Fake Dating My Ex’s Rival Hockey Star

Piper “Please pick up. I need you. I just got fired.” I hit send and shoved my phone into my pocket. The wind outside cut straight through my coat as I stepped off the curb and into downtown traffic noise. Liam’s building came into view, shiny and expensive like people like me were never supposed to enter it in the first place. Thirty minutes ago, I still had a job. Now I had a cardboard box digging into my hip and the bitter taste of humiliation I couldn’t quite swallow. HR hadn’t even looked me in the eye when they said it. “Retaliation is a strong claim.” Indeed. It was a strong claim for a weak woman. I had reported the head doctor for s****l harassment three weeks ago. After that, everything became careful smiles and closed doors. Today was just the polite ending. I checked my phone again as I walked, hoping for a reply that didn’t come. No message. No call. Not even the faintest sign that he had seen it. He was probably still asleep. Liam never treated mornings like something urgent. You don’t when you were an NHL rookie with money, fame and a schedule that bent around you instead of the other way around. I reached the building and swiped my key card through the lobby entrance. The private elevator opened immediately, as if it already knew me. I stepped inside and it rose smoothly, floor after floor but my breathing didn’t settle. It was the feeling sitting low in my chest, the one I kept trying to ignore. By the time the doors opened on his floor, I had already decided what I would tell him. I would tell him everything and he would listen. He always listened. His apartment was quiet when I stepped inside. I set the box on the kitchen island and exhaled. “Liam?” I called him. Silence followed. I was right he was sleeping. I sighed and walked to his bedroom. My hand closed around the handle but before I could open the door, I heard his voice. “Come on, Chloe. Get dressed. Piper might show up today, now that she lost her job like the dumb f**k-up she is.” My hand froze. Dumb f**k up? A soft, girlish laugh followed and it made my stomach turn. “Oh, let that pathetic therapist wait. You said she is exhausting anyway.” For a second, I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Because my brain was doing something kind. It was trying to reinterpret, delay, soften. Maybe it wasn’t.. Maybe it was… Maybe I was… I pushed the door open. The room was exactly what I didn’t want it to be. His bed was unmade, silk sheets tangled around two bodies like they had been there for hours without care or hesitation. Liam turned his head sharply. His expression shifted the moment he saw me. And then I noticed the woman next to him. Chloe. She had a blanket covering her naked body while her blonde hair fell over her shoulder in perfect waves. The air in my lungs left so quickly it felt like I had been hit. I knew her. Of course I did. She had made sure I would never forget her in high school. Every hallway, every locker, every moment I had tried to ignore her had still ended with her finding a way to make it worse. Now she was here, in his bed, looking at me like she had been waiting for this exact moment. “Oh…” She said slowly, her smile curling with quiet satisfaction. “Look who it is.” I didn’t look at her for long. I couldn't. My eyes landed on Liam. For a second, he looked stunned, like the situation hadn’t fully caught up to him yet. God, looking at him felt like a sharp knife stabbing my chest. I couldn't waste more time here. If I did, I would I break and I couldn't afford that either. “We are done.” I said almost too quickly and began to leave. But before I could even turn around, Liam pulled up his underwear and pushed himself up. “Piper, wait…” He said and grabbed my hand quickly. “I am sorry. Okay? I messed up. Just don’t do this. Let’s talk about it.” I jerked his hand away like it burnt my skin and looked dead into his eyes. “Talk about it?” I let out a sharp laugh that didn’t carry any humor. “You want to talk about how I just walked in on you with the girl who used to shove me into lockers and make my life hell?” His expression tightened. Now it was just irritation that I wasn’t reacting the way he wanted. The softness disappeared from his face. He reached for sweatpants and pulled them on without looking at me properly, like I had already become an inconvenience he needed to manage. “You are not listening.” He said, exhaling like I was exhausting him. “You always do this. You walk in here, you turn everything into drama.” “Drama?” I repeated. He stepped closer now, forcing me to tilt my head up to meet his gaze. “You want honesty, Piper?” He said. “You are standing in my apartment after losing your job, acting like you have been wronged. Do you even hear yourself?” I balled my hand so tightly that my nails dug into my skin. “This happened because of you.” He continued, more confident now, like he had decided on the story he wanted. “You pushed me into this. You are always stressed. Always refusing me. Always acting like the world owes you something because you had a hard life.” My throat tightened but I didn’t look away. “I have been carrying that for months.” He added. “Do you know how hard it is to hide someone who doesn’t fit into your life? You don’t fit into mine, Piper. You never did.” The words landed exactly where he aimed them. He knew where it would hurt. That was the worst part. Then he smiled slightly, like he had won something. “Let’s be real…” He added, his voice dropping lower. “Without me, you are nothing. Without me, you are just another struggling therapist who couldn’t even keep her job today. You will never find someone better than me..” Silence followed. It should have broken me. That was what he was waiting for. A reaction. Perhaps tears. Anything that proved he still had control over me. Instead, something inside me went very still. I straightened slowly and looked at him again. This time, I didn’t feel small. “I don’t need someone better than you, Liam.” I said evenly. His brows lifted slightly. “I just need someone who can destroy you on the rink.” I added. “Watch me find him.”