World's Worst Boyfriend: A Romantic Comedy Adventure (Fake It Book 3)

by Carina Taylor

  “I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to protect you if they came after you. It was safer to have you know nothing about my work.”

  “You mean to tell me that you’re a cop?”

  “And you are completely justified to be angry with me.” He nodded.

  “All this time you’ve been out there on an undercover job?”

  He grimaced as West probed the wound. “And all I get as thanks is a shot to the ass.”

  West chuckled, “I hate to break it to you, but you weren’t shot. This looks like a piece of wood got stuck in you.”

  “What?” Fletcher’s eyes flew open. “I’m not shot?”

  West shook his head laughing. “Look at this, rookie.”

  With that, he used a pair of tweezers to rip out a chunk of wood. It wasn’t a splinter; it was a freaking log nearly an inch in diameter.

  “You really did have a stick up your ass, didn’t you?” West asked as he held the alcohol wipes against the wound that was now bleeding again.

  I had a metallic taste in my mouth. “How did that happen?”

  “I was jumping the fence. There was a broken board and I slipped at the same time as the gunshot. I felt a blazing pain. I figured I’d been shot, so I pulled myself over the fence and tried to get away as fast as I could.”

  “Well, as much as I’d like to keep pouring alcohol into this, I’m going to have to patch this up.”

  I started to look at what West was doing, but Fletcher gave a shake of his head. “He’s going to sew me up.”

  Sew. Sewing involved something poky. Sewing someone up involved a sharp needle poking through skin. I gagged.

  “Please don’t be sick on me.”

  West chuckled.

  “I won’t be sick.” I sniffed.

  “You’re funny. You’re handling all this blood, but someone mentions a needle and you lose your breakfast.”

  “It was actually going to be my dinner that I lost.”

  I leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his head, grateful that he hadn’t been shot. But the fact that someone had been shooting at him sent a chill down my spine.

  “What was your mom making tonight?” His glazed eyes sought mine.

  “She made a new type of salsa. Super spicy.”

  He waggled his eyebrows, then winced. “You know I like spicy.”

  “I’ll have her give us a jar.”

  “Please. How’s Glamma?”

  “Still hasn’t forgiven me for breaking up with you.”

  Fletcher winced again. I didn’t dare look to see what was happening on his hip. The last thing he needed was me throwing up all over him.

  “I always knew Glamma was a good one. Next time you see her, tell her I miss her.”

  “Maybe you should date her. She’d be happy to have you.”

  “But you wouldn’t.”

  I shrugged noncommittally. He had a lot of explaining to do when West was finished sewing him up.

  “All done.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Poor Fletcher. He’d been carrying on a conversation while being stitched up with a needle with no anesthetic. That sharp, poking in and out of his skin. Over and over…

  I dropped Fletcher’s head and lurched toward the toilet and promptly lost the salsa and chips.

  A minute later, I felt a large hand settle on my back and rub gentle circles.

  When I finally sat up, Fletcher held a clean rag toward me. West was standing in the doorway, trying not to laugh.

  “I’ll see myself out. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t get infected. You going to be able to handle yourself tomorrow?”

  “You know I’ll do it. We’re too close.”

  “We still don’t know if they made you or not.”

  “Why don’t you find out?” Fletcher growled.

  West flicked his hand in a wave and disappeared down the hall. I was left in the bathroom with a bloodied boyfriend who was an undercover cop.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Fletcher

  After West left, Saidy found me a pair of sweatpants (they were mine) that had escaped the great purge from her scissor hands.

  My black jeans had been ripped beyond repair. I did my best to wash in the shower without getting my stitches soaked, then I slipped on the pair of sweats and hobbled out of the bathroom. Saidy came down the hall from the kitchen, carrying a tray full of food.

  “Come lie down and I’ll bring you something to eat.” She jerked her chin toward the bedroom.

  I hobbled down the hall, my butt hurting, but already losing its sharp pain now that the chunk of wood was pulled out and the bleeding had stopped.

  Saidy set the tray down on the nightstand and began pulling all of the decorative pillows off the bed to set on her chair in the corner. I’d never understood the need for so many pillows that you weren’t going to use, but Saidy loved them.

  I watched as she folded back the covers and then as she grabbed my elbow as though she needed to lift me onto the bed.

  I laid down on my stomach and she pulled the covers back up around me.

  “I made you some tea and something to eat. I thought maybe after losing all that blood, you’d be a little weak.”

  I glanced at the tray full of grapes, croissants, a sandwich, orange juice, and a steaming cup of tea with cream in it. Based on that spread, I’d apparently lost every pint of blood I had and needed to start from the ground up.

  “You’re the most amazing woman, and I haven’t told you that enough,” I said as I leaned up on one elbow so that I could pick up the teacup with my other hand. I took a long, satisfying sip, discovering that she’d also added enough sugar to turn it into a candy bar. She was aware of my penchant for less tea, more of everything else mixed in it. “And you make the best tea.”

  She smiled slightly at that before she walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed on top of the covers.

