Page 127 of Faking It With the Small-Town Bad Boy

And I can’t even blame him for that.

Ryan Jones has taken love from him before, so he can only assume

he will do it again.

WILL YOU BREAK

Percy

My fingertips have long calloused from playing guitar most of my

life, but they’re particularly sore today. We practiced more than we

usually do, and I was excited to come to Leah’s house to share the

good reason why, but driving up to see them in the shop was a

different feeling that I wasn’t expecting. I can actually notice my

body trying to shut down to protect my mind, but my thoughts are

running so fast that I force myself to address this old pang of pain in

my heart.

I need to address it, but I can’t.

I don’t know how without the help of a bottle at my fingertips.

“Listen,” Leah says first thing when we’re inside the house. “I didn’t

know he was coming over. He helped me push the car into the shop,

and that’s it. We hardly even talked before you drove up.”

“It’s fine,” I breathe.

Her brows pinch. “No, it’s not. And you don’t have to lie to me by

saying it is, Percy. I know how you feel about Ryan being around, and

I know why it could look bad or seem like I’m going to betray you

because of what Farrah did. But I’m not her, Percy. I wouldn’t do

that, not with our deal in place.”

I instantly feel lighter hearing her say that, and even though I knew

all of that already, hearing it validates me more than she could ever

imagine. It’s a simple step that I wish Farrah would have taken when

she was flirting with guys at the bar. I didn’t mind the flirting all that

much, it seemed friendly to me, but never knowing if she would

pursue it or not did linger through my mind.

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