Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend (The Rock Bottom Series Book 3)

by Holly Renee

  I just didn’t know how far that want went.

  But we were in front of an audience and that audience included people who were supposed to believe we were in love.

  “Don’t blame your lack of football skills on my outfit.”

  “Alright.” He chuckled and finally faced me again. “I’ll win this game just for you.”

  “Don’t write checks your ass can’t cash, Golden Boy.” As soon as the words left my lips, his mouth was on mine. The kiss was passionate or soul-searing, but it was sudden and unplanned and real.

  And I couldn’t do anything but stare after him as he took the waters from my hands and headed out onto the field.

  I took a seat between his mom and Sophie and nudged Sophie in the side to get her to stop smirking like a loon.

  She leaned toward me, whispering where only I could hear. “You’re right. Like looked super official. No funny business at all.”

  I was so screwed.

  She knew it. I knew it, but I couldn’t let Liam know it.

  It was the last thing I needed.

  This was a fake relationship, and I didn’t want my soon-to-be business partner realizing that I was making really poor business decisions from the get-go.

  Especially when it came to him.

  They took the field, and I smiled as I looked out at Liam’s dad standing near him on the field. I didn’t have a clue what position he was playing. In all honesty, the only one I actually knew was that Liam was the quarterback.

  “Let’s go boys!” Sarah yelled from beside me just as the ball hit Liam’s hands.

  I wasn’t at all surprised at how good he was. He threw the ball, it landed in the hands of the other player perfectly, and before I even knew what was happening, they were scoring.

  I jumped to my feet, cheering with Liam’s mom, and we high-fived just as the other offense took the field.

  The game went back and forth for a long time. The score was practically even the whole game, but then Liam got into a rhythm and the other team didn’t stand a chance.

  It was the fourth quarter, thank God. It was hot as hell out here and this jersey wasn’t nearly as breathable as it looked. Liam looked like he was having a blast, and I loved seeing him so carefree and happy.

  He caught the snap, Sarah told me that was what they called it, and cocked his arm back to throw the ball. He didn’t even see the guy coming at him from the side.

  None of us did.

  They were playing flag football, but this guy hit Liam like he was trying to kill him.

  Liam hit the ground and I jumped out of my seat. I leaned against the railing as I watched him grab his left shoulder. He was hurt. You could see it all over his face, and my stomach was in my throat as I watched him.

  His dad was by his side and his mom by mine, and everyone seemed to be silent as we watched his dad grip his opposite hand and lift him to his feet.

  Everyone was clapping as he walked off the field, but not me. I was ready to kill that asshole that hit him.

  “Why would he do that?” I had no idea who I was asking. I was already walking down to the opposite end of the field, and I was going to give that guy a piece of my mind.

  But then I looked down at the field and saw Liam jogging beside me.

  “Where you going, babe?”

  I pointed to the other team. “I’m going to knock some sense into that jerk.”

  He laughed and that only seemed to piss me off more. “Calm down. I’m okay.”

  I stopped in my tracks and looked at him. He was still holding his shoulder and his arm was bent against his chest. He didn’t look okay to me.

  “He hurt you.”

  He was smiling, but I didn’t know what the hell he had to smile about. “It’s all right. I’m fine.”

  The game was still going on behind him, but as I looked around, it seemed everyone was watching us instead of the game.

  “I was going to kick his ass.” I crossed my arms which only made him grin bigger.

  “I could see that.”

  I didn’t see it as amusing as he did. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m sore.” He was still staring at me. “As long as you can help me get dressed, I’ll be fine.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help but smile. “I can do that.”

  He stepped closer to me, and even though he was covered in sweat and a bit of dirt, I wasn’t sure he had ever looked hotter than in that moment.

  “You really pulled off the part of the worried girlfriend.” He was teasing me, and I rolled my eyes.

  “I didn’t want them to think I didn’t care when I just sat there.” I shrugged my shoulders, but he knew I cared.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Weren’t you supposed to be winning this game for me or something?”

  He looked toward the game that was winding down then back at me. “Did you happen to look at the scoreboard?”

  “I did.” I pointed out to the field. “But right now I see your dad in that end zone thing with the ball. So it looks like he’s winning the game.”

  “Motherfucker.” He pointed his good hand at me. “You’re still my cheerleader.”

  “Of course I am.”

  He walked back to where his team was celebrating. “Don’t forget it either.”

  Eleven

  Questions

  Liam

  We were back at my parents’ house, and I wasn’t sure I had ever been babied so much in my entire life. Between my mom and Brooke, you would have thought I had a concussion instead of a banged-up shoulder.

  Don’t get me wrong. It hurt like a bitch, but it wasn’t something that I couldn’t handle.

  But the attention was still nice. Especially from Brooke.

  I wasn’t sure I had ever seen her pay so much attention to anyone other than Kennedy. If I had known getting a little bit banged up was the trick to it, I would have done this the day we got here.

