Page 26 of The Fake Date Agreement

I’ve avoided the decision so far, but I can’t avoid it anymore. Scouts have spent the last two years circling Reid, Caleb, and me. Agents, too, want a slice of that nice signing bonus and our first sponsorships the second we turn pro.

Coach has been tough. He doesn’t want any of us distracted by agents, so they’re expressly forbidden from the arena unless it’s to watch us play. The last thing he wants is for any of the team to have their heads turned by buckets of cash when we all need to be focused.

Even if we lose the championship, we’ll be drafted.

And I won’t have college as a reason—or an excuse—to avoid saying or doing what I need to.

If I choose hockey, I’ll lose my family, and if I choose my family, I’ll spend the rest of my life miserable as a doctor,which is what I don’t want, or working in the family packaging business, which I want even less.

“I have to go, sis.”

“I’ll be there, Javi,” she reassures me.

I struggle to believe her.

Chapter 8

Tobie

At exactly 5:55 p.m.,there’s a knock on my door.

I check my reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall and wince at my bloodshot eyes before opening my door.

“You’re early,” I greet the two hockey players who look freshly showered in sweatpants and hoodies.

Reid flashes me a grin as he walks in. “We’ve all heard Coach screaming at Brave enough for it to have a long-term effect on our punctuality.”

I frown. “Brave?”

“Paxton Edwards, center on the team. If he’s not late already, he’s on his way to being it.” Javier smiles as he enters. “We live in the same dorm, on the same floor. We often leave at the same time, and still, the guy is late. It’s like he gets sucked into a black hole on his way to wherever he’s going.”

I scrunch my nose. “I still don’t get it.”

“His nickname is Brave,” Reid says, sitting on my bed. “Takes a brave man to be late for Coach. And to do it repeatedly…” He shakes his head. “His nickname should’ve been suicidal.”

I move to close the door when a large, tanned hand holds it open.

I look up.

And up.

Caleb stares down at me.

Since only Javier and Reid stopped by my room this morning, I hadn’t believed he would be here.

I can’t keep staring at him and doing nothing. He’s going to think I’m an idiot. “Oh, I didn’t think you were coming.”

Caleb’s arm brushes against me as he enters, and his fresh sage and cedar scent briefly distracts me. “Reid convinced me this was in all our best interest,” he says.

“Convinced you. Yeah, right.” Reid snorts.

What’sthatsupposed to mean?

Forest-green eyes flick to my head. “You get that checked out?”

I clear my throat. “Uh, I was…”

After a quick trip to get myself checked out at the clinic, which, thankfully, all was good, I was crying under my sheets for the majority of the day. The redness of my eyes and my overall scruffiness probably attest to the fact that today, I just don’t care.

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