Page 60 of Pucking Bad Boys

“We?” My eyebrows shoot up. “Don’t you think who she dates should be Talia’s choice?”

Tucker slaps me on the back. “Sure, sure. But we can steer her in the right direction. Which is away from douchebags.”

I swear he doesn’t even realize how overprotective he is. It’s second nature to him. “Fine. I care about Talia and I don’t wanther to date a douchebag.” And if I can help it, I’ll be the only douchebag she’s ever with. But of course I don’t say that.

“So,brother-in-law,” his smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “I think it goes without saying that I don’t care that you’re fake dating my sister. If you hurt her, your death is going to be painful and very, very real. Do we understand each other?”

I wouldn’t expect any less from Tucker, but that’s actually something I respect. If anyone were dating my little sister, I’d issue the same warning. “Fake or real, I would never do anything to hurt Talia.” I say honestly. “But you’re the only one who knows that our relationship isn’t real. You need to keep our secret if we want to pull it off.”

“You got it. People don’t like to be lied to and you have millions of followers. It wouldn’t be good for you or Talia if the fact that you’re fake dating came out.”

He’s right. And I’m glad he’s on board. “So you won’t try to kill me if you see her wearing my jersey or you see us kiss?”

“Wait a second.” He frowns. “Why the fuck do you have to kiss if it’s fake?”

“Come on, man.” I roll my eyes. “We have to be convincing. So some PDA is necessary.”

Tucker runs a hand through his hair. “I guess. But I better not catch you hooking up with someone else while you’re my sister’s fake boyfriend. Talia isn’t a puck bunny.”

“Don’t worry, I know that. And I’m not the cheating type. I never cheated on Gen while we were together. Talia and I already agreed that we’ll be exclusive as long as our deal lasts. My summer hookups were trying to send a message to Gen. But I realized that the only thing that will convince my ex that she and I are done once and for all is a serious girlfriend.”

“Fine.” Tucker rubs his chin with a calculating look in his eyes. “Then you have my blessing. And you know what? Fakedate her for as long as you want. Like I said before, if she has a fake boyfriend, I won’t have to worry about a real one.”

As Tucker leaves my room, I exhale a relieved breath. With him on board, the biggest obstacle to Talia’s heart is my brother. I wasn’t lying to her when I told her that Becks always seems to want what I have.

I’ll happily share the spotlight with him on the ice, but Talia is going to be mine.

Talia

I’m an idiot.

As I walk back into the Zeta house that afternoon, my head is full of thoughts about Macklin and Becks. I’m not paying attention to anything else when I clearly should.

I’m a little disappointed that Macklin didn’t kiss me again when he dropped me off at my first class of the day. But why would he? We weren’t in public so that Gen could see us, and we weren’t alone enough that we could start on our coaching.

In a way, our deal gives me the best of both worlds. Getting the attention of someone like Macklin would have been impossible for me. I’m not his type. But like this, I get to experience how it feels to be with him without getting hurt when he inevitably moves on. And hopefully he’s right that Becks likes me and that seeing me with Macklin will spur him into making a move out of the platonic zone.

A notification from the house app brings me back to reality.

Genevieve requires your presence in the president’s office.

Shit. There’s only one thing this could be about. She saw the change in my relationship status and she’s pissed.

This could get really unpleasant, but in reality, what could she do to me? Murder is illegal, and even as the sorority president, she can’t kick me out of the sorority or the house without a serious reason and a house vote.

So I square my shoulders and knock on her office door. I’m determined to stand my ground, whatever Gen throws at me.

“Talia. Come on in and take a seat, please.” Gen points to the chair across from her desk.

Did she change the height of these chairs? I’ve been here before when Bay and Candace were presidents, and I don’t remember the president’s desk looking so imposing. It feels like Gen is towering over me in her white leather chair.

“Is everything ok?” I brace myself for some kind of bad news. Since I got cut from the Shooting Stars, my life has been one total shitshow after another.

“Everything is good. I just wanted to give you a heads up that there’s going to be a pop quiz next week in Professor Cantucci’s class.”

The news comes as a surprise. We were assigned a hefty amount of reading, but I didn’t think the quizzes would start so soon.

“How do you know? Weren’t the pop quizzes supposed to be random? I didn’t get any emails from the professor.”