  I grabbed a handful of grapes before I turned to face her, my cheek resting against the pillow.

  She sat there staring at me, her hands folded in her lap. Her eyes rarely blinking.

  “Please say something, Saidy. Or yell at me. Something.” I couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling after finding out the truth. I knew that when the truth finally came out, there would be a fallout. But to find out in the heat of the moment like she did. Yeah, explosive. To know the person you’d been with had been lying to you for months. I wasn’t sure this was a betrayal I could have gotten over if I’d been in her place.

  She leaned over me and broke a piece off a croissant and picked up a napkin to lay on her lap as she ate it.

  She didn’t say anything until she’d finished every last crumb, careful to fold her napkin so it didn’t spill crumbs onto her cover.

  She licked her lips, and my attention was drawn to her full lower lip that stuck out just a little farther than her top lip.

  She turned to stare at me. I’d forgotten I’d already stuck a grape in my mouth, and I nearly choked on it when I tried to talk.

  “Saidy, please say something.”

  “You’re really a police officer?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “And you’ve been undercover this whole time?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ve been working day and night on this case, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.” I felt like a parrot with my repetitive one-word answer, but what else could I say? I didn’t dare move. I could practically see our entire relationship flashing before her eyes.

  “So you’ve been pretending to run a start-up company?” She tapped her fingers against her knees.

  I nodded.

  “And when you said this would soon be over, did you mean us, or this undercover job? Was I part of your undercover persona in some way then?”

  I leaned up on my elbow. “I meant this undercover job. I’ve been wanting to tell you the truth, but this job has been taking longer and long
er. No matter what, it will be over next week. Either we’ll be able to make a lot of arrests, or my cover will be blown. Either way, the end is very much in sight. I shouldn’t have pursued you while I was undercover. It was dangerous, and careless, and it put you in danger. I know Sullivan has been checking up on you, and I can’t forgive myself for putting you in that position.”

  I paused and caught my breath before I continued. “But if we went back in time and I had it to do over again—I would still ask you out on that date, Saidy. You’re incredible and I fell for you at first sight. Every time I’m with you I’m amazed at you. You’re smart—no matter what your Grandma says.”

  That got a small smile out of her.

  “You’re fun to be around. You take care of me even when I don’t deserve it. You are loyal beyond belief. And you’re so competitive, I’m afraid I’ll lose a hand when we play games.” I smiled at that one, remembered the time we’d played a speed game. Somehow a card game turned into a full-on wrestling match.

  “Saidy, I love you, and for your sake I wish I had done the right thing and walked away from you the day I found you chasing down your mailman. But for my sake, I’ve been glad for every minute we’ve spent together.”

  She pulled her knees up to her chest but didn’t say anything.

  “On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you? Fifteen? One hundred?”

  Her nose twitched and she rested her chin on top of her knees. “You know, I don’t think I’m mad. I’m confused. Heck, I’m confused. But I don’t think I’m actually mad.”

  I didn’t know what to say. That was not the response I would have expected from someone who had been tricked. But then again, Saidy was everything that was good in a person.

  “The night you stood me up at the Italian restaurant?”

  “I’d been up for forty-eight hours straight on this case.”

  “When you missed Grandmother’s birthday? The night my car broke down?”

  “I was doing surveillance of a warehouse. I didn’t see your missed calls until the next morning.”

  She shook her head. “The clothes that smelled like muddy pond water?”

  “Had actually been in a muddy pond,” I replied with a snort. “I’m still sorry I dropped them off here. I’d had them in the van and had to go right back to work. I didn’t want to risk someone seeing them and asking me what they were from.”

  “You still like me?”

  “No, I still love you. I never stopped. I just wish that I could have been a better boyfriend. Because I know from what you’ve had to deal with from me, that I’ve been preoccupied.”

  Saidy untucked her legs and scooted down the bed until she rested her head on her pillow, staring across at me.

  “Is it strange that I feel relieved?” she asked.

  I chuckled, “And why is that?”

  “You had a reason. You had reasons for why you were gone. You’re a freaking police officer on an undercover job. You’ve probably had an enormous amount of stress. But none of what we’ve been through was because you don’t love me.”

  I cleared my throat and wondered what I was supposed to say.

  “I thought you didn’t love me. So I tried to get over you, Fletcher. It was my heart’s defense mechanisms kicking in.”

  I stopped breathing while I waited for her to continue.

  “But that’s the thing…I couldn’t,” she whispered.

  My lungs expanded as I smiled. “Will you give me a chance to be completely transparent with you? Explain everything that’s been happening?”

  She nodded. “That’s not to say I’m still not confused. Maybe shocked would be the better word, I don’t know. But I feel as though things make sense in a way they didn’t before.”

  “Can you forgive me for lying to you?”

  “It’s so strange to think you’ve been undercover this whole time. Were you new to the job?” she asked.

  “Yes, but that doesn’t excuse me from not telling you the truth.”

  “But I saw you with your tech van. It would have been awkward for you to tell a complete stranger that you weren’t actually an IT guy. Right?”

