Page 45 of Faking It With the Small-Town Bad Boy

in a suit. My stomach falls, and the machine beeps faster in rhythm.

Ryan comes into the room with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

He darts a look toward me first before he seems to find Percy by

accident.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, waiting for Percy to reply.

My new fake boyfriend grins ear to ear. “I’m looking after my girl.

What are you doing?”

“What the hell did you just say?”

“Ryan, get out of here. You have no reason to be here.” I shake my

head, watching him persist.

“Bullshit,” he tells me. “My father is the doctor here, and he said

when you came in you were badly hurt, ladybug. I wanted to check

on you.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him, motioning to Percy just to watch Ryan’s eyes

practically roll into the back of his head. “I had Percy here to keep me

company. Without him, I would’ve bled out on the floor of my shop.”

“What the hell happened?”

“It’s none of your business,” Percy says, bolder this time. “You need

to go, Ryan.”

“What the fuck are you even saying right now?” Ryan spits, obviously

rattled. “You have no reason to be here either, prick. You don’t know

Leah. You never even talked to her before.”

“We talk now,” I claim.

Percy adds, “A lot, too. We talk about anything and everything, Ryan.

And when we’re not talking… well, you can guess.”

While I blush and hide the slight mortification from my face after

such a salacious suggestion, there is a part of me that really enjoys

watching Ryan squirm. It’s almost like the feeling he gave me when

he was trying to show off the fact that he’s getting married. He would

have apologized to me if he really felt sorry, and he would have tried

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