Chapter Nineteen
NINETEEN
Rocky
Witnessing Jake and Phoebe become an “it couple” has been like adding a pound of rock salt to my daily breakfast. Yet, I’d rather be here and watch it happen than be stuck anywhere fucking else.
So as soon as breakfast ended with Trent, I decided to join The Hunt.
I lean an arm against a pink garland–wrapped lamppost, and Jake sidles close, sans overcoat, but he dressed warm in a thick cable-knit sweater. Giving Phoebe his extra layer wasn’t a setup to add credibility to their fake relationship.
I saw her trembling.
I whispered to him, “She’s freezing.”
And he did something about it because I couldn’t. Part of me likes having Jake at my side—the other part is just very aggravated.
“Knight in shining armor,” I say coarsely. “So brave. So bold.”
He gives me a concerned look like a big brother worried about his kid brother’s mental state. “You really want to be here? At this event?”
Where he’s about to bid on my girlfriend.
Yeah.
“That’s exactly why I want to be here,” I whisper between my teeth. I can’t let her go. The idea that she’s being purchased by someone else—been there, done that for a Pay Up or Be Arrested job.
The idea that I’m not in reach?
Never happened. It’s not happening now.
Jake still studies me with worry. I should’ve known he wouldn’t morph this into a dick-measuring contest ( that , I’d win). Instead, the monthslong fake-dating ploy has only turned his soft heart softer. He’s a marshmallow that has been standing too close to my burning irritation. Now he’s just goo that’s stuck all over me.
We’re inextricably intertwined these long, long days.
After I give him a harsher glare, he averts his attention to Katherine, who’s introducing last year’s Huntsman: Raul Garcia.
Jake surveys the masses and whispers, “I think you should be more concerned about who’s going to bid on your sister since we know I’m bidding on your ex-wife.”
Is he often more concerned about Hailey? If I had a Magic 8 Ball, it would say, Signs point to yes.
“Carter is bidding on her,” I tell him. “That’s what he told me when I found out about the auction portion of this silly shit.” I wasn’t shocked he’d pay money for Hailey. They have biweekly meetups at eight a.m., and whatever intel they’ve gathered about our parents, they don’t casually share.
Maybe he wants extra time with her to solve this mystery.
Maybe he wants extra time with her for other things, but you know what? I’m not going to go there in my brain. There’s not enough bleach in the world.
“Carter had to leave a half hour ago. His grannie needed a ride to the post office.”
I blink hard.
Great. Last thing I need is for Weston Burke, the worst widower and Sidney Burke’s father, to bid on my sister to spite me. Now that I’m rising in the social ranks, he despises me even more.
I send Oliver and Nova a group text.
Need one of you to bid on Hailey at The Hunt.
Nova: I’m not there. On the Salty Miss.
The speedboat.
I don’t wait long for another response.
Oliver: I can be there in twenty. At gym with Collin.
I pocket my phone. “Oliver will bid on her.”
“Oliver?” Jake does a harsh double take.
I cock my head, reading his tensed reaction. He doesn’t trust Oliver? He dislikes Oliver? He’s jealous of Oliver? “What’d Oliver do to you?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Jake says fast—too fast. He combs a hand through his hair. “I just didn’t think he’d want to bid on Hailey.”
I lower my voice and stare ahead. “You didn’t think he’d bid on her or you don’t want him to? Because you do know they’re close—”
“Phoebe said they’re not together.” He’s careful to whisper the next part. “Not even in a grifter sense.”
“Okay, how about you don’t utter that word in public, ever ,” I grit out under my breath and try not to see who’s watching, avoiding appearing cagey as fuck.
“Sorry,” he apologizes with a frustrated sigh.
My temple pounds. “You’re okay with Carter bidding on my sister but not okay with Oliver?”
“Carter is my friend. Oliver, I hardly know.”
“She knows Oliver.”
“She knows Carter. They’ve even…” He cuts himself short, as if remembering I’m Hailey’s brother.
I roll my eyes into a sharp glare at him. He’s to blame for my next question. “They’ve hooked up?”
“Yeah. He said it was in the past. They’re just good friends now.”
I’d like to rewind to the part where I never knew my sister slept with Stuart Cartwright. But sadly I’m not a fucking TV.
I stare straight ahead again. “You’re jealous of Oliver.”
“I’m not jealous,” he says with the heat of someone trying to convince themselves.
Onlookers are journaling our frigid interactions in their heads for their next watercooler session at work. Jake Waterford and Grey Thornhall were bickering at the scavenger hunt! The town believes we only tolerate each other because I’m close with my ex-wife and he’s dating her.
Really, it feels more like a partial truth than an outright lie.
My phone buzzes.
Oliver: Car isn’t starting. I’m on the phone with Nova to fix it, but I’m almost positive someone stole the catalytic converter. It’s DOA. It might be an hour before I can make it there.
That’s not soon enough.
Jake sees my frown deepen. “What’s wrong?”
“Oliver can’t make it.” I slip my phone in my leather jacket. “I’ll bid on Hailey.”
