Don't Fall For Your Rival's Girl

Chapter Three

Olivia’s POV.

My hands were shaking so hard I could barely keep my grip on my hot coffee cup. I stood in the empty conference room, staring at the bright white board on the wall, where the giant red numbers pointed to a complete disaster. Our biggest sponsor—a massive national sports brand that had promised fifty thousand dollars to fund the tournament—had backed out thirty minutes ago.

If we couldn't find a replacement immediately, the entire charity tournament would be canceled. My dream of getting a professional sports management internship would be destroyed before it even started.

I took a deep breath, sat down at the long wooden table, and pulled out my phone to call Adrian. He had promised me three times yesterday that he would come to this planning meeting to help me reach out to new sponsors. I really needed him right now.

The phone rang four times before going straight to voicemail. A second later, a quick text message popped up on my screen:

𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙜-𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙤𝙪𝙩. 𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩, 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙚. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝! 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠!

I stared at the screen, a cold weight dropping right into the bottom of my stomach. He didn't even ask what was wrong. He didn't ask if I needed help. He just brushed me off like he always did whenever his own schedule got slightly busy.

"Let me guess. The star boy had another super important hockey thing to do?"

I looked up sharply and saw Sebastian Knight standing in the doorway. He was wearing a dark Blackthorn jacket, his hair slightly damp from practice, carrying a leather notebook under his arm. He wasn't smiling, but his dark gray eyes were locked onto mine with intense focus.

"He's busy training," I snapped, quickly putting my phone face down on the table. "Some of us have major athletic careers to think about."

"Right, because saving a major charity tournament isn't important at all," Sebastian said calmly, walking into the room and pulling out a chair across from me. He set his notebook down and leaned forward. "I heard about the sponsor backing out. The committee director called me on my way over. How bad is it?"

I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat and pushed a stack of financial papers toward him. "It's terrible. We lost fifty thousand dollars. Without that money, we can't rent the main arena, we can't pay for safety staff, and we definitely can't host the children's charity clinics. If I don't fix this in three weeks, the event is canceled."

Sebastian picked up the papers and began reading through them. I waited for him to make a sarcastic joke or laugh at Westbridge's bad luck, but he didn't. His forehead creased in deep thought as his eyes moved fast across the pages.

"Okay, look," Sebastian said after a couple of quiet minutes, tapping his pen against the paper. "This isn't impossible. Blackthorn has a strong relationship with a local sports foundation run by my family's business network. They love funding youth events. If we reframe the proposal to highlight the student-athlete joint teamwork between both schools, they will definitely cover at least half of the missing money."

I blinked, staring at him in complete disbelief. "Wait... you're actually offering to help us use Blackthorn's connections?"

Sebastian smirked, leaning back in his chair with a cool, relaxed look. "I'm offering to help you save this tournament, Bennett. I'd rather do a little extra work than watch Westbridge embarrass itself by canceling the biggest charity event of the year."

I rolled my eyes hard, but a small smile pulled at the corner of my mouth despite my stress. "You really can't say anything nice without insulting my school, can you?"

"It's a gift," Sebastian chuckled, his gray eyes lighting up with genuine amusement. "Now grab your computer. We have a ton of phone calls to make."

For the next few days, working with Sebastian was surprisingly... easy. We set up a temporary workstation in the library study room, filling the tables with laptop chargers, coffee cups, and stacks of sponsorship contracts. I quickly realized that under his tough, intimidating captain personality, Sebastian was ridiculously organized and smart. He returned emails instantly, double-checked every contract detail, and never complained once about working late.

And for the first time in a long time, I actually looked forward to working on a project. Sebastian made me laugh. When I got stressed out over budget numbers, he would throw a crumpled paper ball at my head to make me pause and take a breather. He listened when I talked about my career dreams, and he never made me feel like my goals were less important than his.

"You're actually not terrible at this," I told him one late afternoon as we finished typing up a revised presentation draft.

"High praise coming from you, Bennett," Sebastian replied, flashing a crooked smile. "I'll make sure to put that on my resume."

Just as I laughed out loud, the door to the study room slammed open.

My laugh instantly died in my throat. Standing in the doorway was Adrian. His gym bag was slung over his shoulder, his face flushed red, and his jaw set in a hard, angry line as his eyes darted back and forth between Sebastian and me.

"What the hell is going on here?" Adrian demanded, stepping into the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

"Adrian?" I stood up quickly, feeling a sudden surge of panic. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see my girlfriend," Adrian said, his voice dripping with anger as he glared straight at Sebastian. "And instead, I find her hiding in a quiet room, laughing it up with the one guy I hate most in the world. Care to explain why you're hanging out with him, Olivia?"

"We are not hanging out," I said firmly, stepping between the two guys. "We are working! We lost our primary sponsor, Adrian. I called you four times this week for help, but you were always too busy. Sebastian stepped up to help me save the event!"

Adrian laughed bitterly, throwing his hands up in the air. "Oh, how convenient! And you actually fell for it, Liv? Don't you see what he's doing? He's using you to get to me! He's trying to mess with my head right before our championship game!"

Sebastian stayed seated, leaning back calmly in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked up at Adrian without a single trace of fear in his eyes.

"Relax, Cole," Sebastian said, his voice smooth and steady. "Nobody is playing games with you. Olivia is working her butt off to pull off a tournament that you were supposed to help organize. If you cared half as much about her project as she does, you'd be sitting in this chair instead of yelling like a child."

"Shut up!" Adrian shouted, stepping closer to the table. "Keep my girlfriend's name out of your mouth!"

"Adrian, stop it!" I yelled, my heart beating frantically against my ribs as I grabbed his arm. "Stop making a scene! Sebastian has been a great partner, and we are getting work done. Please, just leave if you're only going to cause a fight."

Adrian looked down at me, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. "You're taking his side? Over mine?"

"I'm taking the tournament's side!" I pleaded, my eyes stinging with frustration. "This is my career, Adrian!"

Adrian yanked his arm back, shaking his head coldly. "Unbelievable. We'll talk about this later when you come to your senses." He turned around, shoved the door open, and stomped down the hallway without looking back once.

The silence left behind in the room was heavy and painful. I sank back down into my chair, burying my face in my hands as embarrassment washed over me in hot waves.

"I'm so sorry, Sebastian," I whispered, my voice trembling. "He shouldn't have talked to you like that. It was completely unfair."

"You don't need to apologize for him, Bennett," Sebastian said softly. He pulled his chair a little closer to mine, his voice dropping into a gentle tone I had never heard him use before. "Does he always treat you like that whenever you try to do something for yourself?"

I looked up at him, but before I could answer, my phone on the table began to vibrate violently. The screen flashed with an urgent notification from the university committee director.

I unlocked the phone and read the short text message. Every drop of color drained instantly from my face.

"What is it?" Sebastian asked, his smile disappearing into a serious look.

"Our second biggest sponsor just pulled out," I whispered, my voice barely audible as tears filled my eyes. "The director says... if we don't find a new sponsor and replace twenty thousand dollars within forty-eight hours, the board is officially canceling the entire tournament."