7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Addy
Blaze looks totally shocked.
I think he’s actually vacated his body and left planet Earth right now—and that’s not making me feel any better about this situation.
In fact, my head is starting to feel light, and I think I might pass out.
“Blaze?” I croak, waving my hand in front of his face. “Will you be my fake boyfriend?” I repeat.
“What did you say?” He sounds like he can’t breathe either.
“Ugh, don’t make me ask a third time. This is already embarrassing enough as it is…” My voice trails off as I inhale a shaky breath. “I did something so stupid today, and I really need you to help me out.”
“I need to get dressed,” he says flatly, spinning on his heels and high-tailing it out of his luxurious modern deco entryway.
“But…”
He holds up a hand as he walks away. “You have so much explaining to do, I guarantee it can wait.” With that, I watch him disappear upstairs, trying not to stare too long at his taut shoulder muscles tense beneath his tanned skin.
I shut my eyes and shake my head.
Now is not the time to start checking him out.
I’ve always thought Blaze was super hot, just like all the other girls. However, I simply choose to not let it affect me. And it doesn’t.
Until he opens the door in nothing but a towel.
UGH.
I run my hands over my face, catching some of my tangled blonde hair, before casually strolling into Blaze’s bare living room, which consists of two leather couches and a massive TV. There’s nothing on the walls. Nothing.
He hasn’t wanted to decorate, and he still refuses to let me do it. It’s like … it’s like he’s scared to actually have a home. Which, given everything he went through as a child, I try my best to understand. But I’ll never truly know what it feels like to grow up without a family or a place to call home, so I can’t fully empathize.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I stare at the blank gray wall until I hear his footsteps come storming back down the stairs. Based on the cadence, I’m guessing he’s irritated. Maybe angry. And I can only imagine what’s running through his head right now.
“Explain,” his deep voice says dryly. “Now.”
I take a deep breath and turn to see him in a pair of black sweats and a white cut-off, showing off his immense biceps. “I’m just asking you if you’ll be my fake boyfriend. That’s all.”
“Why?” he snaps. “Why do you need a fake boyfriend in the first place?”
I groan and then spend the next ten minutes explaining everything that happened today. I don’t leave a single detail out—not even the coffee ruining the red dress that he had brought me to change into. At the end of it, I shrug and wait.
He stares at me blankly. “I don’t understand you sometimes.”
My shoulders fall. “I know. It’s a lot. But … I really need your help. There’s no way I’m going to find an actual boyfriend in the next week. Especially considering my terrible luck with relationships over the last twenty-nine years.”
Blaze pinches the bridge of his perfect nose. “I don’t even know what to say to that right now. Of all the things to go lying about…”
“I…” My mouth remains open, but I don’t have anything to say in defense of myself. I did lie. “I was stupid.”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t say that. I just don’t get why it suddenly matters so much to you what your family thinks. Or why you think bringing me to the wedding is a good idea. Can you even imagine what they’d think if I was your boyfriend? I’m the guy they side-eye every Christmas because I don’t know proper table etiquette.”
“They only do that because we’ve been teaching you for almost a decade, and you still can’t seem to remember—”
“That’s not the point, Addy. And I really don’t care that they do that. But can you imagine what they’ll think when I’m introduced as your boyfriend ?” He spits out the word like it disgusts him, and a pang of hurt nails me right in the center of my chest.
My eyes drop to my shoes, and I shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Please don’t be upset…” His voice softens. “I just… What about us? What’ll happen when the trip to Hawaii is over? What will you tell them?”
I shake my head, forcing my eyes up to meet his. “We’ll just say it didn’t work out for us. We’re better just being friends.”
“I’ll suddenly be your ex-boyfriend to them.”
“We’ll go right back to normal, just like we always have been.”
There’s hesitancy in his gaze and he rocks back on his heels, folding his arms across his chest. “I don’t know… I really don’t like this idea. I mean, I love you, Addy, and I’d do anything for you, but this … this is a lot to ask. And I’m supposed to be going to Florida with the guys.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “If you don’t want to do it, then just say so.”
He falls silent, leaving tension to fill the space between us. His eyes study my expression, and I can tell he’s mulling it over. Blaze needs time to process things, I know that. But every minute feels like an eternity right now. I look away from him and just so happen to catch sight of the one picture he does have in his living room, sitting on an end table.
It’s of him and me at Disney World five years ago.
In the photo, I’m wearing my Mickey Mouse ears, holding a slushie, with his arm draped around my shoulder. I’ve seen the picture a thousand times, but for some reason, at this moment, it hits differently.
