Page 92 of The True Love Experiment

I grunt in response, though I know I should do better. Ash has the day off for a teacher development thing that doesn’t start until this afternoon, and instead of lounging in bed with his wife, he’shere with me at brunch, listening to me explainagainhow my life is in the toilet.

I know it’s a good thing I ended my relationship with Fizzy, but a part of me was hoping Ash would say what I know deep down, that I needed to give her time to work through what was probably the hardest thing for her to hear me say. Unfortunately, after hearing the entire story—the hotel drama, Fizzy’s confession, and the situation with Trent’s show—Ash agrees that I probably did the right thing.

But I’ve never, not once in my life, felt this way, never been so into a woman that I considered risking my livelihood to be with her. And I hate how last night went, hate that she now feels like she can’t be straight with me if she’s panicked, that she can’t fuck up, too. I hate most of all that none of it matters anyway after Blaine’s ultimatum this morning.

Ash ducks, trying to catch my attention. “Conn.”

Meeting his eyes, I give a small “Yeah?”

“You know what Fizzy would say right now?”

“I’m dying to hear it.”

“It’s only hot for a hero to brood for, like, three-quarters of a book.”

A real laugh bursts out of me. “That is exactly what she would say.”

He grins at the compliment. “And you’re ignoring the very obvious silver lining,” he says brightly.

“Which is?”

“That now you know you’re ready for a relationship.”

I laugh again, but it’s back to sardonic. I can’t blame him for trying. Finding Ella was the best thing to ever happen to Ash. “There’snot a solid batch of evidence, Ash. Fizzy and I had a seesaw fling for a few weeks and then it ended before it even began.”

“But you wereopento it.”

I lift the spoon to my lips, murmuring, “I fell for her against my will,” before taking a bite. “But yeah. I suppose.”

“Maybe this time you try DNADuo,” he says, slicing neatly into his omelet. “There are so many more users in the system now that it sounds like people are getting lots of good matches. A Gold Match isn’t rare anymore—one of the teachers at school even got two! He can meet them both, find the perfect fit. Can you imagine just being handed a list?” He takes a bite and stares at me with unmasked curiosity. “I’d love to see who your perfect fit is.”

I shove Fizzy’s face out of my thoughts and give a noncommittal hum. A few months ago, I would have described her as loud and unrelenting. Now I can’t imagine using those qualities as insults.

“Besides, now you’re a hot commodity, Connor.” He takes another bite and chews.

I’m still daydreaming about Fizzy’s loud mouth and what she did with it, so this takes a second to penetrate. “You mean the confessionals? Ah, that’s just a small bit.”

“Thatsmall bitis likely a huge part of the reason Blaine’s trying to put some fear in you.”

I still, looking up at him. “What are you talking about?”

Ash appears to do a mental obstacle course before he carefully puts his fork and knife down. He lifts his napkin to his lips, tapping gingerly. “Are you unaware of what’s happening online?”

“You mean our ratings?” I nod as I say it because Brenna sends them to me every morning. “They’re great.”

“No, I mean your fan base.”

“I’ve had a few people stop me, but that’s just because they recognize someone from TV.”

“A few?” he says pointedly, and I follow his gaze to a group of women in a booth across the restaurant. As soon as they see me, their eyes snap back down to the table. “I’m talking about Connor Prince stans.”

I shake my head. “It’s not like that.”

With a condescending chuckle, he pulls out his phone, mumbling to himself, “I tell him his phone is good for more than texting and reading the news, but does he listen? No.” Ash taps his screen a few times with a flourish and then turns it to face me. “First of all, your Instagram. You have almost three hundred thousand followers.”

I blink. I haven’t posted anything in years. “What?”

He gives an exasperated sigh and swipes through his phone again before setting it on the table in front of me. “There.”

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