Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MILES
The sun is shining with a slight breeze, and not a cloud in sight.
It’s the perfect day for a hike. Yet, I’m still annoyed about it.
I’ve been annoyed since the moment Quinn agreed to do this last week. And then invited Cherry along, no less.
The whole point of this was to get Cherry to leave me alone, yet now I’m making plans with her.
Fuck.
“I cannot believe I let you talk me into this,” I say in a hushed, clipped tone as I lean down to Quinn. “I have done an obscene number of stupid things this summer since you showed up and it’s only been, what? Maybe three weeks.”
I shake my head, continuously disappointed with myself, while Quinn rolls her eyes.
“Everything is going to be fine. Just remember why we are doing this.”
I remember just fine, and that’s the problem. If this works the way Quinn thinks it will, all will be good, and I will happily take back every rude comment of doubt I’ve made to her. If this doesn't work, then we just look like idiots .
She’ll leave and not think twice about it. I’ll still be here listening to everyone in town talk about that one time I pretended to date the pretty traveler girl.
Who, as it turns out, is a lot more than just the traveler girl.
It’s just easier if I keep her that way in my head.
I glance over at the rest of our hiking crew. Andy and Sully are stretching as if the leisure hike we are about to take is going to be a sprint. Their other blonde friend didn’t want to come, and Cherry is playing on her phone while Danny ties his shoes. The two of them are sharing a rock as a chair, so that’s a start, right?
Maybe this is a sign I need to take a breath and just go with the flow.
Then again, a better sign would be if they were talking.
God, I can't believe I'm doing this.
How am I not learning that my choices have consequences?
One day I’m working in the shop with a schedule that won’t quit and a quiet life, and now I'm fake dating a travel influencer and trying to set the woman who is obsessed with me up with another man.
What the fuck happened to me?
“Are you growling?” Quinn asks with wide eyes.
“No.”
“It sure sounded like it.”
“I didn’t growl. I’m annoyed.”
“You’re always annoyed. What’s a girl got to do to make you smile?”
My mouth opens to reply, but she holds a finger up, pressing it to my lips. I know it shouldn’t, but the gentle pressure sends my mind racing over how gentle she’d be in other … actions.
“Don’t answer that.”
I chuckle as her lips tug to a smile.
I’m annoyed that I enjoy the banter Quinn and I have with each other. She’s quick with her comebacks, and I like it. Maybe a little too much, and I don’t want to like it.
Don’t even get me started on my brother mentioning kissing last week.
I panicked so fast. My only other option was for them to see how much I did want it.
Ever since she stood in my living room and glanced at my lips, I’ve thought about it.
I know Quinn well enough that it wouldn't be weird, but I don’t know her well enough to be thinking about her lips obsessively.
Which is what I’ve been doing. How naturally dark pink they are. How plump they are. How smooth they look.
Oh, hell.
Luckily, the two of us have been doing our best to just work and lay low. Until now, we haven't put ourselves in another position to touch or pretend we don’t want to kiss. Or at least, pretend I don’t. Does she?
Why am I thinking about this right now?
I should be thinking about work or, better yet, at work. But fuck, she’s got that so organized that taking this afternoon off didn’t even seem like it would affect anything.
She’s been helping me in so many ways, I should just man up and help her right now.
I’m starting to think that admitting the truth, although it might have sucked at first, would have been a lot easier to deal with.
Too fucking late now.
“Look how close they are,” Quinn says, nodding toward Cherry and Danny. “This might be easier than I thought.”
She stands, having finally finished lacing her hiking boots. She’s wearing long foam-green leggings with dark brown hiking boots, her white socks sticking out of the top. She’s got on a skintight tank top that matches her leggings and a light jacket tied around her waist. As she stands with her back to the sun, the light makes her brown hair, which is braided down her back, look almost blonde.
She adjusts the round sunglasses that she’s wearing and then looks at me.
“Ready?”
I nod, looking down at my attire.
Jeans, shirt, hiking boots.
Simple.