  “I’m fine.” I pulled her down onto my lap instead of letting her check the bruising on my shoulder for the hundredth time.

  She rolled her eyes, but she still wrapped an arm around my good shoulder. “I have to admit. I don’t know much about sports injuries, but I think you’re too old for this.”

  I poked her in the side, and she let out a little yelp. “I’m not too old for anything.” It was a complete lie. I was definitely too old for this. “That asshole shouldn’t have hit me like that.”

  “You’re damn right he shouldn’t have.” Dad sounded as pissed as Brooke was earlier.

  When I saw her marching down the line of the field, I knew the little spitfire was going to cause a scene. I should have let her give that guy a piece of her mind, but I wasn’t sure I had the strength to pull her off of him with my shoulder if she went too far. And Brooke would go too far.

  It was one of the things I loved about her.

  She almost never held back.

  Except around me, and I hated that I made her feel the need to do so.

  My dad handed us both a beer, and Brooke started to stand from my lap but I held her against me. I didn’t want her going anywhere.

  She looked down at me, and I felt surrounded by her. Her hair was draped over her shoulder and had the slightest hint of coconut, and her body fit perfectly against mine as I held her to me. Her hip was in my hand, and my fingers were aching with the urge to lift my jersey just the tiniest bit and feel more of her skin against mine.

  She took a sip of her beer and looked out over the back yard. We were sitting on my parents’ deck, and the stars were so damn clear. I almost forgot what they looked like.

  I hadn’t seen a sky like this in a long time. Not since the last time I was home.

  “Brooke, are we still good for dress shopping tomorrow?” my mom asked as she stood from the swing she and my dad had been sitting on.

  “Yeah.” Brooke nodded and appeared genuinely excited. “As long as this one can take care of himself while we’re gone.”

  “I’ll
be fine,” I grumbled. I wasn’t a damn baby.

  My mom just laughed then reached out for my dad’s hand. “Then we’re headed to bed. We’ll see you all in the morning.”

  My dad followed her without a second thought, and the more I thought about it, he always had. I was pretty sure he would follow her through anything.

  “Goodnight, guys.” Brooke ran her hand over my hair as she spoke and her body settled into mine. I wasn’t sure if she had realized she had done it, but I did. I noticed everything about her.

  “’Night.” My parents slipped through the back door and left me and Brooke alone under the stars.

  The night was quiet except for the sound of crickets and the slight breeze blew through the trees, but Brooke wasn’t planning to sit back and enjoy it. As soon as my parents were gone, she went to stand, but I held her harder against me.

  “Where are you going?” I leaned my head back against the chair.

  “Your parents are gone.” She looked to the back door as if maybe she missed them still standing there.

  But she wouldn’t find them. I just wasn’t ready to give her up yet.

  I tightened my hand on her hip and ignored what she said. “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”

  She was so tense you would have thought I’d asked her to marry me. It only made me want to know her secrets more.

  “What do you want to know?” She looked out to where the trees were barely lit up by the stars, and I knew she was just avoiding looking at me.

  “Anything.” I ran my thumb over her skin. “Tell me something about your family.”

  She looked back at me, and I could tell this was the last thing she wanted to talk about. I hated knowing that she was getting a front-row seat at my past, but I barely knew a thing about her.

  “Tell me something about why you don’t ever come home.” I knew she said it because she thought it would shut me up, but she was wrong. If she wanted to play this game, we would play it.

  “It’s good to come back for a few days, but I just needed to get out of here.”

  “Because of her?” Her words were soft, and I could tell she regretted them as soon as she said them.

  “Yeah.” I nodded my head, and I couldn’t lie and say that even talking to her about Katie made my chest feel tight. “Because of her and what everyone thought of me because of what she did. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

  I could tell she wanted to ask more, but her lips didn’t budge. She stared down at me with sympathy in her eyes, and I fucking hated it.

  “I don’t know how much you know.” I had no doubt that my mama or Sophie had already opened their mouths about what happened. That was one thing you could always count on in this town. “But I was completely blindsided when Katie cheated on me. I hadn’t really prepared for what life would be like without her.” I let out a deep breath.

  I hadn’t talked about Katie in so long that it felt foreign. I sure as hell didn’t talk about what she had done and how it fucked me up.

  “I really don’t like that girl.” The way she scrunched up her nose in disgust was absolutely adorable, and I wanted to lean forward and press a small kiss there.

  But I didn’t.

  “Me either. Not anymore.”

  “Is she the reason you don’t date anymore?” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and I knew that asking that question made her nervous.

  I looked at the sky for a second, debating how to answer her. “Yeah.” I decided on honesty. “She kind of fucked me up for a while. What about you?”

  “What about me?” She looked down at me with hesitation, and I knew she didn’t want to talk about her. It was too bad. I gave and now it was her turn.

  “Why don’t you date? Why did you leave home?”

  “I honestly don’t know.” She shrugged but that was a lie. I knew it from the moment she opened her mouth. “My family isn’t like yours. I haven’t been back home in a really long time.”

