Page 5 of Tempting the Goalie (Riverside U #5)
CHAPTER THREE
I sabelle
“Izzy, do you want to research the types of biases present when self-reporting on a survey?” Priya asks.
“Huh?”
Priya watches me carefully like she is trying to dissect what is going through my mind right now. This happens a lot in our friend group since we are all third-year psych majors.
“Earth to, Izzy, did you hear what I said?” Priya asks. She isn’t upset, but she does look concerned since she knows about West’s cheating.
“Sorry.” I wince.
“It’s totally fine,” Yuna says from beside me, eyeing Priya with a warning in her eyes.
“Guys, I’m okay. I promise,” I assure my friends.
“It’s okay to be upset,” Priya says, watching me like she is expecting me to break at any moment.
“I’m upset West lied and didn’t have the decency to break up with me in person, but my heart doesn’t feel broken. I guess I wasn’t as invested in us as I thought,” I assure my friends.
I look over at Yuna because her jaw is dropped, and I don’t understand why she has such a stunned look on her face. When Priya called to tell me she signed us up for a study room in the library to work on our psych assignment, I thought it was a brilliant idea because I needed out of my house.
“Yuna, what’s wrong with you?” Priya snaps at her.
Yuna points to the window where I see Luc standing off to the side.
“Luc is here?” I question. “Is this some intervention?”
I stand and walk toward the door. “He wasn’t invited. You know we aren’t cool enough to hang with the guys from the hockey house,” Yuna states. “OMG, he is so hot.” She starts fanning herself. I roll my eyes playfully and open the door of the study room.
“Luc, what are you doing here?” I ask.
“I’ve been calling your cell. You didn’t answer so I located you,” he says. When we came out to Riverside together Luc convinced me to allow him to track my phone, so if I was ever in trouble or there was an emergency back home, he could find me. He’s never used the app until now.
“Did something happen? What’s the emergency?” My heart rate kicks up as I come up with all kinds of horrible scenarios of why he’s here.
He runs his fingers through his hair, and it’s then I notice how nervous he looks.
“There’s no real emergency. Everyone back home is fine.
It’s me who needs your help,” he murmurs in a very non-Luc way.
He pulls his gaze from me and stares at the ground looking defeated.
Again, this is very unlike his usual cocky confidence.
“You know I’ll help you in any way I can,” I promise.
“Which is why I feel like an asshole for asking this of you,” he states.
“Spit it out, Luc. I’m getting worried.”
“I got myself into hot water with the team,” he says vaguely.
“Care to explain?” Luc was always a troublemaker. If he wasn’t getting in trouble on his own, then it had a way of finding him.
Just as he’s about to explain, a girl walks up to him and smiles at him. “That was so fucking hot. Do you want to do that with me sometime?” she asks. She’s tall, blond, and beautiful. I cower next to her because I will never be Luc’s type.
Luc winces and mutters something incomprehensible. “I’m busy right now. Do you mind?”
The girl doesn’t take a hint. Instead, she places her palm on his chest. “Okay, tiger. I’m good with a rain check.” She winks and walks away.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask Luc.
“So, you didn’t see the viral video of me on Instagram and TikTok?” he asks.
“No,” I drag out the O.
Luc blows out a breath. “Good. I figured you hadn’t seen it.”
“I don’t open social media on the regular. I kind of just followed West, but that isn’t a thing anymore,” I remind.
“Right. Please don’t get curious and look me up,” he pleads as a brunette walks up to him.
“I’m down for a game of three,” she says to him with a Southern accent.
My eyes bulge from their sockets. Girls are always coming on to Luc, but this is excessive, even for him.
“Excuse me, but I’m busy right now,” Luc says to her. Her head jerks back and she looks at me. Her nose scrunches and her lips curl before she walks away, looking like her ego took a hit.
“Luc, what is going on?” I demand.
He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I screwed up and the girls I was with videotaped our interaction. Now my whole career is on the line,” he confesses, looking completely distraught.
“Interaction?” I ask, confused.
“I was having a threesome,” he blurts and his cheeks turn a healthy pink.
I wince. “As in you had sex with three girls at the same time?”
“Two girls,” he clarifies.
“Holy shit,” I mutter.
“Izzy, I know it’s messed up. I have issues. Coach wants me to change my image and to do that I need a girlfriend. Since I’m not going to date anyone for real. . .”
“You need my help,” I finish his sentence.
“Will you do it?” he asks looking so hopeful, bashful, and ashamed all at once. I find it hard to deny him.
“This is crazy. I can’t be your pretend girlfriend,” I whisper.
“Izzy, you’re the only one I trust,” he whispers.
I look over to the study room where I see Priya and Yuna eavesdropping.
“My friends just overheard our conversation,” I inform matter-of-factly. They both turn their heads and look up to the ceiling, as if they weren’t just listening in.
“Please ask them to keep it quiet,” Luc begs.
“Please, who do you think we talk to?” Priya asks in return laughing, but when Luc levels her with his gaze, she slowly curls into a little ball on the chair.
I exhale.
“Izzy, I’m begging. I’m not a saint. I don’t deserve your help, but everything I’ve worked for is on the line.
” He isn’t wrong. Luc worked hard to get out of Val-Du-Lys.
He also wants to make enough money to help Elyna since she never made it to university and has a hard time holding down a job.
With so much on the line, I can’t say no but I can make it worth my while too.
What if Luc and I were fake dating and he taught me how to keep a boyfriend?
Clearly, I couldn’t keep West happy, and I wasn’t able to orgasm with him.
Maybe Luc could teach me a few tricks to help me with my next boyfriend.
Maybe that way I won’t be so pathetic that the guy I’m dating just starts dating someone else without notifying me.
“Izzy, what is going on in that head of yours?” My best friend looks concerned.
“I was thinking we could help each other out,” I say to him.
“How? You know I’m here for you. Whatever you need,” he confirms.
I know Luc and the minute I suggest he gives me relationship lessons; he is going to have a coronary.
“I need you to teach me how to keep a boyfriend.”
“What does that mean?” he asks warily.
“Teach me how to make sex enjoyable for a guy. Teach me how to come. That way I can keep my next boyfriend,” I say quietly.
He growls, “You’re killing me. There’s nothing wrong with you. West is an asshole. You did nothing wrong.”
“You can’t know that,” I snap.
He looks from side to side. There are too many students walking around us.
“I can’t do this now. I thought it would be a quick yes. Can we talk about this later? The last thing I need is for someone to be taping our conversation.”
“Sure, I should get back to my schoolwork anyway,” I say to him.
“How about we go for a picnic by the lake tomorrow afternoon? You don’t have any afternoon classes on Friday, right?”
“That sounds good, but I’m serious, Luc, I need your help.”
He growls and leans in to kiss my forehead in a friendly way.
“I’ll be in touch later,” he says and takes off.
I head back into the study room and close the door. That’s when both Priya and Yuna screech at the top of their lungs with excitement.
“You’re both going to get us thrown out of here,” I warn.
“OMG, you’re the luckiest girl on the planet,” Priya says. “Luc is so hot.”
“He hasn’t agreed to anything yet,” I remind. “And I need you guys to promise you’ll never repeat anything you heard to anyone.”
“You know you can trust us,” Yuna declares.
“I know,” I say.
“For the record, I’m betting you’ll get Luc to cave,” Yuna says.
“Really? He seemed pretty alarmed by her suggestion,” Priya replies.
“Can we please get back to our assignment?” I redirect.
“Huh, as if you’ll be able to focus now.” Priya laughs.
She’s got me there. I can’t focus because all I can think about now is my best friend making me come. This is bad.