Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 79

BRAYDON’S POV

“Yo, where’s your head at?” I blink out of my daze and look at Justin, who’s still mashing the gamepad. “You crying cause I beat your ass?”

Normally I’d talk back or at least pretend to care that he smoked me 7-1 in our last round. But the only thing I feel is this tight, nauseous knot right in my stomach. And it doesn’t help that when I look at him from the corner of my eye, he kinda looks like Katy. They’ve got the same smile, the same stupid little eyebrow twitch. Or maybe I’m just losing it.

He finally pauses the game. “Alright, nah. What’s up with you? You’ve been acting weird all night.”

I drag a hand down my face, trying to get a word out but it’s stuck in my throat. You know that messed-up moment where you’ve been hiding something from someone, but suddenly that someone is the only person you feel like you can talk to. Yeah. That’s where I’m at.

I swallow. “Katy dumped me.”

Justin tilts his head, studying me for a second like he’s trying to figure out if what I just told him has a deeper meaning.

“The fake bullshit you two had going on?” he asks finally.

I don’t say anything because I’m not even sure how to start explaining all of it to him.

He shrugs. “Good for her.” He turns back to the TV, picking up the controller again. “Told you she’s focused. Really thought you’d drag her into your crap. I’m proud of that little cat.”

A few weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have even cared about what he just said. Now… it sticks, and digs under my skin because I’m not that guy anymore. I don’t want to be that guy anymore. And yet, for some reason, that old version of me is the one everyone keeps seeing. I’m stuck carrying a reputation I’ve been trying like hell to outrun.

“But hold up, why are you even mad?” He turns toward me again, one eyebrow raised. “I mean why do you look like she actually dumped you? It was fake.”

He stares at me, waiting for an answer. I don’t even know what I’m thinking anymore,

I’m just done waiting for the perfect moment to tell him. Done holding everything in.

So I finally say the words I’ve been meaning to tell him all along.

“I think… I’m in love with her.”

The room goes quiet and the air feels heavier, like it’s pressing down on me. I brace myself for his reaction, even though I know I’m not really ready. I’m expecting a punch, his yelling, something to knock the wind out of me or maybe even break my nose. I’m ready for the full force of his anger.

Instead… he just turns back to the TV again. “Took you long enough.”

What?

Did I mishear him? My heart lurches, and I scoot to the edge of the sofa, my eyes locked on him. He glances my way and shakes his head.

“What did you say?” I manage to ask.

“Said took you long enough,” he replies. “Thought you’d eventually take it to your grave… though, honestly, that still would’ve been a solid option.”

He knew? Goosebumps mask my skin. How? Why didn’t he say anything?

“How long have you known?”

“Clocked it the moment you started ditching the boys and disappearing every chance you got. “He shrugs. “At first, I just thought you were trying to stay locked in, y’know? Keep your head down. But then… a lot of shit happened, and I started connecting the dots.” He pauses, shaking his head. “By the end of the day, the only thing that made sense was… oh God, I can’t even say it.”

My lips part slightly. “Why didn’t you say anything? I mean…”

“Yeah, you fucked up cause I told you to stay away,” he cuts in, chuckling. “The whole time, I thought it was gonna be Katy that needed to be watched. Turns out… you’re the one with the little crush.”

He starts laughing, and even though nothing’s been funny these past few days, I can’t help but chuckle too.

When he catches his breath, he looks at me and huffs. “Seriously, what’s she feeding you guys? She’s my sis, but I’m being honest… I can’t figure out how she gets every guy she meets wrapped around her finger. Huh?”

I lean back against the sofa, tilting my head back. “I don’t know.”

“Nah… I’m too disappointed in you,” he says, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Four weeks? That’s all it took?”

I can hear the humor in his tone, but I can’t even respond. What’s with the universe, huh?

Giving me one thing and taking another? Last week, I spent hours running through every possible way to tell Justin I wanted to ask Katy out without wrecking our friendship. And the whole time… he knew. The whole fucking time.

As he slides onto the sofa next to me, his movements snap me out of my thoughts, and I force myself to lower my gaze.

“So… what’d you do? Or did she just get tired of you?” He asks.

I exhale and shake my head. “Nothing.”

“Come on, she won’t just dump you out of the blue.” I can see the grin on his face, like he’s savoring the fact that he gets to say, she dumped me. “You messed up somewhere.”

I rub a hand over my face and straighten. “She thinks I did something… but I didn’t.”

“What?” He raises an eyebrow.

And then I tell him everything that happened. It takes at least ten minutes to answer all his questions, and by the end, he exhales like I just filled his stomach with all my stories.

“That’s…” He rubs the back of his neck. “Brutal.”

I nod. “She’s blocked me… everywhere for real.”

“Yikes,” he tuts. “Sometimes, she scares me too. She runs a strict program.”

I stay quiet, and he stares at me for a long beat, like he’s trying to read every thought bouncing around in my head. Then he clears his throat.

“I want to ask you something.”

He just shrugs, his eyes still glued to the screen as he scrolls with purpose.

My heart’s pounding because for the first time since all this happened, I have hope. Like this whole stupid mess might finally end.

But after a moment, Justin stops scrolling and he lifts his head and shakes it once. My stomach drops. The tiny spark of hope inside me snuffs out, and I blow out a breath. At this rate, the headache I had earlier is going to make a damn comeback.

But Justin isn’t giving up. He pulls up StudentLink, the website every Cadston student has to fill in with their info and details.

“She’s got pink hair, which makes her one of these,” he explains, scanning the screen. “Either she’s non-binary, in art, or athletics. All we have to do is narrow it down.”

I nod, impressed with the solid plan…he might actually be a genius sometimes. And as dumb as it sounds, the stereotype’s not entirely wrong.

He starts with the first category: non-binary. And one person pops up with pink hair. Cadston’s a small school, with small numbers so I was expecting maybe five at most per category, so this is lucky. We check her recent posts, and sure enough, she’s dyed pink recently. That makes her a suspect.

We move on to the other categories, and after going through everything, we’re left with just two girls who have pink hair in their recent posts.

It’s not perfect since some students barely touch StudentLink but it’s a starting point.

Justin leans back, satisfied, but then an idea hits me.

“What if we make this girl come to us?” I blurt.

He narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“What if we create an ad for a contest… like, throw in a bunch of money, $4k maybe, and make it for people with… colored hair or something?” I know it sounds crazy, but I keep going. “We say it’s for photography. And then maybe you convince Katy to… identify her somehow when people show up.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “You really lost your mind. All this fuss?”

“I just… I’m-”

“I’ll ask Katy,” he cuts me off and my eyes widen slightly. “What? It’s the easiest way to get it done. All the ideas we’ve come up with will get us nowhere without a name or some visual guide.”

“Do you think she’ll tell you?”

“Come on, what do you take me for?” He slicks his hair back, all confident. “I’ll tell her I know everything that happened between you two but act like I’m on her side and ask her the details. She’ll spill, guaranteed.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

He grins. “I’ve got this.”

Even though it feels like the blind leading the blind, I’m relieved I’m not trying to win my girl back alone. It was driving me crazy trying to figure this out by myself.