FAKE DATING MY EX'S TEAMMATE

Chapter Five

Maya’s POV

The arena pulses with the crowd that has managed to afford the tickets, lining every seat at one end of the rink. It is such a contrast from Eliot’s worry about being able to sell tickets, because this place is filled to the brim.

And I guess my new fake boyfriend has to be thanked for that, because more than half the crowd are ladies, waving banners with his picture high in the air. 

Fake boyfriend. 

I am yet to wrap my head around it. 

I don’t think I can do it. 

Reporters gather near the walkway, checking their mics, eagle eyes scanning the room. I catch Tara looking at me from one corner. Her lips don’t move, but I can read her without her having to speak.

It has been a week already since the last meeting with her and Eliot. It's been a week since I last saw Finn and Celeste. Too long to hold this act off. Something has to happen today to get the whole of Chicago talking. 

The lights are being set up when Jax Mercer jogs out of the door at the other end of the room. He seems to soak in the attention when the crowd starts screaming his name, like he was born in a spotlight. 

He is in his practice jersey, pushed up his arms, revealing the dark ink of his tattoos, disappearing underneath the rest of the jersey. I angle my head as he jogs over, for the umpteenth time, seeing what the others see.

Jax knows he is hot, and he uses it to his advantage.

He throws me a grin as he gets closer. “Hey, my stunning pretend girlfriend.” His voice drops into a whisper. It is surprising that he is into this. He should have been the first person to fight against this insane arrangement. “You’ve been avoiding me all week.”

“Don’t, Jax,” I whisper, pulling away from him. But it only makes the grin on his face stretch wider. 

“You’re supposed to look at me like you’re obsessed with me, Maya. What do you think Tara will say when she finds out you don’t want to clean up my annoying identity?”

“Jax,” I sigh. “Why are you even doing this?”

He shrugs. “I like getting under Finn’s nerves…and there is just something about you that makes him throw his fist into walls.”

My eyes widen in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t know?” He moves impossibly closer, wrapping his arm around my waist before I can move. It feels warm. Not the crawl of ants that I think will start the minute he touches me.

And I hate it. 

“Know what?”

“Finn,” he murmurs, leaning in closer just as the camera’s lights flash all around us. His lips graze my ears slightly, and I swallow the soft sigh building in my throat. My body, however, doesn’t listen, a strange warmth shooting down my back.

I am filled with the sudden urge to lean into the warmth from his breath, but I remain unmoving. 

“He seemed pretty pissed about the arrangement,” Jax continues, his fingers now splayed on my waist. “When he walked out, the wall bore the brunt of his anger, and now he has made my sweet uncle incur more debt fixing it.”

“We know you don’t like Eliot.”

He laughs. It sounds like the crash of waves on a waterfall, nestled in the middle of a forest. “That is not the point.”

Jax pauses for a dramatic second before he breathes. “So, Finn.”

My breath catches, but not at the way he touches me, but at how believable this moment is. Jax's hand moves lower on my hip, warm and confident. He is still selling a story, and here I am, my brain going all over the place. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” My voice comes out in a shaky breath, and immediately, I wish I could take it back. 

“Hey,” he drawls. “Relax, PR Girl. I was just messing with you.”

I release the breath I have no idea I was holding. 

“You look like you are about to bolt.”

“That’s because your hands are on me without permission,” I mutter, saying anything, anything at all, as long as it gets his focus away from the sudden red patches on my cheeks. 

“Okay,” he nods, squeezing my waist. “I’ll ask next time, then. But we’re being watched. I mean, I have nothing to lose, but you, on the other hand…Tara does not dish out empty threats, and I will hate for you to be sent away because of me.”

I bring my bottom lip between my teeth, biting down on it. I have never been good at playing pretend, and I am scared. Scared that this will rock my entire world. 

“Stop doing that,” he whispers suddenly. 

I look up at him, realizing how close our bodies are. One more move, and we’ll be...

“Doing what?” My chest is acting weird, slightly uncomfortable, as if trying to claw its way out through my chest. 

“That.” He nudges towards my lips. “I just might kiss you if you keep it up.”

My breath hitches in my throat. 

“But don’t worry,” he adds quickly, his upper lip raising in a smirk. “It’ll all be a part of this grand scheme we’re working on.”

My lips part, words about tumbling out amidst the burn on my cheeks, when suddenly, Jax angles his head, planting a chaste kiss on my face. There is nothing special about it. I peck my son all the time.

Yet, every inch of me freezes. 

I barely take note of the reporters inching closer, their mics getting tossed in our faces. One of them screams. “Jax, is that your girlfriend?”

He doesn’t even wait a beat. 

“What do you think?” he says, his voice travelling through the arena. 

“You have a harem of girls at your disposal,” the reporter continues, convincingly curious. “Is she the same as all the others? Does she know she is going to get dumped soon?”

Jax turns to look at me, his eyes the darkest I have ever seen them. “It’s different with Maya,” he says slowly. “I am not letting her go anytime soon.”

And in that split second, I almost believe it too. 

“Jax,” I mutter under my breath, my hand nudging him. “You cannot just…”

Jax angles his body to face me. His fingers pinch my chin lightly, gearing my face up. “Shhh,” he whispers. “You don’t have to be so worried, because I meant it.”

God help me.

Across the rink, Finn walks in through the doors, Celeste on his arms. He takes in the scene in a second, and I see the accusation in his eyes as they meet mine.

My lips move. “Finn.”