Puck Me Harder: A Stepbrother Romance [BL]

Micah’s POV

The moment his cold, dark eyes locked onto mine, I flinched hard, stepping backward until my heel hit the edge of the sofa. The warmth vanished from Father’s face instantly. He didn’t say a single word to me. He just slowly shook his head in bitter, silent disappointment, sneering as if he were looking at a pathetic stain on his expensive rug.

Without another word, Father reached down, grabbed his heavy leather bags, and pulled the front door open.

Noah escorted him out to the driveway, standing on the porch while Father loaded his luggage into the back of his dark sedan, climbed into the driver’s seat, and drove down the driveway.

I stood near the window, watching the red taillights disappear. The very second the car cleared the property and the gates swung shut, I watched the most terrifying transformation take place on Noah’s face.

The polite, dutiful son mask completely melted away. Noah’s expression fell deathly cold, his features settling into an icy, unreadable void. His dark eyes remained fixed on the empty road where Father’s car had vanished, his jaw clenching so tightly the muscle ticked under his skin.

A chill ran down my spine as I watched him from behind the glass. Why was he staring at the empty driveway like that? Was he... was he planning something?

My mind flashed back to that paper. I remembered the list of names written in his sharp, meticulous handwriting. Father’s name was carved right at the very bottom of that list. Was Noah actually planning to kill our father?

Before I could process the terrifying thought, the heavy front door clicked shut. Noah turned on his heel and walked slowly back into the living room, his heavy footfalls echoing in the quiet space.

He didn’t stop until he was standing directly in front of me. Without a word, he leaned forward, resting his heavy head against my shoulder. His cool forehead pressed right against the sensitive skin of my neck—just millimeters away from where his teeth had violently marked me yesterday.

The proximity made my breath catch in my throat, a sudden, unwanted blush spreading across my cheeks at the intense warmth of his body crowding mine.

"Get ready, Micah," Noah murmured into my skin, his voice quiet and low. "I’ll drop you off at school today."

I swallowed hard, pulling my head back slightly. "H-Huh? I don’t have a morning class today, Noah. My first lecture isn’t until noon."

"I know," Noah said, slowly lifting his head from my shoulder. He looked down at me, his icy blue eyes fixed on my face with an intense, unyielding focus. "But I have morning practice on the ice. And since Father is officially gone and we’re entirely alone in this house, I’ll be dropping you off and picking you up every single day."

My eyes widened as I followed his movements, my heart sinking into my stomach. He was taking away the last shred of freedom I had left.

"Besides," Noah added, a faint, dangerous tilt touching the corner of his lips, "if I drop you off myself, maybe everyone will finally get rid of that ridiculous rumor that’s currently circulating on the school forum."

My blood instantly turned to ice. My lungs seized up.

"W-What rumor?" I stammered out, my voice cracking.

What the hell was he talking about?!

Panic flared like a wild fire inside my head. I reached into my pocket out of sheer instinct, desperately wanting to pull out my phone and check the student boards, but my hand hit empty fabric. My phone was gone—burnt to a crisp in my room.

Did the students find out? Did they somehow discover that I was the anonymous student writer behind the scandalous campus articles? Did Raven leak my identity?! No... no, Raven wouldn’t do that to me. She wouldn’t ruin my life. But if the truth had leaked onto the main forum, Father would have seen it before leaving, wouldn’t he? He would have screamed at me, hit me, grounded me!

So what the hell was the rumor?!

"I honestly can’t believe you managed to hide everything from me right under my nose," Noah suddenly growled.

Before I could react, his large hands shot forward, gripping my shoulders with a brutal, bruising force that drove the breath right out of my chest.

FUCK!

My heart hammered against my ribs like a drum. Pain shot through my upper arms where his fingers dug through my sweater, pinning me in place.

"Wh-what are you talking about, Noah?!" I cried out, tears of pure terror springing to my eyes as I tried to pull away from his crushing grip. "I didn’t hide anything from you! I swear!"

