BENJI
How'd things go okay with Jaxon?
Here's his number just in case.
I’d ignored it for two days, hoping the universe would hand me a better option.Spoiler: it hadn’t.
I almost threw up when one guy told me he'd do it if I paid himandslept with him first.Needless to say, I had run out of options.
I capped the marker, stepping back to assess my own insanity.The whiteboard mounted above my desk—the one usually reserved for case outlines and exam prep—now had a different purpose.Now, in neat handwriting, it read:
FAKE BOYFRIEND: PROS & CONS
PROS:
– Optics (appear confident, over it, thriving.)
— Physically attractive (annoyingly so)
– Confident enough to sell the fake relationship
– Avoid family pity
– Reclaim power
– Would definitely make Chase jealous
CONS:
– Potential emotional damage
– History of being an ass
– Untrustworthy
– Could publicly humiliate me again
– Jaxon Cage
– Jaxon Cage
–Jaxon Cage
Clearly, the cons outweighed the pros here.
My eyes narrowed at the repetition of his name, as if that would erase him from my life.
Every rational part of my brain screamed no.
No to the tattoos.
No to the cocky smile.
No to the history.
No to the man who once made me the joke of senior year.
And yet—there was that image of Chase and Lori flashing through my mind again, the smug tilt of his smile as he slid that ring onto her finger.Her need to rub it in my face that he chose her and wanted nothing to do with me.
