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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

EASTON

If I wasn’t trying so hard to sell this thing, I’d be cackling by now.

I wanted to laugh in their faces for thinking they could screw with Gary.

They were at a loss for words, forcing out niceties because they were blown away.

No one, not even Gary, had expected me to propose.

But when I was discussing it with Jayden, he mentioned boyfriends aren’t permanent and the sister might just wait until we ended our fake relationship to torment him again.

If I made it look like we’d be together for the long term, she’d be too scared to mess with him because I’d always have his back.

The sister could only tolerate the attention not being on her for so long. She pushed her parents aside, grabbing Gary’s hand to see his ring up close. Which was why I got the expensive one. It was just another dig, and I could see her barely banked fury when she looked at her little brother.

“Congratulations,” she gritted out. I thought she’d storm off, but I felt Gary flinch beside me and that’s when I noticed she was digging her nails into his hand. I pulled him out of her grasp with mock shock.

“What are you doing? You’re hurting him!”

She obviously didn’t expect to be called out because her eyes went wide and darted around the room. She backpedaled so fast, her face went from flushed and angry to pale in less than a minute.

“Was I? I’m so sorry, Gary. I guess I was just shocked. You never even told me you had a boyfriend. We’re so close. Why would you keep that from me?”

Gary, the fucking genius he was, had a comeback ready. “You didn’t ask.”

He threw in a pout, like it hurt his feelings that his sister didn’t ask about his life. The murmurs in the room were daunting for the sister, and she looked close to panicking when she said, “You haven’t been answering my calls. I’ve been calling you every few days for weeks .”

That… didn’t sound like a lie, but when I glanced down at Gary, he was frowning. That’s when I remembered blocking her on his phone. Oh shit. I forgot about that.

“Sweetheart, I told you to get your phone looked at,” I gently chided. “It’s been causing you so many issues.” That should take the heat off him a little. For good measure, I threw in, “You know what? I’ll just buy you a new one. You’re due for an upgrade.”

Gary leaned into me, looking all sweet and grateful. Damn, he was a talented actor. Maybe he should change majors to drama.

I might’ve underestimated the sister a little, because she bounced back pretty quickly, a scheming look flashing across her face before she smiled brightly. “Well, good. That way, he won’t miss any of my calls. His sense of style is almost tragic. He’ll need help to plan an upscale wedding.”

“I-I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Gary stammered, looking a little green at the prospect. “You’re busy, I’m sure.”

The sister shot him a smug look before turning to me and running her gaze down my body. I dealt with assholes on the regular, and her elevator looks seriously made me want to shudder.

“What are sisters for? I’ll need your number too, Easton. That way we can meet up, and I can get your opinion. It’ll be a gift to Gary to not force him to plan any of it. He’s so busy , he can’t even answer his phone, after all.”

That bitch. If she thought I was going to back down, she had another thing coming.

“I’ll make sure his day is perfect.”

She must’ve taken it as an agreement, because her grin was smug as hell, and she flashed Gary a look that spelled trouble. I didn’t know her plan yet, but I didn’t really give a shit. She was a nobody. She wouldn’t touch Gary as long as he was under my protection.

“Well, I think we’ve taken enough attention off the birthday girl,” Angel exclaimed. He stepped up to Gary’s other side, looping arms with him. “I’m sure you want to get back to your friends. We’ll move our celebrations elsewhere. Happy 40th birthday, by the way.”

I choked on a laugh, following almost blindly as our group headed outside. I barely got through the door before the laugh broke free. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt, and I had to bend over to get some relief. Angel looked smug, and when I lifted a hand, he slapped his palm against mine.

“You’re fucking awesome.”

“I know,” he said primly, strutting over to the car.

We all followed, laughing and nudging each other.

I’d just tossed my arm over Gary’s shoulder when the door to the restaurant flew open, and the sister chased us out.

I dropped my arm lower, to Gary’s waist for a more intimate hold, and pretended like I didn’t hear her, dipping my head to kiss him with such intensity, his knees went weak.

The sister loudly cleared her throat and looked severely disgruntled when I straightened again. Gary looked a little dazed, and I wanted to play with that, but now wasn’t the time. I could wait until we got back to my place. Maybe.

“Yes?”

“We forgot to exchange numbers,” she said in mock innocence. She did the batting eyelashes thing again, which seriously didn’t work for her, and I heard a few of my friends snicker behind me.

I waffled between telling her I didn’t forget shit or giving in, so I could make sure she knew Gary was still with me. Maybe ‘accidentally’ send some pictures of us in compromising positions?

That sounded kind of hilarious.