  I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. Ever pragmatic. “I guess so.”

  “For all you knew, I could have been some type of criminal.”

  “I would never mistake you for that,” I paused. “Well, maybe if the mailman ever ends up disappearing…and you were sort of on a rampage that day, so maybe an escaped mental patient?”

  She snickered at that.

  “I hate pretending to be something I’m not, and this is my last undercover job. I’m hoping to make detective after this, and never do undercover work again. The stress of it all is just not for me.”

  “You know I can’t lie either. There’s a reason I don’t play poker with Dad anymore.” Her hand reached across the bed to caress my face. “I think that makes me like you even more. You’re painfully honest.”

  I leaned into her touch and sighed as her gentle fingers caressed my cheek. I whispered, “I don’t want any more secrets between us.”

  “Who are you investigating?”

  My eyes popped open. “Who do you think?”

  I watched her eyes widen and her fingers stopped moving. “No…Sullivan?”

  I nodded. “Your feeling about him was right.”

  “So when I texted you that, you’d already been investigating him for months?”

  “Yes,” I replied with a smile.

  “Ha, I was a little slow on the uptake then.”

  “But still accurate. You knew something wasn’t right, and I think that’s what’s saved me. I know he’s been asking around about me. He’s getting nervous.”

  “He must have followed you here tonight. He knows.” She sat up abruptly. “You have to call your boss, or whoever it is who organizes these things and tell him you’re done! He knows it’s you!”

  “I can’t be done. I have almost everything I need. But I need to go back to make sure all the security feeds are in place.”

  “No. Absolutely not. Someone shot at you tonight!”

  “And missed,” I reminded her.

  “You thought you’d been shot in the butt. That’s close enough.”

  “Instead, it was just the wood splinter,” I reminded her.

  “This isn’t funny, Fletcher. I came home to find you lying on my floor bleeding, telling me you’re an undercover cop, and the very same guy you’re investigating has been showing up everywhere that I’m at!”

  “Saidy.” I grabbed her hand and tugged her down to lie next to me. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  The telltale moisture in her eyes caught my attention.

  “Hey. Come here.”

  “I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she whispered as she snuggled closer to my side.

  Kissing her forehead, I brushed her hair behind her ears. “It’s going to be fine. Do you know any other guys who get shot at but end up with a splinter instead of a bullet? I’ve got some crazy good luck. I mean, I met you, after all.”

  “That’s not how I see it,” she snapped.

  “Hush up and eat a croissant.”

  “It’s going to take more than that to stop me from lecturing you.”

  “Have a sandwich.”

  She laughed and snuggled closer to my side and I thought, maybe, just maybe we weren’t beyond repairing.

  The next morning my butt was still sore where West had sewn me up.

  There would not be much sitting today.

  On the other hand, I’d never slept so well. Of course, that might have been due to the painkillers, but there was something about sleeping in a comfortable bed, where someone who loved you immensely doted on you, that made you feel ultra-rested. Saidy had slept curled up against my side all night. It was perfect.

  And the fact that the stress had finally caught up with me…I’d slept like the dead, thankfully that wasn’t the case. Seriously, though, was this pillow made from
clouds?

  “You’re awake!”

  And life was even better if I woke up with Saidy sitting next to me. “Are you in pain?” she asked as she brushed a hand against my forehead.

  She was leaning against the headboard. Her hair was loose, falling around her shoulders. She was wearing a tank top and leggings and she smelled amazing. “What can I get you? Do you need a pain reliever? Some breakfast?”

  I shook my head “I feel pretty great this morning, actually.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You’re just saying that to get me to stop worrying about you.”

  “I don’t know that it will feel great sitting down for a good long while, but lying here, in the comfy bed next to you is just perfect.” I smiled when she did. “Why don’t you scoot down here, and we’ll talk some more?”

  “Okay.” Moving slowly, probably worried about bumping me, she rested her head down on the pillow next to me. “What should we talk about?”

  I chuckled. “Leave it to you.”

  “What?”

  “I was sure you would have a million questions for me this morning. You’ve had time to think about everything I told you last night. So ask away.”

  “Oh, I definitely have a few.”

  “Okay, go for it.”

  “If Sullivan’s suspicious of you, won’t you be at risk if you see him today or whenever you plan on seeing him again? What if he hurts you?”

  Something strange was happening inside me at her question. Almost like a headache and a tightness in my chest, but it was causing moisture in my eyes. Her first question wasn’t a demand about the multitude of lies I’d told her. It was a question about my safety.

  “Do you know, that the very first day I met you, I said to myself, “Fletcher, if you don’t marry that girl, you’ll have wasted every moment of your life.””

  She reached a hand out and combed her fingers through my hair. “Do you know that I couldn’t stop loving you, even when I broke up with you?”

  I was going to have to get these cluster headaches under control because all that moisture was about to turn into real tears. No way I could lie my way out of that in her presence.

  “You are the most selfless person I know,” I told her. “You did so much for me in the past few months. You don’t even know how much you meant to me, and how much you saved me.”