Quinn and I couldn't be more different.
Jesus. Are people really buying this? The more I think about it, the more I wonder.
“Great,” she says and then walks toward the others. My eyes drift to her ass; her sweater is a little off to the side, revealing one perfectly round bubble cheek.
I see her ass a lot when she’s in her pajama shorts, but something about the way her leggings hug her every curve buzzes my body to life.
She looks over her shoulder and winks.
Well, I take it that’s my clue to get into boyfriend mode.
I stride up behind her and sling my arm around her shoulders.
“Let’s do this,” I say.
“Yes, but first, everyone get a buddy,” Quinn announces like she's the leader of the group. “Andy and Sully, me and Miles, Cherry and Danny. Does that work for everyone?”
A collective group of yeses takes place.
I turn to start the hike.
Quinn might know where to go, but a perk of growing up in Lovers is knowing these trials like the back of my hand.
I make it about four steps before Quinn reaches for my arm. Her small fingers loop around my bicep as she picks up her pace to meet me step for step. She leans in close, and we fall into stride.
“I thought we could stay in the back. It would make it easier for me to fake an injury.”
She glances over her shoulder to smile at the group behind us.
I don’t slow my pace, but I do walk closer to her so that I can whisper, “That’s your great plan?”
She nods. “Yes, it is. Then you have to take me away—far, far away—to get the care I need.”
I have no words.
Fake an injury. That is her grand plan.
Fuck.
I’m stuck on this stupid hike from beginning to end.
“So, how did you two start dating?” Andy asks behind us.
“The apartment behind his shop was vacant, and I needed a place to stay. I kind of wore him down until he had no choice,” Quinn says calmly.
“And then you just started working for him?” Sully follows up.
“Pretty much. Miles works a lot, maybe too much, and it made sense that he get a little help.”
“I still think it’s crazy that you two didn’t really get along and then all of the sudden you’re dating,” Cherry says, her comment coming out of nowhere.
“You two haven’t always been friendly?” Danny asks.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“No,” Cherry answers for us.
I cast a glance at Quinn, whose eyes meet mine as she scrunches her nose.
“Everyone in this town knows that Quinn and Miles never got along until this summer,” Cherry goes on. “In fact, one rumor I heard was that Miles used to avoid, sometimes even leave, places because she showed up. Apparently now, he’s smitten with her. ”
I close my eyes and drop my chin to my chest.
She’s not wrong.
I wouldn't do it now, of course, but I’ve done it in the past.
The way Cherry says it makes me sound like a dick. Which I am, or was, but I didn’t always do it in the way they are all thinking.
I chance a glance at Quinn, but her head is down as she keeps walking.
The not caring for her part isn’t new information to Quinn, but the fact that I used to leave places is.
I clear my throat. “Things changed last summer near the end,” I say, remembering that Quinn’s friends think this has been going on since around that time. “Things are different now.”
“Clearly,” Cherry snaps.
“Do you come to Lovers often?” Danny asks her.
“My family and I have come here every summer for the last seven years.”
“Oh, wow. It really is beautiful. What’s your favorite part?”
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank god for Danny and his smooth segue way to change the topic. Cherry is looking at him with confusion, but then she sighs and answers his question.
“I like that nothing here is rushed. City life can get crazy, and when I’m here, everything just seems simple.”
Before we know it, Cherry and Danny are deep in conversation over places they’ve traveled and comparing trip secrets.
All in all, they seem to be hitting it off very well.
As for me, guilt is settling in.
I reach my hand out and rub Quinn’s back. “Are you all right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Are you sure?”
She nods .
I stop, reaching my hand out to grab hers and halt her as well.
“We’ll catch up,” I say to the others and point ahead of us. “When you get to a fork in the road, go right.”
“Thanks.” Sully beams and takes the lead.
Cherry and Danny walk right by us, chatting away.
I’m not even sure they know they passed us.
After they are out of hearing range, Quinn speaks first.
“Was she telling the truth?”
As much as I might want to, I don’t try to deny it.
