Page 5

Zoya

T he dining hall is loud and crowded as I hurry toward the table that my best friend, Connor Anderson, and I claimed as ours almost four years ago.

He's already there, his baseball cap pulled down over his eyes as if that's going to keep anyone from noticing the way he's checking out Jessup Joyner, the quarterback, who is seated two tables over with several of the guys from the football team.

Maybe it works. We're graduating in a few months, and no one has caught on to the fact that their favorite pitcher is gay. Half our classmates think he's committed to someone back home. The other half thinks we're secretly dating…which is precisely why I need his help now.

My world is coming unraveled at the seams. Seriously. My sister's quickie wedding has officially become my own personal nightmare.

After reconnecting at her concert three months ago, Nadia and Teo finally worked their shit out.

They're getting married two days before Christmas.

I think they're rushing it because she's pregnant.

I've been totally on board with this plan…

until approximately half an hour ago, when she detonated a bomb in my life by changing the venue.

To Jareth's winery. Where he'll be for the entire two weeks I'm there.

I haven't seen him since I lied through my teeth a few weeks ago before their show, but I was desperate. He looked so damn good. I wanted to climb him and pick up where we left off in Los Angeles.

Nadia still thinks I cut my trip to LA short because of everything going on with her and Teo. It's a dirty lie. I cut it short because I was terrified that I'd end up alone with Jareth again. I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to keep myself from falling into his bed if that happened.

Four months later, I'm still not sure. If I learned anything when I saw him a few weeks ago, it's that I am weak for the man. So weak! He's on my mind far more often than he should be…far more often than is healthy. My attraction to him has turned into a sick obsession I can't shake.

And very soon, I'll be on his vineyard for the entirety of my winter break. There's no way I'll be able to avoid him.

Like I said, my world is coming unraveled at the seams.

Connor is my only hope of not falling head over heels into something that'll probably crush me as well as Jareth's fancy machines do his grapes.

"Ordered your food," Connor drawls as soon as he spots me, pushing a burger and fries across the table toward me.

"Thanks." I slide into the chair across from him, out of breath from my mad dash from my dorm to the dining hall. Only one of us at this table is an athlete. It definitely isn't me. He runs marathons for fun. The only time I run is from my problems. "I need a favor."

He tips his head back, his blue eyes narrowed with suspicion when they meet mine. "Last time you asked me for a favor, you nearly got my fine ass arrested, Zoya."

"I did not!" I protest through a shocked laugh, tossing a fry at him.

He cocks a brow at me as if to ask who I'm kidding.

"Okay, fine," I concede. "Maybe things got a little out of control."

"A little?" An amused look of disbelief stretches across his face. "We were running from the cops on a stolen golf cart. That is not a little out of control ."

"Borrowed, Connor. It was a borrowed golf cart. And mistakes were made." I shrug. "It's not like I knew there were houses back there and everyone could see us trying to rescue that alligator from the pond."

He opens his mouth to say something and then snaps it closed with a rueful chuckle. "You're right. Mistakes were made. I willingly followed your crazy ass out to a golf course to rescue a goddamn alligator from a pond."

"They were hitting him with golf balls!" I don't care if he is an alligator; no animal deserves to be pelted with golf balls all day by drunk golfers who think torturing a living thing is a good time.

I couldn't leave him there. We were just going to move him from the pond to the river, where he'd could live his life in peace.

Connor just shakes his head, chuckling at me. "What kind of crime do you want to commit this time? A zoo heist? Pilfering the dog park? A circus smash and grab?"

I toss another fry at him, laughing. "I hate you, do you know that?"

"Whatever, bitch." He snatches the fry, popping it into his mouth. "You fucking love me."

He's right. I do. He's been my ride-or-die since the day I nearly knocked him down during our freshman year.

He was the popular new jock on campus. I was the…

well, definitely not that. I was the rebel with ninety-nine causes, and a famous sister.

I was trying my best to keep her secrets and stay sane.

I didn't people well. I still don't, honestly. But Connor gets me.

The day Nadia announced that she was checking herself into rehab again, I was a mess. I told him the whole heartbreaking story. He told me his secret. We've been joined at the hip ever since.

"Seriously, Z. What do you want this time?" he asks, sobering.

"For you to be my boyfriend?" I say, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Uh…" He glances around before leaning closer. "Hate to break it to you, but gay means I like cock, cupcake."