My jaw hurts from clenching my teeth so hard, and when I look at Phoebe, I see her blue hair blowing in the wind and how she hides her chin deeper in the collar of Jake’s coat. Her cheeks are pink, and she laughs at a joke Raul Garcia makes about golden geese.
Watching her, I can almost breathe.
Raul raises a large golden trophy shaped like a goose taking off for flight, and my sister eyes the gaudy thing like a predator who’s found its prey.
Hailey loves any random competition, and I’m glad my sister has found something other than our family tree to obsess over. But she knows I’m about as likely to take this scavenger hunt seriously as I am to climb the Andes.
She’s not going to want me to be her partner in this.
She can be mad at me later. It’ll be good to show the widowers they can’t steamroll me and get everything they want.
“We’ll start the bidding with Miss Sidney Burke.” Katherine speaks into the mic. “A studious sophomore at Caufield University, Sidney was named Miss Victoria’s Sweetheart two years in a row…”
Sidney’s gaze veers to me, and I look in the opposite direction.
Jake sighs heavily. “I’ll talk to her again.”
I straighten up against the lamppost. “And say what? Grey’s not interested ? Grey’s too old for you ? She knows this, man. I have given her every hint that exists.”
“You didn’t know Sidney before Kate died,” he whispers. “She never even dated. She was more interested in getting straight A’s. I think she’s just having a hard time now that her best friend is gone. She’s rebelling.”
Jake is feeling a sense of guilt for Sidney’s grief. Because Kate isn’t actually dead.
“Just because she’s grieving your sister—it doesn’t make her entitled to anything she wants. Stop coddling her.”
He’s not taking that well, so I realize I need to be more honest.
“She’s tried to cop a feel of my cock multiple times now. Last instance was the party on a superyacht with Trent and his friends. I’m done with her.”
Jake goes still, concern in his gaze. “Does Phoebe know?”
“No, because she’d probably strangle Sidney.”
“I’ll talk to Sidney about boundaries.” He seems horrified.
“Yeah, you do that. Maybe throw in a sexual harassment class while you’re at it.”
“Just try not to be a dick,” he says matter-of-factly. “It’s obviously attracting her.”
“Oh wow, I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Five thousand!” The bidding begins, and I barely acknowledge the Caufield student who raises a hand to bid on Sidney.
“Six thousand.”
My head whips over to the familiar flat voice of my brother.
Trevor is hanging around other students his age. He’s enrolled in college, which he doesn’t love since he’s graduated about two times before, but everyone knows he’s nineteen. It’d be stranger if he didn’t attend Caufield.
“Why is he bidding on her?” Jake whispers to me. “Is there a setup?”
“No.” We didn’t plan this, but I did unfortunately share with Trevor that Sidney was handsy on the yacht. I shut my eyes tightly and open them up with a sharp breath and a wince.
“What?” Jake frowns.
“I think he’s trying to protect me.”
“Seven thousand!” the other student counters.
Jake crosses his arms, assessing this situation like a Boy Scout. “Should we intervene?”
“I don’t know.” I can’t.
I won’t bid on Sidney. My stomach roils, and I refuse to even look at Phoebe, or else it’ll inflict more pain.
“Eight thousand,” Trevor bids.
“Will he hurt her?” Jake asks very, very quietly.
I slowly shake my head, then whisper back to him, “I’m more afraid she’s going to sexually assault my brother. But if I interfere, he’ll think I’m babying him like our parents. So it’s going to happen.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Jake assures me.
I nod harsh, neck-aching nods. “Yeah. You better.”
Trevor wins Sidney, and when he whisks her off the steps of town hall, she immediately checks for her dad’s reaction. Steam is jetting out of Weston’s ears. He likely had envisioned an Ivy League quarterback winning his daughter for the afternoon.
Now he’s stuck with his worst nightmare’s little brother. Sidney couldn’t be more pleased to stick it to her dad.
She practically skips down the stairs with Trevor.
Maybe that will work out in my favor.
While Rachel Rawlings is next, I tune out the auction, open a game on my phone, connect two candy pieces together.
“There should be Clue Guys,” Jake says like it’s been a point of contention.
I glance over. “Too hetero for you?”
He cracks a smile. “I’d take a Chris Evans. With tattoos.”
“With tattoos?” My brows jump.
“You wouldn’t?” he volleys.
“No.” I go back to the app. “I’d only bid on Phoebe.” It’s practically said under my breath, but he’s standing at my side and hears.
His smile softens on me like I’m sitting at his fucking Round Table with other Arthurian knights. I don’t want to be there.
“Christian Slater circa Heathers ,” I tell him quickly.
“That’s your type?”
“One of them.”
“So you’d fuck yourself?”
“Well, I don’t think I’m ugly.”
He laughs.
I hate that I want to smile, and when I meet Phoebe’s gaze, her happiness is what really gets me. She brightens seeing I’m getting along with Jake. He’s getting along with me. We’re not about to slit each other’s throats when we’ve been taking the world’s greatest trust falls with one another.
