THE HOCKEY CAPTAIN'S ROOMMATE DEAL

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Emma’s Pov

My phone buzzed so hard on the bedside table that I thought it was going to vibrate right off the wood.

I groaned, rolling over and rubbing my tired eyes. It was barely eight in the morning on a Saturday. I reached out, grabbed my phone, and unlocked the screen.

My jaw dropped so fast I almost choked. Notifications were flooding in by the second. Text messages from girls in my dorm, i********: tags, anonymous comments on the campus gossip app, and emails from people I barely even knew.

I tapped on the top notification, and a photo popped up on my screen.

It was a picture of Dylan and me walking back to campus together from the party last night. The streetlights were glowing overhead, our shoulders were almost touching, and Dylan was looking down at me with that soft, quiet expression he had worn on the porch.

Above the photo, a bold headline screamed: THE CAPTAIN'S SECRET? Hockey Star Dylan Whitaker Caught Sneaking Around With His New Roommate!

"Oh, no," I whispered, my heart freezing in my chest.

Across the room, Dylan's bed was empty. But a second later, the bathroom door flew open. Dylan stood there in a pair of gray sweatpants, his dark hair soaked from the shower, staring down at his own phone with wide, panicked eyes.

"Did you see this?" Dylan asked, his voice sharp and tense as he looked up at me.

"Of course I saw this!" I yelled, sitting straight up in bed and holding my phone up like it was a weapon. "My phone is literally blowing up! Everyone on campus thinks we're dating!"

Dylan ran a wet hand through his hair, pacing across the tiny space between our beds. "This is bad. This is really, really bad. My parents check the campus news every single morning. If they see this right before the engagement announcement—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his phone rang out loud, playing a harsh, official ringtone. Dylan looked at the screen, and all the color completely drained from his face.

"It's my dad," Dylan muttered. He swallowed hard, tapped the screen, and pressed the phone to his ear. "Hello, Dad."

I sat completely still, holding my breath. Even from across the room, I could hear the loud, furious voice of Dylan's father echoing through the speaker.

"What is the meaning of this photograph?" his father roared. "The Sterling family is calling me asking questions! Explain this nonsense immediately, or you will regret it!"

"It's not what it looks like—" Dylan started, but his father cut him off.

"You fix this right now, Dylan! Issue a public denial before noon, or I am cutting off your access to everything!"

Click. The line went dead.

Dylan slowly lowered his phone, staring at the blank screen with a dark, thunderous look in his eyes. He looked like a trapped animal. He stood frozen for a long moment, breathing heavily, before his head snapped up and his bright blue eyes locked onto mine.

"We can't deny it," Dylan said, his voice deadly serious.

I blinked at him, completely stunned. "Are you out of your mind? Of course we have to deny it! It's a complete lie! Tell your dad the truth!"

"If I tell him the truth, he will force me into the engagement with Ava by tomorrow night," Dylan argued, taking a step toward my bed. "My dad gave me an ultimatum. He said the only way he would back off the marriage plans is if I already had a serious, public relationship. And look at this photo—the whole campus already believes we're together."

"No, no, no," I shook my head frantically, pulling my blanket up to my chin. "I am not going along with this! I told you last night, I want nothing to do with your crazy family drama. I am a scholarship student, Dylan! I don't need the media, the gossip, and especially your rich, angry parents coming after me!"

Dylan let out a frustrated groan and ran both hands over his face. He walked over to his desk, picked up a piece of paper and a pen, and scribbled something down very fast. Then he walked right over to my bed and dropped the paper onto my lap.

I looked down. It was a neat list of numbers and conditions.

"Look at that," Dylan said softly, his voice dropping into a desperate, honest tone. "I'm not asking you to do this for free, Emma. I mean what I said yesterday. If you pretend to be my girlfriend until my family backs off this stupid wedding, I will pay every single cent of your college tuition, your dorm fees, and your textbook costs for the rest of your degree. You will never have to worry about money again."

I stared at the numbers on the paper. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. It was everything I had been stressing over since the semester started. No more late-night shifts at the campus library. No more worrying about paying for next semester's classes.

"Why me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I looked up into his eyes. "You could ask anyone. Why do you need me to do this?"

"Because you're the only person who doesn't care about my money, my fame, or my status," Dylan said quietly, standing just inches away from me. "You yelled at me the very first second we met. You don't bow down to me. If I'm going to pull off the biggest lie of my life, I need someone strong enough to keep me grounded."

The silence in the room became heavy. Outside our window, the faint sound of students walking across campus reminded me how fast the rumor was spreading. By Monday, everyone would be talking about us.

I looked down at the proposed fake-dating agreement in my hands, then up at the arrogant hockey captain who looked remarkably vulnerable for the first time since I met him.

I knew that accepting this deal could solve every financial problem I had. But I also knew that pretending to be the hockey captain’s girlfriend could easily turn out to be the biggest and most dangerous mistake of my entire life.

"If we do this," I said slowly, narrowing my eyes at him, "we do it by my rules too. No exceptions."

A slow, relieved smile broke across Dylan's face, reaching all the way to his bright blue eyes.

"Deal," Dylan whispered.