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Chapter Thirty-Three
Decision Point
All things considered, Anna didn’t seem as mad at him as he might have expected. It was possible she stewed in her car more than he realized. He didn’t know. Even though they were headed to the same location, they drove there separately.
Back at OpenSky Center, she’d only grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away after he’d dropped his bombshell onto Trent. A bombshell, indeed. The jackass had seemed somewhere in between staggered and literally shell-shocked as Anna hurried them both away, returned his skates, and then calmly but firmly informed him that they were going to his house.
“Right now.”
If there’d ever been any thought of disputing her demand, it’d evaporated as though it were the hottest day in the most scorching summer.
Along the way, Liam had inevitably suffered from a churning gut and copious regret. What the hell had he just done? The whole point of his pretending to be Anna’s boyfriend was to make her life easier, not more difficult. He’d let his damn pride seize his tongue back there with Trent, and now he might have just made everything so much worse for Anna.
An apology leaped from his lips within seconds after he and Anna pulled into his driveway and climbed out of their cars.
“I’m not upset,” she said, holding a hand up. “I’m just… concerned about how things are going to end up now.”
“I know,” he said, feeling utterly dismal about his actions. “I really fucked up back there.”
“Do you want to take it back?”
Liam’s expression shifted from contrite to confused. “Take it back?”
“I could just say that you lied or that we broke up afterward. I’ve already ignored two calls from my father, so it’s safe to assume that the news has reached him.”
The boulder of guilt in the pit of his stomach sank lower. Doubly so as he saw the sorrow milling about in Anna’s eyes.
“Would that make things better for you if I did?” That was all he was concerned with now, undoing his blunder as best as he could.
“No, I don’t believe so.”
Something began to vibrate in her purse—a third phone call from Arnold Royce, perhaps. Like the first two, Anna ignored it. Her attention remained solely his to hold, her soft green eyes shimmering with emotion.
“Then I don’t want either of those things to happen,” he said, resolve made. “However, I can best help you out; that’s what I want to do. I still hope that we’re friends and that I can do that.”
“We are still friends,” Anna confirmed. “And… I suppose we’re still pretending to date. Or pretending to be a couple, now.”
Liam winced. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
Anna took a deep breath. Her hand lifted. “No more apologies. Please. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Liam would continue to feel the opposite for quite some time, but he heeded Anna’s request. No more apologies. At least, no more open apologies.
After a brief silence, Anna glanced one house over from his. Lips coming together worriedly, she began reaching for her phone.
“I think it would be best if we come clean to Tess and Avril. At this point, I believe it’ll do far more harm than good if we keep what just transpired from them—and the nature of our original deal. I want their help, not to keep deceiving them. Are you all right with that, Liam?”
Though his worries multiplied astronomically, he forced himself to nod. Anna finished fishing out her phone and made a call. Not to her father. To her best friend.
The person that Liam was most worried about not taking things well.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Dibs
Strangely, Avril took things rather well. Or at least… silently. By the time he and Anna finished explaining everything, she’d said only a handful of words, asked only two questions. For most of their talk, she’d sat on the couch next to Tess, arms folded while he and Anna—mostly Anna—explained everything. Comparatively, Tess had been far more involved in asking for additional details.
Blessedly, Tess wasn’t upset to find out that he and Anna had been pretending to date the whole time. She wasn’t even particularly surprised. The conversation that they’d had in private some days ago had more or less already suggested that he and Anna were more interested in friendship than romance. While she hadn’t seemed overjoyed to hear the details of their deception and how long ago it had started, she didn’t admonish either of them for what they’d done. Instead, she actually apologized.
