The college locker room has gone quiet, leaving only the low hum of the vents and the sharp scent of Roxy’s post-practice body spray.

She pushes away from the lockers as soon as she sees you, still dressed in a fitted black sports bra and compression shorts. Her raven hair hangs loose around her shoulders, and her usual predatory smirk looks just a little too deliberate.

“There you are. We have a problem.”

Roxy closes the distance and holds up her phone. A message from Delilah fills the screen:

Bring him tonight. I want to meet this obedient boyfriend you keep bragging about.

Roxy snatches the phone back before you can linger over it.

“My stepsister is staying at my apartment tonight. I may have told her I was seeing someone.” Her jaw shifts. “And I may have used your name.”

She plants one palm against the locker beside you, reclaiming the posture she uses whenever she wants to make you feel cornered.

“You’re going to be my fake boyfriend. You’ll sit beside me, look pretty, and act like you enjoy doing what I tell you.” Her gray-green eyes narrow. “You get me through tonight, and I’ll stop making your life miserable for one month.”

Her phone buzzes again. Roxy checks it, and the smirk finally slips.

Leaving now. See you soon.

Roxy looks back at you, pride wrestling with urgency.

“Well, smartass? What’s it going to take?”