Chapter Five #2
“The fake relationship agreement is missing, and you called Beckett first.”
“Everyone else ignored me.”
“Reasonable instinct.”
Her phone vibrated.
For one hopeful second, she thought someone had found it.
Instead, a notification appeared from the video she and Emmett had recorded.
Maren had posted it.
Views climbed by the second.
Piper pressed play.
Onscreen, she and Emmett sat close together beneath the lantern light. She explained the Founders Gala footage. Emmett admitted he had liked her while she was still dating Owen.
Then his final words played.
Owen knew Piper would be blamed if he posted the clip without context.
He did it anyway.
Piper watched herself turn toward Emmett.
She had not realized how she looked at him.
The camera showed surprise first.
Then something softer.
Something she absolutely did not remember approving.
The video ended.
Comments poured beneath it.
HE LOOKS AT HER LIKE SHE INVENTED SUMMER
THIS MAN HAS BEEN WAITING
THE WRONG GUY IS THE RIGHT GUY
Piper locked the screen.
“No.”
Emmett glanced at her phone. “What?”
“People are becoming poetic.”
“That sounds serious.”
“They think you have been in love with me all summer.”
He looked toward the lake.
Piper narrowed her eyes.
“Emmett.”
“Yes?”
“Have you?”
His attention returned to her.
The lantern light touched the side of his face. He looked calm, but she had begun learning the difference between calm and guarded.
This was guarded.
“I liked you,” he said.
“That is not what I asked.”
“No.”
“So answer.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then his phone vibrated.
Emmett checked it.
Whatever he saw changed his expression instantly.
“What happened?” Piper asked.
He turned the screen facedown.
“Nothing.”
She laughed once.
“You cannot be serious.”
“It is not about the date.”
“That is not the standard.”
“Piper.”
“No private information that affects the arrangement. We just discussed this.”
A muscle moved in his cheek.
She held out her hand.
“Show me.”
Emmett did not move.
Piper’s stomach sank.
“It is from Graham.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He sent a screenshot.”
“Of what?”
Emmett remained silent.
That was answer enough.
Piper reached for his phone.
He caught her wrist gently.
The contact stopped both of them.
His fingers circled her skin without pressure. Warm. Careful. Easy to escape.
Piper looked down at his hand.
Emmett released her immediately.
“Sorry.”
She hated that his apology sounded real.
“Show me,” she repeated.
He handed over the phone.
The screenshot came from an anonymous hockey gossip account.
A photograph filled the post.
Their signed rules.
Every line was visible.
Thirty days.
Six dates.
No surprise livestreams.
No private information without permission.
No using the relationship for contract negotiations.
No jealousy.
No real kissing.
No sleeping together.
Whoever develops feelings first loses.
Piper’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Emmett’s beneath it.
The caption read:
FAKE RELATIONSHIP CONFIRMED. SOURCES SAY COOPER VALE’S AGENT EXPECTS THE ARRANGEMENT TO INCREASE HIS CONTRACT VALUE BY MILLIONS. HOW MUCH IS PIPER QUINN GETTING PAID?
Her chest tightened.
The paper had been photographed inside the equipment tent. She recognized the blue sponsor cooler beneath it.
Someone in the tent had taken the picture before she ever placed the rules in her bag.
Someone close to them had leaked it.
Piper read the caption again.
How much is Piper Quinn getting paid?
Of course.
Owen called her controlling.
Now strangers would call her purchased.
She handed the phone back.
“We need to end this.”
Emmett stood.
“No.”
Her head snapped up. “You do not get to say no.”
“You are upset.”
“I am humiliated.”
“I know.”
“Then why would we continue?”
“Because ending it tonight makes the leak look true.”
“I do not care.”
“Yes, you do.”
Piper stood too.
“You have known me for one summer. Stop telling me what I care about.”
Emmett’s eyes held hers.
“You care about the scholarship fund. You care about your business. You care that Owen keeps deciding which version of you the world sees.”
“This is not about Owen.”
“He is part of it.”
“You think he leaked the rules?”
“I think someone wants you to believe I used you.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
The word carried no hesitation.
Piper wanted to believe him.
That was the problem.
“I cannot do thirty days of this.”
“You do not have to.”
“You just said we should continue.”
“I said do not end it tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because you are making the decision while someone else is trying to force it.”
Piper fell silent.
Emmett stepped closer but did not touch her.
“Wait until tomorrow,” he said. “Then decide because it is what you want, not because an anonymous account embarrassed you.”
The words reached the exact place she had been protecting all evening.
Her life had become a series of reactions to other people’s choices.
Owen posted a video.
Piper defended herself.
Tyler created a bet.
Piper accepted it.
Someone leaked the rules.
Piper ran.
She hated that Emmett saw it.
She hated more that he was right.
“One night,” she said.
“One night.”
“No posts.”
“Agreed.”
“No statements.”
“Agreed.”
“No agent.”
“Very agreed.”
Piper looked down the dock.
“We should leave.”
Emmett began collecting the food containers.
She helped with the lanterns.
Neither of them spoke.
The first date had started with an ex exposing Emmett’s feelings and ended with someone exposing their contract.
Not even Tyler could have planned a worse progression.
Probably.
When they reached the parking area, headlights swept across the gravel.
Three cars waited near Piper’s vehicle.
People climbed out holding phones and small cameras.
Reporters.
Someone had leaked the location too.
Piper stopped.
Emmett moved beside her.
Not in front.
Beside.
“Do you want to go back to the dock?” he asked.
“They will follow.”
“Jonah Brennan can send security.”
“That will make this look bigger.”
“It is already big.”
A reporter called her name.
“Piper, are you being paid to date Emmett?”
Another shouted, “Emmett, did your agent create the bet?”
Piper’s pulse climbed.
The performance arrived automatically.
Smile.
Shoulders.
Control.
Emmett looked down at her.
“What do you want?”
The question cut through the noise.
Not what should they do.
Not what would look best.
What did she want?
Piper looked at the cameras.
Then at Emmett.
“Make them believe it.”
His expression changed.
Something dark and warm moved into his eyes.
He held out his hand.
Piper placed hers in it.
His fingers closed around hers, steady and certain.
They walked toward the cars together.
Questions came faster.
“How much is the contract worth?”
“Did Emmett choose Piper for publicity?”
“Are the feelings fake too?”
Piper’s smile tightened.
Emmett stopped.
She looked up at him.
“What are you doing?”
He leaned closer.
Not kissing her.
Close enough that every camera lifted.
His mouth brushed the air beside her ear.
“That part was never fake.”
Her heart stopped.
Cameras flashed.
Emmett straightened and led her toward her car as if he had not just broken the most important rule without touching her at all.
Piper climbed into the driver’s seat.
Her hands trembled on the steering wheel.
Emmett closed the door and waited until she locked it before walking to his truck.
Her phone vibrated again.
Another post.
This one came from Owen.
A photograph filled the screen.
Not the fake-dating agreement.
A private message Piper had sent Owen three months earlier.
Sometimes I think Emmett sees me more clearly than you do.
Owen’s caption appeared beneath it.
She says nothing happened. She forgot to mention she wanted him first.