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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

GARY

It was bad enough admitting I needed a fake boyfriend because people thought I was some kind of slut.

Easton just had to tell everyone that I was a virgin.

Or… I had been. I wasn’t anymore. Still, not something I wanted to share with a new group of people, especially a group of people so tightly connected with my boyfriend. Fake boyfriend. Whatever.

None of them looked judgmental, thankfully. The pretty blonde one Easton called Angel rolled his eyes at Easton. “You just had to mention that part, didn’t you? Proud of yourself?”

Easton shrugged, but he was smirking when he took another drink of his beer. Mine was probably getting warm, so I took a drink myself, trying not to grimace at the taste. I didn’t drink much, alcohol was expensive, and I was pretty sure beer was an acquired taste.

“I’m guessing you want our help?” Coach, the enormous one, asked Easton.

He nodded. “I can’t be with him all the time. I’m going to start training him so at least he can defend himself, but I need more ideas.”

“We can light her car on fire,” Angel suggested. I gaped at him. He looked so sweet and nice. I never expected that to come out of his mouth.

“Let’s try to suggest things that won’t end up with one or all of us in jail,” Coach chided. He seemed like the most mature. He was quick to hand me a napkin after Easton exploded my beer, and he didn’t look as eager as the rest with the car fire idea.

“What’s her deal, anyway? Do you owe her money or something?” the guy Easton called Chuckles asked instead of offering another crazy idea. I grimaced.

“No, nothing like that.” I sighed. I hated talking about this. Too many people said I was just jealous of my sister and whining about it. Easton tugged on a lock of my hair, giving me a look that said I wouldn’t be avoiding the subject. My shoulders slumped.

“My sister is two years older than me. She’s always been the golden child.

She can do nothing wrong in my parents’ eyes.

Meanwhile, I was an accident. I think my parents would’ve been happier to just have her.

But they’re also super pro-life, so they ended up having me anyway.

They weren’t subtle about loving her more.

Any time I accused her of bullying me or stealing from me, they made excuses, saying it was just how siblings loved each other or she deserved it more.

But if I even borrowed a pen from her without asking, I got grounded for it.

She’d even make stuff up just to get me into trouble.

“I, uh… I wasn’t really allowed to have friends.

The few times I tried, they all saw how my sister treated me and called her out on it, and my parents ended up grounding me and telling me I couldn’t be friends with them because they bullied my sister.

It was easier to pretend I had none and only talk to them in school.

But in high school, that wasn’t enough for Brienna anymore.

She wanted me to suffer. So she demanded we both switch to a new school where I had no allies and made up a rumor that I was a slut and riddled with STDs.

People gave me a wide berth after that. I couldn’t make any friends, and I was all alone. ”

The humiliation of admitting what happened next out loud was painful.

“Once, in high school, a boy approached me and pretended to be friendly towards me. I thought things were finally changing. My sister had graduated the year before, so maybe things were going to get better now that she was gone. He even asked me out. But it turns out, he was only using me to get to my sister. He wasn’t even gay.

And when she stole him from me, he laughed in my face and said he’d never slum it with a slut like me. ”

“Holy shit…” someone murmured. I wasn’t sure who. I couldn’t look at them while saying all this.

I finally looked up when Angel popped to his feet and nudged Coach out of the way, sitting next to me. He took my hand between his, rubbing it softly.

“What else?”

With a heavy sigh, I continued. “After I turned eighteen, my parents started charging me rent. They never did it for my sister, but they said they spent all their money getting her into a good college, and I was obligated to help. I worked to pay them, and I did my best to save money so I could go to college myself, but Brienna started using me as an ATM when she realized I was paying my parents rent. With both sides of it, I knew I’d never be able to save enough, and I’d be trapped there forever, so once I had enough to cover things like housing and food, I took out a bunch of student loans and left.

My parents were angry, but they couldn’t actually stop me.

Brienna didn’t care. She still calls every few weeks and demands money from me, and if I don’t give it to her, she’ll do something horrible to punish me.

This rumor is part of that. I’d spent most of my money on housing for the year, my meal plan, and textbooks.

I have a part-time job, and I was going to get paid a few days after she called, but she doesn’t like to wait. ”

“And if he doesn’t give in, he’ll also get berated from his parents until he caves.

I heard that phone call myself,” Easton chimed in.

I winced. It was true. They were still Team Brienna and expected me to pay for her.

They couldn’t afford her lavish lifestyle by themselves, and I had an obligation as her brother to help.

“I say again, holy shit,” Smiley exclaimed, stunned incredulousness on his face.

“Lighting her car on fire doesn’t sound like such a bad idea now, does it?

