Chapter Text
The club was hot and overcrowded, and Lockwood was not the least bit impressed. He wasn’t one for pubs or clubs, preferring to stay holed up in his flat with a beer and whatever shitty reality show was on whatever random streamer he was subscribed to this month. But his teammates had convinced him to just “come out for a drink”, so here he was, with no one in sight, and the stench of cheap booze clogging up his nose.
He thought he spotted Kipps out of the corner of his eye, and he certainly saw Flo, but she was draped all over his flatmate and best friend, so he thought it might be smart to just leave them alone.
As he passed through the busy club, the strobe lights nearly blinding him, he finally found the rest of his teammates, but they were also paired off with other people. Yeah, definitely not his cup of tea. But he had left his flat, so he figured he could grab himself a beer and maybe people-watch for a bit.
The bar swarmed with people, but he managed to grab a spot that someone had just vacated, and he caught the barkeep’s eye. Once his order of a pint had been placed, he leaned against the bar and surveyed the crowd.
He had been to multiple clubs in the last two years; when your teammates enjoyed dancing and partying, it was a given that you would get roped into it, even if it was vaguely against your better judgment. But Lockwood wasn’t really here to exercise
good
judgment. He and his on-again-off-again girlfriend had finally split for good the month before, and he had been so busy with university and the school’s fencing team that he just hadn’t had the chance to even download one of the cheesy dating apps, much less actually go out and try to meet someone. Then again, where would he go? This club certainly wasn’t his scene.
Maybe he should try a dating app. But he could always lie to himself and claim that he was much too busy to even search for a decent one.
Ned, one of his teammates, had been after him to get laid ever since he and Samantha had ended things, and Bobby and Kipps often joined in on the joking and ribbing. When the others spoke about going home to their significant others, Lockwood would quip wryly, “Looks like it’s just me plus my hand again tonight.”
He took a long pull of his beer before looking back at the crowd. Lots of drunk university students. Lots. He could have seen this at a flat party, and all he would have had to do was walk five feet across the fucking hall.
Maybe he should just finish his beer and leave.
A flash of auburn caught his eye, bright amongst all the blondes and brunettes, and he glanced back instinctively.
A pretty girl was shoving her way through the crowd, also fighting to get to the bar. He could just make out heavily-lined eyes and dark nails as she lifted her hand to shove a lock of hair out of her face. Her gaze seemed to shift towards him, but then she was lost in the crowd, and he focused once more on his beer. He wasn’t about to go try to find a girl who had
maybe
looked his way for about half a second.
Another swallow of his beer. His eyes roamed once more.
A hot stare burned into his neck. Flames flickered over his skin, up his jaw, into his cheeks.
He shifted, turning his head to better track down whoever might be watching him.
It was the girl. She had found her way to the bar, and now she had propped herself on a barstool and was boldly checking him out. Her gaze trailed lines along his jawline, down to his neck, along his shoulders. Her stare was so intense that he thought he might burst into flames for real beneath it.
Lockwood decided this was his cue. If her gaze dropped any lower, he might as well be naked in front of her. He should probably introduce himself before she reached his belt buckle.
He kicked away from the bar, and a startled look crossed her face. But then she realized that he was moving towards her, and she watched him, her gaze somehow even more bold. He had never been mentally undressed in a club before by a pretty girl, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to complain. If she wanted to look at him like that, she could stare all fucking night. But he needed to introduce himself first. It was only polite. Good manners. Besides, he didn’t know her name, either.
He had only taken a few steps towards her, however, when a guy shoved through the crowd and appeared at the bar next to her. He reached for her shoulder, and she spun around, smacking his hand.
Damn
. She looked pissed.
Definitely not a boyfriend, then.
Even from here, he could see the other guy cowering in front of her, his proverbial tail tucking itself between his legs.
