It’s not a total lie. Suit Guydidassault a woman, and hediddeserve what he got for it. That woman was just not my girlfriend. That fact shouldn’t matter, but I think people will warm up to this whole situation easier if they think I was protecting someone I’m in a relationship with, rather than a girl I was definitely trying to hook up with.
Amanda swoops in before I can say anything further and put my foot in my mouth.
“That’s enough for the evening. Thank you for your time. Coach Davison will be up shortly.”
I stand, thankful for her wondrous timing. I suck in a breath, rubbing my hands on my thighs as I get to my feet. It’s then that I risk a glance beside me, where Lowesy is now standing, too. He is staring at me with the most bewildered expression on his face, looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind.
I might have.
The second we’re out of earshot of the reporters, back in the familiar halls of our arena, he whirls on me. Doesn’t say anything, just stares at me. I think he’s waiting for me to explain, but he’s cut off by Coach, who is storming toward us, a rolled-up piece of paper in his hand.
He points it at me. “I’m never going to reward you for beating the shit out of a member of the public.”
Wisely, Lowesy keeps his mouth shut and buries his hands in his pockets.
“But if that was my daughter, I’d be glad she had you,” he continues. He’s still walking, heading for the media room that we just left. Thankfully, that means we don’t need to have an extended conversation about this big, ridiculous lie I just dropped. “Bring her by, yeah? You don’t have to hide your girlfriend from me or your team, Forker. Proud that you’re growing up.”
I force a tight smile and nod, a bit too stiffly. “Thanks, Coach.”
He storms into the media room and out of sight. At least those few sentences from his mouth proved I did the right thing, no matter how morally skewed. I earned Coach’s respect back a bit with my little white lie.
A win is a win.
Declan and I carry on toward the locker room to gatherour stuff, but it’s quiet between us. I stare straight ahead. I make no jokes. The only thing I can think about is how I’m going to navigate this if the public starts attempting to put the pieces together. If they start trying to put a face to the woman I just claimed to be willing to go to jail for, I might be screwed.
When we reach the locker room, Declan finally glances at me.
“Girlfriend?”
“Took you five whole minutes to remember that word?” I ask, pushing into the room.
“No,” Declan admits, “but I thought it might mean something else in a foreign language since you do not, and I meanabsolutelydo not, have a girlfriend.”
“How are you so sure?”
I tear my coat off the hanger, not willing to look at him. Lowesy is my best friend. He reads me easily. I don’t know why I’m lying to him, trying to keep this ruse going, but I need two seconds to sort out what the hell I just did before I settle on what I will or won’t be telling anyone.
If I can trick him, I’m positive the rest of the world will be easy.
“Because you took that girl home two weekends ago. The black haired girl with the red lips.”
Alright. We aren’t tricking Lowesy.
Nina. Hot as hell.She had the whole Megan Fox thing going on. All sharp edges and hard eyes. Looked like she would eat me alive. I wanted to see if she would, so I brought her home. Nope. Melted the second I touched her. I might have been the one to eat her alive in the end.
“So,” Dec continues, because he’s now a dog with a bone, “unless you met this girl five minutes ago and it was love at first sight, you’re single as shit and you do not have agirlfriend to throw punches over. Or, you’vefinallygot hit one time too many and you’ve been imagining her.”
I shoot him a cold look.
He flashes that cocky grin, dimples and all. Then his face goes dead serious.
“Is she in here right now?” he whispers, pivoting to face the spot beside me. He waves to the air. “Beside you? Hi, Forker’s girlfriend. How are you?”
I resist the urge to laugh, but my lips pull upward anyway.
“Just shut up about it, alright?” I beg, tugging my hat over my head. “Stays between us. I threw that out there as a holy grail, hoping I’d get a little heat off me. I’m not losing my job over some stupid little shit.”
Declan stares at me. “Maybe you should just… I don’t know, stop punching people?”