We look … cute together .
My heart does a flip-flop in my chest, and I push it away.
I might’ve had a massive crush on Blaze in college, but it was never mutual—and it never would’ve worked. That crush has long faded. That ship has sailed.
So why am I even thinking about that right now?
Oh, yeah, because I’m asking him to be my fake boyfriend.
“Addy…” His voice catches my attention.
I look back at him. “Yeah?”
“Let’s go for a walk.”
My shoulders fall. “Okay.”
Anytime he asks me to go for a walk, it usually means that we’re going to have a heart-to-heart—and normally, I’m all for it. But now? I’m a ball of nerves.
He slips on his tennis shoes and leads the way to the front door. He holds it open for me. I mutter a quick “thanks” and head down the sidewalk of his fancy neighborhood. The only sound between us for the first few minutes is our shoes on the pavement, but finally, he breaks the quiet.
“If I don’t say yes, what’re you going to do?”
I gaze up at him. “I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t thought that far ahead. But if it makes you feel better, I didn’t even consider asking you until Penny mentioned it on the phone.”
“Of course, Penny mentioned it,” he grumbles. “She always gives the worst advice.”
I jump to my friend’s defense. “I actually thought it was solid advice.”
“How?” he asks incredulously.
“I don’t know. I mean, I could probably find some random guy to go by offering a free trip to Hawaii, but then I’d have to spend nearly a week with a total stranger—and what if they’re a creep? Or what if they’re mean? Or what if—”
“I could go with you and keep an eye on whoever you find.”
“It’s a plus one, not two ,” I say dryly. “But thanks for that, Mr. Bodyguard.”
He sighs. “Couldn’t we just go as friends? Look, I’m more than happy to ditch the trip to Florida to hang out with you. You know you’re my favorite person, but this … I don’t know. I don’t want to ruin anything between us.”
I narrow my eyes. “How would we possibly ruin anything? We wouldn’t be actually dating. We’d just be pretending to date.”
“Okay, but in order to fake date ”—he uses his fingers for air quotes—“we’re going to have to put on a show.”
My heart takes an extra beat. “And do what? Hold hands?”
He chuckles. “Uh, yeah. And whatever else couples do.”
“Well, my family is super reserved, so it’s not like you’re going to be kissing me or something. At the most, you can hold my hand. No kissing.”
His lips flatline. “Fine.”
“And we probably won’t be staying in the same room,” I reason. “I can’t see that happening. I mean, we’ll just get to hang out, and then you can hold my hand sometimes or something. It’ll be just like we’re normal us.”
Blaze eyes me and then takes one of his long, deep breaths. “And you really think they’d buy that one day, we woke up and … just decided that we’re in love love?”
“In love love?” I burst into a fit of giggles. “I can’t with you.”
“Well, I do love you, Addy,” he says. “We say that to each other all the time, but we don’t mean it like that .”
I don’t know why, but something about the way he just said that nearly offends me. “Look, I get that you don’t see me as anything other than a bro , but I’m not gross or something.”
His brow furrows. “Of course I don’t think you’re gross.”
“I know,” I say quickly, feeling stupid. “I’m sorry.”
“See,” Blaze chimes. “This is exactly the kind of misunderstanding that could come up between us. I don’t want to ruin our friendship. I’d never risk our friendship to pursue something romantic. It’s not worth losing you. You’re my family. You’re my only family.”
“You have your team, but yeah, okay. I get it.” I start to grow frustrated and make a U-turn, heading back toward Blaze’s house. “I think this conversation is over. I’ll figure something else out. You should go to Florida, and I’ll lie in the bed I made for myself.”
I pick up my pace, my eyes focused on my maroon SUV in his driveway. I’m choosing to ignore whatever he’s grumbling under his breath behind me. Honestly, I really don’t see what the big deal is. We’re already like an old married couple these days. Why not add a fake relationship into the mix?
“Addy, wait,” Blaze calls after me, jogging to catch up. He grabs my wrist lightly, and I turn around.
“I know it’s dumb, I know . I’m just so tired of taking this crap from my family— and I’m going to have to take it for the entire time I’m in Hawaii. I just want to go and have fun and, for once, not be the girl everyone whispers about.”
His gaze softens. “I’m sorry.”
I pull my hand away from his warm grip and make the rest of the walk to my car. “It’s okay, Blaze. I’m not going to be mad at you for saying no.”
“Good, because I’m saying yes.”
I turn around, my eyebrows shooting skyward. “What?”
He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “You heard me. I’m saying yes, Adeline Harper Williams. I’ll be your fake boyfriend.”