Page 129 of Pretend Girlfriend

“Bro, what the fuck!” Theo shouted, shoving me hard in the chest.

Before we could devolve into a real fight again, the other men in the group rushed forward and pulled us apart. Wyatt grabbed Austin, Clark and Bradyn held Theo back, and Uncle Robert was the one to pin my arms behind my back.

“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” Uncle Robert muttered behind me.

“FUCK OFF!” I shouted at him.

“Wow, what crawled up your ass? I’m talking about your black eye.”

“Everyone stop!” Joanna shouted, jumping in the middle once more. “I can explain everything.”

“Joanna…” I began.

“No,” she shook her head at me. “I’m tired of lying, Landon. I can’t keep doing it. I’m going to tell them all the truth.”

To my surprise, it felt like a weight was lifting off my shoulders. We could stop lying. We could tell the truth about everything and all of this would finally end. After two weeks of this, it was very nearly a relief.

Joanna kept her eyes locked onto mine while she spoke. “I first slept with Theo two weeks ago.”

Marisa let out a dramatic wail.

“It was totally a coincidence that he ended up being the best man at the wedding,” Joanna continued. “We met on a dating app. Just a sick twist of fate. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

It was actually kind of a relief to hear her say it, especially since I’d had my suspicions since the wedding. She slept with Theo. It started before I even met her.

And despite all of that, I thought, she still wanted to hook up with me this morning.

“Same old Teddy,” someone muttered behind me.

“Typical himbo,” someone else replied. “Good looking, but nothing going on upstairs. Didn’t even consider how it would affect anyone else.”

Joanna must have heard that, because she turned in that direction. “All of you are wrong about Theo! He’s not some idiot like you think he is. He’s a dentist in Chicago!”

There were some chuckles at that. I wanted to join them. Teddy Manafort, a dentist? He’d been a friend of my little brother for a long time, and I just couldn’t picture it.

“It’s true!” Joanna insisted. “I’ll prove it to you.” She pulled out her phone and began typing. “I only have one bar of signal. For fuck’s sake…”

“We don’t have to do this, Joanna…” Theo said.

“No! I do have to do this! AH HAH!” Joanna held out her phone screen and slowly turned in a circle so everyone could see. “Now who’s laughing?”

The photo was from an official dentist’s website. Theo was posing for a photo wearing green scrubs, and the caption read: Theodore Manafort D.D.S..

“I’ll be damned,” I said.

“He’s not just any dentist! He’s the dentist for the Chicago Blackhawks!” Joanna added. “He gave me a blood-covered Bedard jersey last week!”

“You didn’t wash the blood off first?” Uncle Robert asked.

“No!” Joanna shot back. “I want blood on the jersey! Yes, hockey fans are nuts! I don’t care! All that matters is that Theo is a dentist! He’s the sweetest, most genuine person here. At the drop of a hat, he would give anyone the shirt off his back and ask for nothing in return. And all of you have been treating him like a drunk Golden Retriever who does tricks for your amusement.”

Joanna pointed a finger at the crowd, still turning in a circle. “You all… all of you are… you…”

Her gaze locked with mine, and I could see the complex maelstrom of emotions going on in her heart. That stare conveyed a lot to me. Information I so desperately needed before now.

“I’m sorry for lying about it,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Then she sprinted up the beach before we could see her cry.

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