“You…don’t see an issue?” I repeat. “What about the fact that I’m single, Lis? Or that I’ve nevernotbeen single?”
Alissa waves a hand like that’s but a minor detail. “Nothing we can’t work around. We just need to find a strapping, popular jock willing to put up with you for five months.”
I glance at Levi, hoping he’ll see reason, but his gaze remains firmly on the pamphlet. To my horror, he starts to nod. “I know plenty of guys who’d be into that. I’m sure we can find someone who would be happy to go along with this, for the right price.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks like a furnace as my eyes dart between my siblings. “You two have lost your marbles for sure.”
“Come on, Alexis!” Alissa rolls her eyes. “The three of us, we can make this work. Just think about it.”
“Like you thought aboutnotdying your hair pink on a dare before doing it?” I raise my brows in question, trying to deflect. She merely sticks out her tongue.
“Yes, actually. Because I didn’t let myself overthink it, and now I have awesome hair.” She flips a lock over her shoulder to emphasize her point, and I try to hide the fact that I do love her new hair. “What do you have to lose, anyway?”
“My time, my dignity, my peace, my?—”
Levi groaned loud enough to cut me off. “Stop. Lis has a point; this could be a good opportunity for you. How about this: you give us one chance to find you a fake boyfriend—just one—and if it doesn’t click between the two of you, we drop it.”
“Just one?” I ask. “And then we’ll never speak of it again?”
“Never.”
I scan his face. Levi might not be my identical twin like Alissa, but we look a lot alike. Same high cheekbones, the slightly too large forehead, the same crooked nose, and silver-blue eyes that now held mine defiantly, waiting—no,daringme to argue. I don’t.
Because as much as I hate the idea of it, it’s the best option I have.
“Fine,” I say, and hope it sounds more confident than I feel. “But you better find me a winner.”
Chapter 2
Blake
I letmyself fall onto the wooden bench and pull my water bottle from the gym bag at my feet. To my left, Eric is still bitching about his latest girlfriend, as he has been doing since we stepped off the ice half an hour ago. It’s getting harder and harder not to tell him she’s too good for him. Maybe I’ll slip her a note at the next game, tell her to dump his sorry ass and find someone better.
The door opens and I nod in greeting as our team captain, Levi Moore, walks past.
“And then she started getting all excited about that dumb radio thing, telling me how those dates sounded so cute and she could use the money for her family or whatever. But that girly shit would bomb my reputation for sure, so I shut it right down.” Eric stretches his arms over his head, trying to exaggerate the bit of muscle he has, his pale skin still glinting from the shower.
“Hold up, so she told you she needed the money, and you just…decided not to help her?” I repeat slowly. I promised myself not to get involved, but once again my lack of impulse control decides otherwise. “Dude, if that were me, I’d have gone and signed us up on the spot. She’s supposed to beyour girl.”
Eric shoots me a look like I just stepped in shit. “Why do you care? You just hit ‘em and leave.”
Technically true—I do very much enjoy one-night stands. But I always make sure the girls know what they’re getting into. None of them have ever entered my dorm under the illusion that they’d see me again, and they don’t care. So while I’m not well-versed in actual relationships, it doesn’t matter. Because for the short time that those girls are with me, I’d do anything for them, and I treat them like it too. Something Eric clearly doesn’t relate to.
Eric is the embodiment of the kind of masculinity my father wishes I had, the same kind he himself has. The kind I despise, as it is nothing short of toxic. That need to dominate and be aggressive, to crush your feelings to a pulp so you can appear like arealman, whatever that means. If he had any common sense he would see the flaws in himself and work on them instead of his reputation. Maybe then he’d be deserving of the girls he beds.
“Sure do,” I say, pulling up my jeans and grabbing a shirt. “So you can tell Bella to come find me once she dumps your sorry ass, and I’ll show her what respect looks like.”
Eric’s nostrils flare, the same look in his eyes as he gets when he prepares to slam someone into the boards. I brace myself for the attack but refuse to back down, holding his gaze as I watch him mull it over. He shakes his head and picks up his gym bag, walking out the door without another word.
“Are girls okay? Why do they willingly go near that guy?” my teammate and friend, Rafael, says with a shake of his head.
I crouch down to tie my shoelaces. “Beats me.”
Eric might be a good hockey player, but off the ice, he is a complete and utter dick. I’ve never understood why girls flock to him the way they do, even if they rarely last more than a couple of weeks. Respect to them—I wouldn’t make it five minutes.
Raf stares at his phone while he waits for me to finish up, probably hoping to go for a burger on the way home. It beats soggy leftovers any day. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, some of the cupcakes Levi’s sister dropped off yesterday will still be there on that fancy plate by the time we get home.
Levi’s voice echoes through the empty locker room. “Taylor, mind hanging back for a second?”
