Page 31 of Faking Ever After

“That’s not…” He paused, eyes wide with a sudden realization that not everyone could be bought with money. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Good.” But my heart had cracked, and the silly hopes I had allowed to take root in me were squashed to dust. “Um, I think I’d like to go back.” My throat was sore and my voice was a little rough. It was sadness, I realized. I was so goddamn sad that I had allowed myself to think, even for a second, that Percy wanted to share something special and intimate with me. That was the only payment I would have accepted, but that was the one that he had never meant to offer.

Good.

At least I knew where I stood.

“Finn, I am sorry if I misunderstood,” he said.

I shook my head and forced a calm over my face. “It’s okay. I’m just…very tired.”

Percy nodded but didn’t move to walk me back to the house. It was a favor, actually, to let me walk by myself and not press the issue any further.

I didn’t linger for much longer. Inhaling a breath of air and blinking away the tears of sadness and embarrassment that only I knew existed, I went back to the house. When I saw Emily on the upper landing of the house, she asked me if I was okay.

“Yes. Perfect.” I even put a smile on for her, but she watched me with concern as I passed her by and went into the bedroom.

How could I have been so naive to think he saw me as anything other than hired help? The man was a billionaire and had his dinners with staff. He was the kindest, most people-liking billionaire I had ever seen. The fact that he had treated me with respect was his basic setting, not an elaborate strategy to seduce me.But when you’re used to rich assholes dragging you through the mud and stepping all over you, a little kindness goes a long way.

I should have realized that Percy was simply nice to me because that was who he was. I shouldn’t have let myself believe that he might actually like me.

And that was the thought I carried to bed when I undressed and covered myself up to my neck with a blanket. My messy locks fell over my face and I didn’t brush them away. My heart thumped evenly as I forced it empty of all its silly, boyish feelings. And I held my breath as a little sob rose and descended. Fuck it. I’d always been on my own. This youthful infatuation was nothing but the excitement over something novel.

But hard as I tried, I couldn’t release the rosy images of what I had expected Percy to do in the privacy of our anonymity in the town. And I couldn’t fall asleep.

CHAPTER 12

Percy

Where the harborended and the town beach began, there were a few hundred paces of no man’s land that were neither accessible to ships because of its sharp and tricky rocks jutting from the depths of the sea, nor to people because of the immense waves crashing against the huge blocks of stone deposited along the shore. This place was perfect for solitude, with the rocks easily visited by foot and the spray of the sea misting the air with each incoming wave. That was where Emily found me a while after Finn’s departure.

“I’m fine,” I said tightly. “I don’t need checking in on.”

She put a hand on my shoulder. “If you think you’re going to get away from a lecture, brother dear, you’re about to be disappointed,” she said not unkindly.

I snorted. “How did you find me?”

“You always come here.” Emily lowered herself to sit down next to me on the massive block of stone. We faced the endless sea. It was dark blue and stars covered the sky. Moonlight reflected on the ever-shifting surface of the sea. A few dozen paces behind us, the street was lit by orange lamps. Stray cats pounced around along the edge of the street, where plenty of food was left out for them.

“What did you say to him?” Emily asked.

“Nothing,” I said in an off-hand manner. “Couples fight. It’s normal.”

“Percy, don’t be an ass,” Emily said in a tone that dropped to a freezing temperature. “I’m not stupid. None of us are, but the rest of them are too preoccupied to see what’s right under their noses.”

My heart twisted with fear of embarrassment. Perhaps it was overdue. And at least they would stop recalling that time I’d come without Orson and move on to the time I hired an amateur actor and a certified cutie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, a lie screaming in my tone.

“Bullshit,” Emily said. “He’s not your boyfriend, Percy. I think even Aunt Judith knows it.”

“That would explain the amount of work she’s putting into selling me to her favorite bidder,” I sighed.

“Who is he?” Emily asked.

I shook my head. “It’s fine, Em. He’s not a fortune hunter or anything like that.” I laughed bitterly. It was a joke only I could get. The man refused before I’d gotten a chance to tell him that a check for ten thousand dollars was waiting for him in New York. “He’s apparently Kim’s friend. She got him involved after I invented the whole story.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Emily said.

I inhaled a deep breath of salty air and held it for a little while. As I exhaled, I ran a hand through my hair. The moon was full and big tonight, bright yellow and pocked with craters like a wheel of Swiss cheese. “What do you want me to say when you know everything?”

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