The Puck Secret (Fairfield U Book 1)

The next couple of weeks follow a very similar routine. I go to class, play hockey, spend time with my mom, and go to parties, oh and text Grim. I can never forget about that. We have somehow gone from texting a few times a week to a few times a day, which given I still don’t know her real name or who she could possibly be, is kind of fucked up. Archer thinks I’m crazy, but Reign said he would also keep texting someone with tits as good as hers. I guess they are both right.

Today is Sunday and as usual, I am over at my mom’s place having breakfast. She is currently at the stove making bacon and pancakes after she refused my help for the tenth time this morning. Her latest appointment confirmed our fears, the cancer is spreading. The doctors say they can operate, and with that and chemo it should be fine, but still I felt the word like he punched me in the gut. My mom is all I have, I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.

Forcing that thought from my mind, I focus back on my phone, and the latest message Grim has sent me in response to the first one I sent her this morning. It was a shirtless picture of me running down by the lake near her house. Granted it was 6am when I sent it, so of course she was sleeping, but who doesn’t want to wake up to that?

Grim: Morning coffee and I spy no sexy shirtless guys. Sigh! What a shame!

*image attached*

Her response makes me laugh, and I feel my mom glance over her shoulder at me, but I can’t help but stare at the image of the lake on my phone. Grim is sitting on a deck with her feet up on the rail, holding up a giant mug of coffee in front of her phone. I can see the long length of her toned legs, and her perfectly manicured toes, as she shows off my running spot to me. The lake is huge so there is no way I could work out which house is hers from the image and she knows it. I tap out a quick reply and hit send.

Nova: Glad to see you finally admit that you think I’m sexy. It’s about time you got the memo!

Grim: The only memo I got was about how huge your ego is!!!

Nova: You’ll be glad to know it’s not the only huge thing about me 😏

Grim: 🙄 That was douchey even for you!

I snort at that, and again feel my mom’s eyes watching me as she starts serving up our breakfast. I quickly grab us both some juice and sit back down to tap out another reply.

Nova: And yet still you like me, sounds like the problem is with you.

Grim: I’ll be sure to tell my therapist about it!

She always makes jokes about her therapy, and I can’t help but find it endearing at how she casually jokes about herself. Dark humor and all that, but still I tease her.

Nova: You should fire your therapist and come and see me instead, I bet I could work out your problems real good, loosen up those muscles.

Grim: It’s okay I have Harold for that!

Harold? Who the fuck is Harold? Jealousy curls inside of me which I know is ridiculous, I don’t even know what this girl looks like, but still I feel like she is mine.

Nova: Harold sounds like an asshole. Where does he live? I’d like to meet him, you know for complete non-jealousy related murder

I toss the phone on the table just as my mom brings my breakfast over and I take it gratefully. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome baby.” She slides into the seat facing me, eyes still on me as she adds, “So who’s the girl?”

“Girl?” I ask, acting confused. “What girl?” Just as I say that, my phone lights up again on the table in between us, and she smirks as I shove a mouthful of pancakes into my mouth.

Reaching out to pick up my phone and read the message was a mistake.

Grim: Harold lives with me

*image attached*

I choke on my pancake as I take in the long, sleek, blue dildo now filling up my screen. My mom looks at me and I slam down my phone so quick I’m not sure how I don’t break the fucking screen. I swear my cheeks are burning as she eyes me with amusement, and I do the only thing I can do in that moment, I purge my secret to my mom.

“I don’t know who she is. It was a wrong number text that turned into getting to know each other without names, and now it’s been a couple of weeks and we text everyday,” I say the words without taking a single breath, and by the time I am done she is still staring at me, smirking.

“Oh how mysterious, is she pretty?” Her eyes are sparkling with interest and I don’t think before I respond, “Her tits are.”

She promptly hits me with a kitchen towel. “Manners at the table, Nova. Jesus, I taught you better than that.” I hold up my hands in mock surrender, but I can still see the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Sorry! I just haven’t seen her face, we agreed to this whole anonymity thing and just started talking. I didn’t expect it to go past that first night, but I guess we just hit it off.” I try to explain it all in a way that sounds causal, but it sounds like bullshit even to my own ears. I have come to look forward to those messages from Grim everyday.

“Oh, so you like her,” my mom squeals. “My baby is growing up and falling in love!” She starts to get all misty-eyed and I have to burst her bubble quickly before she gets too carried away.

“Woah woah, no falling in love, just friends, calm down.” How crazy does she think I am? I’m not gonna fall in love with someone I don’t even know.

She just picks up her glass and takes a sip of her juice as she mutters, “If you say so.”

We continue on with our breakfast, but when my phone lights up again she smirks at me, and moves to take her now empty plate to the sink.

Grim: Don’t tell me the way to get rid of you all along has been to scare you away with Harold!

I smirk. This fucking girl, I swear she enjoys pissing me off.

Nova: In your dreams, Grim! Harold better watch his back because I am coming for his girl!

Grim: Oh Charmer, you couldn’t handle me the way Harold does

Nova: Oh yeah? We will see about that

Grim: Don’t tell me that’s a threat

Nova: No baby

Nova: That’s a promise!

There is no response to my last message, but it doesn’t surprise me. Grim likes flirting with me. Hell, she likes me flirting with her, but anytime I get close to this fantasy becoming a reality she shuts down. At first I thought it was her way of blowing me off, but now I know her a little better, I understand that she needs coaxing into things a little more. She might not even know my name yet, but I know one day I’ll be making her scream it.

I spend the rest of the morning hanging around with my mom and fixing a couple of things around the apartment for her. When she finally relents and slips off for a nap, I spend a couple of hours doing all of her laundry, cleaning up, and making a few dinners that she can eat throughout the week. I also make a note to grab her some groceries before the next time I come over, because she is running low and is too proud to ask.

She would never admit to needing anything but I have eyes, I know how hard she is finding it to keep up at work, and is worrying about how she is going to pay for her treatment. It’s why I did the one thing I thought I’d never do, I called my dad. I haven’t asked him for anything, ever. I never needed to, my mom always managed, and when I got accepted into Fairfield on a scholarship I thought I was set. I didn’t factor in the costs of living and partying, so when I was a couple of months into freshman year and my dad sent me a bank account that he topped up every month, I quietly accepted it. Hell, he had enough guilt to pay off that I wasn’t going to stop him, but this is different.

When I called him and invited him to my game this week, I could tell he was surprised. He didn’t even notice how I could barely choke out the words. He just said some bullshit I barely heard, and that he would see me there. I already regret making the call, I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to ask for his help, but I have no other choice.

By the time my mom wakes up it’s pushing into the late afternoon, and I need to get home and study. When she sees that I have taken care of everything that was on her afternoon to-do list, she smiles.

“What did I do to deserve such a good boy like you, huh?” She makes her way to the freezer and pulls out a couple of lasagnas, passing them to me. “For you and the boys, lord knows you need a good home-cooked meal.”

Now it’s my turn to smile, “Thanks Mom.” I drop a kiss to the top of her head as she leads me towards the door. “I’ll drop by on your day off after class okay?”

She nods, pulling me in for a quick hug. “I’ll look forward to it, honey.”

I always feel guilty, leaving her behind in that tiny apartment to go back to the giant house that has far too much room for four college guys, but she doesn’t seem to mind it. In fact, she never complained once, even when we first moved there and had to share the small space, she just said it suited her and got on with it.

The walk back to campus is quicker than normal with all the tension from my day building up, and I feel my fingers itching to text Grim again in an attempt to calm myself down, but I can’t push her. She will come back to me later when she is ready, and like a fucking simp I will be waiting. What the fuck is happening to me?