Page 99 of Wrong Pucking Player

“Oh God,” I groan. “Why are you keen on helping me with my relationship? You just met me? Also, aren’t you going to get in trouble for telling me all this?”

“Well, first off, you have to be my secret partner in crime on this one because you’re the only one I feel can keep an eye on Armani. Plus, I had the intention of paying you for this side gig if you’re okay with helping me out while juggling this internship,” she admits. “As for why I’m helping you with your relationship… well.” She pauses to cross her arms and really think about it. “I wish I had a friend who’d tell me I’m dealing with the wrong fucking partner. Maybe I wouldn’t have soured out in luck and watched the only guy who looked at me the way Armani looks at you die in my arms.”

A lump forms in my throat as she turns around.

“If you’re game, give me your bank info. I’ll get shit processed.”

“I can’t,” I voice, encouraging her to look over her shoulder to give me a ‘why the fuck not’ look. “It’s complicated.”

“Like life itself,” she counters.

“My aunt is a hound who watches my account like a hawk. I do have a US savings account, but Wyatt’s Dad has access in seeing it. I don’t want him seeing I’m making money from somewhere else aside from the gym.”

“Strattonville Gym?” she questions, to which I nod. “Meaning you know Oliver DeCosta and Leo De Luca,” she confirms.

“Uh, yeah. Those two have helped me out a few times and treat me like their baby sister basically,” I reveal.

“Excellent. This is going to help with many things,” she declares. “Also, why don’t you change your name? Your aunt won’t have access when you do that. I know small-town government shit is last on the tier of protecting one’s privacy, especially when it comes to guardianship, but if you change your name, it forces them to create a new account with the latest privacy policies in place, which means your beloved monitoring aunt can’t have access to any of your funds.”

“Can’t her friends or connections gain access.”

“Not with the bank I’d help set you up with. Their main head office branches are stationed in Scotland, Switzerland, and Moscow, but they’re global and are very strict. Don’t care if your aunt was the president of the United States, she still wouldn’t get access. What was your first name again? Alex?”

“Alexandra,” I say with a dreadful frown. “My parents wanted a boy but got a girl, which is why they outcast me.”

“They told you that themselves?”

“Nope. That’s what my aunt said. I’m basically the orphan of Strattonville. My aunt was forced to raise me, which is why she has access to a lot of shit that a relative normally wouldn’t. She’s the reason why I’m still in government housing since she threatened to make it hard for me to get a job if I let the place go to be deemed ‘normal’ to my peers or whatever. Kind of why my only friend is Mikayla, really. She’s not judgmental, especially when she’s been rich and knows what it’s like to come down to ground zero.”

Caren slowly nods her head.

“So, Alexandra out. Mackenzie’s your middle name?”

“Yes.”

“Change your name to Mackenzie Andrews then.”

“You’re not the only one who’s said that,” I mutter.

“Armani?” She has a smirk on her smooth lips.

“Why do you always cue in on Armani?” I voice.

“He talks about you a lot,” she voices, making me realize she’s known him for a while then.

“A lot as in?” I can’t get over him talking a lot, to begin with.

“Always mentions something that reminds him of you. I know he’s not much for words, but damn. The man mentions you enough to make me feel as though you were the one who got away from him.”

“But…” I can’t wrap my head around it. “Armani’s gay.”

“Armani bends both ways,” she emphasizes. “And I’m pretty positive it’s only because of a particular blonde with blue eyes that grinds his gears and fights him all the time that has him tipping onto that side.”

“But… he hasn’t seen me in five-plus years.”

“Which are the years he’s been the grouchiest douche of all of Strattonville. He can’t give me as much attitude though because I put him in his place real fast.”

“So, Armani knows what you do.”

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