He might have been a friend who had hoped to sleep with her, Lockwood reasoned. Judging by the tongue lashing she seemed to be bestowing on him–and not the type that he had clearly been hoping for–he knew better, and had pushed her boundaries anyway.
Lockwood paused in his tracks, watching the scene. Now, he found himself more concerned about making sure that the girl was okay, and that the guy wasn’t going to try anything else. If he did–
Oh.
The guy had reached forward as if to brush her hair out of her face, and she grabbed his hand and slammed it down on the bar.
Never mind. She could take care of herself.
He decided to stay for the show.
The guy seemed to be asking her,
what the fuck?
But she just hopped off her stool and stormed away, pushing her way through the crowd. She vanished once more, and Lockwood let out a sigh of mild disappointment.
Tough luck
–for both him and the guy. But, at least he didn’t seem interested in following her. Nevertheless, Lockwood watched him closely to make sure that he didn’t stomp off after the girl.
After a few minutes, the guy sighed heavily, and pushed through the crowd in a different direction.
Lockwood shrugged, finished his beer, and decided he’d use the restroom before he headed out. It was time to call it a night. While it hadn’t exactly been successful, at least he knew that the girl would probably be okay.
After he had washed his hands, he slipped out of the restroom, into the main part of the club, and collided with someone.
“Oh, I’m so sorry–” He broke off when he found himself looking into stormy blue-gray eyes.
A blink. A breath.
He had walked right into the pretty auburn-haired girl.
“No, it’s my fault,” she replied, raising her voice to project it over the din. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Definitely my mistake,” he protested instinctively. He made to step back; he didn’t want her to think he had been following her. She’d dealt with enough harassment for one night.
“Wait.” She reached for his arm. “I’m so sorry, but–I know you don’t know me at all, but I have a huge favor to ask.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Could you pretend to be my boyfriend? Just for half an hour, maybe an hour at the most?”
“Is it because of that guy? The one who was bothering you?” Lockwood asked. “I was watching him. He looks like a dickhead.”
“Yeah.” She smiled wryly. “That’s my ex. He goes to uni up north, but he’s down here because of the fencing tournament today. He’s on the visiting team. I told him I’ve got a new boyfriend, and I’ve been hiding out in the restroom to try to avoid him, but I can’t stay in there all night.”
“I’d be honored to be your fake boyfriend for the evening.”
Her smile widened. “It’ll only be for a little bit, I promise. I’m sure you have better things to do with your night.”
“Actually, I don’t. I was getting ready to leave.”
“Oh! Then you should go. I’m fine, honestly. I can find the friend who dragged me here.”
“No!” Lockwood said quickly. “No, I’m happy to help. It was just going to be me and…I think it’s Hulu this month.”
“This month?”
“I jump between streamers, except for Netflix.”
“Fuck Netflix.”
Lockwood grinned. “And this is why you’re my fake girlfriend.”
“You say the sweetest things. I’m Lucy, by the way.”
“I’m Lockwood.”
“Lockwood? No First name.”
“It’s Anthony, but I just go by Lockwood most of the time.”
“Lockwood.” She rolled his name off her tongue. “Very posh. Sexy, though.”
“You think so?”
“It makes me think of velvet chairs, and lots of lace and satin.”
They gravitated back towards the bar. Lockwood spotted the guy in question in the distance, and nodded as subtly as he could to Lucy. She rolled her eyes and immediately stepped closer to him. He carefully placed his hand protectively on her lower back. “Is this okay?”
“Absolutely.” She nuzzled into him. “Your cologne is amazing.”
“Thanks.” He offered her the name of it.
“Definitely posh,” she teased. “If we’re fake dating, I should know what your family does.”
“Uh…they don’t. They’re dead.”
“What? Oh no, I’m so sorry–”
“It’s fine. They’ve been dead for a long time.” He smiled reassuringly at her. “I go to school for business, by the way. You probably should know that if we’re dating.” He could see the guy zeroing in on them, and he playfully tugged on a strand of her hair.
