Dollface
Go fuck yourself, VanCourt.
That’s it. I’m heading to North Point to abduct my husband. Though, is it really an abduction if he’s mine? Consensus says no. If Ryan’s going to be a disobedient little whore, that’s what he gets. He can spend a night locked up in my dungeon. Not the regular dungeon, of course not. I have another room down there; it’s comfortable. I’d stay with him. No way would I leave himalone down there. But my insides would feel so, so, cozy knowing he’s where I can see him, where I know others won’t be looking at him and?—
“Fuck me,” Ethan says, cutting off my internal tirade.
“What now?”
“This.” Ethan flips his phone around.
“Is that theShadowridge Gazette?”
“Yeah, I subscribed to keep up with shit onthe campus you work at,” he says, emphasizing the last part. “Your hockey unicorn is in trouble.”
Things go from shitty to extra fucking shitty. Damage Control becomes my new name.
Fucking McKinnon—aka my hockey unicorn—is at the center of it.
His beginning-of-the-year idiocy caught up with him. The amateur school journalist who memorialized the drunken pity party he threw himself during his frat house’s season opener resurfaced. The article made him look bad. It’s blown out of proportion if you ask me, but it is what it is. Normally, not my problem, but it is when all the donors I’d carefully lined up call me to pull out, and I have a commissioner to impress. I do my best to put out fires.
As if that’s not enough, I’m dealing with Luke’s heavy stares and all the thoughts he doesn’t say out loud. But it’s so obvious what he’s thinking. He could have had enough money to make Ace’s problems go away if only a certain brother of his had gotten married. I’d love to tell him that I am, but it interfereswith the story I’ve built. And it’s really bad timing. It can’t get back to the commissioner that I’m married to Ryan. More people already know than I would like.
There’s an art and a science to what I do to make several moving pieces work.
But I can’t look him in the eyes anymore, something that doesn’t happen with me. It’s time to move things in the direction of having Uncle Jasper’s fortune released to Luke, whether I like it or not. I’ll just have to make everything else work.
It has to be done artfully, though, if I’m going to secure that commissioner position as well. The key is to lead Luke on, just for a little while longer, delay, delay, delay until it’s time.
I’ve been warming Luke to the idea of Ryan all season in different ways. I need Luke to believe he’s helping me. That’s the way it’s always been; that’s the role Luke wants in my life. He lives to be my hero, and I’ll always give that to him. By doing that, he’ll never suspect that I’ve been doing the same for him.
I met with him in his office.
“I need your help again, Luke,” I said. “I fuckinghatethat I do.” I made sure to sound as pitiful as possible. Luke has a misplaced soft spot for me.
“Does this have something to do with Ryan?” he asked.
How he knew that I have no fucking idea. Was it on my face?
“Yes.He’s the one. I want to marry him.” Saying the words to Luke brought something to my voice I didn’t expect. Emotion. I had to lock that shit down, tighten my body, slow my racing heart. If there’s anyone who will clock a shift in my demeanor, it would be Luke.
“You seem thrilled,” he said with an inflection of sarcasm.
Good, that was good. He’d read me as either annoyed or mad about it. But I was thinking about Ryan, and the last thing I need to do is think about Ryan, which is annoying and infuriating. Ryan needs to stay out of my head.
“I’m not, but it doesn’t matter. Married is married, right? That’s the requirement. Unless there’s anything else you want to share with me?”
My tone held a suggestive undercurrent. Because how dare Luke fall for Uncle Jasper’s twisted games. I might be a lot of horrible things, but I fucking idolize my brother. He’s who I wish I could have been, and Jasper knew it. He wanted to take that from me, too. Jasper didn’t just control you; he made sure you had nothing else to rely on but him. Jasper using the marriage clause to pit Luke and me against each other pisses me off so much it was easy to look angry for Luke’s benefit.
The guilt on Luke’s face was predictable. He looked like a kicked puppy.
“It was just a stupid test, Tate. I’m sorry. Yeah, let’s arrange the marriage—that is, if you still want the fortune—and then you can divorce him after an appropriate amount of time.”
My hand clawed the desk against my will. I wished it was Ryan’s heart beating under my hand. The only thing that seems to bring me any comfort.
“I’m not like you, Luke,” I said quietly. “I try to be, Iwantto be, but I’m not good like you are.”
He shook his head. “What do you mean? You’re so much better than?—”
