Page 38 of The Fake Out

I ran into TJ, but I steeled my features so he couldn’t tell how upset I was. I was supposed to be happy. I was playing for the team my dad had played for, the one I had grown up rooting for. This was supposed to be a dream come true. I also just announced to the whole hockey world I was dating someone new. I should be happy, but it was all a lie. A carefully crafted lie to get my family off my back and for Veronica to get closure from her ex.

“Yo, dude!” TJ cheered.

“Hey, man,” I greeted back and plastered on a fake smile.

His hazel eyes bored into me. “You okay, man?”

I nodded as we walked together into the locker room. I took my seat at the cubby in between Riley and Benny. Riley wasn’t here yet, but Benny already had his practice jersey on and was lacing up his skates. He gave me a nod, and I started stripping off my street clothes.

I put my phone on the shelf, but I paused at the text message on the screen. My lips curled up at seeing Veronica’s name.

VERONICA: Sorry about rushing out this morning. It was all very awk…and work’s a mess right now.

VERONICA: I hope you’re not mad at me.

ME: Not at you, sweets. I’ll see you after the game?

VERONICA: Yup. D’s excited to ‘teach me how to hockey.’

I leveled a glance across the room at Dinah’s fiancé, Noah. He was a quiet guy with long hair and a massive beard. Whereas Dinah was a tiny Italian girl with a loud mouth. She was my kind of people.

A stick jabbed into the back of my knee, forcing me to jerk forward, and I dropped my phone onto the shelf. I turned around to see Benny with a smirk on his face.

“Motherfucker, what?”

He and TJ snickered at me while I pulled on my compression shirt and started working on getting on my equipment.

“So, when Rox gave you the name of her tattoo artist to fix that shit,” Benny began and motioned to my chest, “it wasn’t so you could bang her.”

“Was already banging her,” I stated flatly and laced up my skates. When I looked up at Benny, he was slack-jawed, and TJ howled with laughter.

“Hmm,” Noah muttered next to TJ.

“Bro, what?” I asked.

He ran a hand through his flow. “D said Veronica doesn't do relationships anymore. Period.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you saying?”

“Be careful, man.”

Shit, maybe convincing people Veronica and I were together was going to be tougher than I thought.

Chapter Twelve

VERONICA

“I’ve got a last-minute walk-in. Can you take it?” Seth asked me while I was packing up, ready to take a bus over to the stadium.

I shot him a glare. “Are you kidding me?”

“Please, Roni?” he begged.

“No. I have to get to the game. Ask the other two.”

Who did he think he was? Blaise asked me to come to the game tonight, and it was important if we were going for this illusion we were dating. I had to play the part of the good hockey girlfriend.

“I asked Olivia, and they’re busy,” he said.