“You know what? You’re right. I’m sorry. I was just so distracted by my fiancé. I mean, isn’t he gorgeous?”

Gary flushed bright red, snapping out of his daze in an instant. He was so damn fun to mess with. Any compliment I gave him made him blush like a virgin bride on her wedding night.

The sister gave an awkward laugh. “Yeah. Totally cute.” She brushed the comment away and tried the sultry thing again, biting her lip. “Your number?”

I rattled it off, tightening my hand on Gary’s when he stiffened. It’s all part of the game, babe. Play along.

She shot Gary a triumphant smile, which I wiped off her face by bringing Gary over to my car and opening the door for him.

Her jaw dropped, and my smile as we left was basically a huge ‘fuck you.’ Another reason I showed up late, so I could bring my baby with me.

I pulled away from the curb without a backward glance, cackling to myself once we were out of sight.

“Why did you give her your number?” Gary’s voice was small, and held a hint of worry that made me frown. It bothered me that he didn’t trust me around his sister.

“To keep an eye on her. She might let something slip about her plans. She reacted way too damn well to the engagement. I want to monitor her. I don’t want this making things worse for you. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

He made a humming sound, like he agreed but didn’t believe. I made a tick sound behind my teeth. I didn’t like it when he didn’t believe me.

“I wish your plan worked. I thought she’d storm off and avoid me,” he finally said with a sigh.

My brow furrowed deeper. At this rate, I was going to get a headache. “What do you mean? It totally worked. She won’t touch you as long as you’re with me.”

He lifted a shoulder, toying with the cuff of the button up he was wearing.

“Maybe, but this is fake, right? We won't be getting married. We’ll have to stop eventually. And once we do, she’ll come after me again.

Maybe it would’ve been easier to just give her what she wanted.

” He frowned, pulling out his phone. “I still don’t understand what she was talking about when she said she’d been calling me a few times a week.

I never got any calls. I know better than to ignore her. It only makes things worse.”

My foot eased off the gas, and I shot him an uneasy look. “Worse how?”

“It drags things out, for one thing. And she’s crazy vindictive.

For every day I ignore her, she makes the repercussions that much worse.

If she thought I’d been ignoring her for weeks, that could be why she went as far as to have people full on attack me.

I doubt she would’ve gone past vague threats to make me uneasy if I did what she asked. ”

A stone dropped heavily in my gut. I blocked his sister because it pissed me off that she demanded money from him when he barely had any to survive. I didn’t think I’d make things worse.

And now, I’d be dragging things out even longer with a long engagement, just waiting for her to get the picture and fuck off.

If Gary was right, once we ended this fake relationship, she’d rip him apart for every slight that happened while we were together.

I cast my mind for some way to make it right, but only one thing came to mind.

“So we make it look real.”

He turned to me with a frown. “What are you talking about?”

“You said she’ll go after you the minute we end things.

If we make it look like we really got married, she’ll never have the chance.

It’s not like you visit, right? We have the big wedding, act like a happy couple, and convince her we’re forever.

Then, once she finally fucks off, we can go back to just being us. No big deal.”

When I chanced a glance at Gary, he looked at me like I was crazy. “You want to have a wedding and pretend to marry me just to get rid of my sister? Are you insane?”

Well, duh. He already knew that.

Pulling over on the side of the road, I slammed on the brakes and put the car in park. Gary yelped with the abrupt turnoff, gripping his seatbelt tightly. Turning fully to face him, I leveled him with a look.

“I’m nowhere near done with you yet, Gary.

You’re mine for the foreseeable future. Planning a fake wedding doesn’t change that.

It just proves my point. I don’t give a shit about weddings or romance or whatever, but I’ll throw a fake party and drive your sister insanely jealous by spoiling you.

Then, when she’s cowed enough to leave you alone, we’ll go back to what we are. ”

“Which is?”

I shrugged. “Friends with benefits? Fuck buddies? You’re my friend, but I also really like to fuck you. Call it whatever you want.”

That startled a laugh out of him, and he finally lost some of the defeat in his expression. He shook his head, peeking up at me. “You’re insane, you know that?”

“I’ve been told it’s one of my best qualities. Say yes, Gary. Fake marry me.”

Rolling his eyes, he chuckled and bit his lip before nodding sharply. “Alright. But I want you to promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“The minute we get home, you change back to normal Easton. I touched your hair in the restaurant. It’s crunchy. That’s gross.”

Barking out a laugh, I lunged across the center console and attacked his mouth with a single-minded purpose. I’d get him to realize it eventually. Only one word ever popped into my head when I thought about Gary.

Mine.