All Chapters of My Hockey Ex Rigged the Dating Show?: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

~Alexei~Tinsley paused, her fingers now gently pressing against my back. “Have you even taken care of it?”For the first time in my entire life, I felt something entirely foreign.I felt cared for.Seen.I knew she expected me to spin some glamorous billionaire life story, or some elaborate excuse about a hockey accident. Instead, the truth slipped past my lips before I could stop it.“My father gave me this,” I said, my voice dropping to a whisper.“Foster?” She asked.“My birth father.”I stopped there. I didn't need to tell her the rest of the story. And she didn’t suddenly move back or anything. Instead, she slid her arms around my neck, pulling me down toward her and her face alone shattered every single wall I had built around my heart.However, before I could get lost in her lips and kiss her, she asked, “I’m Kiara’s friend, and you’re her baby daddy. You announced that you want to win her heart back… Was that for the show, or was it real?”I smirked and slowly moved away fr

~Chloe~The sweet chemical smell of nail polish remover filled the air as Harper sat cross-legged on the edge of her bed, carefully applying a fresh coat of pink lacquer to her nails.She blew on them lightly, her eyes darting up to meet mine in the mirror as she kept right on talking.“I heard the biggest rumour from one of the audio guys, today,” Harper gossiped, waving a drying hand in the air. “Apparently, the twenty-four-hour dates aren’t even happening here in Hawaii. They’re flying you and the other contestant out to some ultra-private mainland estate. Can you imagine? If they gave you the choice to pick anywhere with Zane, where would you say?”I smirked, leaning back against my pillows and filing my nails with a lazy satisfaction. “I wouldn’t have to pick a place, Harper. Because the location they chose… it was actually my idea.”Harper stopped mid-swipe, her jaw dropping as she stared at me. “Shut up. No way! You told production where to go?”“I dropped a few very expensive

~Alexei~I found the head of the production team near the equipment tent, going through papers on a clipboard with a focused expression. I told him I needed to speak with Kiara alone and asked if he could arrange a quiet place for us to meet, somewhere without cameras crowding us or microphones hanging over our heads.I wanted it to be just the two of us and whatever we needed to say.He didn’t ask many questions. He simply nodded and said he’d have something arranged before evening.However, I was up to something.On a show built around drama and cameras, asking for a private meeting with Kiara was never going to stay secret at all especially the fact that it was Kiara. She was a famous and most-voted contestant.And that was exactly what I wanted. I wanted people to notice. I wanted the whispers to start, and I wanted Zane going crazy about it. On my way back to my suite, I passed three contestants standing close together. They leaned toward one another aa they hosted. However, I

~Zane~The afternoon seemed to drag on forever.I spent hours in conference calls, going through company documents, and dealing with the stress that had been weighing on me all day.I was sitting at the desk in my makeshift office when my phone buzzed against the desk.I glanced at the caller ID and immediately hit accept. It was my father.“Kaelan,” his familiar voice came through the speaker.Hearing that name hit me hard, and a hot sting of tears prickled the backs of my eyes.Kaelan.It was my real name. It was the name I had before I was adopted into this family. The only name that reminded me of who I truly was before my mother forced me to become a living replacement for her dead son, Zane.My father was the only person in this world who ever saw me as my own person.When we were alone, he was the only one who called me by my real name.“Dad,” I answered, my voice dropping lower. “How are you holding up?”“I’m doing better, son,” he replied softly. “I heard there was a major in

~Alexei~As I walked down the steps toward the waiting convoy, a wave of whispers spread through the crowd of remaining contestants.Everyone was staring at me.At first, I couldn’t understand why. Then I noticed the expressions on their faces.Some looked genuinely heartbroken. A few were whispering angrily to their friends, while others looked like they were one second away from fainting. Apparently, the thought of me spending twenty-four hours with their crush was more than some of them could handle.I almost laughed.It was only a date. We weren’t disappearing forever. Yet some of them were looking at me as if I was ripping their hearts off. Right beside me, Tinsley stepped closer and smoothly slipped her hand into the crook of my arm. She intertwined her fingers with mine and glanced around at the dramatic reactions with an amused smile.She clearly found the whole thing entertaining.I couldn’t blame her.Watching grown adults look ready to collapse simply because their celebr