“I just wanted to let you know I had no idea he had a girlfriend. He didn’t mention it last week when I was texting him.”
I want to say, ‘well, I’m contractually obligated to be his fake girlfriend until the end of summer, and he’s all yours after that,’ but that might not go over well. Instead, I squeeze my smile even tighter and take another dramatic and well-timed sip of watered-down lemonade.
“Thanks for letting me know, Avery.”
Her nostrils flare, setting off something wild inside me. “It’s Ava.”
“Right, Ava,” I say with a bored tone that feigns disinterest.
She plants a manicured hand on her hip and lets her pale brown eyes carefully trail up and down the cropped tank top and ripped blue jeans I threw on this morning. I can feel her stare hover over the dried paint that I couldn’t scrub off my fingers.
Younger me probably would’ve broken out in hives after crossing paths with this wannabe Barbie, but I simply blink at her and take another slow sip of lemonade. Apparently, I need to talk to Knox about keeping his bimbos away from me. This wasn’t part of our deal.
“You seem really confident,” Ava says, lips twitching, “but I’m a girl’s girl so I’ll warn you to be careful with Knox Cooke. He doesn’t do relationships.”
If you have to say you’re a girl’s girl, there’s a good chance you aren’t. “I’m very aware of his reputation,” I say, a nail poking through the Styrofoam cup perched in my hand. I was reaching my limit with this chick. “But I’ll be fine. I think Knox has had his fill of fake bit?—”
“There you are!” a small voice calls out from behind me. I turn to find Marie sliding into place beside me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
My anger willfully retreats as Marie grabs the busted cup out of my hand and turns to Ava, who isn’t quite ready to back off.
“Hi Ava,” Marie chirps, allowing that hateful look to focus on her.
“Marie,” Ava says, flipping a piece of fake hair over her shoulder. “We were just talking about Knox.”
“Were you?” Marie quirks a brow and links her arm in mine. “That’s funny. I was just telling Emery how lucky Knox is that he finally has someone with whom he can hold an actual conversation.”
I cough, trying to cover up a laugh. That earns a very pissed off look from Barbie.
Ava looks between us, her lips ajar like she’s gearing up to say something else, but Marie stares her down until she lets out a defeated huff of air and storms off back into the crowd of people across the path.
“You’re welcome,” Marie says, waiting until Ava is completely out of earshot.
“I owe you big time,” I murmur, releasing the tension cresting in my neck. “I was two seconds away from throwing my lemonade in her face and tearing out those awful extensions.”
Marie laughs beside me, and we both settle back into what I thought was my safe space. But I gave up the luxury of flying under the radar when I made a deal with the devil.
“You can start by explaining what the hell you’re doing dating Knox Cooke.”
CHAPTER 9
EMERY
Knox’s one rule is that we can’t tell anyone our relationship is fake. Lying is not how I wanted to rekindle my friendship with Marie, but I need to at least get my truck back before I start bending rules.
Scratch that—bending rules that Knox cares about. The pet name thing doesn’t count.
“I was embarrassed to tell you before because I know how much you didn’t like him when we were kids. I didn’t want to scare you away,” I say, acid burning in the back of my throat. If it is this hard to lie to Marie, I can’t imagine what it is going to be like with my sister. Shit—I have to remember to tell Eli that Eve doesn’t know.
Marie purses her lips as she considers my bullshit excuse. I’m not very good at thinking on my feet. “Now I feel like a complete ass for talking trash on him,” she says, draping one arm over the back of the bench.
“You’re not mad?” I ask, arching one brow.
“No,” she sighs. “I’m just surprised. I know we were young, but his rejection devastated you. You rarely came back to Honey Grove after that, and you fell in love with this placethat summer. I remember how excited you got when you talked about staying.”
The sharp reminder of the past pokes at my side. I spent a lot of time wondering what things would’ve been like if I had stayed. However, I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason, and for some awful, slightly humiliating reason, I was meant to get my heart broken by Knox.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to drum up a response in the back of my mind. “Knox has changed since we were kids. It’s hard to explain, but he seems different—almost more grounded, if that even makes sense. He has plans for his future, and he’s not the same boy who wasn’t ready to settle down. He’s still a work in progress, but so am I.”
