Page 76 of The Midseason Fakeout

Any other family would be ecstatic to have their daughter dating a quarterback from a championship team, but I saw the look my parents shared.

I haven’t quite figured it out myself. At the time, I didn’t really need to. Aidan was only a fake boyfriend. An excuse for me to have a few months of freedom.

But now, I’m going to have to pull on that thread.

I peer up at him with a smile. “Can I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are we real? Boyfriend and girlfriend? We can stop saying fake, right?”

A grin teases Aidan’s lips. He jumps off the counter and slips his socks and shoes off. His sweats are next until he gets into the tub with me. “I’m going to pretend that wasn’t a real question, Angel. Do you think I almost drown on a floatie with just anyone?”

Then he kisses me, making me forget about everything that happened…

Almost.

21

AIDAN

The little terroristthey dared to call Sweetie Pie shakes in my hands, spraying me with water. The dark-haired terrier glares up at me with a snaggletooth.

To my right, Bailey laughs. “You and that dog.”

“It hates me,” I whisper. At the same time, I smile at the family who brought him in as they take my picture with their pet.

Operation Dog Day for the Step-Up Foundation is in full effect. Families from around the county are bringing in their pets to get shots, vet checkups, groomed, and bathed. Since the only thing that the football players and their significant others are able to do is give the dogs a bath, that’s where Bails and I are.

The little fiend growls low in his throat, and I stare down at it. “You’re a cute little thing, aren’t you?” I say with a forced smile.

This dog and I are enemies. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. But it is what it is.

And I love dogs. Just not this hairy thing with eyes like the devil.

“I’d offer to switch, but Peanut and I are in love,” Bailey coos. She hugs the golden retriever she’s bathing, and the dog eats it up, its tongue lolling out of its mouth like it wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

I know the feeling.

When she pulls away, the front of her light-blue shirt is wet. It reads:At Step-Up, We Paws For Puppies.

Seeing Bailey’s smile again is heartwarming. She was quiet all morning after that phone call. I half expected her mother to show up to take her to the lunch date, anyway. Luckily, she didn’t. But Bailey didn’t really get excited again until she saw what we would be doing today.

She lifts Peanut’s paw, shaking it at me. “Say bye, Aidan. This sweetheart is all fluffed.” Her voice takes on that cute dog-talking tone.

The dog in my hands barks, and it’s so piercing I think it scared away a few of my brain cells.

On the other side of me, West laughs. “Hurry up and get it over with, man.”

At the same time, Cade walks by with his phone, videoing all of us, and I plaster another smile on my face. I’m not fooling him, though. “Bigger, QB1.” Then his voice drops to a whisper. “You look like a dog beater.”

I will fucking kill you,I mouth.

He shuts off the recording. “Well, that’s going on my Snapchat.”

I glare at him until he slowly walks away. Bailey moves up beside me after giving Peanut back to her owners, bumping me out of the way with her hip. “Can I rinse this little sweetie?”

I’m about to shield her from his ire when the dog literally runs its head all up in her palm, sighing and rolling over for her.

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