Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 81

BRAYDON’S POV

If you don’t have a best friend, you need to get one. Seriously. And not just any dude, someone who’s willing to lie straight to his sister’s face for you. Someone who’ll trail your across campus in below-four-degree weather just to hunt down whoever’s messing with your life.

For me, that’s Justin. He’s the real deal. And honestly, I can’t believe he’s actually standing and freezing here with me right now instead of doing literally anything better.

Lucky for me, he managed to squeeze some info out of Katy, enough for us to track down this Cici girl with the pink hair. Turns out she’s at this weird club we didn’t even know existed in Cadston.

And lucky for me again, they’re having some kind of meeting, so we’re posted outside waiting like two idiots until it’s over.

Yeah, yeah-I know it sounds like we’re about to ambush her. But if she’s going around talking shit about me, I think a quick conversation isn’t too much to ask… right?

“You think she’s in there?” Justin asks, stretching his neck like that’ll help him see through walls.

“She better be,” I mutter. I check Katy’s i********: again, even though I already know the result.

I’m still blocked.

This whole thing sucks. And I hate how much I miss her: her laugh, her smell, that smile she does when she’s trying not to smile.

Yeah. I miss all of it.

“Hey.” Justin slaps my chest, dragging me back to reality. “They’re heading out.”

My pulse jumps. I lean closer to him and adjust my shades. We look like two idiots pretending to be undercover agents, but I guess that’s what we are now.

“You see her?” I ask.

He squints. “Nope. Seems like we’ve got ourselves a slimy one.”

“You think she’s onto us? Maybe she knows we’re-”

He smacks my chest again. “I see pink hair.”

I follow his gaze and finally spot her. She’s hard to miss, being tall, skinny, and that hair is loud as hell. She’s got a scarf wrapped high around her neck, hiding half her face like she’s trying to mind her business but also hide from the world. And she’s alone.

Justin and I both straighten without even meaning to. We give each other the smallest nod, then start moving.

The closer we get, the more she notices. I catch the way her expression changes like she suddenly realizes we’re not just two random guys walking by. We’re walking to her.

“Cici?” I step into her path and she freezes, her eyes flicking between me and Justin, and she looks genuinely scared…not dramatic scared, real scared.

“Sorry if this feels weird,” I say, my hands up a little, “but this was the only way to actually talk to you.”

“I don’t want any trouble,” she blurts, already stepping back. She tries to go around me, so I move ahead and stop her again. Her nerves spike instantly and I can see it in her breathing, her hands, everything. Maybe because she’s guilty. Maybe because she knows exactly why we’re here.

“Why would you assume it’s trouble?” I tilt my head, studying her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Justin’s phone angled down, recording just like we planned. “Did you do something?”

She swallows hard, anxiety written all over her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But it’s… it’s crappy as hell to get ambushed by two guys out of nowhere.”

I let out a short breath, spreading my arms. “This is not an ambush, Cici.” Then I snap my fingers. “But you know what else is crappy?”

She doesn’t answer, probably because she doesn’t want to. So I do it for her. “Making up a fake chat to lie to the girl I like… and ruining things between us.”

She goes pale and blinks so fast it’s almost painful to watch.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she repeats.

“Oh, but you do,” I say, smiling. “Do you know what you did is a crime? I’m no lawyer, but last I checked, harassment and impersonation qualify.” I glance at Justin. “There was more, right?”

“A whole lot,” he chips in.

I give him a quick thumbs-up and turn back to her. I swear, she’s even paler now.

“Do you know what happens if I file a report… and you’re found guilty after the whole long process? Do you? And trust me, I will press charges, no question. So…”

Her lips twitch nervously. “I… I didn’t want to do it,” she blurts.

A sigh tears out of me-part shock, part pure anger at Bryan, and part just imagining how cruel he can be when he sets his mind to something.

Justin steps a little closer, probably because I’m too busy trying to process all of this without punching something.

“You okay?” he asks her gently.

She lets out a dry snort. “I don’t know.” Then she looks at me, guilt all over her face. “You guys found out the truth already. I honestly didn’t think it would get this serious or cause a huge problem. I’m sorry. I brought this on myself anyway.”

“Do you have any evidence of what you just told us?” I ask. My voice is tight, anger climbing my chest because I’m done. I’m done watching Bryan walk around like he’s above consequences. He’s crossed too many lines. This one? This one’s the last straw.

Cici takes out her phone, scrolling for a while with shaky hands before she finally opens a chat. She turns the screen toward us.

It’s their chat with all the messages and timestamps: the whole thing, her telling him she did what he asked, him pushing, threatening, manipulating. Everything is right there.

I tell her to take screenshots and send everything to me, then export the whole chat too, just so we have solid proof. She nods and does it without arguing.

“What are you planning to do?” Justin whispers behind me.

“I’ll figure that out later,” I mutter.

I turn back to Cici. “Look… I’m sorry you had to deal with all this. And honestly? Nobody’s gonna judge you for being bi. People don’t care like that anymore. You’re not wrong for who you like. But you did mess up by cheating on your girlfriend.”

Her eyes get shiny, like she’s holding back tears. “I’m really sorry for all the trouble I caused. I really am.”

I shake my head. “You’re fine. Everything’s going to be fine. And you don’t have to worry about Bryan, I’ll make sure he doesn’t say a word to your aunt.”

Her eyes widen a little. “You can do that?”

I nod once. “Trust me.”

“Thank you,” she chokes out, a tiny bit of relief breaking through. “I’m such a shit person. I feel so bad right now.”

I snort. “There’s only one shit person I can think of and I’ll deal with him later.”