Page 122 of Twist of Fate
“I’ll give you five minutes to vacate the premises before I call the gardai.”
“I’m not leaving until?—”
“No.” Finn’s voice echoes through the hallway. “You’re done. After the shit you pulled, you’re lucky I don’t call Arsenal myself.” Theo’s expression turned panicked. “Yeah, I’ll know all about the shit you’ve been doing.”
His eyes widen and then blaze with anger. I glance at Theo and then at Finn. “What are you talking about? Theo, what is he talking about?”
The two men stare at each other, resembling a silent staring competition. Finally, Finn looks down at me, indecision reflected in his eyes. “Please, just tell me.”
He turns back to Theo, his expression hardening. “Ever since he showed up that weekend to visit, I’ve felt something wasn’t right. He was justtoopersistent in his pursuit to win you back. When he started harassing you after you canceled your trip to London, I asked Rian to look into him.”
“Who the fuck is Rian?”
“My best friend,” he replies. “He has the uncanny ability to find out just about anything about anyone. Even the things people try to keep hidden. Want to know what he found out about you? It wasn’t that hard, actually.”
“What did you do, Theo?” I ask, clearly seeing from his expression that he did something. I just don’t understand how it involves me.
“Seems Theo had a bit of a fling with one of his teammate’s wives.”
“Oh, Theo.” You stupid,stupidman.
“Oh, that’s not the worst part. No, the worst part is?—”
“You know what?” Theo throws his hands in the air, stalking toward the elevator. “I don’t need to listen to this shit.”
“No.” My voice stops him in his tracks. “You’re going to tell me the rest. I deserve to know why I was just ambushed and scared to death.”
He stares at me until, finally, he lets out a frustrated breath. His shoulders slump as he runs a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just—” He glances away briefly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was desperate, okay?”
For a moment, I see a sliver of the man I used to know. “I’m still a rookie, and even though I’m good, there’s a hierarchy, you know? The guy, my teammate—” He swallows, clearly still unable to admit guilt. “He’s a starter, and he made it crystal clear he didn’t want me on the team anymore.”
“I’m still not following.”
“Madrid did a decent job of keeping everything under wraps, but Arsenal still caught wind of it. There I was, sitting in a room with my agent and the management team from Arsenal, and rather than focusing on what I could bring to the team, they were asking about my moral character, and it just came out?—”
“What came out?”
“That he was engaged,” Finn says in a flat tone. “To you.”
“What?” I bolt upright out of Finn’s embrace, and he practically has to restrain me to keep me from slapping Theo. “You told them we were engaged?”
“Everyone still remembers me as the romantic proposal guy.” He shrugs. “People love that version of me. So, I told them we’d recently reconciled but were keeping it quiet because you were so scared of media attention.”
“Oh my god. So, this whole time, you’ve been telling people we’re together? What exactly was your plan, Casanova?”
“I figured I’d win you back, and it would all work itself out in the end.”
“Jesus,” Finn mutters. “Has his ego always been this big?”
“You shut the fuck up.” Theo points a finger at Finn. “This would have all worked out if it weren’t for you getting in the way.”
“Right, that was the chink in the armor,” Finn snorts. “Can I punch him now?”
I think he’s kidding, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t. I also wouldn’t fault him if he did—punch the guy, that is.
“Theo—” I turn to my ex—“I think it’s time for you to go.”
He opens his mouth to argue, but I raise my hand and stop him. “No, seriously. I can see you’re in a jam. Not being able to woo the fake fiancé is essential to the fake-dating trope, but you forgot one key element—consent. I never agreed to any of this.”
