Page 58 of Revenge Puck

“Yes. It obviously was a woman. I could hear her voice. And Preston smiled when he was talking to her. He ended the call with, ‘see you both soon’.”

“Does he have a sister?” Audrey asks.

“No clue. He never mentioned any siblings.”

“Give me a second.” Her phone is in her hand a second later, the screen’s light illuminating her face. “I can't find anything online about his personal life. But it was probably his mom or sister.”

“She sounded young.”

“So, then it could've been his sister.”

“But why wouldn't he have mentioned her before? And you know how there's like so much tension between Christian and Preston. Sorry, I mean the fool and Preston. What if the reason they hate each other is because of this girl?”

Audrey considers that silently for a moment. “Then why would Preston have beef with the fool if he got the girl?”

“Ugh. I don't know,” I mutter as I yank my hairband out to smooth my hair back into a messy bun.

“Does it really matter who she was since Preston is gone now? You weren't planning to see him again, right?”

“When we first started our fake relationship, he asked me about continuing it through the championships, then pretending like it fizzled out in the summer when we couldn't do long-distance. But he didn't mention it again. If he wanted to keep seeing me, he would've asked tonight, wouldn't he?”

“Maybe he wanted to, but he doesn't want it to be fake anymore, which makes it confusing.”

“I don't know. I'm probably stressing over all this for no reason.”

“I much prefer you stressing over Preston and your fake relationship to you stressing over whether the fool was going to message you, or come over, or break your heart.”

“I'm so over him.”

“Are you really?” Audrey asks, staring at me with her brows raised.

“Yes, or at least I'm getting there.”

“Thanks to Preston?”

“Yes. Thanks to Preston. It was nice spending time with him, taking my mind off being dumped. I enjoyed messing with Chris...the fool, more than I should have.”

“That jerk deserved every second of misery. Besides, it's not like Preston permanently maimed him or anything.”

“At least not yet. There are still at least two more games to go,” I remind her.

Preston

I think about Elle the entire plane ride home. She's probably just glad that I’m gone, out of her hair, so the attention on us will die down.

Although, that goodbye kiss felt like it meant…more. Like it was just for us, not the cameras or the press.

It's late when I get home, so I try to be quiet when I sneak into the house. Of course, my phone dings loudly with a message just as I unlock and open the front door, dropping my bag inside the foyer.

Still, I can’t be mad about the noise, not when I see that it’s a text message from Elle asking if I got home safe.

She wouldn’t ask that unless she cared, right? Or she’s just a nice woman who is worried about a friend, nothing more. A friend who seems to like kissing me as much as I enjoy kissing her. Touching her. I already miss just being in the same city as her.

The anxiety of the championships and this fake arrangement make me want to stress eat. Since we won both games, there aren’t any loser brownies waiting for me on the kitchen counter. A good thing, I guess.

I'm digging through the refrigerator, eyeing the leftover pizza, when the overhead kitchen lights flip on and Maya hugs me from behind. “You're back! Two games down and two to go!”

“Are you drunk?” I mutter with a shake of my head.

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