She didn’t slap him; she just smiled up at him as though she’d been waiting for this.
“I’m studying art,” she replied. Her voice sounded just the tiniest bit breathier, but he felt sure that was his imagination. She had probably been sizing him up earlier as a possible fake boyfriend as soon as she’d realized her ex wasn’t about to let her go so easily. “I’ll probably go into graphic design.”
“That sounds fascinating.”
“Who the fuck is this?” a northern accent split the air behind Lockwood, and he turned to find the guy from earlier standing right there. He must have gone around through the crowd in order to sneak up on them.
What a dickhead.
“I told you,” Lucy snapped, eyes flashing dangerously, “I’ve got a new boyfriend.”
“Him?” the dickhead jerked his thumb at Lockwood, as though his very presence personally offended him. “You’re dating
him
?”
“What’s wrong with me?” Lockwood demanded.
“Absolutely nothing,” Lucy told him.
“Who the fuck goes to a club wearing suit trousers and a button-up shirt.”
“I rolled my sleeves up,” Lockwood protested.
“Posh prick.”
“At least I don’t go around harassing girls I’m no longer with,” Lockwood snarled. “Grabbing girls who don’t want it is considered assault, you know.”
“What’re you going to do? Call the cops on me?”
“I will if you don’t leave Lucy alone.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not a real man, then. Too scared to fight me?”
Something clicked in Lockwood’s head. Lucy had said that her ex was here for the tournament today.
“Not at all. Seems as though I already kicked your arse once today. I’m happy to do it again.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m Anthony Lockwood. I’m the captain of the university’s fencing team.”
Lucy looked positively delighted by this news. “He’s Paul Bell. He’s the guy who tripped over his feet and fell on his arse when you executed that Kuriashi turn.”
Feeling bolder, Lockwood wrapped his arm securely around Lucy’s lower waist, pulling her in. She pressed her hand to his chest, giggling. “You really do smell so good,” she murmured. It was surely for Paul’s sake, but Lockwood was more than happy to play along. He nuzzled her ear, and she shivered, before pushing closer into him. “Show me your cologne tomorrow morning before I leave your flat, please,” she said. “I want to make sure you’re well-stocked.”
“You two are sickening,” Paul said in disgust. “Fine. Call me when you’ve come to your senses, Lucy.”
“I came like three times watching him kick your arse, but thanks for asking,” Lucy hollered after him.
Paul flipped her off, and shoved his way through the crowd.
“Do you think he’s scared off?” Lockwood asked her.
“You know, Paul’s kind of stupid,” Lucy said thoughtfully. “He might try his luck again in a bit. Would you mind terribly–?”
“No, not at all.”
She smiled widely up at him. “You’re a lifesaver, Lockwood.”
“I didn’t realize I’d actually knocked him on his arse.”
“I did, the moment you said your name. I was watching. You’re excellent. I can see why you’re the captain.”
“I’ve been training since I was six,” he said, fighting to keep the pride out of his voice.
“That’s a long time.” She pushed closer. “We should dance, and you should tell me why you’ve been fencing since you were practically a baby.”
“What if it’s not a happy story?”
“You should still tell me,” she fluttered her lashes up at him. “I am your girlfriend for the night.”
This seemed like a lot of trouble to go to regarding a guy she would probably never see again, but whatever floated her boat.
He led her out onto the dance floor, and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. He gripped her hips, and she nudged her body up against his. “So, why have you been fencing for most of your life?”
“When I was six, my parents died in a car accident,” Lockwood explained. He waited for her to freeze, to jerk away in horror, but she remained relaxed in his arms. This seemed like a good sign. “My uncle took my older sister and me in. I was…very depressed. Very heartbroken. Jessica was slightly better, because she was older and could better comprehend what had happened. She understood in a way that I did not. My uncle took me to a therapist, and the therapist suggested that besides actual therapy, he should indulge me, and let me start an activity that I’d expressed interest in.” He grinned a bit foolishly at himself. “Have you ever seen the Three Musketeers?”