“Yeah.”
The glint in her eyes hits me right in the heart.
Fuck. I think I made her cry.
“You really left places in your own hometown because I was there?”
I nod.
“Wow. You hate me that much?” She tosses her hands up and starts to hike again.
“Wait, no, I don’t hate you. I never did, I just didn’t know you, and whenever I was near you … I just … I?—”
How do I explain this without making it seem like I’ve secretly been crushing on her all these years?
“You just what, Miles?”
“I just didn’t understand you, and it pissed me off because I fucking wanted to.”
She pauses to look at me.
“What?”
“You are everything the opposite of me, Quinn. It both scared and fascinated me, but at the end of the day, one thing never changed.”
“What’s that?”
“That you would leave. I never saw the point in us getting to know each other if you were going to keep leaving. ”
“Oh.”
I run a hand through my hair.
“By the time I matured enough to realize how stupid that mindset was, I'd already sealed our relationship.”
She doesn’t say anything, but she also doesn't move, so I take that as a small sign that she isn’t going to hold this against me.
“Do you want to get to know me now?” she asks.
I nod. “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing since we started this?”
She shrugs. “A little. We’ve mostly been getting by to make everyone believe our story, but I don’t think it’s been the real us.”
I smirk. “The real us, huh? I don’t know if the real us is a good idea.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” She winks.
“What’s—”
“Ahhhh!” Quinn screams before I can finish. Then she drops to the ground. “Ahhhh!”
I squat to ask her what’s wrong at the same time the group comes running back.
“What happened?”
“Are you okay?”
“You just scared the shit out of me.”
“Quinn, what happened?”
The moment Quinn’s eyes lock onto mine, I remember what she said.
It’s showtime.
“She stepped wrong. I think she rolled her ankle.”
“It hurts really bad,” she says and reaches for my hand to squeeze it. “Oh, wow, it hurts.”
“Let me look at it,” I say. “Try not to move.”
My intentions are to look like a doting boyfriend, but as my hand glides down her leg, I find myself thinking about a lot more than how to get out of this hiking day.
I slowly unlace her shoe, and a vision of her slowly unbuttoning one of those damn pajama shirts flashes into my mind.
Oh, hell. They aren't even the same thing, but it’s turning me on all the same.
“Aren't boots like that made for this?” Cherry asks. Her tone is dry and deeply annoyed.
“Yeah,” I respond quickly. “If you lace them correctly, and it looks like Quinn didn’t.”
“So it’s her own fault,” Cherry rolls her eyes. “Smart.”
“Hey, I tried my best,” Quinn argues, sending a glare in Cherry’s direction and then in mine.
I hold back my smile.
“Either way, it looks like I'm going to have to cut this adventure short for us. You guys go on. I’ll have Quinn give you an update later.”
“Oh no, I’m sorry Quinny.” Andy laces her fingers with Sully’s. “Good thing we took a picture of the map at the lodge earlier. We’ll be fine.”
“Is it weird if I still tag along?” Cherry asks.
“No,” Danny answers eagerly. “I hope you do.”
Once we all say goodbye, Quinn and I wait once again for them to all be out of earshot.
“I can’t believe faking an injury worked,” I say. “It was kind of a pathetic show, to be honest.”
She smacks my chest and stands.
“Yes, because your acting skills suck.”
“I didn't pass that class while I was learning how to change a flat tire.”
Quinn rolls her eyes.
“I can’t believe how much Cherry and Danny bonded over you hating me. ”
I let out a breath of a laugh. “Are you going to forget that?”
“Nope,” she says and starts to lace her boot back up. “Not a chance.”
Figures.
She starts to head back down the trail.
“Who knows, maybe I'll use it against you when you break up with me, and by the looks of today, I just might be out of your hair before you know it.”
I follow behind her in silence.
I don't really know what to say because the first thing that comes to mind shocks me.
Turns out, I like having her around, and knowing that we’d be fake breaking up before I really had the chance to know her bums me out.