Chapter 2

My Ex’s Brother

My blood runs hot and cold all at the same time.

Across the glittering, noisy room, Sophie Hart is staring right at me like a deer caught in the headlights. A second ago, she was trapped by my brother Ryan and his awful new fiancée. A second ago, she looked like she was about to cry. But now? Now she has just thrown a grenade right into the middle of the ballroom, and the pin with my name on it is rolling across the floor.

Ethan.

That is what she told Ryan. That we are together.

My feet move before my brain can even catch up. The floorboards feel like ice beneath my heavy leather shoes as I march across the room. People scatter out of my way. Ryan is standing there with his mouth hanging open, while Sophie stands beside him with her hands clenched so tightly into fists her knuckles are practically glowing.

I grab Sophie gently by the elbow and pull her away from the crowd, dragging her toward a quiet, empty hallway near the back exit where the waiters store their trays.

“What in the world do you think you are playing at?” I snap the second the heavy oak doors swing shut behind us, cutting off the loud music. My voice is low and rough, vibrating with all the anger I have been holding back all night.

Sophie stumbles, her back hitting the cool wallpaper. She looks up at me with wide, panicked eyes.

“I am sorry,” she whispers. “Ryan would not stop. He was laughing at me, making me feel like a total loser in front of everyone. I just needed a shield, and your name popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.”

I rub a hand over my face. I hate Ryan, hate the way he walks all over people like the world belongs to him. But pretending to date my brother’s ex? That is insane.

“You used me,” I growl. “Do you have any idea what kind of mess this makes for me? The press is out there with cameras ready to snap pictures of anything.”

“Please, Ethan,” she begs, a tear slipping down her cheek. She catches the fabric of my jacket with trembling fingers. “Just for tonight. Just play along for a few minutes. I will do anything.”

I look at her hand on my jacket, at her desperate eyes. Every ounce of my common sense tells me to walk away. But then I picture Ryan’s smug, grinning face out there, waiting to crush her spirit completely.

My jaw tightens. I hate Ryan winning more than I hate bad ideas.

“Fine,” I mutter. “We play your little game. But the second we walk back through those doors, you follow my lead.”

Sophie nods so fast her dark hair bounces. “I understand. Thank you, Ethan.”

“Do not thank me yet,” I grumble, turning us back toward the ballroom doors. “This is going to be a disaster.”

When we step back into the bright lights of the party, all eyes turn to us instantly. The whispers buzz like angry hornets. Ryan is still standing by the punch bowl, looking like someone just punched him in the stomach.

I wrap my arm firmly around Sophie’s waist, pulling her tight against my side. I drop my tough hockey-player mask and let a slow, convincing smile spread across my face.

“Looking for us, little brother?” I call out.

Ryan sputters, his face turning bright red. “Ethan, this is ridiculous! You and Sophie? That makes zero sense!”

“Dead serious,” I say smoothly, leaning down so my cheek brushes against Sophie’s hair. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

Sophie swallows hard, then rests her hand against my chest, right over my pounding heart. “That is right, sweetheart. We are very happy.”

The look on Ryan’s face is priceless. All the smugness drains right out of him. I feel a dark, satisfying thrill rush through my veins. For once, Ryan is the one losing control.

Then, the worst possible thing happens.

Click. Click. Click.

Bright camera flashes burst out from the edge of the crowd. A reporter from the local sports gazette lowers his camera with a wide, greedy grin, having captured the whole scene—my arm around Sophie, our close faces, and Ryan’s shocked expression.

I freeze. My arm tightens around Sophie. Just like that, the damage is done.

By the time the sun comes up the next morning, my phone is already buzzing off the nightstand. The headline on the biggest gossip blog reads: PENALTY BOX HEART: IS HOCKEY STAR ETHAN CARTER DOWNSHIFTING WITH HIS BROTHER’S EX? There are pictures of us plastered all over the internet. Fans are losing their minds online. Comments are pouring in by the thousands.

I groan, rolling out of bed and rubbing my tired eyes. I grab my phone, fully expecting Sophie to be panicking. I dial her number, and she picks up on the second ring, sounding remarkably calm.

“Did you see the internet?” I ask without saying hello.

“I saw it,” Sophie’s voice comes through the speaker, sounding surprisingly steady. “Don’t worry, Ethan. We can just release a statement. We will tell everyone it was a misunderstanding, a joke, a bad angle. We will say we are just friends and make it go away by tomorrow.”

Before I can answer her, my front door buzzer rings loudly. Then, my phone buzzes again with an incoming call from Marcus, my manager. Marcus never calls this early unless the building is on fire.

“Hold on, Sophie,” I mutter, clicking over to Marcus. “Marcus? What is going on?”

“Ethan, have you lost your absolute mind?!” Marcus shouts into the phone so loud I have to pull the device away from my ear. “Your sponsors are furious! Between your bad penalties on the ice lately, your fights in the media, and your angry reputation, they were already threatening to pull out of your contracts! They think you are too reckless!”

My stomach drops. “Marcus, wait, it is not what you think—”

“No, listen to me!” Marcus interrupts, sounding breathless. “I just got off the phone with the head of Apex Sports. They saw those pictures of you and Sophie from last night. Do you know what they said? They love it! They think you finally look settled down, romantic, and human instead of a wild animal ready to bite someone’s head off! They want a stable public relationship to clean up your messy image!”

I stare blankly at my living room wall. “You want me to… what?”

“I want you to keep dating her!” Marcus yells. “Keep the relationship going for the rest of the hockey season. It saves your sponsorship deals, it keeps the fans happy, and it fixes your public image in one go. Do whatever it takes, Ethan!”

The line goes dead with a click.

I stand there in the middle of my quiet apartment, the phone still pressed to my ear, my brain spinning in circles. My fake relationship with Sophie—the crazy lie we made up just to annoy my brother—is suddenly the only thing saving my career.

I switch back to Sophie’s line, my heart beating hard against my ribs. She is still waiting on the other end, quiet and nervous.

“Ethan?” she asks softly. “Are you still there? What did Marcus say?”

I look at the glowing screen of my phone, then out the window at the morning light. A strange, reckless smile starts to pull at the corner of my mouth. This is completely insane. It is a terrible, messy, complicated trap. But looking at the big picture, it might actually work for both of us.

“Sophie,” I say, my voice dropping low as a new, wild idea takes root in my mind. “Marcus loves the pictures. He thinks we should keep doing this.”

“Keep… keep doing this?” she whispers, her breath catching. “You mean keep pretending?”

“Not just pretending,” I say, a strange spark of excitement lighting up my chest. “What if we stop pretending this was an accident?”