I WASN’T sure what had just happened. One moment Reed and I were joking around, and the next, it felt like the whole world had shifted. We were staring into each other’s eyes, and my breathing had stilled, but my heart was racing. Something about being with Reed in his home was different from every other time I’d been with him. The connection between us didn’t feel like something we’d contrived. It felt natural, exciting, and safe.
Something had changed while our eyes were locked together. In that moment, I’d forgotten Reed was just my fake boyfriend. Forbidden feelings had rippled through my body as though a kaleidoscope of butterflies had been set loose within me. I silently urged them to get back in their cage. I was not going to let one brief moment cause me to break the most important rule of our arrangement.
I followed Reed from his room and back downstairs to the family living area. Parker had quickly returned to the room after banging on Reed’s door. I wasn’t sure whether I should be grateful he’d ruined the moment between Reed and me or not. I couldn’t afford to let the boundaries of our fake relationship blur even slightly. Getting involved with another hockey player was the last thing I wanted. Still, this wasn’t the first time a moment with Reed had turned my mind a little foggy as to the reasons why.
All but one seat was free as we walked into the living room, and I awkwardly glanced around, trying to figure out where we would both sit. The thought of having to sit on Reed’s lap was too much to handle right now. Thankfully, Reed made the decision for us and sat on the floor beside the chair, leaving it free for me.
“Have fun upstairs?” Cammie asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and grinning in the mischievous way she and Parker seemed to have trademarked.
My cheeks flushed, and I quickly glanced to the corner of the room where Reed’s mom was sitting. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were focused on her book. There was a topless man in a kilt on the front cover, and he appeared to be distracting her enough that she wasn’t listening.
“Violet met Stanley.” Reed said, smartly ignoring the cheeky intent behind Cammie’s question.
“He’s adorable,” I quickly added. I was much more comfortable talking about cute dogs than fending off inuendo from Reed’s siblings.
“Right answer,” Paige said with a grin. “Reed ghosted a girl once because she didn’t like dogs.”
I spluttered out a nervous laugh and turned to Reed. “Seriously?”
“What?” he protested. “That was in middle school. And it’s a total red flag. I stand by the decision, and I’d do the same thing today.”
I was suddenly counting myself lucky I loved dogs. And wondering how many girls Reed had ghosted over the years.
Parker scoffed at Reed and flipped a hand through the air. “Your standards are too high.”
“Says the guy with no standards at all,” Cammie fired at him.
“I can’t help it,” Parker replied as he relaxed back into his chair. “I have a lot of love to give.”
Cammie groaned. “Mom, are you sure Parker wasn’t swapped in the hospital?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Amy replied though she didn’t look up from the novel she was reading. Apparently, she was listening after all. I couldn’t imagine talking this way around my own mom. Not in a million years. None of Reed’s siblings seemed the least bit bothered, and his mom didn’t seem to mind either.
“I think you might be wrong,” Cammie argued before turning to Parker again. “You’re such a pig. You know that, right?”
“Oink, oink.” Parker grinned.
Reed and I shared a look, and I struggled to withhold a laugh. I could tell we were both thinking about the first thing he’d heard me say. I guess I hadn’t been totally off base when I’d called hockey players pigs. I’d just directed the comment at the wrong Darling brother.
Cammie rolled her eyes. “I should be grateful Reed’s all shacked up now. That’s one less brother my friends will be throwing themselves at. It’s so embarrassing.”
“Your friends don’t throw themselves at me,” Reed said.
“Uh, they do. It’s just like Grayson was saying the other day, you’re too caught up with hockey to notice. I guess you have been since—”
Grayson reached past Paige and lightly thwacked Cammie across the back of the head. Cammie scowled in his direction, but Grayson was already leaning back on the couch, his focus returned to the game on the TV. I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but it felt like Grayson was concerned about what Cammie was going to say. Either that or he just thought she was talking too much.
Before I could find out, Danny’s voice echoed from somewhere deeper in the house. “Food’s here!”
The Darling kids all jumped from their seats, jostling with each other as they raced toward his voice. The chaos of this family was something else; it was a stark contrast to the quiet, lazy evenings I spent with Luke and Mia. My nights at home with Mom didn’t even slightly compare. Mostly because I was lucky if I even saw her. She was always either at an event, working late, or busy in her office.