“Next up is a fairly new server from our very beloved Victoria Country Club,” Katherine announces, and Phoebe’s smile plummets from the ozone. “Phoebe Smith.”
I shove my phone in my jacket, and Jake focuses on his fake girlfriend. She gives a polite wave, then hugs the overcoat tighter to her frame. It’s easy to hear the whispered words around us—and not just from nosy ladies at the country club.
These are college students.
“Grey will win her.”
“Grey doesn’t care that she’s with Jake. Just watch.”
“God, Jake is so much better for her. Grey is a giant red flag.”
“I know. Watersmith is everything.”
Watersmith. They have a couple name. This is new. Kill me later. (Or not.) I rake a hand through my hair. I wish everyone would say Jake isn’t good enough for Phoebe.
That I am.
Hailey said it’s obvious why interest in the new happy couple has extended beyond socialites and now to caufers—that Phoebe and Jake are the “Peyton and Lucas” of Victoria.
“They’re from One Tree Hill ,” my sister reminded me when I gave her a look.
“I know the TV reference,” I said. “I also know that Lucas is a cheating wet blanket.”
“Jake isn’t a cheater,” Hailey replied definitively, like she knew him too well. They’ve spent a handful of hours together at a thriller/mystery book club that meets at Baubles & Bookends.
“Yeah? Did he just offer that fun opinion over a deep-dive analysis of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ?” I asked her.
“He didn’t blatantly say he wasn’t a cheater. I’ve just gotten the sense he’s very loyal.”
I flashed a smile. “A regular golden retriever.”
“At least Phoebe prefers German shepherds,” she said. “Protective, faithful, way more like you.”
My lips almost lifted. Almost. Because Hailey didn’t look into my eyes when she said it or even afterward. She’s shied away from talking much about my love of her best friend.
I’ve picked up that she’s hiding something.
Call it a hunch. (Usually mine aren’t that far off.)
“Watersmith is so cute,” I hear by the fountain, and I grimace. Phake was right there, and that’s what they are. Fake.
That’s also the foundation of my relationship with Phoebe. The two of us—playing pretend. Could he really fill my role in her life? No. Still, I’m wading in a vat of jealousy watching him try. And knowing it’s better if he doesn’t fail.
Katherine gestures to my girlfriend/wife/ everything . “We’ll start Phoebe and her clues at two thousand dollars.”
Without falter, Jake says loudly, “Two thousand!”
My teeth ache as I grind down. Don’t bid on her.
I can’t.
Phoebe produces a phony warm smile at Jake that likely only I can pinpoint as insincere. Then her brown eyes so very subtly shift to me. My chest rises.
I love when I stare at Phoebe across a crowd of people—it’s like we’re in a dreamscape of our own making. One that only we can see.
This is what I’ve always shared with her. A great, unyielding truth beneath hundreds of lies.
Phoebe’s cheeks go rosy, and she drags her gaze to the ground.
My lips tic upward.
“Two thousand,” Katherine says. “Do I hear three?”
“Five!” Weston interjects loudly. His smug smirk meets my pissed glare. I didn’t anticipate him bidding on Phoebe. That irritates me.
“Six!” Jake shouts, then he sends Weston a lukewarm threatening look. It wouldn’t burn a baby.
“Seven,” Weston counters without much pause. He’s still staring at me.
I’m not acknowledging this prick anymore. I hope he thinks about me so much, I give him a brain clot.
Jake makes a confused face at Weston. “You do know you’re bidding on my girlfriend?”
Weston takes a perfunctory sip from his thermos. Sure, he has all the time in the world. We can wait on him. He smacks his lips. “I’m not bidding on the girl , Jake. I have a gut feeling she holds the best clues.” He raises his voice to ask me, “What about you, Grey? Too rich for your blood?”
He’s saying I can’t afford my ex-wife.
Phoebe crosses her arms haughtily, and as she mutters something, I read her lips as they form the word asshole . She needs to be careful.
We all do.
“I’m saving for someone else,” I tell him, like this childish shit is beneath me. “Have fun with Jake.”
Whispers and commotion thunder around us, along with a wave of gasps and speculations.
“Who is he bidding on?”
“It has to be Valentina de la Vega, right? Isn’t she friends with Grey?”
Weston grows red in the face.
“Eight thousand,” Jake bids quickly.
Weston quietly shrinks back.
“We have eight. Do I hear a nine?” Katherine asks, and a wedge of silence eases tension in my muscles. It’s going to end soon. It’ll all be over.
“Going once. Going twice—”
“Nine!” All heads swerve to the new bidder, and I must be hallucinating. I have a mental Rolodex of townspeople here in Victoria.
I know all the main players.
All the people who’d have enough loose cash to throw nine grand on a fucking scavenger hunt to win a cheap trophy.
I’ve memorized names and faces and more information about this town and its inhabitants that would exceed a Wikipedia page.
And yet, the man who just bid on my girlfriend…
I don’t recognize him.