Page 111 of Always You

“No, you’re right. You should. It’s good for publicity. For your brand.”

“Yeah?” He sounds as unsure as I feel, but I push through. I don’t want to, and my heart wants to knock me over the head, but I already told him how I felt. I didn’t work out.

“Yeah, of course! Besides, it could be good for us, you know? To keep some boundaries for when we date other people.”

“Are you dating someone, Charls?” he growls.

“No!” I rebuke. “I’m not! But I mean, eventually we will, right?”

A loud and deep grunt rumbles in my ear, and I imagine him rubbing a hand over his head, like he always does when he’s frustrated. “I don’t like this.”

That makes two of us.

“It’s okay, Hunt. It’s all good. We’re all good.” The lump in my throat is proof that it’s a blatant lie, but I choose to ignore that.

“Are we really, Charls? Because I can’t lose you.”

“We are,” my voice cracks a little, and I curl my lips up to force a smile on my tensed cheeks. “Just promise me one thing?”

“Anything.”

“Promise you’ll tell me when it gets real. Promise we’ll still share the big things with each other. I know our relationshipchanged”—a loud sigh flies from his lips—“but promise me we’ll never become strangers.”

“It’s never getting real. It’s just for the brand.”

“Just promise.” I wait, raking my teeth over my lip, with my eyebrows knitted together. I need him to tell me this doesn’t change things any more than they already are.

“I promise,” he says.

But even though it’s what I wanted to hear, fear grips my throat, telling me it’s nothing more than an illusion.

40

“Igot you some seats in the family section tomorrow.” Jensen drops his ass next to me on the couch, shoveling an omelet into his mouth while holding the plate below his chin. His black-and-white Knights t-shirt hugs his bulky biceps, matching my own. But his shoulders are built like a fucking cargo ship, being every bit the hockey player he is.

“Thanks, man.”

“Are you bringing the girlfriend?”

“That would require me to have one.”

“Fine,fakegirlfriend.”

“Laurie is not my girlfriend. Fake or not. We’re just hanging out.”

He cocks an eyebrow, as if he wants to say,who are you lying to?

“What? She’s not!”

He shrugs, fixating back on his food. “I don’t know, man. Does she know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s been here a lot the last couple of weeks. Didn’t know Netflix and chill was also required when you agreed to this whole theater.”

“We’re just getting to know each other.”

“Hmm,” he muses, then pins me with dark blue eyes. “Did you kiss her?”

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