I roll my eyes dramatically. “You know your daddy’s cum spawn isn’t my type anyway.” Her shocked gasp and his curse is the last thing I hear as I stalk away from them and leave them both behind.

I hear a scuffle before Maddie mutters under her breath, “Leave it, Josh, he’s an asshole.”

The smile on my face widens, until I reach my locker and check my phone, seeing no reply from the new mystery girl or my mother, and suddenly it disappears. I head to the showers no longer feeling the high from earlier, and just wanting to wash this morning off and try and enjoy the rest of my day.