Page 54 of Of Pranks and Passion

“Yes. Yes! I’ll marry you!”

Polite and confused clapping filled the room as I leaned to smack a quick kiss on Easton’s lips. When he pulled me into a hug, he whispered in my ear, “How pissed does she look right now?”

Lifting my gaze to my very, very pissed off sister, it hit me what Easton’s plan had been. “You’re such a jerk. You should’ve told me,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

He chuckled, kissing the side of my neck. “It had to be a surprise. That’s how proposals work, don’t they? And what better place to do it than with family?”

Huffing out a laugh, I shifted to rest my forehead against his, a huge grin on my face. “You’re evil. Did I ever tell you that?”

The shit-eating grin on his face said he wasn’t at all offended by that. “Put on the ring, sweetheart. We’ll celebrate when we get back to my place.”

Evil. Pure, unbelievable evil.

He slipped the ring onto my finger, a platinum band with more diamonds that I’d ever seen in my life. Seriously, it must’ve cost a fortune. I whipped my head up and gaped at him.

“Easton!”

His grin only grew. He was enjoying this. And when he pulled me to his feet and dragged me over to my parents so I could ‘show it off’, I swear he was getting off on the chaos he was causing. My parents couldn’t say anything about me stealing Brienna’s thunder because that would be making a scene since Easton’s big proposal basically had all eyes on us. Brienna looked like she was about to have a stroke. Her face was bright red, and if this was a cartoon, she’d probably have steam coming out of her ears. Easton played the part, thanking my parents for making me, that kind of thing. Every time he said something grand to truly drive in his point, that I was his, he squeezed my hand. The giddiness was practically coming off him in waves.

“Well, um… Congratulations to you both,” Dad said with a pained smile.

Okay, maybe I was giddy, too. They looked so uncomfortable right now.

“You… You said you haven’t known each other that long. I’m assuming you’ll have a long engagement?” Mom asked, her pleasantries forced. She kept glancing at Brienna, like she wanted to get the attention back on her but didn’t know how.

“Not too long,” Easton said, smiling down at me for a second before turning to face them again. “My family is overjoyed about the news. They’ll probably want to do it around my father’s schedule. He’s a very busy man. Whenever he’s free, we’ll make it happen.”

Which sounded a lot like we’d throw a huge fancy party with almost no notice because we’re rich enough that we just don’t care how much extra it will cost. God, he was really going all out for this ruse. And that’s all it was. A ruse. To put my sister and my family in their place and let them know I was protected and no longer under their control. So why was I so desperate for it to be real?

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

EASTON

If I wasn’t trying sohard to sell this thing, I’d be cackling by now. I wanted to laugh in their faces for thinking they could screw with Gary. They were at a loss for words, forcing out niceties because they were blown away. No one, not even Gary, had expected me to propose. But when I was discussing it with Jayden, he mentioned boyfriends aren’t permanent and the sister might just wait until we ended our fake relationship to torment him again. If I made it look like we’d be together for the long term, she’d be too scared to mess with him because I’d always have his back.

The sister could only tolerate the attention not being on her for so long. She pushed her parents aside, grabbing Gary’s hand to see his ring up close. Which was why I got the expensive one. It was just another dig, and I could see her barely banked fury when she looked at her little brother.

“Congratulations,” she gritted out. I thought she’d storm off, but I felt Gary flinch beside me and that’s when I noticed she was digging her nails into his hand. I pulled him out of her grasp with mock shock.

“What are you doing? You’re hurting him!”

She obviously didn’t expect to be called out because her eyes went wide and darted around the room. She backpedaled so fast, her face went from flushed and angry to pale in less than a minute.

“Was I? I’m so sorry, Gary. I guess I was just shocked. You never even told me you had a boyfriend. We’re so close. Why would you keep that from me?”

Gary, the fucking genius he was, had a comeback ready. “You didn’t ask.”

He threw in a pout, like it hurt his feelings that his sister didn’t ask about his life. The murmurs in the room were daunting for the sister, and she looked close to panicking when she said, “You haven’t been answering my calls. I’ve been calling you every few days forweeks.”

That… didn’t sound like a lie, but when I glanced down at Gary, he was frowning. That’s when I remembered blocking her on his phone. Oh shit. I forgot about that.

“Sweetheart, I told you to get your phone looked at,” I gently chided. “It’s been causing you so many issues.” That should take the heat off him a little. For good measure, I threw in, “You know what? I’ll just buy you a new one. You’re due for an upgrade.”

Gary leaned into me, looking all sweet and grateful. Damn, he was a talented actor. Maybe he should change majors to drama.

I might’ve underestimated the sister a little, because she bounced back pretty quickly, a scheming look flashing across her face before she smiled brightly. “Well, good. That way, he won’t miss any of my calls. His sense of style is almost tragic. He’ll need help to plan an upscale wedding.”

“I-I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Gary stammered, looking a little green at the prospect. “You’re busy, I’m sure.”

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