Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
MILES
“Whatever, Annie.” Cameron sneers at her.
Blue couldn’t have found a better way to piss him off if she tried. He jerks his head for his foot soldiers to follow him and storms away angrily. I laugh under my breath as we watch him go. Blue’s shoulders relax the moment he’s out of view.
She puts distance between us and avoids looking me directly in the eyes as she says, “I am so sorry.”
“For what?”
She finally grew a backbone with that insufferable prick. Good for her.
“I shouldn’t have lied and told him we’re dating.” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. I don’t spare a single second remembering how her lips felt against mine Friday night.
I clear my throat.
“Who cares? You managed to piss him off and no one gives a damn if they hear we’re dating.” Actually… There is one person who would care if they found out Annie allegedly took me off the market.
“You’re right. No one besides Cameron is going to care whether we’re dating or not.” Annie takes a deep breath and puffs out a soft laugh.
I’m thinking of doing something really stupid. More than thinking about it. I choose my next words carefully.
“We could keep up the ruse for a while to piss him off.” I try too hard for a casual tone and sound cold and calculated instead.
Who do I think I’m fooling? I wince as her eyes narrow and she presses her lips together. A line forms between her furrowed brows as she stares wordlessly at me.
“I don’t understand your sense of humor,” she says eventually.
She thinks I’m joking. “I realize my sense of humor is dry and my delivery goes above most people’s heads. In this instance, I’m not making a joke. I think we could both benefit from a strategic partnership.”
“A relationship?” Her voice rises an octave.
“An arrangement.” Calling my suggestion a relationship feels too real for me. No need to blur the lines about the point I’m making. I’m still not completely convinced she didn’t hunt me down on purpose through the tutoring center.
The rational part of my brain questions how she would have even known to seek me out that way. No one in their right mind would have assumed I would sign up willingly to tutor and Hannah just started working for Luca right before my uncle dropped that bomb on me.
Lainey is the kind of blabbermouth who would word vomit all the details she knows about my life to one of her friends, but she seemed genuinely surprised to see Annie and me together in the library.
She’s not that good at acting.
“Are you seriously being serious right now?” Annie hesitantly steps closer.
“So serious,” I say in my best valley-girl impression. Even if we’re going to feign dating each other, I’ll be damned if I’m going to quit making fun of her.
Taunting is practically my love language.
“What would you get out of that?” Annie is smart to question my motives. I don’t give a shit what Cameron Hartford thinks. The guy will be lucky if he passes his freshman year, from what I hear.
Not that I asked around about the guy. Maybe I’m mildly more invested in the rumor mill is all—ever since he showed up halfway to drunk trying to act tough with me over tutoring his girlfriend.
Guys like that take up seats on campus that belong to people who actually want to get an education. Waste of fucking space having rich, entitled assholes parading around like college is nothing more than a chance to collect blackmail on the sons of their father’s friends.
Unfortunately, that kind of shit works out for them a lot of the time.
Sure, I come from money but I also take my studies seriously. My dad isn’t going to someday hand me a thriving business he built for me to run it shamelessly into the ground. I don’t want his sketchy manufacturing business and he doesn’t want his son with an Arts degree inheriting the business he started with his trust fund.
I’m sure my dad’s string of wives will have bled him dry before he retires anyway.
“Do you have an answer or are you going to keep standing there silently staring at me like that? Because it’s giving serious Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs energy.” Annie shudders.
“I think you watch too much television.” I keep my voice flat despite my amusement.
“That’s a movie reference but yes, you’re probably not wrong. My mom and I watch a lot of movies and TV shows.” She nods gravely. Apparently, her viewing habits are a very serious topic. I get the feeling this isn’t the first time someone has suggested she watches too much.
I force my gaze to skim the wall behind her. There are posters hung for everything from last year’s winning football program to advertisements trying to recruit more students for the college’s teaching program. An explosion of colorful prints should be plenty interesting enough to hold my attention but I’m still painfully aware of Blue staring at me with her clear blue eyes, waiting for me to give her an answer.
We don’t know each other. Neither of us would benefit from me spilling my guts about my dad’s frustrating ex-wife.
I aim for a half-truth instead.
“My uncle is pissed with me about blowing off the tutoring stuff. Couldn’t hurt to smooth things over if he thinks the relationship got complicated and that’s why I blew you off.”
He won’t fully believe I wasn’t also being shitty to get out of the tutoring job he forced me into but I’m already working on smoothing that part over. I think he’s going to be pleased when I tell him about the new office assistant gig that MacNamara hooked me up with.
“I’m not sure if people will even believe we’re dating.”
“We won’t know unless we try. Stranger things have happened than a couple of bookworms catching feelings for each other.” I figure most people are too caught up in their own egos to check out how legitimate our fake feelings seem.
Blue is right to be skeptical, though. Cameron wasn’t bullshitting when he said that I’m not known for having relationships. Of course, he gave himself away by mentioning that. I’m not as well known on campus as he is. He must have gone digging for dirt on me to confirm my lack of relationship history.
I don’t spend a lot of time entertaining giggling college co-eds, but I’m no saint either.
“But we don’t even like each other. In fact, I think I might hate you a little bit.” Blue’s cheeks flush. I’m not sure she meant to be so blunt.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to like me to pull this off. Let’s just give it a trial run. We’ll go on one really public date and see how believable we come off.” The more I talk, the more convinced I am that this plan makes sense. A few dates and a couple of social media posts could get Brynne off my back for a while if not for good.
I don’t like Brynne sniffing around my apartment. I need this.
“I don’t know.” Annie eyes me warily as I close the distance between us.
“It’s just one date, Blue.” I invade her personal space to tuck a few stray hairs behind her ear, my fingertips grazing her cheek. Her breath catches. I’ve never felt skin as soft as hers.
“One date?” Her words are a whisper.
“One date. What’s the worst that could happen? Just remember that whole thing about hating me if you start to get confused,” I tease her. After all, this isn’t a fucking romance novel.