Fake Dating My Ex's Favourite Hockey Player novel Chapter 206

Chapter 206

He takes Kenzie with the kind of ease that makes me wonder how often she’s glued to him, and she instantly launches into a breathless, one–sided retelling of her “five whole push–ups” again. Aaron just hums at the right beats, lets her chatter bounce off him, eyes flicking to Liam – then, briefly, to me.

The nod he gives is small, almost reluctant, but it’s an acknowledgment. Like: Okay. You exist. Liam brought you. That means something.

I feel it more than I should.

Liam doesn’t give me time to overthink it. His hand finds mine the second Kenzie’s gone, fingers slotting through like it’s instinct, his thumb dragging lazy arcs over my knuckles. Casual. Possessive. He’s half turned toward his team, but I swear the tug of his body keeps me pinned close like he can’t imagine doing otherwise. And God help me, I don’t mind.

We don’t get much breathing room. A couple of his teammates, already flushed from beer, descend like they’ve been waiting for their turn.

“Yo, Liam, your girl’s way outta your league,” Suta, tall and wiry, grins at me like he’s doing me a favor.

Another Wolfe, whose only personality trait seems to be chest hair and volume control whistles. “True. Look at him, domesticated.

Someone take a picture.”

I should probably say something biting, but Liam just smirks, squeezes my hand tighter. “Glad you all noticed. Took me a while to convince her.”

There’s laughter, a few mock groans, but before the teasing can spiral, Liam steers the topic elsewhere. His focus zeroes on Aaron, who’s been lurking a half step away, sipping his beer with his usual monosyllabic commitment to socializing.

“You’re not going to help Cam out with Tess?” Liam asks Aaron once we’re half done being harassed by the rest of his team.

At the sound of Tess, Aaron stiffens. Interesting.

“He texted-” Liam leans in like he’s sharing a secret, though his hand never loosens on mine, “—said his car broke down, he’s cabbing it. You know how much Tess hates cabs.”

“Understatement,” I mutter before I can stop myself. “She once got lice from one in college. Months of trauma, let me tell you.”

—

That earns a laugh from one of the defensemen Jack, if I remember right. “Lice girl? Jesus. That’s what she was known for?”

“She was actually known for being pretty, smart, athletic, a total social butterfly and that one time she won our college’s Miss Manhattan. And she isn’t even from Manhattan,” I correct primly, ticking them off on my fingers while fighting a grin. “The lice were just… a subplot.”

Liam snorts and immediately tangles his fingers into my hair, absent like he owns the right. “That’s true. Everyone thought she was perfect. When she went missing for a week with the lice thing, guys on the team would harass me every day asking when she was coming back. I‘ ve always wondered if she found being that popular exhausting.”

I don’t even need to think about it. “Hell no. Do you know how rich we got every Valentine’s Day? We were broke. That attention kept her motivated.”

Another teammate

Javis? I think he went to college with us too groans. “So you’re telling me she didn’t actually care about me when she accepted my Valentine’s gift?” Aaron’s jaw ticks, though he doesn’t say anything. Liam squeezes my hand, kisses the top of my head. “Kinda forgot how obsessed that Russian is with money.”

“Man of boredom,” Suta teases, foam clinging to his lip. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed the way you vanish every time Cam tries to get you alone with Tess.”

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