Page 27 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

"Burgers. Beer. The basics."

For the life of me, I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a beerora burger. "Um, okay."

He shot me an amused smile then went up to the bar. I strained to hear his conversation with the bartender, but I couldn't really make it out with the competing sounds of rock music and the game on TV.

This whole thing was so weird. What kind of karma had I put out there that I was meeting Ethan Locke in a dive bar to discuss my cheating ex?

Seeing the articles and snapshots of Chase and Hannah together, smiling at each other like they were the picture of innocence and happiness and all things good in this world, had lit a fire under me. I needed to do something about it.

My parents had promised me that the high road would be worth it in the end. I frowned thinking about our latestconversation after news had broken of Chase's new so-called relationship a few days ago.

"What's the scowl for, Stratton?"

I glanced up to see Ethan returning to his seat next to me, two beers and two shots in hand.

"Shots?" I asked, deciding to ignore his question.

Sitting down, he shrugged and pushed one toward me. "Yeah. Just one to take the edge off. I'm nervous as hell."

"You'renervous?"

"Yep. Terrified. Couldn't sleep a wink last night."

Was he joking? I studied his face, that hard jaw covered by a five o'clock shadow, his strong nose and cheekbones, trying to figure him out. But it was useless. He gave nothing away, not even a slight twinkle in his blue eyes.

All he did was lift his own shot glass to his lips. "You gonna partake? If not, I'll have yours."

I glanced at the dark liquid. "What is it?"

"Jameson."

Whiskey. Oh, boy. That same thrill I'd had outside whizzed through me. Me. Aria Stratton in a cozy neighborhood bar with Ethan Locke, the night stretched out before us full of possibilities I'd never before pondered. The complete one-eighty my life had taken in recent weeks still shook me to my core.

"Don't overthink it," he said.

I burst out laughing, for the second time tonight, then shook my head. He was right. I was totally overthinking it. Picking up my glass, I held it to my lips, my eyes locking with Ethan's for a split second before I tossed it back, the liquid fire burning down my throat and making me cough.

Daring to look at Ethan, there was a real genuine smile on his face, one I'd never seen before. And holy crap, he had dimples.Dimples. Ethan Locke with freaking dimples. This wasnot good. Not good at all. The little flutter I'd felt in my heart... I was just going to ignore that.

I pushed my empty shot glass away, watching as Ethan did the same, and I did not notice his hand, how large and strong and capable it looked.

Clearing my still on-fire throat, I needed to stay on topic. "So..." I began then hesitated.

"Yeah? Need some water after that?"

"No. I'm good." Not really. "Thank you," I added belatedly. Because the Stratton girls had been raised to always be polite. Except in instances of cheating fiancés who didn't deserve politeness. And maybe that incident where I'd flashed this man beside me. That definitely hadn't been polite.

My cheeks flamed at the thought. Would I ever get over the embarrassment?

"So are you going to tell me why you finally called me?" Ethan asked. Just straight up asked, no beating around the bush, no small talk, getting to know each other a bit better. "I'm assuming it has something to do with Chase and Hannah parading around like they're God's gift to humanity."

The utter disdain in his voice was unmistakable. And something about that struck a chord deep down inside me.

When I'd discussed it with my parents and my sisters over the last several days and weeks, they'd all been extremely sympathetic and understanding. They'd let me talk endlessly about my anger and pain. They'd listened and nodded their heads in agreement, their faces full of empathy.

But something about our conversations—or rather my venting—left me feeling hollow. And it took until now to realize what it was... the one-sidedness of it all.

They were upsetforme. But they weren't actually upset. And there was a big difference.

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