Page 184 of The Faking Game
“I know better than that.” And really, I shouldn’t be surprised that whatIthink regarding this situation doesn’t matter, despite it beingmeWilde targeted to get Rafe off balance.
His eyes fall to my wrist. “You bought something new?”
I look down at my bracelet, with its engraved words resting against my skin. I’ve never gotten angry at Rafe. Even when he’s made decisions about my life.
“Yes,” I say. “It’s new.”
“It’s pretty.” He looks back out over the crowd. “Now let’s see if Wilde shows…”
“He won’t.” The words are West’s. His hand comes to rest at the small of my back, and his shoulder brushes mine, and it’s like I can take a full breath again. Like order is restored. “He’s been spotted at a restaurant in the city.”
“Maybe he knows he’s been caught,” I say.
Rafe shakes his head. “Not likely.”
“He might,” West agrees, like my brother hasn’t spoken. His eyes drop to my bracelet. “If one of his hired guns has turned on him. Or he doesn’t want to overplay his hand. As my girlfriend, he knows you’ll be here.”
My lips curve. “You think he can’t face me?”
“I think he might struggle to, yes.”
Rafe looks between us and at West’s arm around my waist. There are people everywhere. Eyes that follow, eyes that track. It’s all a façade. My brother knows that.
And yet, when Amber puts a hand on his arm and asks him if he doesn’t think West and I make a beautiful couple, his answer is tense. “Yes,” he says, eyes on West’s arm. “They do.”
* * *
Invitations to the party are coveted, and now that they’re here, everyone wants to talk to West. “Don’t leave me,” he mutters in my ear between polite conversations. “I might die if you do.”
I laugh. “Are you addicted to me?”
“Yes. Dangerously so.” His hand finds mine and locks our fingers together.
“Good thing I’m still your fake girlfriend in public, then,” I say. “Would your mom have invited a dozen single women otherwise?”
West pulls me closer, like he’s about to press his lips to my temple like he usually does. But he stops himself at the last minute. We’re only supposed to be pretending, and my brother is here. “Yeah, don’t looktooin love with me, Calloway.”
“I’m trying my best,” he says, and something flutters in my chest.We need to talk, I think.I need to tell him how I feel.
There’s another low, incessant ringing from my bag. I open it, and what I see doesn’t surprise me.
West mutters, “Again?”
“It’s her sixth call in the last hour. Maybe I should just answer it,” I say. “When Mom gets something in her head like this, she’s not gonna stop.”
“You’ve already texted her and said you’re unavailable.”
“Yes, but you know how she gets.”
He looks over his shoulder at the guests standing only a short distance away. Two of them have already tried to get our attention twice. “Okay,” he says. “Come. Let’s end this.”
He takes my hand and pulls me into the house, down through the east wing. He finds the door to the library and pulls it open. The large room is dark and quiet, and we pause just inside the door.
“Answer it this time,” West says, “and tell her off.”
I look down at my phone. “I’m not sure if I can do that.”
“You can,” he says. “We’ve been practicing. Of course you can. I’m right here.”
