Page 19 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

Stepping closer, he looked down at me, something I wasn't used to, being a tall girl. Or maybe my mom was right and all that slouching was causing me to shrink.

With his closeness, an awareness flared inside me, an awareness ofhim, the scent of him, masculine, spicy, rough around the edges, the way he took up space all around him and sucked the air from the room. And I didn't like it one bit.

His ridiculous eyes did that piercing thing again. "I've always been concerned about you."

What the heck? "I seriously doubt that," I countered, taking a step back because he was completely invading my spaceandmy senses.

He shrugged. "Believe it or not. But I've always known Chase was an asshole and would do you wrong."

A flicker of doubt passed through me. Now that I knew Chase's true colors, was it possible, even slightly possible, that Ethan wasn't really as evil as Chase had always said? If that was the case, though, why did Ethan have such a bad reputation? It wasn't only Chase saying it, however, it was everyone. It was just that Chase was the loudest about it, repeating the same sordid stories to me over and over about Ethan and his poor ethics.

"And my offer still stands," Ethan said, moving toward me again.

"What offer?"

He sighed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. "I figured you didn't remember."

Oh, God. The things I did remember were bad enough. The contents of my stomach swirled at what else might have transpired that night. "Remember what?" I dared to ask.

"You and me..." he began with a smirk. "Working together to bring down Chase."

My eyes widened at his words, absolutely zero remembrance of him broaching this topic duringthatnight. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. But I'll repeat it just so we're crystal clear." He leaned in, so close I could see some flecks of gray in his blue eyes. "The two of us pairing up to crush the enemy."

The enemy. Chase was certainly my enemy now. But so was Ethan. Right?

"Nope. No way am I joining forces with you." I didn't even have to think about it very hard, the decision the definition of a no-brainer.

He didn't say anything, the air thickening around us as he stared at me, his expression unreadable. Somehow, he leaned in even closer, so close if it was any other man, I would have thought he was about to kiss me.

"If you change your mind," he said softly, "you have my number."

"I—I'm not going to change my mind."

His lips curved in a cocky, knowing smile, the jerk, and then he was off, disappearing from my sight before I could ask him what he meant by "you have my number."

No way did I have his number, although... he had definitely had access to my phone the other night.

Oh, crap.

I whipped my phone out from my pocket and looked through my contacts. Holy shit. Ethan could have accessed a lot of very private numbers, not to mention my social media accounts, my passwords, my freaking bank account. Oh, my God. How could I have been so careless?

I went through the E's, but there was no Ethan listed among my contacts. I tried L, scrolling a bit, but never finding his last name, Locke.

He had to make this difficult, didn't he?

Beginning at the A's, I slowly swiped through every single person in there, wondering if I should have started with Z, which would be just like Ethan.

Nothing. Then nothing in the B's. Or C's.

Leaning back against the shelving, I tried my best to get comfortable. This could take a while.

I scrolled through the D's, and I almost skipped right past it, my eyes tired and weary. But I scrolled back up, holding the phone closer so I could see the words more clearly.

Devilishly handsome man.

A laugh came out of me, a real, actual laugh, something I hadn't done since before that awful night.

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