Page 26 of Faking Romance

Cam loses it, followed by Drew, and then everyone starts laughing.

Ava pauses and looks at us. “What? It’s not funny. I’m good,” she says, and I see the tears welling. Shit.

Brayden composes himself first and runs over to her and scoops her up, putting her on his shoulders. He bounces her a little and she giggles.

“Ava is the world champion of bubble blowing!” he says loudly.

Everyone applauds and Ava giggles some more. I glance over at Carly who is mouthing, “Thank you,” to Brayden. Brayden just nods as he brings Ava toward the bar area.

“Watch your head, kiddo,” he says as he ducks down.

Ava leans down and puts her head on Brayden’s shoulder, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He coughs and reaches up to loosen them a little.

“Don’t kill Bray, Ave. He needs to breathe,” Cam teases.

“Sorry, Unca Bray,” Ava says and she kisses his cheek and squeezes harder hugging him. Secretly, I love it when she calls him that. She couldn’t say his name or mister when she was three. So he tried to teach her to say Uncle Bray and that didn’t go as planned either. For some reason, the nickname just stuck. She loosens her arms and rests her head again on his shoulder. Fuck. That kid is adorable.

I look back over at Roxy who is watching Ava and Brayden. I need to get her alone for a few minutes so we can chat.

“Hey, you want to go on a mission to check out Kasen’s place? I have a spare key for emergencies,” I state.

Everyone turns to me.

“You do?” Cam asks.

“Uh, yeah. So does Al and so does Troy,” I say with a laugh.

“Oh. Why doesn’t Kasen just have you check in on his apartment?” Drew asks with a raised eyebrow.

“’Cause I suck at sea creatures,” I explain.

Troy walks over and starts laughing. “He did once, and then he had a lot less animals afterward,” he says.

I frown. “I mean, yeah, that happened. But he didn’t even ask you or Al,” I point out.

“He didn’t ask me because Edith told him all about how I killed a bunch of her fish. And Troy flat-out refused to take responsibility,” Al says.

“Wait. You killed Kasen’s sea anemones?” Roxy asks. Then she frowns. “I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen one. Maybe at an aquarium?”

I take her arm. “Come on. I’ll text him we are checking to make sure a leak didn’t impact his apartment while Troy is fixing it.”

“So, you’re gonna lie to your friend,” she says with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll come too. I got to see this,” Hutch says from behind me. Shit. Fucking Hutch, ruining my plan.

I reach for my phone and add a message to my text chat with Kasen and then walk down to my apartment and grab the key. Hutch and Roxy are waiting by Kasen’s door when I get there.

“OK, just act normal. Remember, there’s aleak,” I say.

“Why do we have to actnormal?” Roxy asks.

Hutch starts laughing and so do I. “Uh, Kasen has cameras. He’s very big on security.”

“So, why are we concerned, then? Wouldn’t he just check his cameras and see if something was going on?” she asks, her brows furrowed with confusion. Fuck. She looks adorable when she doesn’t understand something. Her whole face is pinched in concentration as she tries to figure out what’s happening.

“Kasen doesn’t have cameras everywhere. It’s just to check on the tank. And he can see the door, but if he’s really busy and knows someone is coming by, he could miss it,” Hutch explains.

“OK, remember, we’re checking for a leak. And then keep an eye out for anything amiss,” I state as I unlock his door.

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