Page 49 of The Purest Fake

Thor high fives me and smiles. “I like you.”

Griffin slings his arm around my shoulders. “Me too. I like a woman with some spirit.”

“Hey, hands off my girl,” Cooper says, mockingly cracking his knuckles.

“Oh look, how cute. The rookie’s getting territorial,” Thor says.

Griffin’s arm around me tightens and he grins tauntingly at Cooper. “What are you going to do about it, rookie?”

Rogan wanders away from the table to stand in front of us. “Griffin, get your arm off his girlfriend.”

“Come on, man. Don’t ruin our fun,” he says.

Rogan pins him with a single look, and Griffin’s arm slides away from me. I move over to Cooper’s side, taking hold of his hand.

“We were only messing with Cooper. It was harmless.” Griffin tries to justify his actions, but Rogan’s expression remains unchanged.

Rogan wags his finger between Griffin and Thor. “Why don’t you two bid on some items.”

“I don’t see anything I want,” Griffin says.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Rogan counters, canting his head toward the auction table.

Thor smacks Griffin in the back of the head. “You just couldn’t behave.”

“Ow. What the fuck?”

Thor grabs his arm, dragging him to the start of the long line of items running almost the entire length of the wall.

“Those two are hilarious,” Autumn says.

“They are,” I agree.

“Yeah, hilarious,” Rogan drolls, shaking his head.

“Luckily their focus is a lot better on the field,” Cooper says, and we all share a laugh. He tugs on the hand of mine that he’s still holding. “Want to look at the rest of the things up for auction?”

“Sure,” I say, and we slowly stroll down the row of items. Cooper places bids on a few things, including a weekend trip to Charleston, South Carolina.

When we start to walk back to our table, Mrs. Wilkins waves to us from her seat. We stop next to her.

“Hello, Cooper,” she says, smiling.

“Mrs. Wilkins, it’s great to see you again. I don’t know if you remember my girlfriend, Scarlett.”

“Of course I do. I’m not that old.”

“Oh… uh,” Cooper stammers. “I didn’t mean to insinuate you were.”

Mrs. Wilkins laughs. “I know you didn’t, dear.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Wilkins.”

“And you too. You look lovely this evening.”

“Thank you. So do you,” I say.

“Did you bid on anything?” she asks.

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