Page 98 of Hard to Fake

The words land on me one after another.

No.

I shouldn’t have left her. I should’ve fixed this weeks ago.

My feet tear up the carpet. “I’ll be right there.”

I click off, my stomach in knots.

I head back to the room.

Brooke’s asleep. Her dark hair slips over her shoulders. Her mouth is swollen from mine.

“Brooke,” I murmur.

She stirs but doesn’t wake.

All I want to do is shift back into this bed and pull her against me.

But I can’t.

Reality called and I need to fucking answer.

I grab a notepad and pen and scrawl a few sentences on it. Then I get dressed, collecting my things and leaving as quietly as I can.

26

BROOKE

Ruby: Back to the grind. Please send me good stories. The juicer the better.

I wake up alone for the second day in a row.

The difference is last night, Miles set fire to every inch of my body. We were wrapped up in one another, testing and taking until we were both too tired to keep going.

He probably went for breakfast again. The idea makes me smile.

I cross to the desk by the door, my gaze landing on a sheet of notepaper with writing on it.

I left early and didn’t want to wake you.

There’s a car coming for you at eleven. I’ll meet you when you get back.

– M

My stomach plummets. What would have caused him to slip out in the middle of the night?

Unless he regretted that we slept together.

The ache between my thighs is a bittersweet reminder of every moment of last night.

He did what he said he'd do and acted like my boyfriend the entire weekend.In fact, he crushed the assignment.

I don’t regret a moment of this weekend, and that’s all that matters.

I tell myself that asI stand under the shower until my fingers and toes wrinkle.

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