“Let’s just post this picture and spend some time together, then see what happens, okay? You know, just in case.” I was committed to this idea, and I wanted to help get Dani out of this mess with Jenzy. A mess that I hadn’t fixed at all when I ran my mouth.
“Fine.”
“Great. I just posted the pic on Instagram and sent it to you,” I said just as her phone pinged with my text.
“What’d you say?” She opened up the app and searched for me. “Okay, that’s not bad. You already have a bunch of hearts and comments. Shit, that was like seconds ago.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t already follow me. Such a terrible fake girlfriend.”
She glared and poked at her screen. “Very funny. There. I liked you now.”
“And I’m sort of popular online. Not like some of the guys, but people like my goalie antics.”
She started swiping at her screen. “Whoa. You’re very bendy.”
“Why, thank you. Wait. Which picture?”
She showed me the shot of me bent in half with the top of my helmet touching the ice.
“Oh, yeah. Goalies have to be super flexible.”
Was she blushing thinking about my dexterity? This was going to be fun.
Chapter 4
DANI
Belinda walked into my office not even five minutes after I’d returned from my negotiations meeting, date,whatever, with Gabe. She was waving her phone at me. “Want to share something with the class, Miss Dani?”
“Umm, what are you talking about?” I tried not to panic, but I’d already had a bunch of notifications since he’d tagged me in that post, including another message from my father, and I was definitely not in the mood to return that call. My dad had liked Roger; of course he had. Not that I cared or needed his opinion on who I dated.
Mal—my little brother, Malcolm Jr—had also been quick to comment about how cute we looked. He was going to tease me endlessly about having another goalie boyfriend when he got back from vacationing in Hawaii with his boyfriend Rick. Hell, he’d already started with the taunts about me having a type and asking if I had daddy issues since I kept going for goalies.
Mal had been a pain in the ass since his arrival when I was four, but I guess I still loved him.
Unlike our dad, he’d been livid about Roger, but I hadn’t filled him in on the whole kissing Gabe and fake dating thing when he’d called the other night. I was still trying to wrap my head around all that anyway. Luckily, he and Rick had had dinner plans so the call was short, but I knew he’d want an in-depth chat about my “new boyfriend” as soon as we touched base again. I still hadn’t decided whether I was going to tell him the truth. The more people who knew we were fake dating, the bigger chance it would all blow up in my face. But he was my brother, and I hated keeping anything from him. And then I would also have to add Rick to the list of people who knew, but Rick wouldn’t let any info slip.
“Don’t play dumb with me, missy. Granted, I have spent the last two days catching up, and we had to cancel our initial chat on Wednesday because Jasper got sick again, but you go to lunch and suddenly there are Instagram posts of you and your new boyfriend?” She narrowed her eyes. “Explain yourself. You have fifteen minutes until our next clients arrive.”
I sighed. Since she’d been there at the start, so to speak, Belinda was one I’d planned to fill in, but between her son being sick and work being nonstop all week, I hadn’t had a chance. And part of me was so annoyed that I was even in this situation. What the hell had I been thinking, asking a stranger to kiss me in public?
“He’s hot, by the way, and you two look adorable.” She shut the door and took a seat on the couch while I plopped into my comfy chair across from her. “Spill all the deets.”
“It’s not real,” I muttered.
She leaned in. “What?”
I sighed again. I’d seriously been doing that way too much in the last few days. Fucking Roger. Jackass.
“So, after you left Reilly’s Friday night, Gabe showed up. He was nice. We were just chatting. But then Roger walked into the bar, and I was just tired of trying to get it through his thick skull that we were over. So I asked Gabe to kiss me and pretend we were dating.”
“Oh my god. How dare you wait until now to tell me this! An entireweek?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You could’ve texted me over the weekend, I would’ve gladly taken a Roblox break. Hell, you could’ve made the time yesterday. Clients can wait.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Whatever.” She waved her hand at me. “Keep going. So, you kissed him. Was it epic? Stars in eyes? Did Roger cry?”
I barked out a laugh. “Please, you have to stop.”