Lucy laughed. “Once or twice.”
“I was
obsessed
. I wanted to be just like them, and so when my uncle approached me about this, I asked to learn how to fight with a sword. It came in handy when I went through my Pirates of the Caribbean phrase as well.”
“Who did you want to be? Will Turner or Captain Jack Sparrow?”
“Will Turner got the girl in the end, but Jack Sparrow was so much fun. It really depended on the day.”
“Well, Anthony Lockwood.” She lifted her gaze up to meet his. “Have you gotten the girl yet?”
“Me? No, I’m single.”
“Anyone recent?”
“I dated a girl for a few years. We split last month.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Either she was very bad at apologies, or she wasn’t sorry at all. While her words expressed empathy, she sounded rather delighted by this. He wondered if maybe she was enjoying the fake dating scheme as much as he was.
“It’s fine. It was a long time coming, and we both knew it. Sometimes you’re just not meant to be with someone.”
“That’s so true.” She trailed a finger up and down his neck, and goosebumps erupted all over his body. He had to fight to remember how to breathe.
“Why did you and Paul break up?”
“Oh, he cheated on me,” she said dismissively. “With a girl at his university.”
“You’re kidding.” Lockwood couldn’t imagine why anyone would cheat on Lucy. Paul really was a dumbass if he thought that it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the arse. No wonder she had been so pissed at him earlier.
“I’m not. We were supposed to watch a movie over Facetime, and he never showed. I must have called him about fifty times, but maybe he had me on
do not disturb
, I don’t know. Anyway, I finally got through to him the next morning, and some random chick answered the phone. And there he is, in the background, yelling at her to give him the phone, hollering that it wasn’t what it looked like. I’ve got to hand it to the girl, though. She pegged the situation, sent me a selfie in about fifteen seconds, and then must have chucked his phone at him and gotten the fuck out.”
“No wonder you hate him so much.”
“I don’t know if hate is the word that I’d use. Pity, maybe. Despise. I find him very distasteful. Disgusting. A lot of D words, I guess.”
“Like dickhead?”
“Exactly.” Her smile faded into a frown. “But just so you know, I’m not using you to get revenge on him. That happened a couple months ago, and I’m honestly pretty much over it. We were rocky for months before that, and we probably would have broken up a few weeks later. Him cheating just sort of sped the process up.”
“I get that. But it was still a dick move.”
“Oh, it absolutely was,” she agreed. “And I was definitely pissed at him. He’s been texting me for the last couple weeks, ever since he realized that the tournament today was taking place at my university. I blocked his number, and I blocked him on social media, but my friend dragged me here, and I guess she posted a pic on SnapChat. He figured I’d probably be here, too, so he showed up.”
“What a fucking creep.”
“I was having so much fun before he showed up, too.” She held his gaze. “There was a gorgeous guy who looked like he was about to talk to me, but then Paul just had to interrupt.”
“So you weren’t watching me with the intention of asking me to be your fake boyfriend for the evening?”
“Definitely not. I did think there was something familiar about you, but once you told me who you were, I figured it out. I’d watched you today in the tournament.”
“Oh.” Heat flashed through his body at the idea that she had been trying to catch his eye earlier. “So…asking me to be your fake boyfriend tonight–”
“It was out of convenience, but it also worked out well for me, don’t you think?”
“I mean, if the goal was me–”
“The goal was definitely you.”
Lockwood’s gaze flickered behind her. He could see Paul trying to cut a pathway through the dance floor, most likely with the intention of interrupting his dance with Lucy. Lockwood definitely wasn’t having that.
“He’s back,” Lockwood informed her. “He’s heading our way.”
“Feel like raising the stakes?” she whispered, her eyes meeting his.
This was it. This was the moment of truth. And Lockwood had never been more sure of anything in his life.