“You’ll help me? How?” I asked, still wondering why he wanted to make Chace suffer so much. What had Chace done to make Ryder so hell-bent on revenge?
It was common knowledge that Chace and Ryder used to be best mates, but a month or so before Chace and I started dating, Ryder left town. No one knew where he’d gone or why. But when he came back, he was totally different. The Ryder who was kind, clean cut, and quiet left Blackhill and returned months later as the bad boy Ryder, who was standing in front of me. He and Chace had hated each other ever since, and no one knew why. How could they go from being best friends to enemies so easily?
“How about a little payback?” he asked with a mischievous look in his eyes.
“Payback?”
“Yeah, you know, give karma a little helping hand.” He turned and strutted—not walked, strutted—to the sofa in the middle of the shop. I followed slowly.
“And how do you propose we do that?” I asked, taking a seat next to him.
“I’ll be your boyfriend,” he said, looking at me as if I were stupid. What? Why would he do that? It made no sense. Apparently sensing my confusion, he reached out and touched my shoulder.
“Nothing would piss him off more than seeing you with me. He hates me,” he said, shrugging like it was no big deal. “Look. No pressure. We can pretend to be in a relationship at school and school events, make him think you’re over him.”
He wanted to act. And if I was honest with myself, it sounded like a good idea. I was just angry enough to want to piss Chace off, and I knew how much he hated Ryder. Everyone did. But I was worried about Ryder’s reputation with the girls. He was known for not doing relationships. When I asked him that, his answer made perfect sense.
“All the more reason for me to be your boyfriend. You’ll be the girl who caught Ryder Jones, the girl to tame the player and all that rubbish. Chace will hate that.” Ryder kicked a foot up on the coffee table and relaxed back into the cushions. “As for the girls I’ll be missing out on, they don’t compare to seeing Chace’s face every day when I walk into school with you on my arm. I can live without the girls, Bailey. It’s not like I give a damn about any of them. They just relieve the boredom. What do you say? Be my fake girlfriend?”
How could I argue with that logic and refuse those green eyes?
“Okay,” I agreed. My fate was sealed.
Chapter Five
“Favourite colour?”
“Seriously, Ryder?” We were sitting in the kitchen of the bookshop, coming up with a story for when we returned to school.
“Yes, Bailey. You wanna sell this story or what?” He rolled his eyes and stood up to make another cup of tea. “Mine is black.”
“Black’s not a colour,” I argued.
“Fine. Orange then. I like orange.” He shrugged and continued brewing tea.
“Purple.” I sighed and buried my head in my arms. I couldn’t believe we were playing twenty questions so that we could make this fake relationship seem real.
“Favourite food?” He turned and set a cup of tea down in front of me and waited patiently for me to reply.
“Ah,” I groaned. “Come on. This is stupid. No one is going to ask if we know each other’s favourite colours, foods, books, lucky numbers, star signs, or any of that, Ryder. All they will want to know is how long we’ve been dating. Trust me.” He couldn’t honestly think people were going to care that much about us, could he?
“Food. Star sign. I didn’t think of that.” Ryder’s eyes widened. “Okay, I love burgers, my star sign is Aquarius, my lucky number is twenty-three—it’s the number on my soccer jersey—I like cars, girls. Well, I did like girls until I met you.” Ryder winked at me. “Now I only like you.”
“Laying it on a bit thick there, don’t you think?” I laughed.
“I’m a professional. Now you tell me about you.”
“Mashed potatoes, Aries, fifteen,” I stated, unenthusiastically.
“And what else?” Ryder fiddled with the mug in his hands.
“Nothing. I don’t like anything else. Books, maybe.”
“Me, Bailey. You’re supposed to say me.” He smirked.
“Fine. You too.”
“No one is ever going to believe you. I’m going to have to pull off this entire fake relationship by myself.” He shook his head slowly.
“Sorry. It’s just weird. I’m not even sure it’s a good idea to pretend,” I told him truthfully. I was having doubts about being able to pull this relationship off and whether it would even do anything to remotely make Chace regret his actions. I doubted it.
“You wanna back out? Break up with me now?” He pouted.
“No, I just…I don’t know. It’s all too confusing. Can we not try so hard? Just let it unfold naturally?”
“Okay, sure. But we do need to know the answer to one question: How long have we been dating?”
“Easy. Since last week when you asked me to be your fake girlfriend,” I told him as I stood up to put our empty cups in the sink.
“Okay, cool.” Ryder sighed and leant back in his chair.
“What?” I walked back over to the table and stood beside him. He peeled one eye open and looked at me.
“What are we going to do now?”
“Well…I have work to do. You know, out there.” I waved in the direction of the shop. “Don’t you have plans, or friends, or something?”
“Nope. Not today.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile back. He had one of those larger-than-life, contagious smiles that just sucked you in every time. “Today I’m hanging with my girlfriend.” He jumped out of the chair and pressed a kiss to my cheek before running out of the kitchen, leaving me standing there dumbstruck. He kissed me. Granted, it was my cheek. But still, Ryder freaking Jones kissed me. I ran out there after him and found him lying on the sofa with a book in his hands.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked.
“Reading, Bailey. You know, that thing you do when you open a book and let your eyes flow over the pages. It’s quite relaxing. Wanna try it?” I had the urge to throw a book at him. He was being a smart alec and trying to annoy me.
“Not what I meant, Ryder.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“Ah, hanging with my girlfriend like a real boyfriend does,” he answered uncertainly. I rolled my eyes.
“We’re not dating. It’s fake,” I reminded him.
“So we gotta get in some practice; otherwise, no one will believe us when school goes back. What’s your point, Bailey?”
“Why’d you kiss me?”
“Seriously?” he asked before bursting into laughter, tears running uncontrollably down his face. He had to roll over and hold his stomach from laughing so hard. I didn’t think it was funny. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
I didn’t say anything. I just waited silently for him to get himself sorted and answer me.
“It was barely a kiss. My lips hardly touched your cheek,” he said. He pushed himself upright and stood and stalked toward me.