He and his friends shoving my books to the floor in the hallway, laughing as I scrambled to gather them up.
My glasses dangling from his fingers while he teased,“You can run faster than that, can't you?”
His orchestrated plan of asking me to prom, making me save the little I had to buy a dress, only for him to make it painfully obvious to everyone he wouldn't dare be caught dead withBookworm Bristow.
Eight years later, and my body still remembered the shame.
I exhaled slowly, controlling my tone and building back the brick wall to those haunting memories.
“I already know who you are,” I said, turning my attention to the untouched glass of wine in front of me.“And I’m waiting for someone.So do us both a favor and leave.”
For a second, I thought he might.But instead, the chair across from me scraped against the hardwood floors, and Jaxon dropped into it like he had every right to be there.
“Yeah,” he said, leaning back casually.“About that.I’m actually the one you’re meeting.”
I blinked.“I’m sorry?”
“Benji couldn’t make it.There's a bit of an emergency with his dad's company.He sent me to meet you instead and…” Then, with a tilt of his head, “Wait, you already know me?”
I blinked at him again, the words colliding with each other in my mind and failing to process.There was no way someone like him knew Benji, right?This was all some sort of twisted joke.I was about to tell him just that when my phone buzzed on the table.
A text from Benji lit the screen.
BENJI
Hey, I'm so sorry to do this, Savannah.
My dad has a work emergency and I have to fly to Japan tonight.
I didn't want to leave you hanging, so I got my best friend to help.His name's Jaxon.He's solid, promise
My fingers tightened around the phone until my knuckles whitened.I read the message over and over again, hoping that they'd somehow change.Best friend?
Of all the men in the city—in the world—why did it have to behim?
“Guessing he messaged you.Listen, he gave me a brief rundown on the situation.Make ex jealous.Attend wedding.Seems easy enough.”
I looked up from my phone, and he was still watching me—curious, a little amused, completely unbothered by the storm gathering behind my eyes.
“You,” I said flatly, “are the last person I would ever do this with.”
He looked taken aback for a fraction of a second, his mouth parting—probably ready to say something cocky and stupid—but I didn’t give him the chance.I stood, grabbed my purse, and headed straight for the door.
“Hey, wait—”
But I didn’t.
Not when my pulse was pounding.Not when every instinct screamed that history had an infuriating way of repeating itself.
The Jaxon I knew wasn’t dependable.He was reckless, arrogant, and smug—the poster boy for bad decisions wrapped in pretty packaging.And despite his irritatingly perfect…everything, he was not the man I wanted to fake anything with.
“Slow down.Hey, just wait a minute.”
His voice trailed behind me as I pushed through the lounge doors into the cool evening air.The click of my heels echoed across the pavement until he caught up and his fingers curled around my forearm.
The touch was electric.A jolt that stopped me in my tracks.
I froze, my breath catching before I could stop it.When I glanced down to his grip, his hand dropped away immediately, like he’d been burned.
