“I don’t know what’s going on,” he said, his voice dropping to that gentle tone that used to talk me down from panic attacks. “But I can tell you don’t want this. And that makes me worried about you. More invested in making sure you’re okay.”
Crap. So, the more he could read this lie, the more he’d come barging into my life, threatening everything.File that under Fantastic Complications of Epic Proportions.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” His eyes burned with protective fury. “Is he hurting you?”
“No.” The word came out too fast, too sharp.
Mathew didn’t look convinced. His gaze swept over me, searching for evidence of injuries, I guess.
“Dakota, if he lays one finger on you?—”
“He doesn’t.”This isn’t real. None of this is real.
“Then what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m in a relationship with Axel now.” The words felt like glass lies and betrayal in my mouth.
“Then why am I having such a hard time believing that?”
“Because you’re seeing what you want to see,” I lied, hating myself for it. But my parents needed me to pull this off, and I seriously didn’t want a Mafia bullet in my head for not selling this story.
Mathew stepped even closer and brought his hand up to cup my cheek, just like he always used to do.
Just like he’d cupped my cheek the first night he told me he loved me. Just like he’d cupped my cheek that time in the rain when he kissed me like a man coming back from war.
Only this time, the warmth I’d once felt wasn’t there.
“I love you.” Mathew leaned down so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. His lips crashed into mine. They were urgent, demanding, desperate.
I pressed my palms against his chest and pushed back, gasping. “Mathew?—”
“It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything.” He pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead, gazing over my shoulder. And whenhe did, his expression morphed into something that looked almost like satisfaction.
I turned around and found Axel standing in the hallway, his face carved from stone.
Axel’s eyes moved from Mathew’s hands still tangled in my hair, to my swollen lips, to the guilty flush I could feel burning across my cheeks.
He’d seen everything.
“Come on,” Axel grumbled, voice flat as roadkill. “We need to get ready.”
Crap.I knew he’d be pissed at the complication, but it felt like his anger had another level to it. One I couldn’t place.
I said goodbye to Mathew and then swallowed my dignity as Axel and I posed for our first public photo that I’d post on my account, goingofficiallypublic with our romance. Not justoh, we’ve been caught by other peoplepublic.
Cuddling into his arms by the window felt like snuggling up to a very attractive, very pissed-off glacier. We smiled and gazed out at the city, two lovebirds lost in … well, lies mostly.
It felt stranger than our dinner charade. Stranger than lunch. Probably because minutes ago, I’d been kissing another man, and now I was pretending to be madly in love with the human equivalent of a thundercloud.
As soon as I clicked a few shots, Axel muttered, “Good?”
I reviewed them, my thumb swiping through images of us looking disgustingly happy. “I can edit them to make them look even?—”
“Don’t care.”
Excuse me?
