Chapter 3 #2
Footsteps on the stairs save me from answering, and all of us peer over the back of the couch to find Camden. He stops dead in his tracks halfway down the flight when he notices three sets of eyes on him, his gaze darting between each of us.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Oh, you didn’t,” Lexi replies cheerfully, her gaze shifting from Camden back to me, still very much waiting on an explanation. One I clearly don’t have.
Which is why, in my panic-fueled desperation, I allow the dumbest thing to fall from my lips. “I was actually just about to tell Lexi and Willow…about us.”
“About us?” he echoes slowly, his brow furrowing.
I don’t have the chance to respond, because Willow lets out a laugh laced with disbelief, drawing both of our attention to where she’s seated beside me on the couch.
“You expect me to believe you’re seeing Camden?” Willow asks with a sharp laugh. “I mean, Logan…you can’t stand him. Not to mention his track record with hookups—no offense, hockey boy.”
Camden blinks a couple times before he utters, “None…taken?”
Scrambling, both in the literal and mental sense, I crawl over the back of the sofa to where he’s standing at the base of the stairs. I’m fully aware I look like an absolute idiot to the three of them, but I’m fighting for my life here.
“It’s new, but if I expect anything, it’s that you respect what’s happening between the two of us,” I say tersely, more for Willow’s benefit than anything else.
I send an imploring look with my gaze as it locks with Camden’s, and I pray like hell he can read the just go with it I’m broadcasting. Then I do the most out-of-pocket thing in my life by raising up enough to press my lips to his.
If Camden’s surprised by my sudden display of affection, he doesn’t let on. In fact, he leans into it without a moment’s hesitation, his hand cupping my cheek while he molds his lips to mine, only to pull away a few brief seconds later.
There’s still confusion swirling in his sapphire gaze when it collides with mine, but thankfully, he keeps any questions to himself in front of the girls. Who, at this exact moment, are both gaping at the two of us like they just witnessed us summon a demon rather than kiss.
“There’s no way that just happened,” Willow states plainly. “I’m in an alternate universe or something, because there’s no chance in hell that you, Logan Reed—the biggest hockey hater this universe has ever seen—are seeing the goalie of the Leighton Timberwolves.”
Yeah, I didn’t think this one through. Thanks, panic.
But as the saying goes, in for a penny, in for a pound.
“Well, it did. It is.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Camden says with ease. “Just look at his brother’s relationship. Those two had hate-boners for each other for years.”
He slips his arm around my shoulders and uses the three or four inches of height he has on me to his advantage to kiss me on the side of the head.
The unexpected PDA causes my body to tense instinctually, but I remind myself that if this is going to work, I need to relax and play my part.
After all, if Camden can fall into this unspoken role with ease and without question, then I sure as hell can’t be the one to give up the jig.
I catch his gaze when I glance up, and he smiles down at me.
“You didn’t tell me you were planning to tell everyone, babe.”
My lips contort into some mixture of a smile and grimace at the pet name, and I choke out a laugh. “Sorry to blindside you. I was just…tired of the secrets. At least at home.”
“All good. I’m glad it’s out in the open,” he murmurs.
How the hell is he so calm about this?
It’s equally strange and comforting, how he’s just fallen into step beside me on this. But for right now, I’m not going to question it. That’s a conversation to have behind closed doors.
Lexi’s been eerily quiet since the whole exchange started, and while I’ve done my best to keep my attention away from her—afraid if I do, I might give myself away—I can’t help looking at her now.
She’s watching us, piqued with curiosity, but from what I can tell, she believes it.
And while there’s the tiniest part of me that feels guilty for lying to her like this, it’s far outweighed by the alternative.
At least, I hope so.
“I’m sorry, but how the hell did this happen?” she finally asks.
I lift my shoulder, though it’s a little difficult with Camden’s arm still wrapped around it. “Honestly? It kinda just…did.”
Look at that. It’s not even a lie.
Lexi laughs a couple times and shakes her head, still clearly processing the information we’ve just dropped in her lap.
“We’re about to go grab some dinner at Thai Me Up. Did you wanna come with, Camden? Maybe fill us in on some of the details we’ve been missing?” Lexi asks sweetly.
