Page 63 of Don't Fall For Your Fake Boyfriend

She’s a good liar, I’ll give her that because I would’ve bet all my money on red that she was all in like me.

“Brock?”

I lift my head toward my mother’s voice and push down all the pain I’m feeling. “I’m sorry, Mom. I was trying to help her. I had no intention of ruining Paxton’s wedding, or of Willow getting hurt again. I don’t need you telling me how wrong it was. Not now.”

She wraps her arms around me and I welcome the comfort. My heart is shattering in my chest and I can’t even admit it.

“Everything happens for a reason, my sweet boy. I see the hurt in your eyes. It wasn’t all fake.”

I pull away and shrug, shoving my hands into my pants pockets. “Yeah it was. I could really use a drink.”

She nods, resting her hand on my cheek. “You’re an Atwood and we fight for what we want.”

“Some fights are pointless, Mom,” I say, walking back into the reception area.

The music is playing. The dance floor is crowded. There’s talking, laughing, and the clattering of dishes. It’s as if nothing happened, yet I’m not the same guy I was just a half hour ago. I feel defeated. I can’t remember a time that I’ve been this hurt. Yet, as I stand here, the world around me moves on as if nothing happened. My pain is irrelevant to everyone, including Willow.

I move to the bar and order a shot, tossing it back quickly before asking for another.

“Gonna drown out the pain?”

I turn toward Paxton and lean my back against the bar. “I’m sorry that shit happened. I didn’t intend to disrupt your special day.”

“Does it look like you disrupted anything? Lake showed his true colors, I should’ve listened to you when you said what an asshole he was.”

I toss back another shot and shrug. “He just told the truth.”

“Did he?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep.”

“So everything between you and Willow was an act? Come on, brother, you aren’t that good of an actor.”

I force a grin, grabbing another shot. “Seems like I am,” I say, tossing back the shot.

“You do realize that we grew up together right? I saw you in a school play once and you sucked. I’ve watched you trying to lie to Mom and Dad and it was painful to witness. I sat on the couch and watched you attempting to break up with someone. You can’t lie or act. So, cut the bullshit and be honest with me. Holding it in is only going to make it worse,” he says.

I shake my head before scrubbing my face. My eyes lift to his and I can feel the pain like a knife in my heart.

“It started out as this fake relationship. I figured if we pretended to be together it would rub salt in Lake’s wounds and get Mom off my back. It was supposed to just be for the wedding. But I started enjoying being with her. I started looking at her differently and we both felt the pull toward each other. We decided to go with ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ So, yeah we slept together. A lot.” I run my hand through my hair and squeeze the back of my neck. “Anyway, I caught feelings for her.”

Paxton smiles, handing me a beer. “So, what’s the problem? You can see no one cares what Lake had to say.”

“The problem is she said she doesn’t have feelings for me. She said she can’t stand me. So obviously whatever the fuck it is that I’m feeling is completely one-sided.”

I take a pull of my beer and beg it to help the pain that has consumed me.

“She said that to you?”

“She yelled it at Lake. I was just lucky enough to be there to hear it.”

“You need to talk to her,” he says, sipping his beer.

“And say what? She doesn’t feel the same. I can’t force her. I can’t make her feel something she doesn’t.”

We stand in silence for a few minutes. Paxton lifts his beer toward Hartford and she smiles, blowing him a kiss. Talk about rubbing salt in someone’s wounds.

“Miscommunication will fuck up everything. Look at Anya and Griffin. If he would’ve told her that Callum made him promise to stay away from her, they could’ve fixed that shit sooner and avoided hiding their relationship. Or look at Shepherd and Felicity. If they were both honest with each other about how they felt, it wouldn’t have taken so long for them to find their happiness.” He turns his attention to Hartford and smiles. “Look at me and Hartford. If I wasn’t so scared of ruining our friendship, this wedding would’ve taken place a long time ago.” He looks back at me and squeezes my shoulder. “She might feel the same and is scared to admit it, but you’ll never know unless you talk to her. Tell her how you feel. Fight for her. Girls love that shit.”