“Good, because we need to figure this out, how we’re going to make people believe we,” he gestured between us, “are dating.”
Wait. “People?”
Grayson glared at me as though I were an imbecile. Maybe I was.
“Yeah, we can’t tell your dad we’re dating and then not date. He works at our school. He hears all the gossip. He’ll never believe us if we don’t act like we’re dating at school, too.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I figured we could just talk on the phone a little bit. Maybe flirt at the games where Dad could see. I’d even go to the movies once or twice.
But dating for real? For show?
Groaning, I dropped my head into my hands. My mind raced with the implications.
Grayson.
Grayson was dangerous.
He was a player. And I was attracted to him. Lethally attracted to him.
The front door opened and our heads swung over just in time to see Michelle step out, Dad close on her heels, signaling the end of our conversation.
“Dennis, thanks for dinner,” Michelle said, her face and voice tight as she glanced between Grayson and I. She held out her hand to Dad and he took it, but didn’t stop with a handshake. Instead, he pulled her into a hug that lasted uncomfortably long. At least, it was uncomfortable for me. And if the look on Grayson’s face was any indication, he was about three seconds from ripping his mom out of my dad’s arms.
Mostly, though, I noticed the pained expression on my dad’s face when he let Michelle go and felt a stab of guilt. What had we done?
Grayson stopped glaring at Dad long enough to say goodbye. He hugged me and gave me a look that said don’t screw this up before climbing into the passenger seat of their beat up Subaru. Dad walked by Michelle’s side and opened her door. I watched from the window in our living room while Dad waited until their beat up hatchback was out of sight before returning to the house.
“You are NOT dating Grayson Levitt!” Dad boomed as soon as he closed the door behind him.
I shrank back, not at all accustomed to being in trouble with my dad. “Um-”
He took a step toward me, his broad shoulders boxing me in, his eyes filled with a wild kind of anger I didn’t recognize.
“Do you have any idea the kind of reputation Grayson has? Huh? Do you?” Dad jabbed his finger in the air between us. “Because I do. And I forbid it, Mia. You will tell that boy it’s over. Do you hear me?”
My mouth dropped open.
What?
He forbade me?
Since when? I was eighteen years old. I didn’t need my dad’s permission to date someone! Even if it was fake.
“You can’t do that!” I shouted back, my hands on my hips.
Dad’s jaw bulged. I recognized the tick from basketball games. His jaw always did that when the team was down and the guys turned the ball over or made a bad shot. I’d never, ever seen that look directed at me.
“Yes, I can. I am your father.”
He’d never played that card before, but then I’d never lived with him before. Mom didn’t interfere with my relationships with boys at school. She’d given me the talk when I was eleven and again when I was fifteen and had my first real boyfriend. She told me she’d never forbid me from dating anyone, but we discussed at length the kind of treatment I should expect from a boyfriend and to never settle for anything less.
I wish I’d listened a little better, especially when it came to you-know-who, but that had been a blindside. For the most part, I’d gone out with nice guys who always treated me with respect. And Mom had welcomed all of them, there really weren’t that many, only ever checking in with me to make sure I listened to her counsel.
“Mom wouldn’t do that!” I shouted in his face before I could stop myself.
We both froze.
I’d never said anything like that before, never played my parents against each other or compared them. But the words were out and besides that, they were true. Mom wouldn’t. But she wouldn’t approve of me dating Grayson, either.
I really was going to strangle him for putting me in this position, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Also, I didn’t want Grayson for a step-brother.
After a tense moment where I wondered just what he was going to do next, Dad stood to his full height and I watched as he deliberately forced his face to relax into a blank expression.
“Go to your room, Mia.”
My mouth dropped open again, but I recovered quickly. Without a word, I skirted around him and raced up the stairs to my room. Once there, I slammed my door with enough force even I flinched.
I stayed in my room until it was late. Tip-toeing to the top of the stairs, I listened to see if he was still down there before heading to the kitchen for a drink of water. It was quiet. But then just as my foot hit the first step down, I heard him.
“This is ridiculous. We can’t just-” but then whoever was on the other end of the phone call must have interrupted him because he stopped talking.
