Page 61 of Play Along

I’m off the bed and shoving my feet into my shoes. “Send me the address. I’m on my way.”

“Isaiah?”

Her tone causes me to pause. “Yeah?”

“Everyone is here.”

Everyone is here. Her words are begging me to put the pieces together and it doesn’t take long for me to register what that means.

Her ex is there. Maybe her stepsister too.

“I didn’t tell them the truth,” she continues.

She didn’t tell them why we’re still married. Probably didn’t tell them why we got married in the first place.

I like that far too much.

“Don’t worry, Kenny. I got this.”

Chapter 12

Isaiah

The car drops me off outside of a restaurant in downtown Atlanta and as soon as I step inside the dim lobby, lit only with candlelight, I’m instantly aware of how severely underdressed I am.

It’s all the more evident when Kennedy rounds the corner. She’s in a little black dress that falls just past her knees, strappy black heels on her feet to match. She’s old-Hollywood glam with her red hair curled and pinned to one side, showing off an exposed shoulder and more of her freckles than I’ve ever had the chance to see before.

She’s stunning, classically beautiful, walking right towards me, and I’m wearing fucking jeans.

One foot crossing over the other like she’s walking a runway, Kennedy holds a small black clutch in one hand, the other smoothing over her dress like she needs it to lay more perfectly than it already is. Formal and polished and perfected.

It’s strange to see this side of her when the majority of time we’ve spent together is at work, but as I said, I’m quickly realizing I don’t know much about the girl I’ve had an infatuation with for the past few years.

“I’m underdressed,” I say before she gets the chance to.

She shakes her head. It’s a frantic disagreement, like she’s nervous. “It’s fine. You look great.”

“Great, huh?”

“Sorry, I meant decent. Average at best. I forgot I need to keep your ego in check at all times.”

“Well, I can’t say the same about you. Average, I mean. The way you look in that dress...” I shake my head in disbelief. “You look like you’re going to say something a little bit evil, break my heart, and I’ll end up thanking you for it.”

“Don’t tempt me, Rhodes.” A tick of a smile lifts, but it drops just as quickly when she throws a thumb over her shoulder and says, “I was going to tell them the truth, you know. But then Connor showed up with my stepfather, and then Mallory walked in, and I just couldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing we got married because I was feeling petty over them.”

It’s odd, seeing her this way. She’s so confident when she’s at work, like she knows she belongs, but here, with her family just inside, she seems entirely lost.

“Look, I need to warn you. My family, they’re not nice people. Money is the most important thing to them. Comparatively, you’ll think I’m an angel after meeting them.”

“I already think you’re an angel.”

She shoots me a deadpan look.

I nod towards where she came from. “Do you think you could try to pretend to like me for a couple of hours?”

“I don’t know. I’ll do my best, I guess.”

“Still keeping my ego in check, I see.” I hold my hand out for hers.

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