Page 25 of Faking Ever After

“Yeah? Well, I’m not well-practiced in the art of pretend-dating,” I said in a stern, decisive tone. “Excuse me if the lines appear blurry.”

His hand touched my bare back, and I snapped my mouth shut, trapping a moan deep in my throat. My muscles tensed, but Percy massaged the sunscreen hard over my skin, forcing me to relax despite my best efforts to remain brittle.

“It’s on me,” he said softly. “I had all this arranged—well, Kim had it arrangedfor me—and I didn’t create the boundaries as I should have.” He inhaled deeply, audibly, and exhaled slowly until the cool wind of his breath reached my back. “To be perfectly honest, you’re doing me a much bigger favor than I realized.”

“How so?” My voice was so soft now that I felt like a kitten that was about to fall asleep.

“I needed a display boyfriend so I don’t look silly around my family,” Percy explained, “but I didn’t realize how much I needed a friend to get me out of the house.”

“They’re really not that bad, Percy,” I said, a moan bursting out of me when Percy’s thumbs touched a spot under each of my shoulder blades. “Fu-ack.”

He snorted. “They mean well, sure,” he agreed, “but they never consider how the things they say sound from someone else’s perspective. Like Richie…ah, it doesn’t matter. They’re just very blunt.”

I was able to follow him, but the descending thumbs making circles along my back were distracting me. Was this the best way to apply sunscreen? I didn’t think Percy fully knew he was full-on massaging me. And I was absolutely certain he didn’t know what that did to me. “They’re being themselves,” I purred, wishing I could control my voice a little better.

“Don’t get me wrong. People shouldn’t be ashamed of who they are. But my parents can come across as rude and call it brutal honesty, acting like it makes them superior.” The pressure on my back grew stronger. “I’ll bet you anything they scared him away. They didn’t do it intentionally. They were just brutally honest until he realized there was no way in hell he’d want to live in this mess.”

“Ow!” I slid away from Percy when his thumb slipped and pressed harder under my right shoulder blade. “What’s this about?” I asked as I turned around to face him.

Percy had an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about that. Ah, I’m just rambling.”

“Tsk. You’re obviously bothered, but you’re not people-pleasing me, sunshine. These are my work hours, so tell me. What happened?” My no-nonsense tone clicked, apparently, because Percy pulled himself together and nodded.

A silence followed as Percy gazed out at the horizon. He inhaled, exhaled, and slouched again, but he didn’t start another conversation. He searched for words, then visibly surrendered. “I used to think I had it all figured out. Richie…” he hesitated. “We became really good friends right away. By the time we started coding our first failed project together, chemistry was building more and more. And when we learned that our idea had already been done, we got blind drunk and, stupidly, tried to hook up. Word to the wise, don’t try to lose your virginity when you can’t stand on one foot without falling down.”

I snorted. “Noted.” My virginity was long gone, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Anyway, it opened a door to several years of this undefined situation-ship that culminated with us becoming ridiculously rich and sort of getting together. But then, he spent two weeks here with my family. And everything went downhill after that.” Percy shook his head. “Ever been dumped by someone, Finn?”

“Oh boy, it’s the story of my life,” I replied.

“We should form a club,” Percy said with a cheeky smile that didn’t completely hide the sliver of pain behind it.

“Eh, it’d probably result in a sad orgy and we’d all get dumped again,” I said, seeing it already.

Percy laughed as he nodded.

“So you blame them for getting your heart broken?” I asked. “I don’t get it.”

Percy’s nod turned into a shake of his head. “I don’t think that’s what they went out to do, but they sure weren’t gutted when I informed them that I was single. Do you know that ‘aww’ when the corners of your lips just stretch and lift? That was their reaction. Because they planted this idea in Richie that our relationship was way more than it was. And then they scrutinized everything that didn’t fit into their definition of a healthy relationship.”

I only needed to lift an eyebrow to get another impression of Alicia Davenport.

“‘Are you having sex regularly? Nektaria hasn’t washed those sheets in three days, darlings. That’s no way to be young and in love.’” Percy rolled his eyes.

I cringed. “I’m looking forward to being on the receiving end of that.”

He waved his hand. “Don’t worry. I do my own laundry here.”

“And this Richie? He couldn’t take it?” I asked.

Percy’s eyes narrowed for a split second. “He got the impression that I’d told them we were some happy couple. Mind you, that was the first time I realized we weren’t, but I was happy to play along. He just didn’t want to get too serious. They scared him off before I had a chance to…”

“Reel him in,” I supplied helpfully.

Percy shot me a sharp look. “For the lack of better words.”

“Are you still in love with him?” I asked, something slowly dawning on me. “Am I here to make him jealous?”

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