Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
REESE
I am so out of my element, and I fear everyone can tell. I wave to Daisy and send her a help me look, but the only thing she does is wiggle her eyebrows at my left ring finger. My ring gleams underneath the lights, catching everyone’s attention. The engagement may be fake, but the diamond is not.
I’m learning that Malaki Young doesn’t do anything halfway.
He gives his all to his career and skates with fierce determination during every single game.
He suddenly becomes engaged to a poor, single mom, and he goes above and beyond to play the part–buys a real diamond, moves us into a picture-perfect house in a safe neighborhood, purchases a car seat for Charleigh, and he hasn’t left me once since arriving at this charity function.
“This is my fiancée, Reese.”
My stomach dips as I reach my hand out toward an older man standing with his wife. She’s dripping in beautiful emerald and ruby jewelry and smells like expensive perfume.
“It is so nice to meet you,” she says through a smile while her husband presses his mouth to the top of my hand.
I smile back. “Likewise.”
After some small talk, Malaki excuses us. His hand moves to my lower back, like he’s been doing all night, and I shiver from the touch.
“Are you cold?” He stares at my goosebump-covered arms with a frown.
Quite the opposite.
“Do you mind if I step away and check my phone? Just to make sure Charleigh is okay?” I ask.
I need some air.
The number of times Malaki introduced me as his fiancée is going to my head. My smile is a little less fake, and the butterflies are a lot more noticeable.
And he bought a car seat for his car.
It’s such a small thing to him, but it’s so big to me.
“Of course not.” Malaki presses his hand against my back again.
His touch is so faint, yet I feel like his palm is burning me through this dress.
Once he pushes on the door, someone shouts his name from behind. We both look back, and it’s his coach.
He grumbles before meeting my eye.
I laugh softly. “I know I asked you not to leave me, but I promise I'll be okay out here for a minute or two.”
“Maybe I don’t want to leave you…” he says. “But fine.”
I roll my eyes at the way he pouts and turn to walk farther into the hallway, only to stop abruptly when his arm winds around my waist. He pulls me backward, and I only manage one breath before he seals his mouth over mine.
I’m lost in the surprise.
His lips are so soft, but the way he works his mouth over mine is branding.
I can hardly stand when it’s done.
He backs away, taking my breath with him.
“Hurry,” he says quietly. “It’s boring without my fiancée next to me.”
I quickly glance around to see if anyone is watching us, but besides a few random glimpses, no one is paying us much attention.
Which proves my earlier notion: Malaki Young doesn’t do anything halfway, even faking an engagement.
We go in opposite directions. He strides toward his coach, as if our quick parting kiss didn’t affect him at all, while I nearly stumble over my dress to get away.
Instead of taking a right and heading toward the front doors where random people loiter about, I go the other way and turn toward the banquet hallway. I press my back against a door that reads, Banquet Room Stage and pull out my phone from the clutch I borrowed from Daisy.
My stomach bottoms out almost as quickly as it would if the text were from Zoe telling me something was wrong with Charleigh.
Benedict
You think an expensive ring and fancy dress is going to cover up the fact that you come from the south side of Chicago, Reese?
I jerk upright and stare into the empty hall.
Did he follow me to the event?
Is he here?
What if he’s one of the donors? Benedict and his family absolutely have the funds to be invited to an event like this.
He’s been surprisingly quiet after showing up to the Blue Devils game. There have been a few texts with an apology, but that’s it. I never let my guard down when it comes to Benedict, but after Malaki swooped in and kissed me in front of him, I thought that maybe he’d back off.
I was stupid to think that.
The jealousy continues to eat him up.
He wanted nothing to do with me…until I wanted nothing to do with him.
After triple-checking that I’m alone, I rest my head against the door and clench my eyes shut. Deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. I try to visualize the faces sprinkled throughout the sea of people attending the event, straining my memory for anyone I recognize.
“Need a Skittle?”
A yelp tears from my chest, and my phone flies through the air.
Malaki catches it with his fast reflexes before it clatters to the marble floor beneath our feet.
He chuckles at the device in the palm of his hand. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he jokes.
Just as he’s about to hand me my phone, it vibrates. We both drop our attention to it.
Benedict’s name flashes on the screen, and Malaki glances up at me with his finger hovering over the word decline. I nod, and he follows my silent command.
As soon as Benedict's name disappears, the last text he sent sits on the screen for Malaki to see. I quickly snatch it out of his hand and shove it into my clutch. Guilt hits me, but I have no idea why.
My heart pounds.
Malaki shoves his hands in his pockets and eyes me suspiciously. Those blue eyes, always dancing with mirth, narrow. “What’s going on?”
I swallow my thick spit. “Nothing.”
His jaw clenches, but he still manages to lift his lip into a knowing grin. “I can tell when you’re hiding something, Reese.”
My eyes flick in a different direction. “No, you can’t.”
His deep chuckle snags my attention, and I find myself meeting his eye again. “Your voice gets all high-pitched,” he notes, taking a step closer. “And you always look away.”
“I do not,” I argue.
It takes everything in me not to do just that.
“Your pulse races too.”
I scoff. “It does not.”
He lifts an eyebrow, and before I can figure out what he’s doing, he grips my wrist and presses his fingers to the skin below my palm. “Let’s check it, shall we?”
I tug my hand backward, but he doesn’t let go.
Malaki’s brow furrows beneath the few strands of his hair that have fallen out of place throughout the night. He’s silently counting under his breath, and the longer I stare at his mouth moving, the faster my pulse gets.
Those blue eyes flick to mine, and I freeze. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on and why you snatched your phone out of my hand faster than I can send a puck flying into the net?”
The thought of going back into the event, with the pretense that Benedict or someone he knows is watching my every move, makes me nauseated, and whether I want to or not, I can’t only rely on myself at the moment.
The second I lied and said that Malaki was my fiancé was the second I involved him.
I pull on my arm, and Malaki lets me go.
My hands hang by my sides. “I think Benedict is here.” I wince with my admittance. “Or someone he knows. It wouldn’t surprise me. He has money. His entire family does.”
Malaki’s swallow is loud enough for me to hear. His temples move back and forth with the grinding of his jaw, and I don’t know if it’s the dark lighting of the hallway that’s making him appear dangerous or if it’s something else.
“Why do you think that?” he asks.
I reach inside my clutch and show him the message.
It was sent an hour ago, shortly after we arrived.
Malaki scans the text, the phone screen illuminating his stern brow. He quickly clicks my phone off, shoves it into his pocket instead of my clutch, and grabs a hold of my hand.
“I hope he is here,” he says, tugging me back toward the event.
“What?” My steps come to a halt. “Why?”
Malaki angles toward me. The flirty glint in his eye switches to a blue flame full of determination and passion. “So I can show him that the ring on your finger isn’t just for decoration.”
There’s a dip in my stomach, and this time, when Malaki tugs on my hand, I make no move to stop him.