Fake Dating My Ex's Favourite Hockey Player novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100

TESSA

With all the chaos still unfolding inside, no one notices when I slip out. I head for the front of Dimitri’s hotel to wait for my ride, heels clicking against the pavement.

It’s colder than usual. Not that it matters

–

my phone starts ringing and warms me up just fine.

Mother.

Perfect. I answer, mostly because I want a reason to stay angry. And she delivers.

–

you

“Must you always be a disgrace?!” she screeches before I can say hello. “All I asked all I asked

was that

attend Anastasia’s engagement party like a normal person! Meet a decent man! Smile, behave! And what do you do? You ruin everything! What did I do to deserve this? You’ll put me in the grave one day, I swear-!”

–

Oh, she’s mad mad but not mad enough to yell in Russian. English is her scolding language when she wants to make sure I really feel it. Unfortunately for her, I’m fluent in “guilt trip.”

close my eyes. Count to three. Then smile.

1100

“Mother,” I say sweetly, “if you drop dead mid–tantrum, I’m the one stuck paying for the funeral, so please for something quick and affordable. A stroke, maybe.”

She gasps like I slapped her, which is probably the most honest reaction I’ve gotten from her in years.

I keep going. Cold, clear.

wwwwww

either calm down or aim

date to show up for her own

“You want to know why I ruined everything“? Because your precious niece was too busy riding my engagement party. Because the man you told me to be ‘grateful‘ for tried to put a price on me like I was a handbag. And because, frankly, I got tired of pretending this family isn’t an absolute circus.”

Silence. A sharp, wounded kind.

“Is that what you want to hear?” I ask. “That your daughter’s so difficult, so impossible, no man wants to received. Again.”

I fold my arm tighter around me, staring out at the street like I can force the car to arrive faster.

claim her? Great. Message

“But here’s the thing, Mother. I’d rather be alone forever than end up like you married, miserable, and constantly trying to claw your worth out of other women’s throats. From now on, just send me your father’s bills and I’ll take care of them. Making me feel small won’t make you more of a mother. Not like you ever tried.”

Then I hang up.

And breathe,

For a second, it feels like silence might save me. Then a black Jeep pulls up to the curb.

I don’t look up. Cam drives a Mercedes. And I specifically told him I didn’t want-

The door swings open, and I catch it: the messy black hair, the piercing green eyes, the permanent stormcloud expression that’s been haunting me for years.

Aaron.

Of course. Of fucking course.

He stands there like he’s being forced at gunpoint, arms crossed, jaw locked, like picking me up was the worst Cameron could’ve handed out.

This is why Cam will never be anything more than a size thirty–eight. His spite is tailored.

possible punishment

I lift my chin and walk toward the car with every ounce of pride I haven’t lost tonight. Aaron opens the passenger door without a word. I

climb in.

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e

3:33 PM P P

Chapter 100

The silence stretches until it’s practically chewing on drywall.

We’re halfway down the road when he finally speaks. His voice is quiet. Careful.

“You okay?”

I let out a short laugh. “You’re joking, right?”

#titelly

If he’s asking, then he must already know the answer to that question. Cam, that fucking blabbermouth, must have told him. Or Theo, but well that’s unlikely.

He doesn’t respond. Just tightens his grip on the steering wheel. I glance at him sideways.

He’s still gorgeous, in that irritating, unreadable way. Pale knuckles, hoodie sleeves pushed up just far enough to show the veins in his forearms. The kind of man who looks like a heartbreak and a poem at the same time.

I sigh. “If you’re here to lecture me too, don’t bother. I’ve had a long line of critics tonight.”

“I’m not,” he says quickly. Too quickly.

Another beat of silence. Then-

“Theard what happened. With Lyle.”

I freeze. “Of course you did.”

“I just…” He hesitates. “You don’t deserve that.”

I snort. “Yeah, well. Apparently I do.”

“You don’t,” he says again. Firmer this time.

And something in me raw and cracked night. I don’t know. But I speak.

–

મને મારા આઈસક્રીમ સોમના

tips open. Maybe it’s the exhaustion. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been bleeding pride all

“They were in bed together,” I say softly. “My cousin and my date. And not even a week present. Isn’t that pathetic?”

ago

he was asking

What I’d want as a birthday

Aaron’s jaw ticks. He doesn’t say anything at first. Then:

“What’s so good about Lyle?”

H

The question hits me sideways.

“What?”

His voice isn’t careful anymore. It’s not cold, either. It’s tight and cracked and frustrated and real. “What does he have that I don’t?” “What are you?”

