Faking as My Brother: My Hockey Roommate's Dirty Desire…

Steam curls through the locker room, a captain is mid-sentence, and a "rookie" stands frozen three feet away, praying the towel stays put. One wrong glance and Rory's whole life detonates. She's posing as her brother at an elite hockey camp, and her roommate is the most infuriating—and most watchable—guy on the ice.

The Bet That Turned a Rookie Into a Servant

Rory never planned to be here. Her brother Leo shows up with a wrecked ankle and a sob story: the Atlas camp is the most elite hockey program in North America, and if he misses day one, he's cut for good. So he begs her to cover for him—just for a month. Rory's response is pure panic: "I agreed to fake being a guy, but not to shower with a bunch of naked guys." She goes anyway. "You better pray I don't get busted," she warns him.

Day one, she's already in trouble. She steps onto the ice without pads, saves a falling player, and gets chewed out by the captain himself. Jackson takes one look at her and sneers that the camp doesn't run a daycare—better not cry when she begs to quit. Rory's internal review is less diplomatic: douchebag.

Then comes the bet. Beat Jackson at morning practice, and he'll apologize publicly and do whatever she says. Lose, and she's his personal servant. She loses by a hair. Jackson even admits she's got serious speed—faster than he imagined—but close doesn't cut it on the ice. Cue the world's most unhinged employment contract.

327 Rules and a Very Unfair Living Arrangement

Jackson shows up with a rulebook he clearly drafted overnight. The servant code has 327 entries, and yes, he made her sign it. Rule number one sets the tone: "Rule number one, what do you call me? Cap." Rule 54 demands electrolytes chilled to exactly four degrees Celsius. Rule 233 forbids eye rolling. Rule 124 bans physical assault on the captain. There's even a buyout clause, because of course there is.

The dorm split makes it worse. Jackson draws a line down the middle of the room and orders her to keep her eyes on her own side while he's changing. Naturally, the man walks around shirtless, and Rory's brain short-circuits—she's supposed to be measuring his abs as "guy talk," and instead she's quietly noting that the trash-mouthed jerk has killer abs. Every close call is a coin flip between terror and butterflies.

And the rules keep backfiring on him. He bans humming, and somehow that turns into a duet. He orders her to feed him fruit, and she does it with maximum attitude. He confiscates her laundry and waves a pair of lacy underwear around, crowing about his little servant's taste—until Rory snaps back that nobody said guys can't wear them. Jackson has no comeback. The captain is losing control of his own game.

The Captain's Very Confusing Feelings

Here's the twist nobody saw coming: Jackson starts to fall for "Leo." He can't explain why the tiny rookie gets under his skin. He covers for her, teases her, keeps her close—and then he does something that cracks him wide open. He confides in a teammate that he's confused about what he's feeling for Leo, questioning himself in a way the arrogant captain never does about anything else.

Rory's not doing much better. She's counting down the days until Leo's foot heals so she can throw the servant code out the window, but her heart clearly didn't get the memo.

Then things get dangerous. Tip accuses Leo of carrying banned substances, and the physicals are announced—thirty minutes until every player gets checked, and Rory's secret gets checked with them. She bolts. Her hiding spot? The shower. Jackson walks in to find his "servant" crouched there, and instead of demanding answers, he stalls the search. When the coach comes looking, Jackson plays it cool, jokes about spying in the shower being a bit much, and sends them off toward the dorms. "You owe me one, Pewee," he says. Rory's reply is barely a whisper: "If Jackson, please help me, Jackson."

He does. And that moment—him shielding her, her trusting him—changes everything between them.

The physicals are still looming, Tip isn't done digging, and Jackson has no idea the person he's protecting is the girl he's falling for. When the truth finally blows up, will he feel betrayed—or relieved?