Chapter 3 For the fans

Dean 

I couldn't believe I was doing this. I had done some crazy stuff in the past, but this had to be the craziest. 

"Second thoughts?" Lucius asked. 

My gaze snapped over to him, taking in his relaxed facade. How could he be so calm about this? But then again, he was hardly doing anything out of the ordinary. I was the one whose entire life was being flipped around. 

"It's a little too late for that." Cassandra's voice said from over the car's speaker. "Contracts have been signed and money has been transferred." 

"It doesn't matter. All you have to do is say the word and we'll put an end to this." Lucius assured me. 

I turned away from him, unable to stand his soft, empathetic gaze. "Let's do this." 

"Good." My PR manager said. "Now remember what we discussed. You two don't have to do a lot. We're just going to let the world assume. If we play this right, the headlines are going to be too focused on figuring out if you two are an item to remember anything else. For the next few hours, I want you two to be attached by the hip. Dean, I need you to act like Lucius hung the moon." 

Luc snorted at my side. 

"The only way this will work is if the whole world looks at photos of you two from today and see pure devotion." She continued without missing a beat. "Everything is riding on the success of today. Goodluck."

The line went dead a second later, leaving us in the silence. The inside of the car suddenly felt too small and hot even with the AC blasting high. 

I adjusted the collar of my shirt and cleared my throat. "Are you ready?" 

"No, but let's do this anyway." 

Without another word, I stepped out of the car, wondering if I had blacked out at the after game party and all of this was a dream. But as Lucius stepped up to me and the smell of his cologne wafted up my nose, I had to admit that it was as real as it gets. 

As the camera flashes began to go off, I froze, unsure. 

With a woman, I would have wrapped a hand around her hip. What was the protocol with a man? 

Lucius made it easy by leaning into me and curling his fingers around my sleeve. 

"Lead the way." He winked. 

Something tightened inside my chest as I steered him towards the entrance of the hall where the fundraiser was happening. The hall was packed full with my teammates and their families, media personalities, the team heads including the coaches and their families. 

"Show time." Lucius whispered, his breath fanning over the shell of my ear. 

A shiver worked it's way through me, and right at that moment, Ethan Hawke approached, his gaze moving between us, or rather, the lack of space between our bodies. 

"Mr. Hawke, allow me to introduce Lucius Kemper." I said with a smile. "Luc, this is Ethan Hawke, the general manager of the Boston Bruins." 

"Pleasure to meet you." The man at my side smiled, "Dean says you're like a father to him, that you gave him a chance when no one else would." 

Mr. Hawke looked as surprise as I felt. I had never mentioned that. 

"Well, Morgan has a lot of potential. I'm glad I recognised that." The older man said slowly before glancing back at me. "Miss Spencer is a no-show I see." 

It was a question even though it wasn't framed as one, but I decided to play dumb. "Unfortunately." 

"Let's go meet the rest of the team. I'm a big fan. You don't know how exciting this is for me." Lucius said breathlessly, leaning even closer to me. 

I forced myself to not stiffen. Instead, I shot him a little smirk. "Play it cool. You don't want to look like a fan girl."

Nodding at the General manager, I placed a hand on the small of Lucius back and moved him away, ignoring the feel of Ethan Hawke's laser sharp gaze on my back. 

"You think he bought it?" Lucius whispered, turning to adjust my tie while his gaze swept over the hall calculatively. 

He was too close, and his fingers were brushing against my neck. Electricity shot down my body and before I could stop myself, my hand flew up and caught his in a tight grip. "Enough." 

One of his eyebrows flew up. "What are you doing?" 

"He bought it. You don't have to_" I choked on the words. "You don't have to do this. I'm not_" 

He rolled his eyes. "I didn't say you were gay. I'm just playing the role I was paid to. And anyway, you don't need to act like being gay is a disease." 

"I_" I cleared my throat. "I need to use the bathroom."

Without waiting for a response, I turned and fled out of the event hall, hurrying down the hallway and yanking at my collar that suddenly felt too tight. 

"Dean, what the hell!" Lucius barked behind me. 

"I need a minute, I can't do this." 

Suddenly, I was pushed against the wall, Lucius stepping up close to my face, his lips peeled back in a snarl. "What exactly is it that you can't do. You can't let a gay man stand top close to you for a two hour event? Scared you'll catch the gay virus?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." 

"Look, you've already paid for the surgery. If I could, I'd have paid you back and walked away from this entire situation, but I probably have about 400 dollars to my name. So for the love of God, can you just grow a pair and let me do my damn job." 

I pushed him off me. His eyes went wide as he was suddenly the one pressed against the wall, with me looming over him. 

"You know nothing, Kemper." 

He scoffed. "I thought you cared about hockey. But it looks to me like you're not willing to give your all to save your career." 

"I thought I could do this, but_"

"What are you so afraid of?" Lucius rolled his eyes. 

I pressed my lips together

Because I couldn’t tell him the truth.

I couldn’t admit that when he touched me, something inside me had come alive, that for one terrifying second, I’d felt more than I ever did on the ice, and that scared the hell out of me.

None of this was real.

This arrangement was supposed to save me, but deep down, I had the sinking feeling it would destroy me instead.