Fake Summer Boyfriend

Her mouth tightened as she stared down at her hands for a second. “Okay.”

I ran around to open her door and carry her bag. As we got to the lobby, Hayden gave me a quick hug, whispering, “You got those skateboarders to put a tracker on his car, didn’t you?”

Maybe I should have kept that a secret, but I didn’t want to lie. “Yes. Do you want me to put the app on your phone so you know where he is?”

Her head jerked back, a horrified expression on her face. “ No! ”

She took her bag from me, as I reached out to tuck her hair back, giving her a tiny kiss on the forehead. “When you’re ready, baby, let’s talk.”

“You didn’t just want to play my fake boyfriend to make Craig go away. You were fake about everything.”

“Hayden – you know that’s not true.”

She shook her head. “It sounds like you’re supposed to go to Nevada. Well, I’m not going to be the one to mess up your plans.”

“Are you nuts?” I said too loudly, making her jump. “Sorry, but Hayden…you are my plans now. There’s no way I’m moving to another city.”

She shuffled uncomfortably. “For the record, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just thought it would be nice to bring you a coffee. But it sounded like he’s your boss.”

“I appreciated the coffee. But he’s also my brother, and he can suck it up.”

Those lovely wide eyes blinked hard, then she shook her head. “I can’t do this right now.” She went into the building and I waited until she was walking up the stairs to turn away.

Since it didn’t seem like she could possibly get any angrier with me, I walked over to the driver side door of Craig’s car. The terror in his eyes when he looked up at me was almost comical. Glaring daggers, I simply snapped my fingers and pointed for him to get lost.

He started the car and drove away, as I stood waiting until he was out of sight.

I got into my car, using the tracker to make sure that I drove off in a different direction. Pulling into a parking lot, I waited.

Sure enough, he was back in front of her building in five minutes.

I drove back, pulled up beside him again, and this time he took off like a shot the second he saw my face.

Waiting in the same parking lot, this time it was twenty minutes before he circled back. But the second I returned again and pulled up behind him, he took off.

After playing cat and mouse like this for about an hour, he actually drove away and stayed away. Following him at a reasonable distance, I watched as he pulled into a subdivision, then parked in front of a townhouse where an older woman was gardening out front.

It was the home address I had on record for him, but it was good to confirm it.

And wow. He actually lived with his mother. Probably in the basement.

If there’s one thing that I’d learned in security, some people will crumble like an eggshell if you threaten to tell their mommy on them.

By the time I got home, my stomach was churning. It didn’t help that in the kitchen I saw that Hayden had begun to make us breakfast smoothies, and chopped up vegetables for something.

I didn’t know how I was going to fix this. It was unnerving to see her so angry.

It added another layer of awkwardness, knowing that in order to prove myself to her and get rid of the Craig issue once and for all, I was going to have to break my promise of not confronting him.

It was going to be extremely tricky to convince her that we belonged together while breaking my word, and cornering her long enough to have a proper conversation about this.

Chapter 15

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Hayden

The second I was safely in my apartment with the door locked, I threw myself across the bed and sobbed. I cried so hard and for so long that I made myself dizzy and nearly forgot what I was crying about.