“Do you like any of these ideas?” she asked, exasperated because I couldn’t make up my mind.
“Sorry, I’m indecisive today,” I offered, sincerely this time.
“What about something hockey related?” she suggested.
I pointed at the hockey sticks on the inside of my wrist. “I think I have that covered.”
She sighed. “What about a maple leaf? That would be meaningful, right? Because your mom was Canadian?”
I frowned at her. “How did you know that?”
“Hal told me,” she explained and went back to sketching.
“He talked about my mom?”
He never talked about Mom. Never ever. Not since she died, and her death broke him apart, leaving the rest of us fending for ourselves.
She nodded and hummed to herself while she worked. “It was during my mental breakdown after that asshole left. I think he wanted to tell me he understood loss and sorrow.” She checked her watch. “Blaise, I have another client soon, but how about you think about what you want, and we’ll set up a time to do the piece, okay?”
I nodded and put my t-shirt back on. Her ex was staring again, so I bent down and kissed her goodbye, rubbing my thumb against her cheek. “Call me later?” I whispered.
“I don’t have your number,” she whispered back.
I slid a piece of paper into her hand. “Call me, okay?”
She nodded as if in a trance. I walked out of the tattoo parlor, not sure what I was doing. By the time I got back to my car, my phone buzzed with a text message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: If you’re serious about being my fake boyfriend, can we meet tonight to iron out the details? I want to set some ground rules.
I grinned at her message and immediately added her to my contacts.
ME: Ground rules? Baby, you’re killing me.
VERONICA: Not funny, Blaise. I’m serious.
ME: Bossy, I like it. Okay…I’m free tonight, but you can’t keep me up too late. I have morning skate tomorrow.
VERONICA: Fine. I’ll call you when I’m done with work, and we can talk. Maybe get dinner or something.
ME: This sounds like a date.
VERONICA: A fake one!
ME: Okay, I’m all in for being your fake boyfriend so you can be petty to your ex, who, by the way, seems like a douche, and I’m hotter.
VERONICA: That much we can agree on.
VERONICA: Also, BTW, you’re like 1000X better in bed.
ME: Oh yeah?
VERONICA: Yeah! What other man would get off using a toy on me and then let me tie them to my bed?
ME: Hah. That was a good night. Want a repeat?
VERONICA: I’ll call you later.
Okay, maybe I had ulterior motives for agreeing to this fake dating thing. Maybe I was thinking about if that meant I got to get her underneath me again.
I put my phone in the cupholder and drove off to the gym where I was supposed to meet TJ for a workout. As a hockey player, when I wasn’t at practice, going to team meetings, having a morning skate, traveling with the team, and oh yeah, playing a game, I was hitting the gym as much as possible.
TJ was on the bench press, being spotted by one of my defensive partners, Logan Cullen.
“Come on, T, one more,” Logan urged.
“Fuck you, rookie!” TJ huffed out as he finished the set.
I shook my head at TJ’s antics and began my stretches.
Being a professional athlete, you had to be in peak physical condition. I had no aversion to working my body hard, but I had to prove myself this season. To prove to the Bulldogs they didn’t just sign me because of who my dad was. That I deserved my spot on the team, and I was a good defenseman who knew how to check a guy into the boards and cover the slot.
TJ wiped down the bench. “Hey, man, you made it. Wasn’t sure you were going to show. You get that shit covered up yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Why do you look so happy, though?” TJ asked.
“I think I have a date tonight.”
“What do you mean, you think?” Logan asked.
TJ kicked my foot. “Date? Explain!”
“Well…” Shit, we needed a good cover story. How would people believe this? “I’ve been hooking up with this girl, but it’s been casual since she lives here and I was in Toronto. But now that I’m back…we’re gonna try.”
“Really?” TJ asked, and he had a twinkle in his eye.
“Good luck, man. Where you gonna take her?” Logan asked.
I shrugged. “Not sure yet. I have to think about it.”
“Wait, what does that have to do with going to get your tattoo fixed?” TJ asked.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Oh. She’s a tattoo artist.”
“Hot?” TJ asked.
I nodded. “Definitely. It’s kind of complicated, though.”
Logan cocked his head. “How so?”
“Well, she’s one of the regulars at my dad’s bar, and according to my brothers, she’s off-limits. But I don’t know, my dad’s soft on her, so we’ll see,” I explained.
“Wait…are you telling me you hooked up with Veronica O’Malley?” TJ asked.
I didn’t even know V’s last name. For a fake boyfriend, I was bad at this.
“Isn’t that Rox’s tattoo artist?” Logan asked.
“And Dinah’s brother’s married to V’s brother,” TJ explained.
Dinah was one of my other new teammates’ fiancée. I forgot she was Eddie Mezzanetti’s little sister.
This got way more complicated than I realized. This team was too much of a small world at times. When Benny said that this team was like six degrees of who fucked who, I thought he was joking. What did I get myself into?
Chapter Eight
VERONICA
“Hey, can we talk?” Eddie asked.
“Busy,” I said, trying to push him off. I was finishing up with my last client of the night, and then I wanted to get out of there.
I wiped at my client’s skin, a biker who had become a regular. “How ya doing, Rocky?” I asked.
A grumble came from the large man.
I examined my work, wiping at Rocky’s skin, and felt satisfied with it. I turned off my machine and threw out my gloves. Eddie was still standing there, running his pale hand through his dark hair.
“V…”
I cut him off with a glare and took a picture of Rocky’s back for our social accounts. Then I patched him up and helped him to the register. The big man gave me a hug afterward, which surprised me, but despite how he looked, he was a teddy bear on the inside.
“That’s it for the day, right?” I asked Olivia.
She smirked at me. “Yes, but now you have to tell me what the hell that was earlier.”
I sighed. “Later, okay? I gotta meet Blaise for dinner.”
“He’s really your boyfriend?” she asked, her eyes raising up high in shock. A dark shadow of hurt crossed her face, and I felt awful that she thought I had kept this from her. I should have canceled with Blaise and told him we should call the whole thing off.
“I’ll explain it later,” I told her and gave her hand a little squeeze. “Promise.”