Puck Me Harder: A Stepbrother Romance [BL]

Damon’s POV

"Are you okay?" Noah asked. "That fucker almost tried to send you away tonight."

Micah slowly pulled his hands away from his face, letting out another long, exhausted sigh. He looked up at Noah, and then his soft eyes shifted over to me.

"I’m fine..." Micah whispered softly, a tiny, relieved breath escaping his lips. "Honestly... I was almost more scared for Damon than for myself."

A genuine, warm flutter hit my chest. God, he was so sweet.

"I can take care of myself, sweetheart," I purred, flashing him a grin. Then I turned my head toward Noah, winking playfully at our icy captain. "Though, thanks to my dearest, lovely captain’s brilliant lie, I guess my handsome face was spared tonight. How do I ever pay you back, Captain? Should I take off my pants right now and flash my dick to show my gratitude?"

Noah’s face went completely deadpan. The murderous aura returned to his eyes in a split second.

"I will cut it into two pieces, cook it over a medium flame, and force-feed it straight down your throat," Noah replied flatly.

I gasped dramatically, slapping a hand over my chest. "How violent! And here I thought we were bonding!"

Beside us, a soft sound broke through the heavy tension of the room.

Micah was laughing.

He was covering his mouth with a slender hand, his big eyes crinkling at the corners as a genuine, beautiful giggle bubbled out of his chest. The color was slowly returning to his cheeks, making him look so breathlessly cute that my heart did an actual backflip.

"It’s really good to see you two getting so close," Micah said softly, smiling at us both.

Noah looked like he wanted to instantly deny it, his mouth opening to spit out a brutal insult, but the moment his eyes caught the rare, happy sparkle in Micah’s face, the harsh words completely died in his throat. Noah just scoffed under his breath, turning his head away to hide the subtle softening of his jaw.

"Whatever," Noah muttered, knocking his knuckles lightly against the wooden table. He looked back at Micah, his tone softening. "You look exhausted. You should go upstairs and wash up. I’ll clear the dishes and clean the table."

"I’ll help!" I instantly raised my hand like an eager schoolboy, jumping up from my chair.

Noah rolled his eyes, pointing a sharp finger toward the dirty plates. "Start by grabbing the glass plates from that end—"

"Who the hell mentioned anything about helping you with the dishes?" I interrupted him with a massive, wicked smirk. "I said I’d like to help Micah wash up in the shower."

Noah’s entire body went rigid.

"You fucker!" Noah roared, slamming his heavy hand onto the table so hard the silver cutlery bounced into the air!

In one fast movement, Noah grabbed a sharp, three-pronged metal fork off the nearest plate and launched himself around the table, coming at me like a psycho murderer!

"Whoa! Captain! Easy on the face!" I yelled out, laughing hysterically as I ducked beneath his swing and bolted toward the living room archway.

Noah chased me around the dining table, his filled with rage as he tried to stab my arm with the fork. I was ducking, weaving, and howling with laughter, enjoying every single second of pushing his buttons. In the background, Micah was leaning against his chair, his shoulders shaking as he chuckled quietly at our ridiculous chaos.

For a few sweet, fleeting seconds, the terrifying shadow of their father was completely forgotten.

Until...

DING!

A sharp, loud, high-pitched notification tone echoed from Micah’s phone sitting on the table.

The sound instantly cut through our noise.

I stopped dead in my tracks near the edge of the hallway, Noah pausing a step behind me, his arm still raised with the fork. We both turned our heads toward the table.

Micah reached out a hand, picking up his phone to check the screen. The light from the display illuminated his face.

The faint, beautiful smile that had just been on his lips vanished in a fraction of a second. The healthy color drained out of his cheeks so fast he looked like a fresh corpse. His eyes widened in horror, staring at the text message on his screen as if it were a nightmare come to life.

My laughter completely died in my throat. I noticed the sudden, terrifying shift before Noah even did.

"Micah?" I called his name softly, my voice dropping all its playful energy as I took a cautious step back toward him. "What is it? What happened?"

Micah didn’t look up. He couldn’t. His lower lip trembled violently, his fingers clutching the edges of his phone so tightly his joints turned stark white. A quiet, breathless stutter escaped his throat.