"I know!" I cry, drawing attention from surrounding tables. I slouch in my seat until they all go back to their conversations and stop staring. "It wouldn't be a real relationship. I just need you to pretend we're in love during Nadia's wedding."

"Why?"

"No reason."

"Why, Zoya?"

"Because my sister is evil and moved the wedding to Jareth's vineyard," I say, burying my face in my hand.

"Now, I have to spend two weeks trying not to jump into bed with him.

" I take a breath, peeking at Connor through my fingers.

"And I might have told him that you're my boyfriend when I saw him a few weeks ago? "

"Um, excuse me? You did what?"

"I panicked!" I cry quietly. "He was all hot, and he was touching me and kissing me and talking about getting me wet.

And then he said that he didn't think I actually had a boyfriend.

You know I can't do hot and arrogant. It's just not survivable.

So I showed him your picture and said you were my boyfriend.

" I inhale a deep breath. "Mistakes were made. "

"Fucking clearly. I like cock."

"I know!"

"I'm not kissing you, Zoya."

"You get to spend two weeks at a fancy vineyard with a hot rockstar. And he has a twin."

"Jesus Christ. He has a twin?"

"Identical," I confirm.

"Is the twin gay?"

"I don't know. But Nadia said he has a bunch of hot cousins. And one of them is married to a woman and a man. So maybe there's another one who swings your way."

"Hold up. He's married to a man and a woman?" Connor arches a brow.

"Yep."

"Well, I'm definitely going to this fucking wedding now," he mumbles, sitting back in his chair with wide eyes. "How does that even work?"

"Pornhub probably has the answers you seek," I suggest helpfully.

"Yeah, well, that's blocked in this lame-ass state now."

"Politicians are dicks."

He nods seriously and holds his fist out for me to bump…which I do. And then he settles back, his head cocked to the side.

"So…we're officially dating for this wedding. How is this going to work?"

"Um…" I honestly have no idea. I didn't think that far ahead. Panic set in, and I just reacted. "I guess we just pretend we're in love?"

His lips curve into an amused grin. "You know they aren't going to buy this shit, right? You don't do love, and I don't do women. It's going to be a fucking disaster."

"Did I mention that there's a winery?"

"Are you trying to bribe me with free booze?"

"I don't know. Is it working?"

He takes a bite of his burger, chewing thoughtfully, and then he chuckles. "Yeah, cupcake. It's working."

"Oh, thank God." My shoulders sag with relief. "Had you turned me down, I was going to have to engineer an entire messy breakup and fake my own death."

"You really like this guy, huh?"

"What? No." I scowl across the table at him. "Absolutely not."

"Right," he says with a soft chuckle. "You're just panicking and plotting to fake your own death for the hell of it."

"Yes! Exactly."

He shakes his head. "Lie to yourself if you want, but I'm not buying your bullshit, Zoya Mikhail. You like him."

"Do not." I shove a fry in my mouth, hoping that ends the conversation. Sadly, it doesn't. Connor knows me too damn well.

"When are we leaving?"

"After finals. Teo hired a private plane to get us all there."

Connor's brow quirks. "Your family is not like my family."

I reach across the table, squeezing his arm. His parents basically disowned him when he came out to them. The only reason he managed to make it to college was his scholarship.

Things have thawed a little back home…but not much.

There are places in the world where you're allowed to be gay and happy.

A small town in the Bible belt isn't really one of them.

His parents treat him like he's going through some phase and just needs to find a good woman.

It breaks my heart for him, especially since being an openly gay sports star isn't exactly welcome, either.

He spends every day pretending he's something he isn't just to keep from sinking his chances of going pro.

"It's not fair for me to ask you to do this for me," I whisper, guilt flowing through me. "You have to pretend enough already."

"Pretending to be in love with you for a free vacation at a winery in California with your pop star sister, her linebacker fiancé, and agents who can get me to the next level?

" he asks, one brow arched. "Yeah, that's totally asking too much, cupcake.

" He rolls his eyes at me. "We're going.

It'll be a disaster, but we're fucking going. "

"Well, when you put it that way…"

He lobs a fry at me, chuckling. "Get out of your head. If you were asking too much, I'd tell you."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

I exhale a breath, relieved I don't have to come up with another plan to avoid Jareth.

Crap. I'm going to be seeing Jareth again.

That is not excitement I feel fluttering in my stomach. Nope. No way. The fries were probably just bad.