Chapter 3: A Deal With Tyson Blackwood

Roxanne's POV 

"How did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter." He said. "What matters is that I know and now you know that I know. So the decision from here is pretty short, Pumpkin."

I wanted to throw something at him. I looked around the room for options and there was nothing except for old textbooks and a dry erase marker, neither of which would be satisfying enough.

"Why are you like this?" I turned back to him. "Why are you so cruel?"

He tilted his head. "What do mean?"

I stared at him. "Are you serious right now?"

"I'm asking a question..."

"You know exactly what I mean." My voice shook. "You've been making my life hell since I was twelve, Tyson, ever since I showed up in Moonshadow you've made sure I knew exactly where I belonged. Every joke, every comment, you and your minions made sure I felt like a joke for just existing."

Something moved in his jaw. He didn't apologize, of course he didn't.

"Now you want to use me, after everything." My voice dropped. "Out of every single girl in this academy, girls who actually like you, girls who would literally trip over themselves for the chance, why the hell would you choose me?"

"It doesn't..."

"Answer the question." I stepped forward. "Why me? I'm just a fat Omega who never fit in and has been your personal punching bag since day one. Skylar looks at me and feels nothing."

He was quiet for a moment. "Because you're not what anyone wou expect."

I blinked. "What?"

"Every other girl I could use, Skylar knows them. She knows their world, their motivations. She sees me with any of them and she's already three steps ahead of it." He held my gaze. "But you're not in that world. You and I have history that nobody fully understands. If she sees me with you, she's not going to know what to do with that."

I stood there, speechless.

"The fact that you hate also helps," he continued. "You're not going to act obsessed, you're not going to hang off me or make it look staged. You're going to push back and look like you have your own mind and Skylar, above everything else, respects someone who isn't impressed by me."

"You're using everything that happened to me," I said quietly. "Every single thing you did to me, everything you personally did to make my life harder, you're turning it into something that benefits you and you don't even feel bad about it."

"Not even a little bit." He said.

"God." I turned away from him, pressing my fingers on my forehead, because looking at him right now was more than I could stand. "You are such an asshole."

"My answer wouldn't change your situation." He said.

"I know it wouldn't." My voice cracked. "That's the point right? you don't have to be good, you just have to know the right thing to threaten."

I turned back around. "What happens when this doesn't work? What happens when Skylar sees us and doesn't care and you've wasted both our time?"

"It'll work." He said.

"You don't know that..."

"I know Skylar." He said, confidently. "Trust me."

"I don't trust you." My voice was sharp. "I will never trust you."

"You don't have to." He said. "You just have to show up."

I looked at him at him for a long moment. I had no way out, I knew what the scholarship meant, what running out of suppressants meanr, I know what would happen if my name ended up on a list in front of the Pack council with the word fraud attached to it.

I had no choice and he knew I had nothing.

"If I say yes," I said, reluctantly. "You keep your mouth shut about the papers, about everything, not just until this is over. It's permanently, that information dies in this room."

"I will keep my mouth shut." He said, trying to hide a smile.

"The second Skylar comes back, this ends." My voice was sharp. "No extensions, no renegotiating, no dragging it out because you decide you need more time."

"I wasn't planning on making it longer than it needs to be." His voice was calm.

"You have to keep it professional." My voice hardened. "Whatever we have to do, we do it in public, behind closed doors I am not your girlfriend. I'm not your anything. We don't pretend when no one's watching."

He thought of it for awhile, then nodded. "Okay."

I held his gaze for a moment. "You stay out of my personal life," I said. "You don't get involved in my business, we'll have our separate lives like before, no changes."

 "Okay, okay." He sighed. "Are you done with the conditions? Any more requests?"

"Also don't call me Pumpkin." My voice was flat.

The corner of his mouth moved. "I'll think about it."

"That wasn't a suggestion...."

"Roxanne." His voice dropped. "Do we have a deal or not?"

I looked at him and thought about everything, the scholarship, the consequences and then I stopped thinking because I knew there was no way out.

"I hate you," I said flatly.

"I know." He said, unbothered. "The feeling's mutual."

The silence stretched better us, I could feel my chest going inward under the weight of what I was about to say.

"Fine," I said through my teeth. "I'll be your fake girlfriend."