"The... the third..." Micah choked out, his voice cracking with pure terror as a fresh tear spilled down his ghost-white cheek. "The third person has just been kidnapped."

A heavy, suffocating silence slammed back down onto the room like a lead weight.

Noah’s face went completely blank. He slowly lowered the fork and lifted his free hand, aggressively shoving his fingers through his dark hair. While dragging his palm down his face, a deep, lethal curse escaped his lips.

"Ah... Fuck."

"The third? Did they say who?" I asked, my pulse pounding with frustration.

"Someone from the school swimming team. They said he was..." Micah paused, scrolling up the screen to check for more information. "He was practicing for the coming competition this evening, and when he was about to enter his car... he was kidnapped."

I sighed heavily, a sickening realization settling in my gut. I snapped my eyes over to Noah, walking towards him while keeping a watchful eye on Micah, who was still glued to the news on his phone.

"Tell me," I whispered, leaning in close. "Is your father responsible for this?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Noah frowned, his eyes flashing red-hot as his voice started to rise.

I instantly thrust my hand out, covering his mouth so Micah wouldn’t hear a word of what we were discussing. Panic flared in me... the last thing I wanted was for Micah to be dragged deeper into this dark nightmare.

Noah aggressively shoved my hand away from his face, glaring at me like he wanted to rip my head off.

"I don’t have any information for you," he hissed under his breath. "Or let me put it this way... I won’t tell you what you want to hear. It won’t come from me."

"So, you’re saying your father is responsible," I asked, tilting my head, frustration burning inside me.

Call me desperate, but I wanted that exact confirmation straight from Noah. Maybe he already knew what was going down and was secretly planning a countermove. I just wanted in. My restless, bored mind refused to sit on the sidelines while everything burned around us.

"Go home, Damon Silver," Noah said coldly. He turned his back on me and walked over to Micah, putting a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder. "Go wash up and sleep early. We’ll go get you a new phone before we go to school tomorrow."

"Oh," Micah muttered, his soft, confused eyes flickering between his brother and me before he nodded. "Thank you for today, Damon," he murmured softly, turning around and walking toward his bedroom.

We stood in tense, suffocating silence, waiting until the sound of his bedroom door clicking shut echoed through the hallway.

The moment Micah was out of earshot, Noah whipped around to face me, his face twisted in pure irritation. "What are you still waiting for? Leave!"

"I’ll do anything to help out if your father is involved in this," I said, dropping all the playful banter, my tone dead serious. "I also want to protect Micah."

Saying that name was like tossing fuel onto an open flame. Noah’s eyes darkened with raw, possessive rage.

"Micah is mine to protect. Get lost," he spat out, poking a sharp finger hard into my chest. "There’s no way in hell I’m going to let a Silver like you take care of my brother!"

Before I could fire back, my phone buzzed sharply in my pocket.

I pulled it out and glanced at the screen, letting out a loud groan as I shoved a hand through my hair. It was a notification from Jennifer Riley. I hadn’t blocked her number because the last time I did, the crazy girl used ten different burner numbers to spam me with tearful begging to unblock her.

Jenny: [Voice Message]

I sighed and hit play. Her shrill voice echoed loudly through the quiet living room.

"Hey Damon, it’s Jenny here! I wanted to tell you that some guys at Jenson University are planning something nasty against your school. Towards Noah and you... oh, and some guy called Micah. Do you know him?"

My stomach twisted into a hard knot. What information?

Before I could even open my mouth or type out a reply, the rest of the voice message automatically played.

"And before I tell you what they’re planning, you’ll have to go on a date with me tomorrow. Reply to this message if you’re interested! Love you!"

I stared at the screen, my lip curling in absolute disgust.

"There’s no way in hell I’m going..." I started to protest.

"Oh, Damon Silver, you are going to go on that bloody date," Noah interrupted, a dark, wicked smirk spreading across his face as he locked eyes with me. "And you’re going to get every single piece of information out of her. That is... if you really want to protect Micah."

A heavy wave of defeat crashed over me. I threw my head back and groaned into the empty room.

"Ah... Fuck me."