Reed and I were the last ones to reach the dining room, and I took a seat between him and his dad.
“It’s great to see you again, Violet,” Danny said. “How’s the car getting on?”
“The car’s much better.” I smiled. “Thank you so much for fixing her. It really was too generous.”
A slight frown crossed Danny’s brow, and he glanced at Reed before he quickly smothered the expression. “Uh, no problem,” he replied. “I’m happy I could help.”
I glanced at Reed, wondering why his dad seemed slightly unsure, but he nodded at the pizza boxes on the table. “Better dig in, or there’ll be none left. It’s every man for himself at mealtimes around here.”
I laughed but took his advice and grabbed a few slices. Reed wasn’t joking. He and his brothers had their plates piled high in seconds. I had no idea how they could eat so much.
“So, Violet,” Amy said. “Tell us about the first time you and Reed met.”
“Oh yeah, tell us,” Paige added, clapping her hands together.
She was sitting across the table from me next to Grayson, who leaned back in his seat with his arm draped across the back of Paige’s chair. Even though Paige had said they were best friends, they could easily be mistaken for a couple.
“Uh…we met when my car broke down.” I decided that was a much safer place to start than when I spotted Reed flirting with a bunch of girls and called him a pig. We hadn’t officially met then anyway.
“I came to her rescue,” Reed said with a proud smile.
“Actually, I think your dad was the one who did the rescuing,” I replied.
Danny laughed. “Yes, and I did it in such style. Don’t try and steal my moment, son.”
‘You do make a great lobster.” Reed nodded in agreement. “But I’m pretty sure I was the gallant knight in shining armor.”
“No way. You’d have been useless without my noble steed.”
“Are you talking about your tow truck?” Reed laughed. “It’s hardly noble.”
“Sorry, Reed,” I added. “I have to say, I think Danny and his tow truck are the real heroes here. You can’t rescue a girl without a steed.”
“Okay. Okay. I’ll make sure I bring one next time.” He grinned at me, and I smiled back.
Sitting around the dinner table with Reed and his family made me question how he’d ever developed such a bad reputation. I wondered what people would say if I told them about this side of him. Like most other Reed Darling rumors, I imagined it would morph into something completely different and ridiculous.
“Aww, you guys are so cute,” Paige cooed.
Reed and I both flushed and glanced away from each other.
“See?” Paige continued, turning her phone around to show us. She’d taken a picture of us smiling at one another, and, I had to admit, we looked surprisingly like a couple. Reed’s eyes were soft as he gazed at me, and my own almost sparkled. Was that really how I looked when I stared at Reed?
“I’m sorry about Paige,” Reed said. “She’s worse than the paparazzi.”
“Hey,” Paige complained. “Someone had to capture the moment…”
“Well, I’m very unimpressed,” Reed said before lowering his voice and grinning. “Send it to me.”
“I will.” Paige laughed. “I’ll call it the damsel and her knight in shining armor.”
“Look, I think we all know I’m the real knight in this family,” Parker added, making everyone groan.
“Dude, you’re the one the girls need rescuing from,” Cammie said.
Even Reed’s mom and dad joined in with the laugher that erupted from the table.
It was impossible not to get caught up in the whirlwind energy of the Darling family dinner. One moment, they were bickering, and the next, they were all laughing. It was definitely not boring, and by the time it was over, I was sad to leave.
Each one of them hugged me as I left. All except Grayson, that was. He just caught my eye and gave me a simple nod. I knew Reed had told his twin about our fake relationship, so I wondered if his aloof attitude toward me meant he didn’t approve of what we were doing.
“Gray’s not a hugger,” Reed said when I brought it up on the drive back to my place. “But he liked you. I could tell.”
“He barely said anything to me.”
Reed chuckled. “He barely says anything to anyone.”
“But he knows I’m not really your girlfriend…”
“They all liked you,” Reed insisted. “Including Grayson. I think you’ve been unofficially adopted by my family.”
I didn’t know how I felt about that. A part of me was honored by how quickly and easily the Darling family had made me feel at home, but another part of me regretted going tonight at all. Seeing Reed with his family and getting to know them all was going to make it so much harder when this was all over.
