Page 55 of Ice Me Out

“Luke?” I look at my brother, hoping he can make more sense than his teammate. “What the fuck is going on? From what I’ve heard last night at the party, Jamie has no problem getting female attention. Actually, it’s just the opposite. And he’s rarely seen with the same girl more than once. Why would he want a girlfriend now, and why me?”

They look at each other again, as if they were communicating without words.

“I’m waiting for an answer.” I glare at the two men in front of me. “And by the way, what’s wrong with you? This isn’t how you get a girlfriend. You don’t just go around saying, I need a girlfriend and you’re it.”

Jamie sighs. “I know. Look, Bex, this is a mutually beneficial situation. I need to stop partying too much. You need a place to stay. Why not help each other? This morning, Luke and I were summoned to Coach’s office. The Dean was there, and he was furious…”

What the fuck doesn’t even start covering the crazy story they tell me.

No.

That’s the first word on the tip of my tongue.

The imploring look in Jamie’s eyes shouldn’t pull at my heartstrings. After all, he had no problem voting against letting me stay in their condo when it didn’t suit him.

But it’s also true that if he wanted to, he could easily find someone else to play the part of his girlfriend.

Sure, it can’t be a puck bunny or a sorority girl. But I’ve seen how women look at Jamie on the pier the night I arrived, and at the Zeta house last night.

They say that they can’t trust anyone else to keep this whole thing secret, but I don’t buy it.

I don’t know why Jamie didn’t vote to let me stay when Luke asked, but I guess it wasn’t because he hates me, or he wouldn’t be asking me to be his girlfriend. Even if it’s fake.

Besides, what’s the alternative?

It’s not like I have somewhere else to go if I turn down this deal.

“Even if I said yes to this,” I glare at my soon to be fake boyfriend. “What about Connor and Keene? They didn’t want me here either.”

“Don’t worry about them.” Luke reassures me. “Connor was just worried about us being caught letting you stay here without permission, and that’s no longer the case. Let me and Jamie take care of Keene.”

Jamie adds another stipulation. “Yeah, he’ll come around. The important thing is, this deal has to stay between the three of us. Everyone outside this room needs to think that you and I are smitten with each other. Connor and Keene included.”

Luke agrees. “That’s right. If you two can convince Connor and Keene, you’ve got this in the bag.”

“Talking about bags,” Jamie smiles. “I’ve got something for you.”

I hadn’t noticed that he had a bag from the merchandise store with him when he came in.

What could he have gotten me? The answer stares me in the face when I pull a blue and silver Star Cove Knights jersey out of the bag.

“Number six?” I say, still a little surprised.

“Turn it around.” Jamie encourages me.

It says “Hart” on the back.

“My girlfriend should wear my jersey. Definitely at games, but it wouldn’t hurt if you wore it around campus, too.”

“Thank you, I guess?” I will never admit it to Jamie, but I missed wearing Matthew’s jersey after we broke up.

Kurt never asked me to wear his, despite us being engaged.

“Don’t look so excited.” Jamie chides me, as I keep staring at his jersey.

“No, I… sorry. Thank you, I don’t have many clothes and this adds to my wardrobe.”

“We can begin to fix that.” Jamie says, surprising the hell out of me. “We’re a relatively big campus for such a small town, and this year the board allowed a couple of franchises to open stores that aren’t just restaurants. They have a few decent clothing stores near the library and they’re open today. Why don’t you show off your new jersey and we can check out the selection? If not, we can go out shopping in town next weekend.”