Page 53 of Keep Me

Just one person’s heart. Matty’s. I broke it without a second thought because giving him any hope would break mine.

I could feel Sienna’s disappointing gaze. She only wanted the best for me. I knew that, but that didn’t make me feel any better about the situation I found myself in.

“Well, since I can’t get an interview, maybe you could come to Covey’s Cantina and celebrate the win instead?”

My stomach lurched. Here Erik was, offering me an opportunity to try to make the dating lie a reality, and I was still hesitant. I should be celebrating and saying yes immediately, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t fool myself or Erik into thinking I was ready for something with someone when clearly I wasn’t.

My silence and furrowed brow answered his question before I had to.

“That’s a no, huh? Not even just for a few rounds of pool?”

“Erik. You’re a great guy—”

Sienna threw her perfectly manicured hand up.

“Ignore her, Steele. Britt drank her Crushie Slushie so fast that she’s got long-term brain freeze. We’ve just got to pack up a few things, but we’ll be there.”

“We will?”

Erik looked between the two of us.

“Yeah, we will,” Sienna answered for me. “It’s only a round of pool, and I already know you’ll beat his ass. Besides, I’ve got to introduce you to my new boyfriend.”

“What? You have a boyfriend?” Erik looked equally surprised by the revelation.

Sienna looked up to the roof and shrugged. “He doesn’t know it yet, but I already refer to him as my work husband, so I figure we might as well make it official.”

“Are you talking about Newman?” Erik asked with surprise. Sienna’s grin was her only answer. “You’ll eat him alive.”

“I hope he’ll eatmealive, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Erik shook his head and turned back to me. “So, I’ll see you later?” His eyes bore into mine, making it hard to say no.

“Yeah.” My reluctance didn’t seem as obvious now.

“Great.”

When he skated back to his team, I watched him, dumbfounded. Could I go through with this? What if pretending to date or be interested in someone rubbed off and I actually started to like Erik? I’d seen it happen so many times in movies and books, but I wasn’t so sure it could happen in real life. Not with Matty still here.

“I know you saw Matty today, and that is freaking you out, but I think letting loose and hanging with a new kind of guy might bea nice change for you,” Sienna whispered into my ear like a devil on my shoulder.

“Hmmm.”

Sienna wrapped her hand around my arm, shaking me. “Come on. Let’s go and have a little fun.”

“Fine, but the minute I say so, we’re out of there.” I gave her a pointed look.

“Sure, but I expect at least two dances before we go.”

“Dances? There’s no dance floor.”

“No… but there are tables,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows, and I groaned. I danced on a table one time at Aiden Matthews’s Halloween party, and that was all I was known for.

“Let’s go and get this over with.”

“Not again,” Erik groaned before turning away from the pool table.

“How many times are you going to play Britt before you accept she’s clearly better at this than you?” Brooks Hart, another member of the hockey team, chortled. I had to admit, I’d heard a lot about Brooks through the grapevine, also known as Sienna, but I didn’t know what he was like. With a thick beard and deep, dark eyes, he gave off an air of mystery, and that quiet, serious vibe was appealing.

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