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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

GARY

Easton was acting weird. And not his normal weirdness.

I liked that, when he got into wrestling matches with his friends or made random commentary under his breath during class about how the professors were so boring he could die.

I wasn’t sure what he was doing right now.

At first, it’d been kind of fun. Pretending we were on a date in the middle of my sister’s party.

I could practically feel her glaring at us from her table through the entire meal.

Easton played it up, kissing my hand and flirting with me.

I would’ve been happy if he did that all night. It’d be a great revenge prank.

But then, when my back was turned, Brienna went after him.

I knew she would the minute he walked in the door dressed like that.

Brienna was a grade-A gold digger and only ever talked about wanting rich men who could spoil her.

I thought Easton would rebuff her, but he stayed and talked to her, their voices low so no one could overhear them.

I even saw Brienna playing with the neckline of her dress, like she was ready to flash her boobs at Easton to get what she wanted.

I’ll admit, it hurt. I knew this was all fake, but I didn't think it’d go sideways like this. I thought Easton would be the one person who’d be immune to her fake side. I guess even perfect guys like him were easily distracted by a set of boobs. Easton never said he was gay. He could go both ways.

My shoulders slumped, and I was going to excuse myself to go cry in the bathroom for a minute so I didn’t have to witness him choosing her over me when I heard glass shattering.

I swung around, taking in Easton’s broken glass, and moved without thinking.

I was checking his hand for cuts before I realized what I was doing.

“Are you okay?”

He smiled that smile that always made my stomach flip, soft and affectionate, like what I was doing made him happy. And when Brienna tried to knock me out of the way, and he pulled me against him, I thought I might swoon.

“Don’t slip, sweetheart.”

That was a little unfair. What do you even say to something that sweet?

Easton’s gaze flicked up, and I saw something flash across his expression before he released me and offered Brienna one of her own sexy smiles.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes I don’t know my own strength. I spend most mornings in the gym.”

That was definitely flirting and right in front of my face.

I wanted to storm off, but we were supposed to be a pretend couple.

If Brienna watched a very public break up, she’d know I wasn’t protected and would keep coming after me when I pissed her off.

I couldn’t do anything but smile and pretend I didn't notice.

With a giggle, Brienna stepped over the server on the floor picking up glass pieces, nearly stepping on the poor girl’s hand in her haste to get to Easton. She put her hand on his arm, squeezing gently, and shot him a flirtatious smile.

“It certainly looks like you do.”

Ugh. This was why I didn’t flirt. I didn’t ever want to sound like her.

Ignoring them both, I kneeled next to the server to help.

The lighting in the restaurant was dim, probably to hide the tackiness, and it was hard to see if she got all the pieces.

I used my phone to shine a light and once we were certain it was all gone, I stood over the spill so she could throw out the glass and get a mop.

“Time for presents!” My mom called, drawing the group back to the main table. Easton let himself get pulled along by Brienna, and my stomach twisted, this time in a not nice way. I seriously wanted to throw up. I might have if it wouldn’t make more of a mess for the server to clean up.

While the rest of the group oohed and ahhed over Brienna’s gifts, I went to join my friends. I snatched the closest glass of wine on the table and chugged it, ignoring the fact that it was disgusting and probably cheap. It was alcohol. I needed it to get through this evening.

Angel rubbed my arm, frowning over my shoulder at the group. “Whatever his plan is, it sucks,” he griped.

“Trust him,” Coach said low. When I looked up at him, though, he looked just as confused as I felt. I wanted to trust Easton, but I just couldn’t stomach watching him flirt with my sister.

“Oh, my god! It’s beautiful! Thank you!” I turned just in time to watch Brienna throw herself into Easton’s arms. She bounced and rubbed up against him, clutching the black velvet box in her hand. When Easton took a step back, she thrust it at him, batting her eyelashes. “Will you put it on me?”

My chest ached as I watched the guy I’d been secretly falling in love with fasten a very expensive-looking bracelet to Brienna’s wrist. The woman who spent her whole life torturing me and spread a rumor to get someone to attack me. Adorned in delicate gold and diamonds.

“I hate him,” I croaked. I didn’t mean to say it out loud, and luckily it wasn’t loud enough for anyone but our friends to overhear, but it was true. He got me to fall for him and then immediately fell under my sister’s spell.

