Page 80 of Scoring Chances

“And I’m your fake girlfriend?”

“Will that be so hard to play?”

She glares at me.

“Just consider part of your job, Cassidy. I’m now officially paying you to be my girlfriend and Maddie, Parker and Cole’s sister.”

“I cannot believe you right now.”

“I’ll throw in an extra twenty five grand, okay?”

“Money isn’t going to help you when this all comes to bite you in the ass,” she whisper yells.

Yeah, Keelan seems to think so too.

But I don’t have time to dwell on all that right now. Right now, I just need to get through a weekend with my parents and my fake girlfriend’s fake family.

“They’re coming in. Just tell me you’re on board.”

She huffs out a breath. “Fine. But I’m negotiating for more money after this because right now… I really don’t like you.”

“Fair enough, Princess.”

The front door opens and I help my parents with their luggage. Cassidy asks Cole to help her with something upstairs and before she heads up I shoot her a grateful smile, mouthing “thank you.”

She shakes her head and disappears up the stairs. I know that that’s the best I can expect from her. Especially now that she knows the truth. I wasn’t planning on keeping the kids when I leave to Georgia.

And I realize that makes me look like an even worse asshole than lying to my parents about them in the first place.

But I can’t handle anymore disappointment this summer. So we’ll play along.

It’s only one weekend.

Chapter 22

Cassidy

I’m quietly sitting next to Joshua at the picnic bench on the park.

I gave the kids the rundown. That just for the weekend we were pretending they were my siblings. And that they’d be allowed to have as much ice cream as they want for the rest of the summer. Maddie loved the idea. She was more than excited.

Cole thought what I thought–this is stupid.

But I’d let Joshua deal with the potential fallout and the sugar rushes as a result of getting Maddie to cooperate, because that’s what he deserves at this point.

“So, how did you two meet?” Catherine pops a grape into her mouth and smiles at us from across the table.

“Yeah, I gotta admit. I was pretty surprised to see you living with Josh. I don’t think he’s ever had a relationship last longer than a weekend.”

“Gee, thanks Dad,” Joshua mutters.

“He has a reputation,” I shrug. “But once I got to know him, I knew he was much more than just a pretty face.” I squeeze his chin and shake it.

A little too hard.

So much more… because he’s also a big, fat freakin’ liar!

He makes a sound and gently pulls away, giving me a look.