Quit.
“God, I hate you.”
Quit.
That has my eyebrows rising in surprise. She said that right to my face, clear as day, and I can’t help grinning. This is it. She’s going to quit.
“You are absolutely the worst,” she continues.
“So you quit and accept your fate?”
She looks away, her throat working as she swallows, and the shake of her head is almost imperceptible.Dammit.
“What if Andrew tells people that we’re dating?” I push.
She shrugs.
“That’s not good enough, Chastity.” Her eyes narrow at the name, but she doesn’t correct me. “I need you to tell me what you want.”I need you to tell me you quit.
Her eyes fall closed, and she takes a deep breath before facing me again and opening her eyes. “If letting people think we’re dating is what it takes for you to keep your mouth shut about me, then so be it.”
I rock back on my heels, honestly surprised she’s willing to go this far. “So that means when we’re in public …”
“I won’t act like I hate you, and I won’t deny that we’re dating.”
I press my lips together and shake my head. “That’s not quite good enough. If we’re dating, we have to act like it.”
She throws up her hands in frustration. “But we’re not dating!”
“Youknow that.” I point a finger at her. “AndIknow that.” I press the same finger into my chest. “But no one else does. Or they won’t once Andrew starts gossiping. Because I promise you, he definitely will. He’ll get great pleasure out of telling every one of our friends that I’m into sexy roleplaying.”
She covers her face with both hands. “Whyyy?” she moans.
I shrug, even though she’s not looking at me. “That’s just Andrew. He’s a solid tailback and fun to hang out with, but he likes to run his mouth to anyone who’ll listen, especially if it’s something juicy. So this? Yeah, he’s definitely going to tell everyone we’re dating. Especially since you’ve made such a big deal about how much you can’t stand me.”
That has her hands coming down and concern taking over her face. “You don’t think he’ll figure out that you’re blackmailing me, do you?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “Andrew won’t suspect a thing. I promise.”
She gives me a suspicious look. “What does acting like a couple in public entail specifically?”
I grin. This is gonna be more fun than I thought.
CHAPTER FIVE
Charity
Fuming, I leave Dylan’s apartment and stomp out to my car.
Just my fucking luck, there’s a ticket on my windshield. The extra time spent arguing about his friend’s oh-so-convenient drop-in and the fallout from that one ill-timed visit put me over the limit on the meter, and parking enforcement came by in the twenty minutes it took me to get here.
I throw my bag in the front seat along with the ticket, resisting the urge to crumple it up. I’ll still have to pay the stupid thing.
Letting out a wordless scream of frustration, I hit my steering wheel a few times, needing to vent my rage somehow. Even though I let my polite mask slip more than normal today, I didn’t scream at Dylan like I really wanted to. He’d probably spill everything to everyone if I did that.
Hell, he’d probably tell everyone about all the horrible things his friends did to me in high school too.
Forcing myself to take several deep breaths, I fish my phone out of my bag. I can’t go home if I’m this upset. Isabelle will pick up that something’s wrong immediately, and I don’t think I could come up with a convincing lie.
