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I focused my attention back on Ash, who was glaring at Maddie’s retreating figure. I cupped her face and forced her to look at me. Her eyes softened for a fraction of a second before she brought the glare back.
She moved away from my touch and stepped back from me. It was killing me inside to deceive her like this, but it was for the best.
“You should have told me.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You should have at least told me that you had been thinking about proposing.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. It just all felt right at the time, and I just popped the question and then she said yes.” I was lying right through my teeth, and I worried that she would see right through me. Sarah and her always had a knack for figuring me out.
“Do you love her?” Her jade eyes stared into my blue ones.
“I do,” I said without hesitation which was another lie. I didn’t love Maddison. Hell, I didn’t even know if I liked Maddison right now. She and I were far from friends. We were frenemies at best.
“Have you told mom and dad yet?”
I shook my head.
Ryan and Linda McNeil hadn’t even crossed my mind when I had agreed to this whole plan. I didn’t know how they would take the news of my fake engagement.
Seeing as Ash was going to inform most, probably after she left I knew, I didn't need to wait long to hear their reactions.
Linda and Ryan reminded me a lot of my parents, and I didn’t want to hurt them.
“Are you going to tell them?” she pressed.
“I will. I just need to break the news to everyone else first. You are literally the only person that knows.”
“Well.” She sniffed. “I guess I will see you around, Marcus.”
She started to walk away, but I grabbed her hand and stopped her. She looked at my hand then moved her eyes upward to meet my gaze.
“Promise me that you will be okay, Ash, please.”
“I don’t know,” was her answer.
It pulled at my heartstrings. With Ash, it wasn't like when other people got sad. Her sadness was dark and got very scary very quickly.
I wanted to say more, but instead, I just let her hand go so she could walk away. I watched her walk down the sidewalk until she crossed the street and then turned the corner. Every fiber in my body wanted to run after her, but I resisted the urge.
She was hurt right now but I knew that eventually, she would come to terms with this new fake reality I had created.
I cursed under my breath and headed to the car.
When I got to the small parking lot, I found Maddie furiously typing on her phone. Seeing her there just gave me this intense rage. This was all her fault.
I stormed over to her and ripped her phone out of her hands.
“What the hell, Vandlewoods? Why did you tell Ash that you were my fiancée?”
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Because that’s what you are going to be next week. Then the following week after that you will be my husband, you idiot, or did you forget our plan?”
“Yeah, but that part of the plan wasn’t meant for now,” I seethed. “Do you know how much shit you just created for me?”
“She was disrespecting me, Marcus. Your fiancée, whom you are supposed to defend to your dying breath. I couldn’t let what she was trying to do slide. I'm not the kind of person that tolerates disrespect.”
“You aren’t my real fiancée, Maddison. And you have no idea how fragile Ash is. I didn’t want to spring the news on her like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “She obviously likes you, Marcus. That’s why she was acting like some kind of whiny child.”
“I know that.”
