Puck (Kickstarting My Heart #3) (COMPLETED)

This or That

It didn't take Chase and I long to come to the obvious conclusion that joining Nick in the rink was going to be our safest bet.

Chase kept his hand around my wrist, a few steps ahead of me, blocking me from Nick's view. Once we had stepped into the rink, he looked between the two chairs pressed against the wall of the rink. "Stay behind me."

"I don't think so." Nick sat down in the empty chair in front of us. "Ronnie sit down."

I waved Chase away, knowing any little thing could trigger Nick. We had no certainty that the gun was loaded, but we also didn't have any indication that it wasn't.

Once we were seated, Nick leaned back, smiling.

"So, Puck, my man, you weren't originally in the plan to be here. I thought you'd suffer more knowing the girl you loved was dead and there was nothing you could do about it. But having you here to watch it, man, that's so much better."

Chase opened his mouth, but I shot him a look, warning him to do otherwise.

"What's wrong, Ronnie? No bitchy comments?" He eyed me, not even hiding the fact he was checking me out. "Such a shame such a bitch was put into a hot girls body."

"Let us go, Nick." I snapped. "I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but we don't want any part of it."

He sat upright, cocking his head to the side. "Yeah? You're not going anywhere, sweetheart. I hope you said your goodbyes to everyone tonight."

"You're not touching her." Chase snapped.

Nick sighed, rolling his eyes as he stood. He grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me up, pressing his body against mine. I tried to turn my head in the opposite direction, but he slapped my cheek hard, forcing me to stare at him.

"I think Chase needs to learn a little lesson, Ronnie. Don't you?"

Chase stood, gripping the wall to steady himself. "Let her go, Rollins."

Nick snickered and unzipped the back of my dress in such a quick movement, I hardly had enough time to grasp the front of it to keep it from falling.

"Come on." Nick stepped forward again, knocking my right hand off my chest so my dress slid, revealing the top of my bra. "It's coming off one way or another. You decide how."

When I only stood in front of him, blinking tears from my eyes, he sighed and reached for the bottom of the dress, pulling it hard. Not only did it tear the dress, but I slipped and fell so hard on my butt that a sharp pain shot through my tail bone and knocked the wind out of me.

"You act all tough." Nick taunted, "But deep down, you're just a scared little girl."

I hugged the fragments of my dress against me. "Okay, Nick. I get it. Please stop."

"Like all of you assholes stopped treating me like shit?" He ripped the last of my dress and walked away, going on with his rant. "You were the worst of them all, Ronnie. Pretending you cared for me for years, but in reality you just pitied me."

Chase crouched beside me, biting his lip hard to keep from crying out in pain from the movement. He draped his tux of my shoulders, helping me to my feet. He kept me in his arms, eyeing the doors across the building, then looking back at Nick.

"Try to leave and I'll shoot her." Nick's threat scared Chase enough that he scooted us back toward the middle of the rink. "Good choice."

"Crazy thing is, Puck, I still envy you. Even with all that you've done, you have someone that refuses to give up on you. All everyone has ever done is give up on me."