“I really liked them too,” I murmured.
Reed reached out and took my hand, giving it a light squeeze. It sent gentle tingles racing across my skin, and my stomach dipped like I was about to go over the edge of a rollercoaster’s first drop.
“Thank you for inviting me,” I said, smiling across at him. “I really liked being your girlfriend tonight, Reed.”
“Don’t you mean fake girlfriend?”
My heart skipped a beat. The rollercoaster it was happily riding had malfunctioned at exactly the wrong time. I wasn’t supposed to be the one slipping up like that. I was supposed to be correcting him. But ever since that moment in Reed’s room, I’d been feeling less and less like his fake girlfriend and more like his real one.
The way he’d reminded me about the fake part of this relationship showed nothing had changed for him. He was still focused on our agreement. Just pretending to be with me to keep the horde of eligible bachelorettes off his back and helping me fend of my ex.
I couldn’t afford to let myself feel this way. Reed didn’t want a relationship, or any kind of serious attachment. That was the whole reason he’d signed up for this arrangement in the first place. We’d agreed not to let any feelings get in the way, and I was determined not to be the one who broke the golden rule.
“Yeah, of course,” I agreed. “That’s what I meant. Fake girlfriend.” I smiled at him but gently pulled my hand away from his and pretended to check something on my phone. “Speaking of our fake relationship, when’s our next fake date.”
He didn’t answer straightaway, and his eyes were fixed on the road ahead. Eventually, he answered with a shrug.
“Matt’s hosting a victory party on Saturday night,” he said. “There will be a ton of Ransom kids there. We should go and be seen together.”
The idea of attending a Ransom party made my chest tighten. That was like going behind enemy lines. I might not be as invested in the heated rivalry between our schools as the rest of the students, but that didn’t mean I’d be welcome at a Ransom party.
“How can you say it’s a victory party when you haven’t even won yet?” I asked.
“We’ll win,” Reed said with a confident smile. “So, you in?”
I hesitated. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but Reed was obviously keen for the girls at his school to see more of us. He’d been helping me with Jeremy, so it was only fair I held up my side of our bargain. “Yeah, I’ll come.”
“Great.” He swallowed before he continued. “Is there anything you need from your fake boyfriend for this week?”
I considered whether we should make an appearance together somewhere. Maybe I could change my shift at work and show up at his hockey practice again or perhaps have him pick me up from school one afternoon. But as I thought more about it, I realized the main reason I wanted another meetup with Reed was nothing to do with our deal. I just wanted to spend more time with him, which was a clear sign I shouldn’t.
After tonight, I needed some time to try to regroup. The line between what was real and what was fake in our relationship had blurred a little. And I didn’t want to see Reed again until that haziness disappeared and the line became crystal clear once more.
“Nothing this week,” I replied.
“Oh.” He almost sounded disappointed.
“Yeah, I have a busy week, and I’m scheduled to work a lot. But I’ll see you at the party on the weekend?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
I jumped from the car before either one of us had a chance to say anything else. I had far too many emotions competing for my attention, and I didn’t know what might come out of my mouth. The smartest thing I could do right now was get some distance from Reed and put him from my mind—at least for tonight.
I did my best to be quiet as I snuck inside the house and up to my room. I didn’t want to face either Mia or Luke and the interrogation I was sure awaited me. By some miracle, I managed to avoid the two of them, but I didn’t breathe easy until I was in my room with the door closed.
I started to get ready for bed, and as I changed, my phone vibrated with an alert. I’d been tagged in a picture on Instagram. I quickly opened the app, surprised to find that not only was Reed Darling now following me but he’d also tagged me in a picture. It was the one Paige had taken of the two of us at the dinner table.
It was the perfect photo. We both looked so happy, and below the picture, Reed had shared a two-word caption: “My girl.” It made my heart leap into my throat, but it immediately plummeted right back down to earth. The caption wasn’t real. Neither was the photo. It was just a reminder that the whole reason Reed invited me to dinner tonight was so we could pretend to be a couple in front of his family and show it off on social media.
Still, I stared at the photo and the boy in the center of it far longer than I should have.
