Page 68 of The Pretender

Eww. I cringe at the question. I’m glad Sebastian has to answer it. It’ll be one he would rather chop off a finger before answering, but since we’re on camera, he’ll have to do it with a smile. Not that he won’t lie, but still, he has to answer with a non-shitty answer.

“It’s uh…” he looks at me and shakes his head with a grin, “always interesting. She’s always surprising me.”

* * *

WatchingSebastian wakeboarding is like curling up in my comfy chair and turning on a movie. It’s relaxing. It holds my attention. And I know watching it one time won’t be enough.

I keep the boat straight and glance back once more, watching as the asshole next door’s muscles flex with each impact. Initially, I was hoping he would get out on the board and suck majorly, face planting the first go, but such was not the case.

We’ve been on the water for an hour now, filming Sebastian skimming across the water’s surface. He’s yet to tire of wakeboarding. I guess he really does love it. When we were friends before, he never had a board, so I thought this newfound sport was something he might have wanted to do but didn’t necessarily know how to. But, as usual, Sebastian isn’t what he seems to be.

For example, the blood donation. I knew he went every few months because, as he pointed out, I went with him and fainted. But that’s not the point. The point is that it’s such a selfless act, and to this day, I don’t know why he consistently does it. Sure, I think it’s because of his sister, but I don’t know why. He’s never said what happened to her. He keeps his relationship with his family to himself.

But I guess we all do to some extent. I don’t go around telling everyone I know that my dad was once homeless, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t go around exposing the skeletons in his family’s closet.

I turn back and make sure Sebastian is still on the board when I hear a loud horn blare just to the left of me. “Shit!”

The noise startles me, and I jerk the steering wheel to the right before I realize it’s just a party boat full of morons. I flip them off and turn back to check on Sebastian.

“Oh no!” He’s not on his board. “Sebastian!”

I circle back around and notice he still hasn’t come up. The idiot refused to wear a life vest, even though it’s the law.

Surely, he can swim. Right? I mean, that seems like something you would know how to do before you go wakeboarding and refusing a vest.

“Sebastian!” I yell one more time.

His board floats up, and my heart stops. No!

I tie my hair up before I take a breath and dive into the cloudy water. I didn’t even think to bring the life ring with me. I just reacted. I swim around, slashing my arms through the water as if he’s floating just beneath the surface.

Why isn’t he kicking or flailing?

Did he hit his head? Did he pass out?

My stomach churns with the thoughts of Bash-hole drowning and me just above him.

“Bash!”

I’m in tears, searching and slashing frantically in the water when I’m suddenly yanked under. I take a quick inhale, but I don’t have time to prepare and end up swallowing a crap ton of water.

I kick for the surface as hard as I can and then something helps me up and I’m through the water, choking to the sounds of Bash-hole’s laughter.

“You’re a dick,” I scream out between coughing fits.

Next to me is my annoyingly fine fake boyfriend, laughing as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

I slap his chest. “I hate you.”

He rubs the spot on his chest and tries to pull me in for a hug. “Aww. Come on. I thought you wanted to drown me.”

I turn and start swimming back to the boat. “I’d certainly like to now.”

He catches up to me easily. “Were you trying to save me, Valentina?”

I don’t look at the stupid grin I know is on his face. “No. I was looking for the end of the rope. I didn’t want it getting caught in the motor when I left your ass here.”

Sebastian laughs, and I clamp my mouth shut, so I don’t let my own laugh slip out. But then he snags my foot and pulls me toward him. We’re both treading water while we face each other. I’m looking at him like I could really dunk his ass under and not feel bad about it and he’s looking at me like it’s taking all he has not to laugh more.

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