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My pulse goes haywire, so I take a slow sip of my drink.

I smile sweetly, pretending I’m unaffected as I reach across him to grab a fry off his plate.

As I do so, I drag my hand over his lap, slow enough to make sure he feels it.

Right over the very obvious boner straining against the front of his pants.

Chase jolts like I zapped him, his breath hitching.

“Brat.”

I pop the fry in my mouth and smirk. “Just helping you feel seen.”

He leans in, mouth by my ear. “Keep doing shit like that and this whole bar’s gonna see the extent of what I’m willing to do to you in public.”

I don’t have time to dwell on the feeling brewing low in my stomach at those words, because Logan drops lazily into a chair, back from the bar. “Alright, since we’re all here, I think it’s time we discuss something important.”

Eli groans immediately, and Chase tenses next to me. “We're not talking about this.”

My eyes narrow as I look between them. “We’re not talking about what ?”

“These idiots and their attempt at PR,” Reid offers from his spot at the end.

I’m immediately on alert. If these fuckers are attempting any kind of PR stunts related to the team without telling me, it’ll already be a nightmare—specifically my nightmare.

“What did you do?”

“We decided that our new power couple needed a proper couple’s name.”

Charlie snorts, and Tamara’s face lights up.

Lulu tilts her head, considering Logan. “So, what’s their couple name, then?”

Logan looks back at her, momentarily lost for words, and I can only assume it’s because he’s suddenly got the full attention of the beautiful Tallulah Parnell.

My eyes dart to Jake, who leans forward like he’s about to unveil the best secret known to man.

“Chaz.”

“I beg your fucking pardon?”

“Chaz,” Logan repeats, delighted. “The official power couple name of Chase and Zoe.”

I whip my head toward Chase. “You let them call us that?!”

Chase glares at Jake. “I didn’t let anyone do anything. This idiot suggested it, and then Logan and Hutch—”

“Hutchy?!” I whip my head to the silent, grumpy goalie. “You created this?”

Dry as ever, he looks up from his beer. “I co-signed it. Didn’t create it.”

I stab a finger at Chase. “You should’ve fought harder.”

“I did fight hard,” he exclaims, gesturing back at Logan and Jake. “They don’t care!”

Logan raises a hand solemnly. “For the record, I care a lot.”

Lulu looks at me with a grin, like she’s about to say something I won’t like. “I think it’s cute.”

I slam my hands down on the tabletop. “I am leaving this booth.”

A warm hand is suddenly on my thigh, squeezing gently, grounding me. Chase doesn’t acknowledge it, doesn’t even look at me, just keeps it there to anchor me.

Taking a deep breath, I choose to let Chase remain with his hand intact, and instead pin Logan with a look. “Maybe don’t use your brain creatively, Pookie . You’re not cut out for this shit.”

“Too late,” Logan says, sipping his beer nonchalantly. “It’s done.”

“No, it’s not,” Chase argues.

Charlie, still wiping tears of laughter from her cheek, turns to Jake. “So, what’s our couple name?”

“We don’t have one,” Jake replies flatly at the same time that Logan declares, “Jarlie!”

Charlie makes the most disgusted face I’ve ever seen, contorting into a shape that makes Jake look personally victimized.

Jake looks to Chase. “This is on you, bud . ”

Chase leans back with a shrug, one hand still resting on my thigh, his fingers flexing ever so slightly. “Sorry, man. You can’t fight fate.”

“Fate can eat my ass,” Jake mutters.

Satisfied as all hell, Logan claps his hands together. “Alright, that’s two down. Next up: Eli and Tamara.”

Eli, mid-sip of his beer, sputters like someone’s just punched him in the throat.

Jake grins like the devil himself. “E.T.”

Tamara pales, her mouth dropping open as she slowly turns to Eli, who looks like he’d like nothing more than to throw himself into traffic. “Jesus Christ.”

“Would be a shame if people latched onto that, ” Reid muses, full of fake sympathy.

“E.T.,” I repeat, tasting the power on my tongue as I slowly turn to Tamara. “You gave me a lot of shit earlier.”

A crease appears between her eyes. “So?”

“ So I work in PR, Tamara. I could have so much fun with this.”

“Oh, come on—”

“I mean, think of the headlines,” I interrupt, picking up my phone like I might actually pitch it. “The press loves a nickname.”

Tamara lunges for me. “ No! ”

Laughing, I shift just out of reach and in the process, lean right into Chase. His arm tightens around me as if we’re in sync “Hmm, I don’t know, something about E.T. and a phone…”

“You’re evil!” she mutters, slumping back in her chair.

“You should’ve thought about that before interrogating me.”

Logan wipes a fake tear. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been.”

I glance sideways, only to find Chase already watching me. That same grin, equal parts smug and amused, playing on his lips like he knows exactly what he’s doing. He leans in, mouth brushing my ear.

“You know,” he whispers, “I really like it when you’re like this.”

I turn my head slowly, hoping he’ll move away from my face as I do so.

He doesn’t, but his smirk deepens. “So mean.”

Heat licks up my spine, but I refuse to acknowledge it. Refuse.

“That’s a you problem, Walton.”

Chase tilts his head, eyes roaming over my face, dipping down to my mouth and back again. “I don’t think it is.”

Before I can tell him where to shove that smirk, Lulu gestures across the table. “Okay, so what’s Reid’s?”

There’s a beat of silence while Logan blinks. “His what?”

Reid gestures vaguely. “She wants to know my couple name.”

The whole table falls silent for about ten whole seconds before Jake pipes up. “You’re a lone wolf, my guy.”

Logan nods solemnly. “Yeah, it’s just Reid or Hutchy. No combination necessary.”

Tamara tilts her head thoughtfully. “Maybe… Grumplestiltskin?”

I sip my drink. “Stonewall.”

Charlie shrugs. “Popsicle?”

Reid lets out the loudest exhale I’ve ever heard. “I’m going home.”

Jake points his beer at Eli. “E.T. can get you there.”

Eli flips him off without looking his way.

From the bar, Gary’s voice erupts like a thunderclap. “ I swear to God , if I hear one more of these goddamn nicknames, you’re all barred!”

The table breaks into fresh laughter. Logan cackles like he’s just won the lottery, Eli scowls into his beer, and Tamara shakes her head like she regrets every life choice that led her to this moment. Even Reid cracks what might be the ghost of a smirk.

I take a slow sip of my drink, letting the noise fade just enough to notice the weight of Chase’s arm still draped around me. His fingers flex gently against my shoulder like he’s forgotten they’re there. But I haven’t.

When I glance over, he’s already watching me quietly, like he’s been doing it for a while. And for a second, I forget how to breathe.

Because the worst part isn’t the teasing or the chaos or even the fact that our fake relationship just got a goddamn nickname.

It’s that I have no fucking idea what he’s thinking.