Noah lowered his face until his nose was barely an inch from mine. I could smell the sharp peppermint on his breath, mixed with the faint scent of smoke that still clung to his clothes.

"Do you really want me to force you to confirm it right here in front of me?" Noah asked, his tone dropping into a deadly, toxic whisper. He reached into his jacket pocket with one hand, pulling out his sleek black smartphone and holding it up between our faces. "Or should I just call Father right now, turn the car around, and let him handle you?"

No. No, no, please God, no!

Panic obliterated my ability to think clearly. Noah looked genuinely furious—his jaw was locked, his dark eyes burning with an unhinged, dangerous rage. He knew everything. He had read the school forum, connected the dots, and found out about the explicit, scandalous article detailing every dirty, filthy thing that had happened between Damon and me.

I trembled uncontrollably under his grip, my throat closing up as I stared at the dark screen of his phone.

I couldn’t let him call Father. I couldn’t survive being locked in the dark basement.

I remained completely silent, my bottom lip trembling violently as hot tears finally overflowed, trailing down my pale cheeks. Noah tilted his hand up, his long fingers wrapping tightly around my jaw and forcing my face upward until I had no choice but to look directly into his terrifying eyes.

"Tell me everything, Micah," he growled, squeezing my chin until my teeth clicked together. "Right now."

"H-How..." I stuttered, my voice breaking into a pathetic, terrified whisper as I surrendered completely. "How do you... how do you know?"

Noah narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression remaining completely still. "Know what?"

"Th-that I’m the writer..." I whispered out, my chest heaving with heavy, panicked breaths. "That I wrote the article..."

The moment those words left my mouth, the terrifying, furious glare on Noah’s face completely vanished.

Slowly, agonizingly, his dark eyes dilated. A slow, terrifying grin began to spread across his face, stretching wider and wider until a dark, melodic laugh bubbled up from his throat.

"Oh, Micah..." Noah cooed softly, his thumb caressing my bruised jawline as his grip loosened just a fraction. "I didn’t actually know for sure... You just blurted out the truth all by yourself."

WHAT?!

My brain completely froze. The air was knocked clean out of my lungs as the horror of what had just happened slammed into my chest like a freight train.

I... I had just been played.

He hadn’t known for sure! He was bluffing! He was just fishing, throwing out vague threats about a rumor to see how I would react, and I had panicked so hard that I handed him my ultimate secret on a silver platter!

A sickening wave of dizziness washed over me, my head throbbing with a violent pulse of nervousness and shame.

Noah’s smirk widened into a predatory sneer, his eyes darkening with a sudden, lethal intensity as the pieces connected in his twisted mind. "If you really are the secret writer of that disgraceful column... then that means everything written in that latest draft... every single filthy detail about what happened between you and Damon... actually happened."

"N-No!" I gasped out, desperately trying to backtrack, my hands coming up to push weakly against his chest. "No, Noah! I lied! It’s just a fictional story—I made it up! It didn’t happen!"

Noah’s grip on my chin snapped tight again, twisting my face until pain shot up into my ear.

"Don’t you dare think about lying to me now, Micah," he ordered, his voice dropping into a dark, terrifying growl that left zero room for argument. "You’ve already exposed yourself."

He roughly let go of my face, taking a step back and wiping his thumb across his lips as he glared down at me like a master looking at a disobedient pet.

"Go upstairs to my room and get properly dressed," Noah commanded coldly, pointing a finger toward the staircase. "You are coming with me to the rink today as my personal student assistant. You will sit on the bench, you will hold my gear, and you will keep your eyes strictly on me. One single mistake... one tiny glance toward Damon... and I will punish you a hundred times worse than Father ever could."

My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit of pure dread. I swallowed hard, my dry throat aching as I nodded numbly, unable to speak another word.

One mistake? A hundred punishments?

I turned around and walked toward the stairs with numb, heavy steps, tears blurring my vision. As if my pathetic, miserable life wasn’t punishing me enough already.