Page 109 of You've Got Male

“Especially then. Otherwise everyone will know you’ve still got it bad for the irresponsible prince next door.” Julie pinched Evie’s cheeks. “Fake it till you make it, babe.”

Fake it till you make it.That was going to be Evie’s new motto.

Julie gave Evie’s hair a final fluff, then sat back and looked at her handiwork. “That will have to do.” She opened the door and stepped out, then yanked Evie to her feet. Her hair immediately frizzed on contact with the drizzle.

“What are we doing?”

“We’re going to greet your waiting fans, celebrate how well Grinder is doing, and blow those judges’ cocks off.”

“You mean socks off?”

“Tomayto. Tomahto. Now let’s go show them what a woman who is taking charge of her destiny looks like.”

For the first time since the breakup, Evie felt something other than debilitating pain. In fact, she felt powerful. Like her future was hers to define. The closer she got to the shop, the higher her shoulders rose until that martyr was replaced with a superhero.

Too bad it only lasted ten seconds.

“Mom.” Camila came rushing over, her face pale and her eyes watery. “I didn’t mean to. I mean, I didn’t think… Kira saw Ryan and me holding hands and the team made a big deal about how he could be my stepbrother so I told them…” She broke off in a sob. “I told them…”

“Hey.” Evie took her daughter by the shoulders. “Whatever it is, we can fix it.”

“We can’t fix this. I told them you and Jonah were a lie.”

It was as if the entire world slowed to a halt, so suddenly Evie lost her balance and nearly fell flat on her face. Her lungs stopped working and her skin felt too tight to contain all the emotions racing through her body. Panic being the biggest offender.

“It wasn’t true?” Julie asked, her voice so confused Evie had towork hard to swallow. “You lied to me?”

“I didn’t want to, it just kind of happened and—”

“We’re here with Evie from You’ve Got Male,” Tasha Hart said, rushing down the street and shoving her phone in Evie’s face. “LoveByte Nation and ClickByte subscribers want to know if it’s true.”

A bad feeling started in the pit of her belly. “Is what true?”

“Did you fabricate a relationship as a publicity stunt to win Denver’s Best?”

The blood left her face and she felt lightheaded. “What?”

“A source close to the family went on record saying that you and Jonah were never dating. It was all a big ruse.”

Evie looked at Camila, who was crying. Julie, who looked betrayed. And the crowd of “supporters,” who now looked like an angry mob. Then there were her parents, holding on to each other as if they needed the support.

“It wasn’t a publicity stunt.” But now that she viewed it from an outsider’s perspective, that’s exactly what it looked like.

“But was it real?” Tasha pressed.

Evie could keep the lie going, which would make Camila look like the liar. And then when they found out that Jonah and Evie ended their relationship the day of the judging it would look staged. What had she gotten herself into?

She found her parents, standing at the front door of the shop, their eyes locked on Evie’s, so much betrayal and disappointment in their expressions it was too hard to look at them. But she knew what they were thinking. Not only had she lied to them, her lie could cost them the shop. And lying would only make things worse.

“Yes. It started as a partnership to get everyone off my back about dating, but—”

“So you admit you were playing us all?”

“That wasn’t my intention, but I can see how that would…”Gofor honest, Evie.“Yes, I was playing everyone.”

A collective gasp went up and Evie felt those once-again high shoulders sink with regret and a good dose of shame.

“Well, you heard it here folks, You’ve Got Male was a marketing hoax—”

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