Page 14 of Play Your Part

Alexei opened his mouth, no doubt to snap at me, but Deandra swooped in.

“We have people’s attention, which means we have an opportunity.”

“Stop beating around the bush,” Peter said. “We don’t have all day.”

Their dynamic hadn’t changed at all since I last worked with them.

She sighed dramatically. “We need to wrest back control of the narrative. This rivalry between Alexei and Justin can draw much-needed attention to the team, but we need the public to root for us. Right now… well, let’s just say they aren’t. But we can use this to our advantage.”

I’d seen that too, thanks to Gemma’s near-obsessive watch of social media. The fan base assumed Alexei preyed on me—the poor wayward girl who lost her mother and was dumped by her boyfriend before he left town. The outrage over his signing hadn’t even dropped to a simmer before this scandal started. I wondered if my father regretted signing Alexei Volkov yet. I supposed I might find out at our next video call—he’d moved it up from our usual Sunday time to tomorrow night after work.

“This?” I asked. “This what?”

Deandra gestured between Alexei and me with one hand. “The two of you.”

“There is no ‘two of us,’” I answered immediately. My gaze flicked to Alexei to find him watching me, but he didn’t turn away. My stomach did a somersault.

“But therecouldbe.”

Wait…what? “What the hell does that mean?”

“She wants us to pretend to date,” Alexei said calmly, as if those words were entirely normal. He couldn’t possibly think this was a good idea.

“How would that help anything?” I asked. “If you want good press, then the team needs to win. That’s all the strategy you need.”

“Winning won’t be a problem,” Alexei said, unable to resist the bait I tossed his way. Hiswinsounded likevin,the charming nature of which I had to ignore.

I locked my gaze on him before exaggerating an eye roll. “Okay, hotshot, you just lost your captain, one of your highest scorers. You might want to temper expectations.”

“This team is better with him gone.”

Deandra clapped her hands to halt our argument. “We need people to care about this team again. We also need to fix Alexei’s… likability problem.”

“And your best idea is for me to date him? Deandra, this is absurd.”

“That’s what I told her,” Peter said, fidgeting with his shirtsleeve cuffs. “And if your father ever found out we went behind his back like this… let’s just say he wouldn’t like it.”

The room went silent, all of us imagining exactly what my dad would think about this arrangement. Based on the stiff expressions around the table, we all knew it wouldn’t be good.

Finally, Deandra broke the silence. “Nothing else is working. Everyone is convinced Alexei used you to get back at Justin, the captain they are still pissed we traded right before the season started. If they see it’s more than that, it lets the air out of this angry balloon.”

Angry balloon.Where did Deandra even come up with these phrases? Though it did sound better than the truth—an assault backed by pure hatred.

“I understand whathegets out of this,” I said, nodding in Alexei’s direction. “But what about me?”

Deandra fought a smile. She thought she’d already won, but I was far from convinced. “You know the team is struggling, right? We might need to move again.”

Some of the articles I’d read online about Justin’s trade mentioned this, but hearing it from someone inside the organization felt different. My dad hadn’t said anything to me about issues with the team, though I couldn’t remember the last time we talked about it. After my mother’s death, I avoided the team like an allergen. “I don’t care about that.”

“We would pay you,” Deandra said. “I can’t imagine working as a nanny has you flush with cash.”

I ignored the insult from my former friend, that I would date someone for money. I also didn’t appreciate the reminder of what people thought of my choices. Instead, I said, “We don’t even like each other.”

“You don’t have to like each other,” Deandra said. “You just have to pretend. Make a few appearances, let the gossip mill take care of the rest.”

Alexei blew out a breath. “This is a waste of time. She’s not going to say yes… which might be for the best. I doubt she could pull it off.”

“Oh, Kennedy is a great actress.” Deandra’s voice had an edge to it.

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