Page 77 of Fake Love

Without a doubt, no matter how long I know her for, I will continue to find out something new about her every single day. That something making her even more attractive to me.

I was a little hesitant to meet her parents at first, mostly because I didn’t know if they knew about my past or better yet if they would be able to see through our facade. For the most part though, they seem to believe that we are a real couple.

As for them knowing about my past, that is still up in the air. They may know, but they have yet to say a word about it.

I smile over at Dana before closing my photo app. “Thank you. She’s always taking pictures of me, it’s nice to be the photographer for a change.”

Dana gives me a nod. “She told me that she runs your social media, I hope you don’t mind that I followed. I love seeing every picture she takes.”

“Not at all, I think that she would be disappointed if you didn’t follow.”

Dana gives me a smile that is so much like her daughter’s before she goes back to look at the sea creatures in front of us.

As the mother and daughter get lost in the movement of the water, I look over at Javier who is looking at his two girls with a smile.

He catches me looking at him and instead of ignoring me, he stands and nods his head for me to follow.

“Has she always liked the aquarium?” I ask Javier as soon as we’re out of hearing distance.

A small smile spreads across his face. “Whenever her class had a field trip here, she would hardly sleep the night before because of how excited she was. Every birthday she always begged us to bring her.”

Javier looks like a man of minimal words. Yet in the handful of hours that I’ve been around him, he is happy to talk about the people he loves. His wife and daughter being at the top of that list.

“That sounds like something Jen would do.”

He gives me a curt nod. “I was actually surprised that she didn’t go to school to work with marine animals. Given how much she loves coming here, it would have been a good place for her.”

“She called this her safe space a few weeks ago. Maybe she chose not to work in a place like this so that her safe space wouldn’t be taken away.”

“Maybe,” Javier states.

I can’t help but notice that the man looks intimidating as fuck with not only the way he is standing but also the hard exterior that radiates from him.

He gives up off don’t fuck with me vibes.

His arms are crossed across his chest and his stance is wide as if he’s ready to jump into any fight that might come up.

Why do I get the feeling that that fight might be with me?

“I’ve read about you, Maddox,” he says, getting straight to it. Right away all my defenses are up.

I guess I have my answer about them knowing about my past.

As much as I want to copy his stance and go into flight or fight mode, I don’t. I keep my shoulders down and my hands in my packets, ready for anything that might come my way.

I have nothing to hide.

“And what did you read?” I didn’t mean for the words to come out condescending, but they do.

There are a lot of things about me out there that aren’t pleasant. A handful of gossip sites have spewed so many lies that contain my name it's hard for people not to find them and believe every single word.

Hell, there was a point late last year where I would read the things people were saying about me and because I was high out of my mind, I even thought that they were true.

God only knows what Javier could have found.

For all I know it could have been a picture of me butt ass naked doing a line off a dirty toilet.

Is it even possible that that picture exists? I don’t even know anymore.

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