Willow nods, still very much in disbelief about the whole thing if the tone of her voice is anything to go off of. “Yeah, I’d love to hear more about how the two of you have been sneaking around under our noses.”
Yeah, definitely suspicious.
Another bolt of panic slices through me, but Camden subtly squeezes my upper arm and then takes control before I can come up with some sort of excuse.
“As much as I’d love to, you actually caught me on my way out.” Releasing me, he lifts the bag I hadn’t noticed him drop to the floor. “I’ve got a study session with one of the team tutors tonight.”
Willow purses her lips before nodding briskly. “A rain check, then.”
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” he agrees with a charming smile—the same I bet he uses on the girls he brings home. The guys too.
But the smile morphs as he looks to me, becoming some odd blend of a knowing smirk and a questioning, confused grin. It’s an odd combination that screams I have no idea what you’re up to, but I’m sure entertained by it.
Whatever. As long as he doesn’t blow my cover, I can work with it.
But then Camden leans down, and I realize too late he’s going in for another kiss.
Why? I couldn’t say. But in a panic, I half-flinch, half-turn involuntarily, the kiss landing on my cheek rather than my lips the way he intended.
And while I don’t think Willow or Lexi noticed the awkwardness of it, Camden certainly does.
His expression is confused at best when he says, “Have fun at dinner. I’ll see you when I get home, yeah?”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Yeah, see you when you get home,” I confirm.
And I know I’m gonna have to come up with a damn good explanation before then.
I still go to dinner with the girls, and, as expected, most of the time at the restaurant is spent grilling me about my supposed relationship with Camden.
I’m hit with a barrage of questions, all of which I have to fight for my life to answer on the spot, but thankfully, I at least had the common sense to tell them it’s relatively new.
It gives me a minimal amount of backstory to fill it, and though I know Willow still remains suspicious afterward, Lexi seems to buy into my lies.
For now. The issue comes with keeping it that way.
It’s only when we get back to the house and I lock myself in the blissful isolation of my room that I realize just how stupid my lie was.
With a groan, I do the only thing I can think of to work through what I’m feeling—I grab my sketchbook and put ink to paper.
Drawing helps me process my emotions, yes, but it also serves as a distraction from the situation rather than a way for me to figure out what I’m gonna do next.
Though that’s likely due to having no clue what my options even are.
There are too many variables, too many moving parts that could easily go awry.
I mean, would Camden even agree to faking it a little longer? Even if he did, would I be able to go through with pretending on that level?
Dating Camden Steele? Fake or not, the mere idea is certifiable.
Rather than ruminating on it, I shove away the thoughts for as long as I can, which only lasts about twenty minutes, before there’s a knock at my door.
My body tenses, prepared for it to be Camden, when I call out for the person to come in. Yet, I’m pleasantly surprised when I glance up from my sketchpad to find my other roommate, Bailey, standing in the doorway.
“Oh, hey. I didn’t realize you were home from work.”
“Yeah, like ten minutes ago,” he says while closing the door behind him.
Crossing over to my bed, he drops down on the end of it, the mattress dipping beneath his weight.
I can feel his gaze on me as I work, but thankfully, he’s not watching my pen move over the paper the way some people try to.
He’s looking at me, his dark-brown gaze boring into the side of my head like two laser beams.
“Your thoughts are loud, so you may as well speak them,” I mutter absently.
“It’s just… I heard a funny rumor recently,” he says slowly, drawing a bit of emphasis on the word rumor. It’s a clear indication on where this conversation is leading, which allows me to play it cool.
“Oh yeah? About what?”
“That you and puck-for-brains are…dating?”
To my credit, my pen doesn’t so much as pause over the paper when I mutter, “News travels fast in this house, I guess.”
“Is it still news if it isn’t true?”
Damnit.
This time my hand does falter over my sketchbook, not expecting him to clock the lie that quickly. But rather than giving it away, I keep my gaze on the paper and double down.
“What makes you say that?”
“One, I’d like to consider myself your best friend.
Ergo, the person you’d tell important things to.
