6

JACE

This is a horrible idea.

I drummed my fingers know the steering wheel of my car as I sped through the city. It was less than twenty-four hours since the scene at Lily’s party. I could still reverse things, find a way to explain the night away.

So much easier than the game of charades we were going to play for the next few months. Doable…

My hands tightened on the steering wheel. Problem was, I didn’t want to do it. The image of Lily’s frightened face at the hotel flashed in my head.

It was that same face that made me agree to this after she proposed it. I recognise that look. On another face, decades in the past.

It’s the very reason I should call this off, but here I was driving to her sister’s house in the morning instead of my office.

I parked my car at the door, since I had no intention of staying there long and stepped into the chaos that Myra’s house always seemed to be in.

“Uncle J!” Maxwell yelled from hid spot on the floor, in front of the tv with a big bowl of cereal. Before he could get up to greet me, Angie grabbed him and began wiping off the flakes of wet cereal from his face.

“Hey lil man, where’s your sister?” It was a school day which meant Heidi might have already left the house.

“Here! Hey stretch.” She waltzed into the living room smiling, her new braces on full display. “Mum said you and buddy are married now.”

I refused to feed shame for how white my face turned at the word ‘marriage’

“See! That’s what I said!” She continued.

“We’re all aware of what a monster Jace is.” Just like it always did, Lily’s voice filled me with a mix of anticipation and cowardice. I refused to turn and acknowledge her. Not yet.

“I thought we agreed no fighting?” Myra joined us in the living room, Ian strapped to her chest. She shot me a look and I was thrust back to our last conversation.

…She will not be one of your conquests Jace. My sister is a lot sensitive that she lets on -I’m sure you understand…

I did. Afterall I had spent the most part of my life building my image as party driven, sex crazed deviant. I couldn’t blame my friend for trying to protect her sister, even though she had nothing to worry about.

The woman was not my type.

”Are we leaving or not?” She asked, boredom leaking into her voice. Finally I turned.

Lily was in denim overalls and tube top, Her dark hair wss piled atop healr head in a messy bun, wavy bits framing her face. Her eyes were concealed with big dark shades but i could feel her glare through them. She raised her arm to her hip and waited for my answer.

I gestured towards the door and waited, breath held till she was past me and out the door.

This was a horrible idea.

Lily was leaning on my car when I got out.

“You know most people say good morning to the guy who’s dating them.” Fake dating. I corrected in my head.

She let out a weary sigh and looked up at me. “It’s barely a day and you’re already making demands.” Irritation flared in my chest as I plucked the shades from her eyes. “Hey!” She snapped amd tried to grab it from me, but keeping it away was easy. I could see the top of her head for chrissakes. Well not anymore, because she was glaring again.

I noticed two things at once. One, Lily had been crying, if her red and irritated eyes were anything to go by. Two, I was standing too godamn close to her. Close enough to see how pink her nose was, a result of the crying no doubt. Close enough to smell her.

Which brought me to a third realization, Lily was in her old perfume.

And a fourth, I had said the last bit outloud.

She huffed, “not that it’s your business, but the Clive was Taser’s thing. I prefer to smell like…me.”

And yet she hadn’t in over a year.

I stepped back from her. “If we want this to work, we need to make an effort to be nice to eachother.”

“In public.”

“How will you nail that if you can’t be nice when we’re alone?”

We needed more than wishful thinking to pull this off, which was why I was meeting her today. I handed her glasses back to her and moved to my side of the car.

Everything was stacked against us, we didn’t like eachother, could barely tolerate being close, and I doubted neither of us knew how to be in love. Lily’s opinions on that matter were void since she managed to date the dumbest man in history, I didn’t exactly have knowledge of this front.

She was going to be my first girlfriend afterall. Fake girlfriend, I reminded myself, eyes on the steering as she slipped in beside me.

“We have a lot to do. And we’re going to start with breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry.” She argued.

“Find your fucking appetite, short stack, we’re eating.” She crossed her arm over her chest and stared out the glass. “You can use this opportunity to think about great conversation starters.” I snapped as I zoomed away from her sister’s home.

I knew that no matter how snarky she was being, she wanted this to work. And for some reason, even though it would be easier to pull a love scam with literally ANYONE else but her, I wanted it to work too.

Us to work.

A real fucking horrible idea