Chapter 1

VIOLETTA

Outside the arena, the whole campus was buzzing.

Tonight was the National Championship Game.

Students flooded the entrance dressed in school colors while music blasted from giant speakers and chants echoed across the parking lot.

If we won, the University of Michigan Wolverines would be lifting their first championship trophy in three years.

My fingers found my phone before I could stop them.

I could feel Ollie’s eyes on me as I unlocked it for what had to be the hundredth time that morning.

“Are you going to keep checking your phone the whole time we’re here?” Ollie whispered, peering at my screen and catching me off guard. “I’ve watched you reread that message at least twenty times.”

I quickly locked it and scowled at him.

“What?”

Ollie snorted loudly enough to earn a few curious glances from passing students, “Please tell me, for the love of God, you’re not trying to decipher what your little boyfriend meant by surprise.”

I didn’t answer because he was right.

Logan Whitaker, the golden boy of the Michigan hockey team, was my boyfriend and he had posted on Snapchat barely a few minutes ago.

Normally, that wouldn’t have bothered me except for the fact that he’d ignored every one of my calls and texts for the past week after sending one infuriatingly mysterious message.

[Logan: I have a surprise for you after the game.]

I adjusted my glasses.

Those eight words had occupied my every waking thought for the past week.

Maybe… just maybe… after two years of secret dates, hidden kisses, and pretending we were nothing more than friends in public… tonight would be the night he finally told everyone I was his girlfriend.

“Oh, honey,” Ollie groaned. “Your case is worse than I thought.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Can you just be happy for me for once? I’m anxious enough already as it.”

His expression softened… It was moments like these that reminded me why Oliver Hart was my best friend.

“Vee, you know I’ll always be your biggest cheerleader but it’s Logan I don’t trust.”

Then his jaw tightened at the mere thought of my boyfriend.

“You give him your all, yet he flirts so openly with the puck bunnies, did you even see his Snapchat stories?”

I immediately jumped to Logan’s defense, “He’s good to me, Ollie. Why can’t you see that? He has just been under pressure that’s all.”

NHL scouts were attending tonight and so were sponsors.

Logan had spent years building the perfect image so that little thing mattered, from the people he hung out with to every headline written about him.

“Call this whatever you like but pressure doesn’t make people hide the person they care about for two whole years,” Ollie muttered.

I pretended not to hear him.

Because if I did… I’d run out of excuses for why no one knew I was Logan’s girlfriend.

Besides, I could already sense that tonight was going to be perfect. I had a feeling Logan was finally going to prove Ollie wrong.

Security waved us through after checking our credentials.

The blast of cold air hit my face the second we stepped into the rink. The stands were already filled with thousands of fans cheering as the players finished warming up.

The energy was infectious enough to pull me out of my mood.

I raised my camera to capture their warm ups, then I saw him.

Number sixteen.

Even from a distance, I’d recognize that golden hair anywhere.

As if sensing my gaze, Logan looked up and our eyes met.

My heart skipped a beat as he flashed me his signature smile, melting every ounce of worry I’d carried for the past week.

God.

I loved him.

One of his teammates,and one of his closest friends, Derek skated over to where he was before following Logan’s gaze… a knowing smirk spread across his face.

Another one I didn’t really know gave me a quick wave.

See?

This was why I stayed because if his teammates knew about us… surely there had to be a reason valid enough for him to want to keep us a secret.

Then…I felt it, the strange sensation of being watched but I brushed it off immediately.

Beside me, Ollie suddenly stiffened.

“Babes…” he drawled, trying to get my attention. “Why is Cassian FUCKING Alexandris staring at you?”

I tried not to turn, but I couldn’t ignore the pull.

Cassian was the enforcer and captain of Logan’s team, despite playing on the same team, the two of them had never gotten along.

In other words, they were rivals yet in one team.

No one in their right mind liked Cassian… he was a menace.

I met his heated gaze, my eyes trailing from his dark hair to a face that looked like it was carved by the Greek gods… it was too bad he was always up to no good.

His expression, although unreadable, stayed locked on mine.

