But not for long, since Felipe says out loud, “Did you make him feel better this morning?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, stopping at his desk.
“Well, there was that cute pic of you two having coffee a little while ago. You were holding his hand,” he says, like Drew and I are the height of adorbs. He pops up from his desk, phone in hand, and swings it my way. A social media feed fromMercenaryFanGirlfeatures a shot of me holding Drew’s hand this morning.
The back of my neck prickles. We were seen anhour ago while we were, for all intents and purposes, breaking up.
Only this fan has no clue what really went down.
My stomach churns with the utter wrongness of the caption.QB’s GF comforts him after yesterday’s tough loss.
Yeah, some comfort I gave. More like I freed him from his obligation.
I was his albatross. His bad luck charm.
“Thanks for sharing,” I say blandly to Felipe, then stare at my shoes as I walk to my office, hoping to avoid any more run-ins.
But when I pass Abby, she catches my attention with a “Psst,” then asks, “How is he doing after yesterday?”
My throat tightens as I choke out, “Fine.”
My door is ten feet away. If I can just make it past the moat of hungry co-workers who dine on gossip…
I’m almost past the threshold, when a familiar voice slithers up my spine.
“Morning, Brooke. I have a horchata.”
Screw horchatas.
I spin to face him and slap on a grin. “Thanks. But I just had a coffee.”
Stephen frowns. “Too bad. Maybe I’ll drink it.” He follows me into my office, taking a hearty swallow from one cup. “Damn, this is one fine drink.”
Well, maybe the latte was for him all along.
“Anyway, I wanted to get this as a thanks,” hesays, then shakes his head but in obvious approval. “You’re nailing thisdatingthing.” With his free hand, hesketches air quotes.
Probably because he doesn’t want to say “fake dating” out loud.
Only it was never fake. And I’m a little tired of acting like maybe it was.
I’m tired of the charade.
And after this morning’s heartbreak, I don’t want to fake a thing anymore. Especially since I’ll have to tell him in three seconds that it’s over. I was hoping I’d have some more time to break the bad news.
“I’m glad to hear, but the thing is—”
“The Mercenaries are such a fan-favorite now, thanks to Drew. Sure, the sports news hammered the team yesterday with the loss to the Hawks, but social media is trending with how cute you are together. The fans are loving the two of you.”
I can’t deal with this anymore.
I close the door, meet his eyes, and say, “I hate to tell you this…”
After the botched job I diduntellinghim I was dating Drew, I’ve got to do it right now. “He’s not coming to the press tour this week. He’s got a lot on his plate, Stephen. He needs to focus on football. So we won’t attend as a couple.”
Stephen is rarely rattled.
But he’s not simply rattled. He’s speechless. His mouth hangs open unceremoniously. “You won’t?”