  She looked like her family was the last thing she wanted to talk about, but I couldn’t get over the urge to know more about her. I wanted to know everything.

  “Then what are they like?”

  She pulled away from me, turning her back on the outside world and facing me. “My dad left a long time ago,” she hesitated. “My mom was more interested in chasing men with money than taking care of her daughter.”

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know why, but it was the last thing I expected her to say. Brooke was so strong and independent, and I expected her to say that she came from someone who helped make her that way.

  But I guess she did.

  “She didn’t believe she was worth a thing without a man, and she pushed those same beliefs on me every day.”

  I winced and all I could think about was our current arrangement and how I must have made her feel. “You know that’s not true.”

  She shrugged her shoulders and I could practically see her trying to block out my words.

  I reached over and gently ran my thumb over her cheek. “You’re nothing like her.”

  She stared straight ahead, and I knew nothing I was saying was getting through to her.

  “Brooke, look at me.” I moved closer to her and turned her face to look at me. “You are not your mother.”

  “I know that.” Her answer was instant, but I didn’t think she believed it.

  I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, and as much as I didn’t want her to think she ever had to rely on me for anything, an overwhelming need for her coursed through my veins.

  I wanted to take her worries and destroy them all. I wanted her to need me even if that was the last thing she wanted.

  Because I was starting to think I needed her.

  I looked up at her, her gaze holding mine. “Tell me something else about you.”

  I needed her to keep talking before I did something stupid like breaking all the damn rules and kissing her for nobody else but me.

  “What do you want to know?” She worked her lip between her teeth.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’m a pretty open book.” She shrugged her shoulders, but it was just another facade she put on.

  “That’s a lie.” I leaned back in the chair and pulled her farther into my chest. “I used to think that, but you’re not. You just like people to believe you are.”

  “What about you?” she asked defensively, and I knew that I hit a nerve. “I barely know anything about you and I’m supposed to be this smitten girlfriend.”

  I grinned. She was so damn cute when she got angry. “You play the smitten girlfriend pretty well.”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed.

  So I gave her something I never told anyone. “I hated playing football.”

  “What?” She turned her head to look at me. She looked genuinely shocked.

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “I was good at it. Really damn good at it, and I liked that. But the pressure and expectations to be good at something I didn’t love, it was overwhelming.”

  “Why didn’t you just quit?”

  If only it was that simple.

  “Did you see how excited my dad was tonight? Imagine that times a hundred and that’s how excited he was during my high school days.”

  “So your parents expected too much out of you and mine expected too little.” She wasn’t comparing. She was just stating our reality.

  She laid her head on my shoulder and I could feel her breath go in and out against my neck. She seemed sad, and I hated that I brought all this up.

  I hated that anyone had ever made her feel this way.

  “What about Kennedy?” There was someone she loved. Someone who could make her feel better.

  “What about her?”

  “How did the two of you end up together?” I couldn’t imagine a time when the two of them didn’t have each other. They were so opposite but so in tune with each other that it was crazy.

  The two of them drove me crazy most of the time, but i
t was easy to see how much they loved each other. They treated each other like they were the only person they had, and I guess before Tucker came around, they were.

  “When I moved to Pennsylvania, I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I had a limited income and needed somewhere to live.” She smiled like it was one of the best memories of her life. “I met Kennedy on the first day of my job when we were both waiting tables. She didn’t like me, and I most certainly did not like her.”

  She chuckled and I could imagine the two of them completely clashing when they first met.

  “What changed?”

  “I don’t know.” She settled further against me. I was basically holding her now. “She’s too damn funny not to like, and I guess I just rubbed off on her. We decided to move in together within the first week.”

  “The rest is history, huh?”

  “Exactly.”

  The silence between us amplified the gentle swirl of the wind, and I tried to think of what else to ask her. There were a million things running through my head, but none of them felt like things I should be asking her. None of it felt like I had any right.

  “What’s your favorite color?”

  She chuckled like it was the most ridiculous question, and I guess it was. “Green. You?”

  “Green.” I couldn’t help smile at the similarity. “I honestly expected you to say pink.”

  “Got to keep them guessing.” Her slender shoulder moved in a shrug against my chest. Her eyes were drifting closed, and I watched as her chest rose and fell at a gentle pace.

  “Yeah. I guess you do.”

  She didn’t respond. Her body was soft and molded to mine as if it was made to fit there. She looked beautiful as she slept. Her face free of her fears and the burdens she carried.

  She didn’t move as I ran my thumb across her jaw, and I couldn’t stop myself as I shifted forward and pressed a barely-there kiss against her cheek.

  The two of us were going to be working together soon, and it concerned me how happy it made me. Not because I was particularly excited about this business. Sure, I did think we could make money at it, but I was excited to be able to see her more often. To see her in her element when she wasn’t stressed and bored to death from a job that was killing her.