“Shut your goddamn mouth, pussy boy,” Kane snaps at me. “You’re lyin’.”
I chuckle, amused at his dig. “Why the hell do you care?” I challenge.
“Yeah?” Knox adds. “Haven’t you told me since birth y’all are just friends?”
We all know better. He’s in love with Hadleigh, but she’s not pining after him the way he does her. You can see the pain written on his face when he looks at Knox.
“We are. Doesn’t mean I wanna see her get hurt by some prick.”
I smirk as I finish my beer and listen to them argue. At least they’re not on my case anymore.
Just as I have my tenth drink, Connor walks in with a glare. Everyone else mostly left an hour ago, but I wasn’t ready to go then. I’m still not.
“Hey, it’s Dr. VetDreamy!” I shout. He hates that nickname. My cousins gave it to him years ago before he and Elle were a couple.
“Time to go. I’m driving,” he tells me, then signals to the bartender to close out my tab.
“You don’t wanna stay for a drink?”
“No, and your sister doesn’t want you drivin’.”
I roll my eyes and grunt as he pays my bill. “She called me a DD?”
“Yep. Now let’s go.”
As I stumble toward his truck, I realize I’m drunker than I thought.
“Sorry,” I say when he has to help me into the passenger side. “I didn’t mean to drink this much.”
“Famous last words,” he mutters. “No puking. I just got it detailed.”
As I press my face against the cool window, I’m brought back to the memories I’ve tried to forget.
Harper’s lips. Sucking on her soft skin. Feeling her perky breasts in my mouth, squeezing her luscious ass I’ve admired more times than I can count, and remembering the way she came on my dick. Fuck. It’s torture. I wish I could erase it all from my mind.
“So Elle tells me you’re going through some kind of heartbreak.”
I snort at how Connor’s trying to start a conversation. I hadn’t told Elle the whole story, but it’d be easy to guess based on what she already knew. “Suppose you could say that.”
“Not that you asked but I’m gonna give you some advice.”
I shrug. Can’t get much worse than it is right now.
“Don’t let her go without admitting everything. You’ll regret it otherwise.”
I furrow my brows and try to focus on him the best I can in the dark. “That’s your big speech?”
Connor grins. “Yep.”
Pfft. “And what do you suggest I do when I tell her and she says she doesn’t feel the same?”
“At least you’ll know. Then you can move on.”
I don’t want to fucking move on. That’s the goddamn problem.
“But if I do that…confess,” I say. “And if she doesn’t want what I want, I’ll lose her as a friend. If I don’t tell her, I lose the potential for more. So no matter what I do, I lose something.”
“Yeah, that’s a tough situation. You just have to decide if it’s worth the risk or not.”
After Connor drops me off and I thank him for the ride and his advice, I collapse on my bed fully clothed. My eyes are heavy, and I know I’m going to regret this in a few hours when my alarm goes off, but I grab my phone and quickly type out a text to Harper.
Ethan: We need to talk tomorrow. It’s important.
Before I see if she responds, my head hits the pillow, and I pass out.
Chapter Sixteen
HARPER
“So, aside from the prank, I’ve been informed that not only are you engaged but you’re also engaged to Eldorado’s Hottest Bachelor.” My mom grins as I work on my display in the boutique. “Literally every customer has congratulated me on your upcoming nuptials. Mrs. Klein even asked when you were comin’ in to try on wedding dresses.”
I groan with an eye roll. “Tell them we’re eloping. Maybe it’ll get them off our backs. Or better yet, tell them we’ve decided to postpone it. Not everyone gets hitched as soon as they’re engaged.” I huff, hating how everything blew up in my face.
“I don’t think that’s going to be enough to stop the rumor mills. If anything, it’ll create drama that you two broke up or something.”
She’s right. The only thing that travels faster than babies or engagements in this town is the news of a breakup.
And we aren’t even dating.
“Perhaps a billboard with big, bold letters WE WERE NEVER ENGAGED.”
After finding out about the fake announcement, I knew I had to tell my parents before someone else did. However, by the time I made it there, they’d already gotten half a dozen calls and texts. Without telling them the whole truth, I glossed over the parts where Ethan and I faked our relationship all weekend and told them it was a prank from Shayla. Then of course I had to go into a whole lie about how I pranked her first, and she was getting me back.