AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Have you kissed her before tonight?”
I’m surprised by how quickly the lie forces itself out of my tight throat. “No.”
Blake keeps his gaze on me. I can tell he wants to believe me. I maintain his gaze, making sure my face is as expressionless as it can be.
He lets out a small sigh after a few seconds of silence. “Fine,” he spits. “Let’s table this discussion for later. I need to join Andy Furman and my dad now.”
He marches out, and I’m alone once more.
I stride over to the center of the room and dump myself on the brown leather sofa, my calm exterior burying the tower of confusion in the pit of my belly.
A million more questions are rushing through my head, and I don’t have the answer to a single one.
As I recline on the sofa, my head aches.
I need to have the answers. Now, before another person marches through that door to ask me something else. I’m well aware that Britney is the key to my confusion, but it is the worst idea in the world to go look for her now, when her dad and her brother were furious. Also, she is a skilled liar, so skilled that her own family members don’t even know her. I can’t trust her to be honest with me.
I’m going to have to figure out all of this by myself.
I close my eyes, starting from the beginning. The first day Britney saw me naked.
That day, which was seemingly of no consequence, was the day that set the ball rolling. In and of itself, it was nothing. I’d merely mistakenly flashed Britney.
But then . . .
I think back to her refusal the first time I’d asked her to play this role. She was rude, even a little harsh. But then, a few days later, she changed her mind.
I didn’t even think to ask her why.
Maybe she was jealous, seeing me flirt with that other girl at the party. But then again, neither of us were that into each other yet. There was no way she agreed to be with me simply because she didn’t want me being around other girls, not when we were both denying our attraction to each other at that point.
I sit up, my eyes open again. The more I mull over the events of the past few weeks, the less sense they make.
Why had Brit agreed to fake date me? And why the hellhad she gone from zero to a hundred, letting me feel her up in public that same night? I remember thinking as I held her in the garden that I was seeing a new side to Britney for the first time. I remember even feeling slightly cocky about being the first one to know this new side of her.
Had she been too attracted to me to keep up the pretense?
Somehow, I can’t bring myself to believe that. Britney has been pretending for decades. She knows how to play the adorable, cute nerd. She knows it better than she knows her own name. Just a few hours ago, she was able to slip on her mask after she thought I was flirting with the air hostess. And she didn’t let go of that persona until I literally shook it out of her.
Nothing could make Britney forget to keep her mask on.
Which means, Britney had planned to seduce me the night she decided to fake date me. During our first date, she also orchestrated us going to a club. Sure, she me gave a sob story about how much she wanted me—a story that I bought back then—but I don’t quite believe it right now. Britney is too careful, too smart, to have us end up in a public club because she wanted to be with me.
I rise to my feet, a sick feeling in my gut.
The foundation of all my assumptions about Britney are crumbling. Hard.
I need to find her.
The corridor is thankfully empty. The Whites and Andy Furman are probably with the reporters, asking them not to print those photos. But the moment I slip my phone out of my pocket and stare at the screen, I see about a million notifications. I click on the first.
It’s an image of myself and Brit mid-kiss on Twitter. Our eyes are closed, my arms are wrapped around her, and there’s no mistaking the passion on her face. The photo reminds mestrongly of a Hollywood rom-com promotional picture. It’s so good, it looks almost staged.
The picture already has one million views.
My stomach drops.
Britney knew this would happen when she came flying past the cameras. She expected the pictures to be widely broadcast. Of course, David and Blake were still of the opinion that I somehow forced her into this public display of affection. They were ignoring the real truth.
