Page 27 of Ice Mechanic

“April!” He grabs my shoulders.

I startle, my heart clamoring to my throat as he stares desperately into my eyes with those ocean blue irises.

“I don’t find it offensive to be associated with you.”

Warning! Jello-knees en-route!

“And I don’t want to clear things up,” Chance says.

I stagger back. “W-what do you mean?”

“I mean.” Chance licks his lips. “I want to fake it with you.”

My brain misfires and cuts out everything between the ‘I want’ and the ‘you’. So it takes me half a beat longer to get angry.

“I’m sorry.What?”

He opens his hands as if to explain and then wipes them against the side of his pants. “So… I can see you’re not taking this well.”

“How am I supposed to take this?” I screech.

“My agent called me last night. And he told me that the fastest way to get back where I belong is to fix my reputation.”

“Your reputation hasnothingto do with me.”

“Us being together, you and me,” he points between the two of us, “the internet loves it. Brands and sponsors love it. The fans love it.”

“Idon’t love it.”

He jogs in front of me when I start to stalk away. “Wait, I’m not expecting you to do this for free.”

“Icannotbe bought.” I punch my finger into his chest. “Don’t you dare fling money at me.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Moving around him, I stomp toward the shop again.

Again, he intercepts me. “If we work together—” He holds his hands up in surrender when I glare at him. “Big if, it wouldn’tbe on an employee-employer basis. We’d be partners. You know what a brand sponsorship is, right? I’d be the Pink Garage’s ambassador.”

“Why would we want you as our ambassador when no one else does?” I point out.

He flinches and I feel sorry for being so upfront. Then I push those feelings away and remind myself that he started this war by making such a ridiculous request in the first place.

“I may not have the same influence as I did before, but I can definitely point more attention your way,” Chance explains. “You said you were competing with the Kinseys, right? I’d be your secret weapon.”

He’d be a ticking time bomb.

“I’m not interested.”

“I am,” my sister’s voice sounds behind me.

Not surprisingly, Rebel is blatantly eavesdropping on us but I’m surprised to see my sister there too.

“May, when did you get here?” I hiss.

“A few minutes ago. But you were too busy arguing to notice.”

Rebel grins at me. “As an equal partner in this business, I vote yes to Chance being our ambassador too. A disgraced hockey player is better than no one.”

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