Page 16 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
Our bare toes touch when he stops right in front of me. I am looking up at him, feeling my heart beating in my throat. I need to open my mouth and tell him what I need to.
“You should find a way to film this for me, Emily,” Steve snickered in my face earlier. “I want to watch you breaking his heart, trampling all over it. I want to see his face when you tell him that you’re pregnant with my baby.”
I am not filming anything, but the time has come for me to let Puck go. I am sick at the thought that his life is in danger because of me. My love is killing people. Look what happened to my mother.
“If you ever,” Puck bends his knees a bit so that our faces are closer together, “and I do meanever, dare to pull this stunt on me again, your ass will be sore for weeks to come. And not because I pleasured it until you couldn’t walk anymore,” he smirks.
“Puck,” I gasp. I shouldn’t feel this turned on by what he’s saying, but I can’t help it. I love his possessive side. I love that he’s not scared to show me that he care about my wellbeing, and, most importantly, that he truly does love me.
“No, babe,” he shakes his head at me. “It won’t be like that at all. Don’t make me angry, worry out of my mind for your safety.”
“Puck.” I take a deep breath in, forcing myself to speak. My hands go to the belt of my robe, wishing I’d taken the time to dress in regular clothes when I did this.
“You are not to go anywhere by yourself anymore. Not to work, not to the backyard, not even to use the toilet here inside the house,” he promises me. “I am your self appointed shadow. For the rest of our fucking lives, Em.” He wraps a hand around the nape of my neck and squeezes. “Do you fucking understand?”
I bring my hands up and push at his chest. He is much stronger than I am, but allows me to take a couple of steps back.
“I decided that I’m going back home,” I finally tell him. “And get back with Steve,” I add before I can change my mind.
I expected Puck to blow up. Start punching things. Lose his mind overall. Instead, he starts laughing.
I watch in fascination the defined muscles in his back moving under his taut skin when he turns around and bends over to rest his hands on his knees.
“Puck,” I whisper, tears threatening to fall from my eyes.
He pays me no attention. He continues laughing and walking toward the bed where he falls on his back, arms spread out, his hipbones showing above the waistband of his light wash jeans.
He makes a beautiful picture, and if I wasn’t this upset, I’d take my time to enjoy everything he always has to offer.
I clear my voice and try again. “I’m serious.”
“Oh, I’m sure you are,” he tells me as he wipes the tears of laughter away from his eyes. “But you must know that there’s no way you’re going anywhere. I can’t believe you even thought you’d get away with it.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will,” I scream at him without meaning to. I slap both hands over my mouth and choke on the sobs that take over my body.
All of a sudden, I realize that Puck is not laughing anymore. In fact, other than the soft cries coming from out of me, there is no sound.
“Where did you go when you left here, Emily?”
It’s the way he says my name that almost breaks me. I shake my head at him, tears spilling onto my cheeks. My head feels fuzzy again. I don’t want to deal with this, with any of it.
“Where the fuck were you, baby?”
“C-c-cemetery,” I tell him through my gasps of air.
“Where did you go after you left the cemetery?”
“N-n-nowhere,” I stutter, unable to meet his eyes. I can’t tell him. I can’t tell him any of it. Bricks was very clear in his instructions. If I even drop a hint, everyone is dead. Everyone but me that is. They will kill Puck, dad and Arlene. They even have a hit out on Dylan and Becca, and on Dylan’s young son.
On my brother. The brother I didn’t want to go downstairs and meet when I had the opportunity. And now I may become responsible for his death.
Maybe I am as stupid as Steve always accuses me to be. That is the only way I can explain the mess I found myself in. I wish I could find a way to give all that money away. It’s cursed. And it’s all my fault that it brought us all this misery.
Why couldn’t I have listened to my father and not go to Texas? I didn’t need the money. But my pride was stronger. I thought I was doing it for my mother. That she would be proud of me for it.
“Devereaux,” Puck growls into his phone. I didn’t even realize he was making a phone call. “You need to come up here. Right away.” He hangs up, and I want to smile at how dad must’ve taken the abrupt directive.
Way too soon, the door opens without warning, and dad is standing right there, a blank look on his face.
