Romans & histoires Fake Dating The Hockey Alpha

He just wanted to get me. “Oh… I forgot,” he whispered. “It was because someone couldn’t control their temper.” He said, tapping his temple dramatically. “That damn temper.” My jaw tightened. I straightened up as I held the net tighter. “Can you stop?” I asked, forcing the words through my teeth. Sky flung his stick over his neck with a small smile on his face, totally ignoring my warning. “Come to think of it, nothing beats picking pucks with an Alpha. Don’t you think?!”

I snapped. "And you said you were broke!" he fired back. Our voices slammed through the ballroom. The two Alphas blinked. "Wait—you two... know each other?" "Know him?" I growled. "He's the bastard I crashed with for three months—said he worked nights at some sketchy club and took me joyriding in a 'client's' luxury car!" "You're no better!" Caden fired back. "You're the liar who fed me truffle bread and claimed you were some broke college student!"

“Your she-wolf couldn't go ninety minutes without hearing my gravelly voice, could you? Well, my muscles are good and sweaty right now. If your core wants my tongue to get your body there too, our names can execute a little phone sex.” My tracking sensors know something represents wrong the exact second her voice doesn't laugh. Her lips have been giggling at every single stupid hockey joke of mine since last night cycle, but this time her tongue doesn't even acknowledge my comment. “Why did your alpha power greenlight our hockey show?” she asks, completely out of left field.

I dropped into the seat, feeling ridiculous but strangely committed. “Okay, so there’s this guy.” I started, my gaze switching between every one of them. “He's an extremely cold, distant and arrogant hockey player. I need to seduce him properly and get him to announce me as his girlfriend in like six days. Any tips? I’m begging here.” They all leaned in closer, suddenly fully invested. “Ooh, describe him more,” one said, stirring her coffee with interest. “He's absolutely cold and Grumpy as hell.” I started. “Looks at you like you’re an annoying fly but he’s stupidly hot. Pure alpha energy that makes you want to grab your head and scream.”

When I finished, Aaron stared at me like I had just confessed to murder. “You broke up with Bella… found your mate… and decided to fake date her?” “Yes.” “To make Kevin jealous?” “Partly.” “You’re insane.” I lifted my glass. “Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.” Ugo laughed loudly. “That’s my Alpha!” Aaron shook his head. “Are you really doing all this just to piss Kevin off?” I reached into my pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. I took a long drag and let the smoke out slowly.

He runs a hand through it, shakes it out, blades carving lazy arcs into the ice like he’s filming a sports commercial. And, of course, the crowd explodes. I spit the sausage roll back into its wrapper. “You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter. He looks up toward the bleachers. Our eyes meet. Just for a second. Then he winks. I slap my palm over my face. “Unbelievable. He’s such a player. How can someone be this shameless?” This was his idea…the fake dating, the whole ridiculous plan to make Danny jealous. And yet here he is, acting like the most single man alive on skates. Why doesn’t he just grab the rink mic and announce that our relationship is fake while he’s at it?

Don’t” The word came out flat. ”Reeve—“ “Please. Just—don’t.” I pushed past her, stumbling back into the hallway where some students turned their attention to me. I’d spent three years in this building—covering hockey games nobody else wanted to write about. Hockey players were all the same. Rich kids who thought rules didn’t apply to them. I’d hated them since freshman year. And Zane Ashford was the worst of them. The captain of the team—star center and NHL draft prospect whose signing bonus would be more than anything I could imagine. The trust fund kid whose father’s name was on the athletics buiding we were standing in.

"We date for as long as I’m still trending. The exact second a new scandal takes over, the exact moment everyone gets bored of that leaked audio and goes back to minding their own business, we quietly end it." Rhett let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "That's a terrible clause, Riley. Bad news travels fast on this campus, but it leaves a stain that takes weeks to scrub out. It doesn't just vanish overnight. Secondly, I’m the varsity hockey captain. If I start dating someone and we break up four days later because a freshman got caught cheating on an exam, people are going to smell a rat. It ruins the optics." I blinked, hating how logical he was being.

I was lying to the people who raised me. My mother sounded so hopeful and thrilled about my fake romance and I was feeding her a fabricated fantasy designed by Victoria Kane. I was betraying my family’s trust just to protect my hockey contract and the deception tasted like ash on my tongue. The secret belonged to me, Aurora and Victoria alone, but keeping it hidden required me to lie to my mother’s face every single day. I reached for a bottle of red wine sitting on the top shelf and grabbed a glass. I popped the cork, poured a generous amount of the dark liquid and took a long drink. The alcohol burned a hot trail down my throat, but it did nothing to wash away the shame.

“All right.” We stood there for another long moment, the agreement settling into the cold around us. Then Damian reached down, picked up a loose puck, and held it out. I stared at it. He waited. Eventually I took it. Our gloves brushed. The contact was brief. It still sent a current straight up my arm that lingered after he had already turned toward the tunnel. “Same time tomorrow,” he said without looking back. “Early. If you come, we skate. If you don’t, I’ll know the door closed again.”