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His shoulders relaxed, and a relieved smile took over his face. Tully wasn’t as eager.
He looked at Tommy and gestured to Tully with his thumb. “Uh, yeah. This is Tulsa, my . . . girlfriend.”
Tommy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Oh shit,” he laughed and backed out of the alleyway. “Sorry for interrupting. I’ll give you two some privacy.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Tully pinched the bridge of her nose as Tommy turned and disappeared.
She sighed and gave Nathan a sneer out of the side of her eye. He caught it, clearly expecting something, but she didn’t know what else to say, and neither did he.
Fake boyfriend and girlfriend.
He shrugged, biting back a sheepish grin. Tully rolled her eyes.
Shit.
* * *
“You.DatingNathan Rondeau?” Stephanie’s hands covered her mouth.
“Fakedating.” Tully made sure to emphasize the word as clearly as possible. “Not to be confused with real dating or real emotions. Fake. Not real. Fictional.”
“I heard you the first time, I just don’t believe a word of it.”
“Well, take that up with Nathan, because neither do I.”
“This was all his idea?”
Tully nodded. Ashamed, she dropped her head forward against the steering wheel—as if any of this were her fault. Her hands clenched and unclenched in her lap.
Okay, itwasher fault. But she would’ve never taken it this far if she had a choice.
Stephanie laughed and Tully shot her a glare. “Sorry, sorry. This is just insane. I mean, what could have possibly happened at the party that triggered this?”
“To be clear, it was what happenedafterthe party that made him do this.”
“But something did happenatthe party, right?”
Tully pursed her lips and stared out her window, avoiding Stephanie’s stare. She should have played it cool. Even when she wasn’t talking she was a terrible liar.
Stephanie leaned forward across the center console and tried to get a better look at whatever expression Tully was hiding. “I swear to God, you better tell me or I will force the words out of you in the cruelest ways possible. Speak. Now.”
Hands rising to cover her face, Tully used them as a shield and hid to protect the last minuscule shrapnel of pride left in her shame-beaten body. “I may have . . . kissed him.”
Stephanie gave a soft, entertained inhale, full of delight at the flurry of scandal and secrets that were appearing right in front of her face. “Oh, you sweet thing. This just keeps getting better and better.” She shook her head in disbelief. “So how much of what Tommy Burnett was saying about you two being all over each other outside the gym was true?”
“Tommy Burnett exaggerates. We were just talking. The kiss at the party was . . . it was just part of the plan. Nothing more.” Even though the words she said were technically true, her tongue tasted bitter like she told a lie.
“Does Rondeau know that?”
“He won’t care. It’s not like it was that big of a deal.”
The truth was, he didn’t know. Tully wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Whatever it was, she made a mental note to make it very clear to him that everything that happened the night of the party was part of a plan that just played further into this dealheinitiated.
He couldn’t feel bad about it if he was getting something out of this too, and it made sure there was no room for misconstrued messages.
“You know, you should be thanking me right now.” Stephanie looked very proud of herself.
“Why?”