” Angel said smugly. He was still holding my hand, which was kind of nice, actually.

Aside from Easton, I didn’t really get friendly touches all that much.

Up until when I started school this year, I wasn’t used to people seeing me as anything other than a pariah.

“Again. No jail. I’m sure we can think of better ways to get her to stop,” Coach sighed.

“I like Phantom’s idea, at least to deal with the current rumor.

No one is going to fuck with him more than once.

When they realize Gary is under his protection, they’ll leave him alone.

It’s preventing another rumor that will put him in danger that we should focus on. ”

I wrinkled my nose. I’d lived with my sister for twenty-four years and never figured out a way to get her to leave me alone. I wasn’t sure they’d be able to do any better.

“He doubts our skill,” Chuckles said ominously. “We should prove our point.”

I jerked my head up from where I’d been staring at my hands again. They were all watching me, and I wasn’t sure I liked the scrutiny. “I-I didn’t mean–”

“Relax. They’re teasing,” Angel interjected, shooting the rest of the room a scowl. “Don’t be mean to the innocent. He’s been bullied enough.”

Coach pushed to his feet with a nod. “Angel’s right. Be nice to Gary. I’m going to start on dinner. You got any allergies, Gary?”

I shook my head quickly. “You don’t have to–”

Coach waved my protest away without a backward glance. Angel shrugged when I looked at him. “Coach feeds us. It brings him joy. Now, I know we need to be thinking up ideas, but you look like you could use a break for at least a little while. Do you like air hockey?”

“I’ve, uh… never played before.” I wasn’t exactly coordinated, but he wasn’t wrong.

I needed a break. And it wasn’t like I was going to get any studying done here anyway.

It was too busy. I was still sour at Easton for lying to me about that.

He made a move like he was going to tap his beer against mine again, so I lunged off the couch to avoid him, following Angel to a table in the corner.

“Boys. They’re all idiots,” Angel said with a scoff. He pointed to a small bar table near the window. “Set your drink down there. It’ll be nice to play with someone who isn’t six feet tall and can lean across the whole table to screw with me.”

Angel was the smallest in the room. He was even smaller than me, and that was saying something. Still, he was friendly, and he didn’t let me wallow in my misery for long.

“Come on, Gary! I’m smoking you harder than one of Smiley’s joints!” Angel shouted, bouncing on his toes while I fished the puck out of the slot.

“Your trash talk sucks,” Chuckles drawled, sidling up to join him. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been playing, but the group had spread out a little from where they’d been conferring on the couch.

“And you’re the worst sore loser on the planet,” Angel shot back. “Go away. I’m stealing Phantom’s boyfriend.”

“No, you fucking aren’t,” Easton growled. I hadn’t even noticed he approached until he was standing right behind me. I jumped when he grabbed the pusher away from me. He tossed it onto the table with a glare and dragged me away.

“Ooh, intrigue,” Angel called from behind us. “Someone’s possessive! Are you sure you’re not in lurve?”

Yeah, right. Easton was way out of my league. There wasn’t a chance he’d seriously be interested in me. He was being nice helping me with this rumor, and once it passed, he’d move on. I wasn’t delusional enough to think it was more than that.

Easton ignored Angel’s jeering, pushing me into a chair at the table in the kitchen and dropping himself into the one beside it.

Coach was hard at work making dinner, but he glanced over his shoulder and raised his eyebrow at us. “That was fast.”

“Angel was being a shit,” Easton snarled.

Even knowing it was all for show, I loved the possessive side of Easton. I wanted to soak in it while I could. It was nice to pretend someone wanted me so much that they didn’t want other people even joking about having me.

While Easton and Coach talked about nothing, I looked around the room.

It was basically an arcade and an apartment mixed together.

The TV was set up in one corner, with a massive couch facing it and two comfortable looking arm chairs on each side.

In the opposite corner was the kitchen, which was basically a galley kitchen but without a wall separating it from the room.

The island was big enough that everyone could probably eat there comfortably, but there was also a table off to one side that had the space, too.

The rest of the room was filled with games, like air hockey and pool.

There was even one of those basketball shooting games in one corner and a vintage pinball machine.

It wasn’t fancy by any means. The floor was basically painted concrete that looked like it could use a few fresh coats, and the walls were all brick.

The couch was stained, the chairs at the table were mismatched, and the bar table I’d used to hold my drink was wobbly.

But I preferred it that way. Unlike when I was sitting in Easton’s car, I felt like I could relax here.

Even when I spilled beer everywhere (Thanks, Easton) no one batted an eye.

“What if you meet the family?” Coach suggested.