Page 33 of Heart of Thorns

All Thorne needs is a fake girlfriend to parade in front of his parents and dutiful girls who they want to set him up with?

Easy-peasy.

I don’t have to trust him.

I just have to act like I’m in love with him.

That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

“So if it’s not Ben who’s your in, who is it? Or what is it?”

I smash my lips and turn toward Lydia. We’re not the best of friends, but after living with her for several months, I know she’s trustworthy. She also gets brownie points for not automatically discouraging me from wanting to play hockey again.

“Thorne.”

His name feels funny falling from my lips. My stomach dips, and I don’t know why.

Lydia’s eyes widen. “Cassius Thorne?”

A laugh erupts from my mouth. “Cassius? That’s his real name?”

“Cassius Remington Thorne the third, actually.” Lydia shrugs. “I heard his name get called in class once. He turned fifteen shades of red and angrily corrected our professor.” She clears her throat and deepens her voice. “I go by Thorne.”

I laugh again with her reenactment, which she seems surprised by. Since moving in together, we have never sat on the couch laughing, and just like the Queen herself quotes,It’s me… I’m the problem, it’s me.

“Oh, I cannot wait to call him by his first name,” I say through laughter.

“So… are you two friends?” she asks.

Friends? Not a chance. Up until a few hours ago, I hated him.

I nibble on my fingernail. I can say goodbye to the three minutes of normalcy between Lydia and me because after I tell her of my plan, she’s going to go right back to thinking I’ve lost my mind.

“He’s going to train me in exchange…” I let my words trail. I think Ihavelost my mind.

Lydia leans in. “Exchange for… do not tell me it’s for sex.”

“No!”

Her warm, pizza-scented breath fills the tiny space between us. “Thank God.”

I quickly blurt out the rest of Thorne’s plan. “He wants me to act like his girlfriend.”

“What?” Lydia stands abruptly and paces again. She’s furiously typing a text message.

I panic and climb to stand. “What are you doing?”

“Calling in reinforcements because you’re insane.” She says this without pulling her attention from her phone.

“Reinforcements?” My pulse pounds. “If men in the white coats show up to take me to the psych ward…” I’m only half joking.

Lydia smiles while typing. “Youareinsane, but it’s admirable as hell. I’m texting Marley.”

I sigh. “You’re going to try to talk me out of this, aren’t you?”

To them, they think I’m just trying to play hockey again.

But to me, it’s so much more. I just can’t find it in myself to tell them the full truth. Only a handful of people know that someone trapped me in that building. Telling them will only make the pity heavier and their fear palpable.

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