Page 52 of The Fake Out

Rox rubbed at her maple leaf tattoo on her wrist and muttered something beside me.

“Dude! Stop! You’re going to rub it off if you keep doing that, and then you’re going to have to pay me to fix it,” I joked.

She made a face. “Not true.”

I laughed, but she looked frantic.

I spied Blaise tearing down the ice, chasing after a Montreal player. He looked beautiful on the ice. Like he belonged there, and he knew it. He was this big scary dude when he checked another player into the boards, but there was this part of his playing style that I found mesmerizing. There was a beauty in how his big body carved across the ice.

I caught myself holding my breath while Benny got the puck down near Montreal’s goal. He batted the puck on his stick, trying to find one of his teammates, and then he passed it to Blaise. In a blink, the red lamp behind the opposing goaltender lit up, and the horn sounded.

“That’s my man! Getting that apple!” Rox cheered.

Whatever that meant. I felt like I needed to study hockey to understand what these women were talking about half the time.

Blaise skated by where we sat behind the glass, and we locked eyes again. He kissed his gloved fingers and pointed at me. That was all for show, but it didn’t help that fluttering feeling swelling up in my chest. I tried to push it down. I cut the feelings out of my heart a long time ago, and they weren’t coming back for a hot hockey player.

In the end, the Bulldogs won, 3-1, and the girls informed me it was a win the team desperately needed.

“Bar?” Rox asked, looking at me expectantly.

I checked the time on my phone and thought about it. The shop didn’t open until noon tomorrow, so I was down for a few drinks before I had to navigate which train I had to get home. Sometimes it was annoying that I lived far away, but sometimes it was nice because then I had an excuse to go home and paint without interruptions.

“Okay, let’s go,” I told her.

I hitched a ride with Rox to Eileen’s. As soon as I plunked down at the bar, Hal put a lager in front of me and gave me a sly smile. “Oh, you know me so well!”

“You’re wearing his jersey,” he told me matter-of-factly.

I pointed to Dinah, who sat next to me, drinking her own beer. “She told me I was supposed to.”

“I’m glad you two figured this out,” Hal said.

“Wait…” Dinah began. “Did you try to set them up?”

The older man gave her a wink.

“Hal! No, you didn’t!” I squealed.

He shrugged. “You’re good for each other, but…”

“But what?” I asked.

“Blaise wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s too much like me. So be good to him, yeah?”

Dinah and I shared a confused look. “What are you saying?” I asked.

“I don’t want to see either of you hurt again.”

Guilt stabbed at my heart at his words. Were we complete assholes for fooling everyone with our fake relationship? We were tricking everyone because I wanted to be petty to my ex, and Blaise wanted his family to get off his dick after his breakup. But his dad wanted us to be happy and thought we could do that together.

“I—”

“Dad, will you give it a rest?” A deep voice grumbled from behind me. “Leave my girl alone.”

“Blaise…” Hal warned.

But Blaise wasn’t paying attention to him. Instead, he bent down and kissed me. I melted into his touch. We hadn’t seen each other in about a week, and I forgot he was such a good kisser.