“I would never do that to you,” he says, cutting me off. “I would never even look at another girl if I had you. And you-” he laughs, sharp and humourless- “you don’t even see me.”

My chest does something strange. Splits open like a rotten peach.

His eyes on the road, voice quieter now, but every word lands like a punch. “You think I hate you. You always have. I just… don’t know how to say it when you’re looking at me,”

I feel winded Like he just knocked the air out of my lungs with nothing but a sentence.

He finally glances at me. Just one look – cautious, hesitant, all walls peeled back- softness under the silence. The way his jaw clenches not from anger, but fear.

–

think I don’t care. But I do. I

and I see it. The thing I’ve missed for years. The

“Aaron…” I whisper, and his name feels too soft in my mouth. He stills like it hurts to hear it.

1 swallow. Hard.

“What are you on about?” I ask, but my voice is thinner now. Shaky. “You can’t even stand me.” 2/4

3:33 PM P P .

Chapter 100

His eyes flick to mine

+20

0

–

–

wide, glassy, wrecked and there’s something wild behind them, something that makes my breath catch

before he even speaks.

“Are you serious?” he whispers, like it hurts to say. Then, softer

“Tessa, I’ve been in love with you since the first time I saw you.”

1 freeze. The car. The world. Everything stops.

–

sharper:

“I’ve just…” he runs a hand through his hair, voice shaking, desperate. “I’ve been trying not to scare you with it.”

I open my mouth, but he barrels on, terrified now that I’ll speak – that I’ll shut this down.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” he says, words tumbling out like a dam breaking. “I can’t keep pretending I don’t care. I see you with him/ with that asshole- and it kills me. Watching you hurt when I would never- I would never do that to you.”

He’s breathing hard, like he’s outrun his own silence. Like this has been buried so long it forgot how to be said.

“I know I’m not what you want,” he whispers. “I know I come off cold. I know I’m not good at saying things when you’re looking at me. But I swear to God, Tessa… if you just gave me the chance…” His voice breaks. “I would worship you.”

can’t breathe.

He reaches for me

مبر

–

not touching, just close. Like he’s scared I’ll disappear.

“And if I’m just a rebound to you, fine. If I’m just a placeholder until you find someone better, fine. If you never love me, if I’m never enough, I’ll take it. I’ll take anything. I just want to be something to you.”

His eyes find mine.

“Please.”

Like I’m the one who could destroy him.

Like I haven’t already.

The car becomes airless.

Something inside me snaps in place.

“Pall over,” I whisper.

He blinks. “What?”

*Pull over the car. Please. Now.”

He does. Smoothly. Calmly. I’m anything but.

I fling the door open and stumble out, heels scraping asphalt, lungs refusing to work. The cold is instant. Knives to the skin. Or maybe that’s just me unraveling.

I pace.

One, two, three steps.

Everything hits at once, violently and without mercy.

The night with Lyle, The way I brushed it off. The way I forgot.

No, not forgot.

Avoided.

The air spikes colder. My stomach churns.

I bend double.

It crashes into me.

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3:33 PM P P ·

Chapter 100

I’m two weeks late.

No. No. No. No.

Not me. Not this. Not now.

I dig my fingers into my scalp, panic curling up my spine like smoke.

C

–

Because I’m not made for motherhood. I’m not built to carry anything except resentment and regret. I can barely keep myself alive plants die when I look at them too long. I haven’t returned my aunt’s texts in six months. I forget to eat. I cry over expired yoghurt. I say the wrong things. I am the wrong thing.

I can’t do this.

I don’t want this.

The thought alone makes my throat close.

I don’t want some tiny human who’ll cry when I disappear, who’ll look up at me expecting love and lullabies when I can barely stomach my own reflection most days.

I’m not someone’s mother. I’m the girl people leave. The girl people fuck and forget. The girl who ruins everything she touches, who

lashes out before she can be left first.

I shake.

I want to scream or disappear or turn back time.

Aaron’s door opens.

I hear the crunch of his boots on gravel as he walks over. He stops just beside me. Doesn’t speak. Doesn’t crowd

Finally, I straighten. Barely. A thread holding me upright.

I meet his eyes, voice hollow. “I think I’m pregnant.”

And there it is. Out in the world.

So much smaller than it felt in my chest.

He goes completely still. Breath fogs between us. But he doesn’t flinch, Doesn’t step back.

He just moves closer.

And gently pulls me into his arms like I won’t break.

But I already have.

m

THE !!!

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