Turning away from the image of them together, I fought back tears, stealing another almost untouched glass of wine. I didn’t even taste it that time. I just wished it had more alcohol in it so I could actually feel something more than a buzz.

“There’s something I’d like to say.” Easton’s voice was smooth and dominated the conversation in the room. He sounded like he belonged in a boardroom. Who knew? Maybe he’d end up in one in order to pay for my sister’s lavish lifestyle.

Strong fingers wrapped around my elbow, turning me back to face the room. Surprised, I looked up at Easton, who winked at me before speaking to the captive audience behind him.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I thought a party where Gary was surrounded by his loving family would be the best place to do it.”

What is going on?

Easton dropped to one knee and took my hands in his. I nearly swallowed my tongue.

What’s going on??!

“What are you doing?” I hissed under my breath.

“Just go with it.” A familiar mischievous grin flashed across his face before he sobered and raised his eyebrows.

“Sweetheart, I know we haven’t been together that long, but I knew from day one that I was going to end up marrying you.

I don’t want to wait to tell the world how much you mean to me.

So…” He let go of my hands long enough to pull out a small black velvet box.

There was no way there was a bracelet in there. “Gary, sweetheart. Will you marry me?”

My jaw hit the ground, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one. Angel sounded like he was choking, and someone dropped their silverware behind me. I heard Brienna’s gasp, but I couldn’t look away from Easton.

It was all so overwhelming. All I could do was nod. If this was the one proposal I was ever going to get, I was going to freaking enjoy it. I sank to my knees, running my fingers through his slick backed hair, and gave him a wobbly smile.

“Yes. Yes! I’ll marry you!”

Polite and confused clapping filled the room as I leaned to smack a quick kiss on Easton’s lips. When he pulled me into a hug, he whispered in my ear, “How pissed does she look right now?”

Lifting my gaze to my very, very pissed off sister, it hit me what Easton’s plan had been. “You’re such a jerk. You should’ve told me,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

He chuckled, kissing the side of my neck. “It had to be a surprise. That’s how proposals work, don’t they? And what better place to do it than with family?”

Huffing out a laugh, I shifted to rest my forehead against his, a huge grin on my face. “You’re evil. Did I ever tell you that?”

The shit-eating grin on his face said he wasn’t at all offended by that. “Put on the ring, sweetheart. We’ll celebrate when we get back to my place.”

Evil. Pure, unbelievable evil.

He slipped the ring onto my finger, a platinum band with more diamonds that I’d ever seen in my life. Seriously, it must’ve cost a fortune. I whipped my head up and gaped at him.

“Easton!”

His grin only grew. He was enjoying this.

And when he pulled me to his feet and dragged me over to my parents so I could ‘show it off’, I swear he was getting off on the chaos he was causing.

My parents couldn’t say anything about me stealing Brienna’s thunder because that would be making a scene since Easton’s big proposal basically had all eyes on us.

Brienna looked like she was about to have a stroke.

Her face was bright red, and if this was a cartoon, she’d probably have steam coming out of her ears.

Easton played the part, thanking my parents for making me, that kind of thing.

Every time he said something grand to truly drive in his point, that I was his, he squeezed my hand.

The giddiness was practically coming off him in waves.

“Well, um… Congratulations to you both,” Dad said with a pained smile.

Okay, maybe I was giddy, too. They looked so uncomfortable right now.

“You… You said you haven’t known each other that long. I’m assuming you’ll have a long engagement?” Mom asked, her pleasantries forced. She kept glancing at Brienna, like she wanted to get the attention back on her but didn’t know how.

“Not too long,” Easton said, smiling down at me for a second before turning to face them again. “My family is overjoyed about the news. They’ll probably want to do it around my father’s schedule. He’s a very busy man. Whenever he’s free, we’ll make it happen.”

Which sounded a lot like we’d throw a huge fancy party with almost no notice because we’re rich enough that we just don’t care how much extra it will cost. God, he was really going all out for this ruse.

And that’s all it was. A ruse. To put my sister and my family in their place and let them know I was protected and no longer under their control.

So why was I so desperate for it to be real?