Page 48 of Heart of Thorns

“Anyway,” She breaks our staring contest and focuses back on Aaron’s girl. “He walked me to campus and got my number, and the rest is history.”

“Quiet history,” one of my receivers says. “Thorne hasn’t mentioned you.”

“That’s on me, too,” Briar blurts out. “I didn’t want to… I mean…”

“It’s a lot of pressure,” I cut in. “Dating me can’t be easy. We wanted to be sure of where this is going before we made it public.”

Rhys nods along, catching my eye. He doesn’t do anything to give me away, but he does seem to be enjoying this.

The waitress arrives with pitchers of beer for the table, and I pour one for Briar, then myself. I gulp down half of it at once and lean back in the U-shaped booth. She’s on the inside, next to the latest girl my tight end is dating.

I hook my arm around her shoulders.

We said hand-holding and shit. This is theand shit.

She doesn’t even stiffen, just sinks farther into me, and the conversation moves on from us to something else. I don’t really know. It slips in one ear and out the other.

“What kind of pizza do you like?” I ask in her ear.

She tilts her head back to meet my gaze. “Hawaiian.”

Pineapple and ham?

Gross.

“Pepperoni and mushroom for me,” I tell her, even though she didn’t ask. “Pineapple should be found nowhere near cheese.”

She snickers. “Uh-huh. Hater.”

“Maybe.”

“Have you ever actually tried it?”

The waitress arrives and takes our order—and before I can order, Briar does for me.

Us.

“Half Hawaiian, half pepperoni and mushroom, please. Oh, and can I get a personal one with extra cheese to go?” At my questioning gaze, she explains, “My roommate wanted one.”

I dip my chin. “That was nice of you, grumpy cat. Maybe you’re full of rainbows and sunshine on the inside.”

“I thoughtyouwere the sunshine guy.” Her gaze drops to my lips. “And here you are, quiet… almost sullen.”

She’s got a point.

“How would you be acting if I wasn’t here?”

Louder.

More sure of myself, absolutely. It’s a little bit funny how withdrawn I feel—and just because of this unstable footing. I lied to my parents, told them I had a girlfriend, and now, by simple agreement, I have one.

A fake one, but still.

And now we have to be convincing, when I’ve never fucking done this. Never fumbled my way through arealdate, the kind that included holding hands and walking the girl to her car, going in for a first kiss.

My heart lurches at the thought.

Do I get to do that with Briar?

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