Page 58 of The Pucking Fake Marriage

“Took me a while to find this place.” He flashes a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Can we talk?”

Behind me, I’m aware of Haley finally looking up. Her jaw drops to the floor.

I bite back a sliver of annoyance at Kali’s impetuousness. “Good day to you, too. Also, your brother is seated right over there.” I chance a glance at Ken, who has turned his back to us. He’s still talking to the girl who approached him, and it appears he’s openly flirting with her. Only his friends are looking in our direction.

That hits me like a gut punch.

“I’m busy,” I say to Kali. Right now, I want to get as far away from both brothers as possible.

“Well, this won’t take much time. It’s about Thanksgiving.” There’s a familiar smirk on his face, one that reads,“You’re going to want to hear this…because who wouldn’t want to hear me speak?”

“Fine,” I spit through gritted teeth. Maybe if Ken cared enough to notice his brother talking to me, I’d have put an end to this. But it’s best to get this over with now. Especially if it means I don’t have to see Ken flirting with that puck bunny.

I turn around and march toward the small hallway, Kalifollowing me. In a few seconds, we’re back in my office. Kali seems amused as he takes the seat Haley previously occupied.

“Nice…um…space,” he drawls.

Seriously, fuck him.

“What do you want?”

He finally stops smiling. “To apologize. Thanksgiving was sort of a fiasco.”

“You could have waited until Christmas.” I’m well aware that both Edwards brothers are going back home again this year, as am I.

Kali merely waves my words away and keeps on talking like I never interrupted. “My mother is still upset at Ken for starting that argument, and I know what you must think of us?—”

“You didn’t even get five sentences in before you threw your brother under the bus,” I mutter. Not that I want to defend Ken right now, but I’m sick of Kali’s theatrics.

He raises a brow. “Look, Charles, I know you’ve always had a soft spot for my brother. I mean, he’s eating in your restaurant a couple of weeks after he started a brawl in our home. Not sure he even bothered to apologize for that.”

I think of Ken slamming into me over and over against the glass wall of his building. “He did,” I say, almost amused. “In his own way.”

His eyes narrow suspiciously. “I’m just doing what I can to keep the peace. You’ve known Ken since we were kids. You know his manipulative nature.”

“Do I?”

“Come on.” He sounds impatient. “Inviting you over to our house to cook because he knew I couldn’t stand being in the kitchen? Pretending to be interested in your ballet practices on days I couldn’t make it? And?—”

I stand up. It was wrong to think I could handle being in the same space with Kali for longer than three minutes. “All of those things sound like a ‘Kali’ problem. I’ve got a ton of work?—”

He interrupts me, not seeming to register my annoyance. “Don’t be obtuse, Charlie. You know what he is. Damnit, he tried to get me to break up with you year after year. Saving up for ridiculously expensive birthday gifts and making me look stupid.”

I’m too tired to even be incensed at his insult. “Ken got me a pair of ballet shoes for my birthday every year, genius. Not exactly bank breaking.”

Kali rolls his eyes. “Igot you those. He always insisted we switch our gifts. Always had that little insane grin on his face. Basically telling me he knew you better than I did.”

I collapse into my chair. My brain is reeling, but significantly less than I would have thought. Underneath the shock at the realization, there is a firm wall of certainty somewhere in my heart. All along, there’s a part of me that knew those gifts couldn’t have been from Kali. That Ken had to be behind them one way or another.

I look up at my teenage crush, the boy I convinced myself I was in love with. The one I thought I wanted to be with. My mother’s jabs during Thanksgiving dinner had poked a hole in my denial, though I kind of knew it for a long time already.

I never wanted Kali. Never felt for him the same way I felt for Ken. My mother was right. I didn’t want to choose thenice one.Didn’t want to risk the chance of dating Ken and having him break up with me when I’d fallen too deep. It was easier to keep him at arm’s length, make sure we stayed only friends. Things were sure to last between us that way.

Or so my mother thought. And I’d listened.

My heart lurches in my chest. Confronting that, after all this time, makes me feel a lot of things. Disgust at myself for being a coward.

“You know,” Kali says now, and I snap back to attention, newly realizing that he’s been talking all along. “He likes to play mind games. Trying to convince you that I didn’t know you well enough, trying to convince me that?—”

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