Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 258

Chapter 0121-2

I take his hand and shake it like a fan girl, which I might be because there’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more these past few weeks than watching how his mind works. The way he moves through a set, the way he sees things before anyone else does. Everyone here loves him for it. Everyone except Deon, who gets reminded at least twice a day to make a facial expression.

Though Deon has been considerably less insufferable since Director Wyatt let it slip that his dad sponsored a chunk of the film and everyone could guess why. Funny how that works.

“You held your own,” Director Wyatt adds, releasing my hand. “Good luck.”

“Thank you, Director.” I respond. “This means a lot to me. Doing this as a college student wasn’t easy but I’m glad you gave me the chance.”

“I hope you succeed in your future endeavors.” He nods. “You’ll be showing up here and there, so this isn’t our last conversation. Still, take care of yourself.”

“I will.” I say and he nods, before turning and walking back toward his setup and I’m still watching him go when someone taps my arm. I turn.

It’s Jonah, one of the PAs, and he’s holding out a bouquet of pale yellow flowers wrapped in brown

paper.

“From Priya and Marcus,” Jonah says. “They ordered it this morning, apparently.”

I take the bouquet and have to look away for a second because my eyes are doing the absolute most. I blink at the ceiling, then back down, then across the room to where Priya and Marcus are both beaming at me.

“You guys, I’m getting emotional.” I dab at the corner of my eye. “My boyfriend’s gonna think someone bullied me.”

They burst out laughing and I use the moment and the cover of everyone still buzzing around each other to drift toward Deon.

He’s on the far side of the room, packing up his corner. And the warm, loose energy moving through the rest of the set just… doesn’t reach him. Not because anyone is being cruel about it. Nobody is giving him pointed looks, or whispering comments about him. He’s just not included in the loose, easy warmth that’s moving through everyone else, and I think he knows it.

He worked with all of us for weeks and somehow stayed a stranger to every single person here. He once picked a fight with Priya who is so genuinely easygoing that it actually takes a demonic asshole to get under her skin.

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Chapter 0121-2

“Packing up already?” I ask, stopping behind him.

Claim

“If you’re here to gloat, I’m not interested.” He doesn’t look up and just keeps shoving things into his bag. “You guys are so cringe. We got twelve minutes of screen time and everyone’s acting like we just wrapped a Marvel film. Our scenes might still get cut, so the whole thing is stupid.”

A small smile pulls at my mouth and I step around to his side.

“Don’t you think you should celebrate every milestone, regardless of how small?” I ask. “Not everyone gets five minutes in a movie. It’s a relatively small production, yeah, but we got to do something cool. Plus you got to meet me, which I personally think is the greatest blessing.”

He scoffs but I catch the smile trying to break through before he kills it.

Deon has been a lot over these past several weeks. He’s been sending little digs at me, making condescending comments, and belittling me in a way that’s easy to brush off in the moment and only really stings later. But I’m not carrying any of that out of here. I want to close this chapter clean and with good energy going out the same way good energy came in. It worked before. The campaign ended well and that ending is what opened this door.

Deon turns to face me, his bag over his shoulder. “For your information, you’re really annoying.” He holds up a finger. “Secondly, I don’t think you’re better than me at acting but I’m just giving you the crown for now.” He adds another finger. “And lastly, I really hated hearing you talk about your boyfriend every five seconds. I’m single and that stuff is genuinely irritating.”

“So in conclusion,” I c**k an eyebrow, “you’ve been jealous of me this whole time.”

He looks away with a grunt.

“Now I see.” I step closer and point at him. “On a normal day, I would’ve called you a dickhead. But I’m in a good mood, so I’ll treat you to lunch.” His eyes widen slightly before I add. “My boyfriend’s coming, though.”

His smile drops off his face and I press my lips together to stop my laughter, watching him shake

his head.

“Fine.” He sighs. “But I’m picking the restaurant. You clearly have terrible taste.”

“Oh really?” I blink at him. “How’d you figure that out?”

“Fairly obvious.” He turns and starts leading the way out. “It just radiates off you.”

“Maybe that’s why we were never friends.” I fall into step behind him. “And yet my poor taste still got me flowers and you got nothing.”

“Those flowers look like a funeral arrangement. Suits you and your insane hair.”

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