Page 34 of Fake Engagement with my Brother's Best Friend

I blink, absorbing his words, but they don’t soften the blow. If anything, they make it worse. “So, what, that makes it okay?” I snap, the anger bubbling up again. “Because she did it first, you get a free pass, is that how it works?”

“No!” he says quickly, shaking his head, his eyes pleading. “That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it.”

I cross my arms, trying to hold myself together, but the hurt is too raw, too fresh. “Two bad deeds don’t cancel each other out, Logan. You know that.”

He sighs, running a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “I know. Believe me, I know. I’m not excusing what I did. All I did was kiss a woman while I was drunk, but it was still wrong. Itwas a mistake, one I regret every day. You have to understand—I had just found out that Samantha had been cheating on me for months. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

I stare at him, my heart pounding. His words make sense in some distant, logical part of my mind, but I can’t get past the betrayal. He’s standing here, admitting that he’s capable of hurting someone like that, of crossing a line that should never be crossed. How am I supposed to trust that he won’t do the same to me?

“I get it,” I say quietly, my voice trembling. “You were hurt. You were drunk. You made a mistake. That doesn’t change the fact that you did it. You kissed someone else.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “What about me; what am I supposed to think about all this? That this won’t happen again, that you won’t do the same to me when things get hard?”

His face falls, the guilt settling deeper into his features. “Grace, I would never—”

“How can I believe that?” I interrupt, my voice rising. “How can I trust anything we’ve built when it’s all been based on lies? I don’t even know if this is real anymore. You’ve been playing this game with me for weeks—pretending we’re engaged, pretending we’re in love—and now… what? I’m supposed to believe you when you say you care about me?”

Logan steps forward, his eyes intense, his hands out as if he wants to pull me closer, but I take a step back. “It’s not pretending anymore,” he says, his voice low, filled with something raw. “Grace, I’ve had feelings for you for a long time, way before this fake engagement. I just… I didn’t realize it until all of this.”

I stare at him, my heart pounding in my chest, a mixture of confusion, anger, and something else I can’t quite name swirling inside me. “What are you talking about?”

He exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair again. “I thought this was just a way to get through the wedding, to keep things simple. It’s not simple anymore. It hasn’t been for a while. Somewhere along the way, I started seeing you differently. I realized how much I care about you, how much I want to be with you.”

I don’t know what to say. His words are heavy, full of meaning, but they’re not enough to erase the doubts that are tearing at me. I can’t help but wonder if I’ve just been a convenience to him—someone who fit into his life at the right time, someone who helped him get out of a difficult situation.

“Am I just convenient to you, Logan?” I ask, my voice soft but full of pain. “Someone to make things easier for you? You wanted something, and I was there. Easy.”

“No,” he says quickly, his voice filled with conviction. “You’re not just convenient. You’re so much more than that, Grace. I didn’t realize it before, but I’ve had feelings for you long before we started pretending. I just didn’t know what to do with them. I didn’t know how to handle it.”

His words hang in the air between us, and for a moment, I don’t know how to respond. I want to believe him. I want to believe that everything we’ve shared, everything we’ve been through, has led to something real. But the doubts won’t go away. The fear of being hurt, of being betrayed again, lingers like a shadow.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I say softly, my voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know if I can keep pretending everything’s fine when it’s not.”

Logan looks at me, his face a mix of desperation and regret. “Grace, please. Don’t walk away. I’m not perfect. I’ve made mistakes, but I want to make this work. I wantusto work.”

Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, and I shake my head, trying to keep the emotions at bay. “I don’t know if it’s enough, Logan.”

He steps closer, his voice quiet but full of resolve. “I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that this is real. I’m not going to let you walk away, not without a fight.”

I stare at him, torn between the desire to believe in us and the fear of being hurt again. The weight of everything we’ve been through presses down on me, and I know that no matter what happens, things will never be the same.

“I need time,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “I need to think.”

Logan nods, his eyes filled with a mixture of hope and fear. “Take all the time you need. Just know… I’m not giving up on you. Not on us.”

I turn away, feeling the tears slide down my cheeks as I walk away, unsure of what to believe anymore.

Chapter Twenty

Logan

I spot Samantha sitting at one of the outdoor tables, having lunch with Joseph and Emily. My stomach tightens as I walk toward them, but I know this confrontation is long overdue. The air is heavy with tension, and I can already see the calculated smirk on Samantha’s face when she catches sight of me approaching.

“Logan,” she says smoothly, taking a sip of her drink as if nothing is wrong. “What a surprise.”

I nod to Joseph and Emily before turning my attention to her. “We need to talk.”

She raises an eyebrow, pretending to be unbothered. “We can talk right here, in front of Joseph and Emily. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

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