Contracted To The Beast novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The owner’s office smelled like expensive leather and bad decisions.

I walked in first. Maddox’s heavy footsteps right behind me like a shadow I couldn’t shake. Marcus Hale sat behmd a massive desk, silver hair slicked back, suit crisp even at this hour. Coach Riggs leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. The big window behind them showed the empty arena seats, dark and waiting for tomorrow’s chaos.

“Close the door,” Hale said without looking up from the tablet in his hands.

I shut it. The click sounded too loud.

Maddox dropped into the chair beside me like he owned the place. His knee brushed mine for half a second. I jerked away, He noticed. Of course he did. That smug half-smirk tugged at his mouth again.

Hale finally set the tablet down and pinned us both with a stare that could freeze the Pacific. “Kane, your little hotel tantrum just cost us three major sponsors who are now ‘re-evaluating their partnership with the Beast. The league office called. They’re not happy. Playoffs start in two weeks. We need you on the ice, not in headlines for the wrong reasons.”

Maddox leaned back, legs spread wide. “I handled the guy who ran his mouth about my family. Problem solved.”

“Problem created,” Hale snapped. “Social media is eating you alive. Unstable. Anger issues. ‘Bad for the brand. We need damage control. Fast.”

Coach Riggs rubbed his jaw. “Kid, you’re our captain. But right now you’re a liability.”

I sat there trying to look invisible, hands folded tight in my lap. This wasn’t my fight. I was just the new physio who’d taped his shoulder thirty minutes ago. Except Hale’s eyes slid to me next.

“Dr. Page. Nia. Glad you could join us.”

My stomach flipped. “Mr. Hale.”

He tapped the tablet again. “Your background check came back clean. Top of your field. No scandals. Strong work ethic. Exactly the kind of steady image we need right now.”

I didn’t like where this was going. Not one bit.

Hale leaned forward. “”Here’s what’s going to happen,” Hale said. “Kane, you’re getting a girlfriend. Effective immediately.”

Silence hit the room.

“Not a model. Not an influencer. Someone clean. Someone credible.” His gaze slid to me. “Someone like Dr. Nia Page”

/ Maddox’s head snapped toward me so fast I felt the air move. “Wait. Her?”

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The way he said it like I was the worst possible option, it lit a fire under my ribs. I turned to face him. “Got a problem with that, Kane?”

His gray eyes locked on mine. Up close like this, under the office lights, they looked stormier than on the ice.

“You hate my guts. You said so yourself in the suite. How the hell is that supposed to look real?”

“Because it’s fake,” Hale cut in, voice flat. “That’s the point. No one has to believe you’re soulmates. They just have to see you behaving. Smiling. Not destroying hotel rooms or calling out your own captain on podcasts.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I called out reckless play. Not him personally.”

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Chapter 2

Maddox snorted. “Sounded pretty personal to me, Page.”

Coach Riggs sighed like a tired dad. “Enough. Nia, the team will compensate you generously. Double your salary for the six months. Plus a bonus at the end if the narrative holds. You live in one of the team condos; same building as Kane for optics. Attend ten to twelve public events together. Post couple content. Keep it clean and believable.”

Double my salary. The words hit like a slapshot. Mom’s clinic. Zara’s preschool. Rent that never seemed to end. I could fix so much with that money.

But Maddox Kane? Pretending to date the guy who made me feel small… stupid… forgettable?

The one who walked away like I meant nothing-while I was left carrying consequences he never even knew existed?

No. Hell no.

I shook my head. “I’m a physiotherapist, not an actress. Find someone else.”

Hale didn’t blink. “We already looked. You’re the best fit. Clean record. No exes in the media. And frankly, the tension between you two already looks like chemistry to anyone who doesn’t know better.”

Maddox laughed, low and bitter. “Chemistry? She wants to tape my mouth shut, not kiss it.”

I shot him a glare. “Don’t tempt me.”

His eyes darkened. Something shifted in the air between us, thick, charged, the same stupid spark I’d felt when my hands were on his bare shoulder earlier. I hated it. Hated how my body remembered things my brain had tried to bury.

Hale slid two copies of a thick contract across the desk. “Six months. Starting today. Rules are simple: live in the same building, appear together at required events, no scandals, no sleeping with other people in public. Break it and the deal collapses, Kane sits, and you, Dr. Page, lose the bonus and face possible breach consequences. Sign, and we announce the ‘new relationship’ tomorrow after the game.”

I stared at the papers. Black ink. Legalese. My future balanced on a fake smile with the worst mistake of my teenage years.

Maddox picked up his copy and flipped through it like it was a takeout menu. “No,” Maddox said flatly. “Not happening.”

Hale didn’t even blink. “Then you sit the first round.”

That landed. Hard.

Maddox went still.

“Then you sit the first round of playoffs,” Hale said calmly. “Your choice, Beast.”

Maddox’s jaw flexed. For the first time the cocky mask slipped. I saw the flicker, fear of losing the ice, the team, the one thing that made sense in his messed-up world. The same fear that used to hide behind his bullying back in high school.

He looked at me. Really looked. “You need the money?”

The question landed soft but heavy. I thought of Zara’s gray eyes-his eyes-laughing while she asked about the “big hockey man” on TV who is her favorite player. I thought of Mom’s tired voice on our last call.

I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I do.”

Maddox watched me for another long beat. Then he grabbed a pen, scrawled his name across the bottom like he was signing his own death warrant, and slid the contract back.

“Your turn. Page.”

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Chapter 2

My hand shook when I picked up the pen. The metal felt cold. Every instinct screamed to run. But double the salary Security. A chance to finally breathe.

My hand hovered for a second too long.

This wasn’t just a contract. It was a mistake waiting to happen.

Still-I signed.

Hale took the papers with a satisfied nod. “Smart. Now go home, both of you. Tomorrow after the game we’ll stage the rst public sighting. Keep it light. Smile. Touch. Sell it.”

Coach Riggs pushed off the wall. “And Kane, keep that shoulder loose. We need you to hit, not hurt.”

The meeting ended as fast as it started. I stood on shaky legs, clutching my bag like a shield. Maddox rose beside me, so close his arm brushed mine. Electricity shot through the contact. I stepped away fast.

In the hallway he caught my elbow, spinning me gently but firmly to face him. The corridor was empty, lights buzzing overhead.

“Six months, huh?” His voice was rough, quieter than in the office. “You really gonna pretend you don’t want to kill me every time we’re in the same room?”

I yanked my arm free. “I spent almost Six years pretending you didn’t exist,” I said quietly. “Don’t expect six months to suddenly make me forget why. Six more months won’t kill me.”

His smirk returned, but it looked forced. “We’ll see about that, Doc. First rule of fake dating, don’t fall for the act.”

I laughed, sharp and humorless. “Trust me, Kane. Falling for you is the last thing on my mind.”

But as I walked away, his footsteps echoing behind me again, my skin still tingled where he’d touched me. And deep down, in the part of me that remembered a stolen kiss against a basement wall, a tiny treacherous voice whispered that six months suddenly felt way too long… and not nearly long enough.

I didn’t look back.

But when I reached my car in the staff lot, my phone buzzed with a new text from an unknown number.

This is Maddox. Saved your contact. We need to talk about living arrangements. Tonight. My place. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.

I stared at the screen until the words blurred.

Zara was waiting at home with the nanny. My secret. His daughter from our one-night stand, drunk sex I’m sure he didn’t remember. The one thing that could blow this whole fake-dating nightmare and career apart before it even started.

I deleted the text.

Then I typed back two words that felt like stepping onto thin ice.

Send it.

14:32 Tue, Jul 7 MAA