Chapter 5: Playing The Part

Aurora.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked, backing away from Victoria’s desk.

Ronan did not even look at me. He kept his dark gaze locked on the PR director, with his jaw set in a rigid line.

“I would rather drag my bare skin across broken glass,” he sneered with his arms crossed over his chest. “Actually, scratch that. I would rather screw a dead animal than hold her hand for the cameras. Find another angle, Victoria!”

A hot flush crept up my neck, burning my cheeks. I hated him... sure. I had spent years despising the very ground he walked on, but hearing him speak about me with that level of disgust stung in a way I had not anticipated. I dug my fingernails into my palms to keep my face neutral and refused to let him see how much his words cut.

“The feeling is mutual, Blackwood,” I shot back. “I wouldn’t date you if you were the last breathing organism on earth. I would rather lose everything than pretend to like you.”

Victoria slammed her hands on her desk, the loud crack echoing through the room and making me jump. “Enough.”

She glared at both of us with her eyes darting between my flushed face and Ronan’s cold stare, and she waited until the silence stretched tight. “You two are going to listen to me. This isn’t a friendly suggestion. It is survival.”

Ronan shifted his weight, and a single drop of water fell from his wet hair onto the carpet. “It is a joke. You expect people to believe I body-checked a guy through the boards because of a schoolboy crush?”

“Because of love, Ronan.” Victoria tapped a finger against her tablet screen. “It is the only angle that plays to the masses. Aurora had an altercation with the Titan player in the loading dock. We leak that information to friendly journalists and we frame the narrative. The opponent harassed your secret girlfriend, you saw red and you took the anger to the ice to protect her honor.”

I stared at her, trying to process the audacity of the lie. “You want to turn an unprovoked assault into a romance?”

“I want to save his career and your paycheck,” Victoria corrected, her tone leaving no room for argument. “The league loves a protective hero. The fans will eat it up and the board will back off to watch the ratings soar. Ronan gets a fine and a slap on the wrist instead of a ban. You keep your job, stay close to the team and get the money you desperately need. Everybody wins.”

Ronan scoffed, turning his back toward the door. “No one is buying it. She is a reporter and I am the team captain. It goes against every rule in the handbook.”

“I will handle the league executives,” Victoria snapped. “You just have to sell the romance to the public.”

“I am not doing it,” I said, leaning down to grab my small bag from the floor. “I cannot pretend to be in a relationship with him. I will not survive a week in his presence.”

Ronan yanked the office door open, the hinges groaning in protest. “For once, the reporter and I agree. Find another way.”

“There is no other way!” Victoria yelled, but we were already moving.

I pushed past Ronan, desperate to escape the office. The hallway stretched out in front of me, so quiet and empty as I walked fast, my boots clicking against the tile. I needed to leave this stadium and figure out how to tell Lila that I had failed. I had lost the job and the money was gone.

My phone buzzed in my coat pocket, and I pulled it out and looked at the glowing screen. It was a video call from Lila.

I stopped walking and leaned against the wall and tapped accept.

Lila’s face filled the screen. She looked worse than she had yesterday. Her skin held a grayish tint, and the hospital gown hung off her narrow shoulders, making her look fragile and small while tears streaked down her cheeks, catching the lights of her hospital room.

“Lila? Hey... what’s wrong?” I asked, my voice catching in my throat.

“What's wrong? You left me,” she whimpered, rubbing her swollen eyes with a shaking hand.

“I had to work,” I pleaded, holding the phone closer to my face. “You know I had to go to the game. I told you I would be back tonight.”

“You always say that.” She let out a wet sob that tore at my heart. “You don’t care, Aurora. You walked right out while the monitors were screaming. You just walked away.”

“That is not true. I am doing all of this for you. Everything I do is to pay for your treatment.”

“I don’t want your excuses!” Lila managed to yell, her voice breaking into a rattling cough. “I am dying in here and you aren’t even around. You abandoned me just like everyone else.”

The screen suddenly black. She ended the call.

I stood alone in the hallway, staring at the dark reflection of my own face on the phone while my chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.

A tear slipped down my cheek, hot and fast, but I wiped it away with the back of my hand, only for another one to follow, blurring my vision.

I had nothing left to lose. My pride didn’t matter, Ronan’s insults didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was keeping Lila alive.

I turned around, walked back down the hallway, pushed the door open and stepped inside the office again...

Victoria was leaning on her desk while Ronan sat comfortably in the corner. Victoria’s gaze turned to me, raising a dark eyebrow at my sudden return.

“I will do it,” I said, my voice steady despite the lingering tears in my eyes. “I will play the devoted girlfriend but I don’t know how you are going to convince the caveman to play along.”

A slow and triumphant smile spread across her face as she set the tablet down and folded her hands on the desk, looking like a cat that had just cornered a mouse.

“I was just about to come looking for you,” Victoria said. “You don’t need to worry about convincing him. He already agreed.”

Ronan leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, and stared at me, his expression unreadable yet his dark eyes tracking my every movement as if calculating how much of a liability I would be.

For the second time, I saw his eyes flash that weird glow, only this time he bared his teeth too in an animalistic way except... those were fangs...!

I let out a shriek and took a step back against the wall and into the award shelf. What had I gotten myself into?!