14

Kailee Bennett 

His hands trailed up my arm from my wrist while my eyes were on his 

He ran his hand through my hair, his brows twitching like he hadn’t expected it to be that soft.

His hand cupped my chin, stroking my face. I found myself tilting to his touch. 

Fuck. It was good

His touch had a way of breaking every bone in my body and giving me this feeling of calmness 

“Besides,” he added, “I can’t have people picking on my ‘girlfriend’. It’d ruin my street cred” 

He bent his fingers in mid air when he said girlfriend, adding air quotes to the word.

Oh 

And there it was. Reality kicked me back to earth. 

So if we weren’t fake dating for the deal, he’d let people pick on me?

I rubbed my arm, trying to chase away the chill that came with that realization. I don’t know what I was even thinking or expecting 

Why did I let myself think that he actually cared?

I seem to want attention and care so bad that it leads me to misunderstand things 

Why would someone—especially someone like Ryder, want to care about someone like me?

I mean he couldn’t even pretend to care without mocking it. It made me think why I even bothered with this whole deal when it was obvious that Noah might never see me or even want to think of me the way I think of him 

The vibration of Ryder's phone on his table drew me out of my thoughts. 

He grabbed his phone and took a look before looking up to me, a teasing grin framing his face. “Well, would you look at that?”

“What?” I asked, wary 

“Your little crush just commented on our picture” 

My breath caught in my chest. “What?!! Let me see!!”

Ryder angled his screen toward me, smirking. Sure enough, under the picture of him kissing my neck, there was a fresh comment:

Noah Carter: Didn’t know you two were a thing. Lucky guy.

My heart tripped over itself.

Lucky guy.

He called Ryder a lucky guy for having me as a girlfriend!

“You okay? You look like you’d burn up any second now” Ryder shoved me lightly, chuckling 

“Oh my God!” I couldn’t stop my surprise as I jumped around his room, happiness radiating through me 

“Hey, don’t jump there! Get down from my bed!” Ryder voice echoed but I didn’t listen 

“Ryder, he commented. Noah actually commented!” I grinned like an idiot 

Ryder looked up, unimpressed. “Yeah, I read it. Lucky guy. You’ve said that like ten times.”

“You don’t understand,” I said, sitting up. “That means he noticed me! That means—”

“That he thinks I’m lucky?” Ryder teased.

I ignored him. “That means I’m wantable. Like, someone could actually… want me.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them. My cheeks burned.

For a second, Ryder’s face softened, but before I could figure out what that meant, the high I was riding started to… crumble.

Wait.

If Noah saw the post, that means he thinks Ryder and I are together.

Which means, he’s not going to try to talk to me.

Which means—oh God, he’s going to think I’m off limits 

“Oh no,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.

“What now?” Ryder asked, sounding more amused than concerned.

“This whole thing just backfired!”

He blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“The plan! The entire plan was for Noah to notice me, right? Well, now he has but he thinks I’m taken!” I flailed my hands in frustration. “Why would he even try to talk to me if he thinks I’m your girlfriend? He’s probably already crossing me off his mental list like, ‘oh well, too bad, she’s dating the human disaster known as Ryder Vale.’”

Ryder snorted. “Human disaster? Harsh.”

“I’m serious!” I said, standing up and pacing

Ryder chuckled, watching me spiral. “Relax, Bennett. You’re acting like I ruined your life.”

“Because you kind of did!” I shot back. “Noah’s not going to chase someone who’s already taken, Ryder. Nice guys don’t do that!”

He raised a brow. “Who says he’s a nice guy?”

But before I could respond, Ryder stood and stretched lazily, walking toward me with that stupid half-smile.

“Trust me,” he said, stopping close enough that I could smell his cologne. “If your little crush is really interested, one I*******m post won’t stop him. Guys chase what they want.”

I wasn’t fully convinced but another very important question popped in my head. “What about our parents? What if they see the post?” 

Ryder rolled his eyes, like that was barely a problem to him. “What? Aren’t those guys like over thirty five? I’m not even sure they check i*******m. Plus, I blocked my dad and your mom the minute she moved in on all my social media accounts.”

“Oh” I whispered 

I still had a lingering disturbing thought and Ryder could see it on my face 

“You still worried about Noah?” He asked 

I nodded and he sighed. 

“If  he thinks you’re taken, fine. We’ll make him wish you weren’t. But that means you have to look like someone worth chasing — confident, bold, impossible to ignore. Guess I’ll have to teach you how to make a guy chase you, Bennett

And lucky for you…” his grin deepened, “I’m a damn good teacher.”