A chill crawled down my spine… yet I refused to look away until…

“Girl…what is going on between you too?” Ollie nudged me, pulling me back to the present.

I immediately looked away.

Because absolutely not.

I wanted no part of that man.

He was trouble, always getting into fights and serving suspensions… the only reason he was still captain was because he happened to be one of the best players on the team.

The last thing I wanted was his attention.

The buzzer sounded.

Warm-ups were over and just as they shot away, the fans began cheering for their team.

For the next three hours, the championship consumed everyone’s attention.

Logan scored twice and the crowd was wild as the final buzzer sounded…

We won.

My heart pounded as I watched Logan skate toward the side of the rink.

This was it… it had to be.

I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

Our eyes met as he stepped off the ice but rather than toward me… he walked right past me like he had he hadn’t even seen me.

Maybe… my thoughts trailed away as I watched the teleprompter or in college words, the Kiss Cam zoom in on him.

He wore a wide smile as he walked toward Celeste Kensington.

Her blonde hair fell over her slender shoulders as she hid her giggles.

God… please no.

This couldn’t be happening.

I watched, frozen in horror, as my boyfriend wrapped an arm around his supposed tutor’s waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

The camera flashes brought me back to reality that I was watching Logan kiss another woman, Reporters and other media outlets surged forward.

Questions flew from every direction.

“Is this your girlfriend?”

“How long have you two been dating?”

“Are the engagement rumors true?”

Logan was getting married?

Celeste blushed and buried her face against Logan’s chest.

I could practically feel my heart shattering with every passing second. The longer I watched them together, the more unbearable the pain became.

“Yes,” Logan answered proudly, pressing kisses into her neck. “She is my soon-to-be wife.”

My knees nearly gave out.

I stumbled backward, barely hearing Ollie call my name.

Someone else must have recognized me because their whispers immediately spread around me.

“Isn’t that…?”

“Oh my goodness! I thought they were dating.”

My breathing turned shallow.

I didn’t even have the strength to stop Ollie as he pushed his way to the front.

“Congratulations on winning the championship,” he began, though the disbelief on his face was obvious.

Logan frowned.

“If Celeste is your fiancée, then what relationship do you share with Violetta?” Someone asked, beating Ollie.

Silence.

My face replaced his on the giant screen above the rink.

Every head turned toward me, including Logan’s and for one stupid second…I thought he’d laugh and let me in on the joke but he looked annoyed.

My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear anything.

Then Logan laughed mockingly before he said, “You can’t seriously believe I, Logan Whitaker, would have any romantic or sexual relationship with this nerd.”

Thankfully, my glasses hid the tears pooling in my eyes.

I stared at him, unable to breathe.

What?

“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued. “Vee is a very good friend and helps manage my social media, but that’s all she’s ever been.”

If he had stopped there then maybe I might have survived this social humiliation but he didn’t.

“And as per team policy, athletes and their assigned media personnel aren’t supposed to date.”

A lie.

I’d never officially been assigned to Logan and had only helped him because he’d asked me to… without thinking twice, I had done so because I loved him.

Ollie’s voice shook as he asked, “So… you two were never together?”

Please stop!

Logan answered immediately, pulling Celeste even closer, “No.”

The two years I had spent with this man were erased with a single word.

His gaze landed on me as he continued, “But it’d be delusional of her if she told you otherwise.”

Gasps echoed around the arena and I could immediately see my identity change in an instant… I wasn’t Violetta Monroe, a journalism major and sports reporter.

I was the story.

I could already see the punchline I was going to trend with, “The delusional nerdy fan that hung around the campus golden boy in hopes that he’d fall for her.”

Whispers erupted around me, but they no longer mattered because the humiliation had deafened me so much that I could barely hear.

Logan had already walked away, leaving me alone to face the reporters, and the relentless camera flashes.

My phone vibrated and with trembling fingers, I looked down at the screen.

As I read Logan’s message, I realized I’d never known the real Logan Whitaker, all I had seen was his media persona.

To him, I had just been a fan.

[Logan: You could have avoided this mess if only your faggot best friend had kept his mouth shut.]