Page 8 of Faking Ever After

I had an easy time believing that Percy didn’t have a hidden agenda.Unlike you, a sneaky voice told me. “We’re from the same small town in upstate New York. When she moved to the city, it inspired me to do the same. Let’s just say Kim’s much more capable of fighting her way up.”

“That city can be a lot,” Percy agreed.

I wondered if Percy had ever faced any of the challenges of New York City the way the rest of us did. I couldn’t find it in me to grudge him that. He seemed like a nice enough person after a few minutes of talking and a blunder to break the ice. “Who are you?” I heard myself asking.

Percy didn’t react in any sort of way to the question.

An instant later, I inhaled sharply and explained myself. “I mean, your name is on the plane, but I’ve never heard of you.”

“You probably wouldn’t have,” Percy agreed. “I’m no Jeff or Mark or Elon. I don’t think I’d last a day if I put myself out there so much. No, I prefer to keep my privacy and my sanity.” He swirled the drink in his glass and looked at it like he could read his future in there. Then, he lifted his blue gaze gently to my face. “I’m nobody important.” He shrugged. “Ten years ago, I lucked out with a piece of software. We sold the company, me and my college buddy, which helped me start something more niche and more successful. Unless you’re very familiar with network optimization solutions for telecommunication companies, you wouldn’t have heard of me.”

“That explains it. I don’t even know what language you just spoke,” I said.

There was that laugh again. “To tell you the truth, some days, I’m not sure, either. That’s why I took a step back from that, too. These days, I mostly look for promising ideas in needof funding.” He said it in a way that was almost apologetic. I wondered why.

I didn’t get a chance to ask because Hank, the pilot, announced from the speaker that we would be taxiing onto the runway in a minute. The copilot stepped out and did the final checks before shutting himself and Hank in the cockpit.

Percy, however, gripped the armrest with one hand and balled the other into a fist, which he pressed against his mouth.

“Are you alright?” I asked, panic spiking instantly.

Percy gave a stiff nod. “I’m not a big fan of taking off. Or landing. Or, for that matter, of being thirty thousand feet above the ground for extended periods of time.”

“Oh.” If a private jet with a walk-in shower and a luxurious bedroom couldn’t cure it, I doubted anything I said would help. “Hey, at least it beats the low-budget coach.”

“Don’t remind me,” Percy said with a laugh. “Still, we were lucky just to be flying.” As if he was remembering something fondly, he smiled. As the jet backed up and turned around, Percy’s hand relaxed on the armrest.

“No way you flew in the back,” I said, keeping him distracted.

He barked a laugh. “Finn, I couldn’t afford extra legroom ten years ago. Had they had a standing option for one dollar, that’s where you would have found me when I was flying from one meeting to the next.”

“What?” I squealed, not believing a word he said.

Percy shook his head, entertained and positively distracted. “I maxed out my parents’ cards on a gut feeling that I was about to make it big. I’ll never forget the time Richie and I flew to Austin in rented suits because we didn’t have enough cash for overhead luggage.”

“Damn. I was sure you were from old money,” I mused. “You have a bit of that style.”

“You can blame your friend for that,” Percy joked. “If it were up to me, I’d be here in gray sweatpants and a plain T-shirt.”

“Mm. I can see Kim calling the shots, yes.” We exchanged another laugh over the fact that we both knew what Kim was like. And by the time the plane took off, Percy was barely breaking a sweat. At cruising altitude, we unbuckled our seatbelts and sighed a breath of relief. “The worst is over,” I reminded him.

Percy shook his head with a trace of amusement and a healthy note of warning. “You haven’t met my family yet.”

I threw my head back and laughed out loud. What the hell had I gotten myself into? But at a single touch of my right pocket, I knew this was the best — and, let’s not kid, the only — choice I could have made. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Percy agreed. “For now, let’s just try to figure out some sort of a plan.”

Tipping my whiskey into my mouth, I swallowed and nodded. If I were to be a convincing boyfriend, the very first thing we needed were details. I’d already thought of this. Luckily, this was going to be a long flight, and we had enough time to align our stories.

CHAPTER 4

Percy

A hand touchedmy shoulder and shook me awake. For a moment, I wasn’t sure where I was, but the pressure dropped onto my chest the next instant. “Time to strap in,” Finn Connolly said in his melodic, honey-like voice.

Oh shit, I’m in the air, I thought as all sorts of horrible things rushed through my head. There never was a take-off or landing that didn’t make me imagine the airplane crushed like a can of beer on a frat bro’s forehead. Except, nobody would be on the side, laughing at how sick that was.

I sat up and Finn slipped a hand under my arm. “You’re buzzed out of your mind, Percy.”

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