Like who you’re dating, for instance. And two”—he snatches the pen from my hand, forcing my attention up to him—“I live on the same floor as both of you. If y’all were fucking, I’d be the first one to know about it. ”
Both are fair points, though the latter is the nail in the coffin on this entire hairbrained plan. So, while I don’t want to admit it, I find the truth falling from my lips anyway.
“Okay, fine. I lied. Camden and I aren’t dating, seeing each other, fucking, none of it. But you can’t tell Lexi and Willow.”
“Knew it,” he mutters, a self-satisfied little grin pulling at his lips. “Dare I ask why you told both the girls you were?”
I quickly run through the events leading to what might be the utmost asinine lie I’ve ever told, Bailey’s eyes growing wider and wider as I get deeper into the story. By the time I’ve finished, I’m surprised they’re still in his skull at all, they’re bugging out so much.
“Jesus Christ, man.” He shakes his head, a wry laugh slipping out. “I mean, first of all, you may as well have declared your love for Lexi using airplane contrails by asking her to spend Christmas with you and your family.”
“Oh, fuck off. It wasn’t that bad.”
He hums, giving me one of those you know I’m right looks. “Honestly, though? I don’t know if I’m more impressed with your improvisation skills or pissed you didn’t say it was me you were dating.”
I drop my head into my hands and groan. “I know. But you’re straight, I panicked, and he was right there.”
“I can’t believe he went along with it.”
Yeah, I still can’t either, but I’m grateful as hell regardless; he saved me a ton of embarrassment by doing so. Just the thought of him outing my lie in that moment has shivers running down my spine.
“Guess it’s a good thing he’s not one to ask a lot of questions.”
“Uh, he might have saved you in the moment, but I’m sure he’s gonna have a few when he gets home,” Bailey reminds me. “He might be a clown, but I don’t think anyone is that dense.”
Yeah, if the look he gave me as he was leaving is any indication, I’m gonna have some explaining to do.
The issue is, there’s no way in hell I can tell him the truth about why I lied.
Not because I think he’ll go straight to Lexi with the information—it’s mostly because I have little trust that the idiot won’t slip up on accident in front of Lexi. Or worse, Willow.
He might be good at following the lead with improvising, but I’ve seen him do and say dumb shit at the worst possible times in the past. I won’t let this be one of those moments.
Scrubbing my palm over my face, I mutter, “You’re probably right. I’ll make sure to talk to him when he gets back from his tutoring sess—”
My words die on my tongue, my brain train already moving down a completely different track. One that just might benefit both Camden and me.
“What?” Bailey asks.
“I just had a really bad idea.”
“Can’t be any worse than telling the girl you’re in love with that you’ve been hooking up with the guy you hate so she doesn’t find out you’re in love with her.”
I wince. Hearing the mess out loud makes it sound so much worse than I originally thought. And, frankly, makes the idea in my head sound even more insane.
But desperate times…
“Depends. Is actually pretending to date him worse than just saying I am?”
Bailey blinks a couple times, processing the question before coming back with one of his own.
“Wait, you want to keep up the ruse?”
“I think it could work?” I say, though it comes out sounding more like a question.
I lay out my thoughts, the words sounding more and more ridiculous to my own ears as they leave my lips.
But despite how nuts it is, by the end of my explanation, my best friend is nodding his head in agreement.
It’s not just the kind of nod you give someone who is about to make a massive mistake, but you’re still trying to be supportive.
No, it’s one of those shit, you might be onto something nods.
Which gives me hope.
“Honestly, man…this is a long shot, but it might work. I can corroborate the whole relationship thing around the girls, you just need him to agree to the terms.”
I’m fully aware this is the most insane thing I’ve ever done, and there’s about a one in a million shot of this going as planned, but if I frame it the right way, he might just say yes.
And if he doesn’t…then I’ll have a whole new mess on my hands.
I try to shove that way of thinking aside, only to hear the distinct sound of a car door slamming outside. Bailey must hear it too, because he rises from the bed and peeks out my window.
“Well, he’s home,” he states before turning back to me. “I better get out of here so you can talk to him.”
I nod, already mentally preparing myself for this conversation, making sure to note all the important bullet points.
Bailey starts for the door, then glances back at me to ask, “You got a handle on this?”
God, I hope so.
I sigh, shooting him a pained smile.
“Guess we’re about to find out.”