Page 129 of Faking the Shot

A man waggled fingers at her, and she smiled.

Mack’s attention returned to Ainsley, his humor fading as he frowned. “You look like you needed it. You look like you haven’t eaten for a week.”

That’s because she hadn’t.

“I know you’ve been stressed, but you need to eat more, Ains.”

Zac had said the same. She pressed her lips together.

“Hey, speaking of eating, where is that handsome hockey hunk of yours? I haven’t seen you post about him in nearly two weeks.”

She drew in a breath, exhaled slowly. “You know I’ve been busy with Aunty Win and the house and all the paperwork around that.”

His expression sobered. No. Her brother had long been able to read her. Pasting on a smile didn’t fly with him. “You broke up?” he whispered.

Now she did have to smile, for herself, if not for him. “It was fake, the whole time.”

“Ainsley.”

She shook her head. “We discussed it, you know that, I told you.”

“It wasn’t fake,” he murmured. “Anyone with half an eye could see that man was into you.”

“Which he shouldn’t have been,” she murmured. “We agreed not to fall in love.”

“And how did that work out for you?”

She glared at him.

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“Alistair!” He clicked his fingers. “We need you. It’s an emergency.”

“What? What are you doing?”

“What everyone should do after a breakup.”

A gasp came around the room. “Did Zac Parotti break up with you?” Carson looked outraged.

“I broke up with him,” she admitted. Or he had with her. So much about that night now felt like a blur.

“Was he too hot to handle?” Emmett teased.

“What? No. He was perfect. The perfect gentleman. He just…”

“Just what?” Mack frowned and clenched his fists, like he thought he could take Zac in a fight. “What did he do?”

“He lied to me.”

“What did he say?” Mack’s gaze slitted.

“That he had always wanted to be more than… just friends.”

Emmett laughed.

“What?”

“Well, of course he wanted to be more than friends. Any straight man would. Have you seen yourself?”

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