Page 83 of Rule 3: Never Fake Marry the Coach's Son

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I push open my door to find Daniela frowning at me. “The papers know it’s a lie, Oskar.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Dmitri

I push open the locker room door and nineteen pairs of eyes snap to me.

“What?”

“Did you read the paper?” Troy asks.

“Does anyone read the paper these days?”

“Did you read the news section of your phone?”

I blink.

“I think the answer is no,” Luke says.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Troy says too quickly.

“No big deal,” Noah adds.

“It will all be fine,” Luke chimes in.

“Totally, completely fine,” Finn echoes.

My eyes narrow. “You’re acting weird.”

“You made the news,” Axel blurts.

The others turn to him, annoyed.

“But that doesn’t mean you have to read the news,” Luke says.

I take out my phone and pull up the news. I see my name immediately.Dmitri Volkov Weds Coach’s Son in Sham Green Card Marriage.

Everything heats. My organs burn, as if seeking to incinerate themselves on the spot.

“Oh.”

“Maybe you should sit down,” Noah suggests.

I square my shoulders. “I’m fine. No big deal.”

Noah and Finn exchange glances and conduct one of those private couple eye conversations. But they’re an actual couple. Their marriage is real.

And even when people thought their marriage was fake, the worst thing that could happen was that Noah would be sent back to the AHL in Rhode Island.

I mean, that’s terrible.

But give me Rhode Island a thousand times over Russia.

Because even though part of me loves Russia and is proud of it and proud of being from it...I can’t go back. I can’t go to the other side of the world and pretend my life here never happened.

But that’s not my main concern.

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