ANASTASIA
I groaned and rolled over to the other side of the bed as my phone refused to stop buzzing, the constant vibration shaking on the nightstand second after second. After about three minutes of trying to convince myself that the noise would stop on its own, I sluggishly sat up in the dark room and reached for the device.
I glanced at the time on the lock screen, and my eyes widened when I saw it was only five-thirty in the morning. Who could possibly be heartless enough to wake me up with a barrage of text messages at this hour?
I unlocked my phone and immediately saw a whole string of messages from Bellamy filling up the top of my inbox.
> Wake up Ana!
> Pick up your phone right now!
I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and tapped on her chat thread, reading through the sudden wave of panic spilling across my screen.
> Are you dating Cassian Brooks?!
Bellamy had attached a link to a major sports news handle, and my thumb hovered over the screen before I clicked it. The page loaded instantly, opening up an endless feed of edited photos, cropped video clips, and fan-made collages featuring Cassian and me from the flight video. People were calling us the team’s cute new couple in the comment section, and hundreds of users were asking if Cassian and I were secretly seeing each other.
A quiet laugh escaped my lips because the entire situation was completely ridiculous. I was not in a secret relationship with Cassian Brooks, and our interactions were purely friendly, but the internet had managed to turn a few seconds of behind-the-scenes footage into a full romantic drama.
> Did you see what I sent?! Bellamy messaged again.
I quickly typed out a response to calm her down.
:I just saw it. It is totally fake, Bellamy. You know I am not dating Cassian.
> You need to be careful, Ana.
Bellamy texted back instantly.
> Rumors like this seem harmless on the outside, but people in the sports world can manipulate them fast. You are an official employee, and the last thing you need is management thinking you are distracting.
> I know. I will handle it at the rink today. I have to go get ready.
I typed back, letting out a soft sigh as I sat up straight against my pillows.
> Okay, call me later. Have a good day, she replied.
I tossed the phone to the blanket and checked the time again. It was six in the morning now, which meant I had officially lost thirty minutes of sleep over a baseless internet rumor.
Kier wasn’t in his room when I walked out into the hallway, and I felt a wave of relief knowing I wouldn’t have to deal with his protective lecturing before breakfast. I took a quick shower, dressed in my usual dark camera jeans and a plain sweater, and made myself a light breakfast before grabbing my gear bag and leaving for the arena.
When I arrived at the venue later that morning, I could tell within five minutes that almost everyone had already seen the social media posts. As I walked down the corridor toward the media department, a few staff members gave me knowing smiles and raised eyebrows as I passed them, making me wonder if they actually believed the rumor was true. I kept my head down and walked faster, hurrying straight into the private media room to escape the awkward glances.
I set my camera bag on the table and opened my laptop to check the photo files for the afternoon schedule. I was halfway through organizing the folders when the door suddenly swung open and Cassian walked right inside.
He had a massive grin on his face, looking entirely unfazed by the commotion online, and he walked straight toward my desk.
"The internet thinks we make a great couple, Anastasia," Cassian said, his voice full of amusement as he leaned both hands on my desk. "So, what do you think? Should we give the fans what they want?"
"It is completely ridiculous, Cassian," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on my laptop screen as I typed out folder names. "You need to stop laughing about it."
"Why?" Cassian asked, stepping closer to look over my shoulder at the monitor. "We should be thanking the fans for giving us free publicity. The team page gained fifty thousand followers overnight just from those clips."
I shook my head and laughed at how completely unbothered he was by the situation. "My brother is going to be furious when he reads those comments. You should be careful, Cassian. Kier is not going to find this funny."
Right on cue, the media room door flew open again, and Kier stepped inside. His jaw was set tight, and his blue eyes were icy cold as he stopped in the center of the room, looking back and forth between Cassian and me.
"Anastasia, I don’t appreciate seeing my teammate’s face all over your personal name online," Kier said, his voice stern and commanding. "We talked about you keeping your distance from the players."
I closed my laptop with a quiet snap and folded my arms over my chest, standing my ground as I looked right back at him. "And I don’t appreciate you coming in here to yell at me before even asking me what actually happened."
Cassian immediately cleared his throat and raised his hands in a defensive gesture toward Kier. "We are not dating, Kier. It is just internet noise from the flight video." He tapped Kier on the shoulder as he moved past him toward the exit. "I’ll get going now. Sorry for the mess, Ana."
Cassian slipped out the door, leaving Kier standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed.
"Just make sure it gets cleaned up," Kier muttered, giving me one last warning look before turning on his heel and exiting into the hallway.
I let out a long breath and sank back into my chair, shaking my head at the empty room. Living under the same roof as an overbearing, hyper-protective brother was going to be much hard than I thought.