I lifted my foot back onto the landing. There was no way I was going down there now. That didn’t mean I was going back to my room, either. He was talking to Michelle, I just knew it.
Why didn’t Grayson and I exchange phone numbers? I was dying to call him and see if in fact it was his mom talking to my dad. It would just have to wait until Monday. And I’d make sure to get his number. If the irritation in my dad’s voice was any indication, he wasn’t going to give Michelle up without a fight and it was going to take more than a fake relationship to keep them apart.
I listened some more, but Dad had moved into his study. I could still hear his voice, but it was too muffled to understand what he was saying. I was tempted to go downstairs so I could eavesdrop more easily but then I remembered the creaky stairs and decided to go back to my room after making a pit stop in the restroom to drink from the faucet.
Dad didn’t speak to me again until the next morning.
We sat at the table in the kitchen. Me with a bowl of cold cereal and him with his oatmeal. It wasn’t until I rose from my seat to rinse my bowl in the sink that he finally spoke up.
“I won’t forbid you from dating Grayson. But I also won’t give you my blessing. I think Grayson is a good kid deep down, but he has a lot of growing up to do.”
I turned away from the sink to find my father’s worried eyes steadily watching me. I should just come clean. Tell him it was all a misunderstanding. Grayson had been kidding. We hated each other, after all. “Dad-”
He stopped me with his hand up. “No, you’re right. You’re old enough to make your own choices. Just remember, you have to deal with the consequences.” He was so sincere and the guilt ate at me. “But I promise you this, pumpkin, if that boy hurts you-” He let his words dangle there between us. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what he was implying and the sentiment made my heart swell.
I might hate Grayson Levitt’s guts and I had absolutely no desire to date the boy for real, but it was good to know that no matter what, my dad had my back.
Rushing toward him, I threw my arms around his waist. “Thank you, Daddy.”
After just a moment’s hesitation, he hugged me back. Squeezing me tight, he held me close and kissed the top of my hair.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” he said, his voice cracking and I had to remind myself he wasn’t used to this full-time parenting gig. I was going to have to be patient with him. The fact that it was happening when I was eighteen years old and months away from flying the coop to live on my own made me laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, pulling back a bit so he could see my face.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” I leaned against the counter. “Hey, Dad?”
“Yeah,” he replied, picking up his own bowl and taking it to the sink.
I should probably just let it go, but between my feelings of guilt and curiosity, I couldn’t.
“So, um, what were you going to tell us last night? You know, after dinner?”
>
Dad’s hand stilled as he washed his bowl, but then quickly moved to finish the job. He set the bowl and spoon in the dish drainer and reached for a hand towel hanging beside the sink before turning to me with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Nothing, sweetie. It was nothing.”
8
Mia
The weekend sucked. Monday wasn’t any better. Dad was in the gym watching some delinquents run laps for bad behavior and I was in his office avoiding facing Grayson. I should have known better.
He burst into the small room without knocking. “You can’t back out of this.”
From behind Dad’s desk, I stared at him. At home, when Grayson was nowhere around, I could almost convince myself he wasn’t as good looking as I thought. But in reality, he was even better than in my memory. Shaking the feeling of being in his arms when he held me on Saturday was almost impossible. And he was right. I did want to back out. But not because I didn’t want to keep our parents apart, because I didn’t trust myself not to fall for Grayson.
“Explain to me why we have to do this again?”
Grayson sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, standing it on end. “Was I the only one there on Saturday? Did you not see what I saw? Your dad was putting the moves on my mom!”
What?
“He was not!” Standing, I came out from behind the desk and pushed on his chest. He didn’t even stumble. “Take that back!”
Grayson caught my hands in his. “Stop it.”
“No.” I fought his hold, but he didn’t let go. I stopped struggling and leaned forward until we were nose to nose. “My dad was putting the moves on your mom, huh?”
Grayson’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Well, what about your mom flirting with my dad!”
His head reared back and his hold on my wrists relaxed enough I pulled them out of his grasp completely. “What are you talking about? She did not!”
I poked his chest, but not as hard as before. “Yes, she did. Giggling. Complimenting his cooking.” I jabbed the air between us. “We all know he’s a terrible cook. If that wasn’t flirting, I don’t know what is!”
Grayson’s jaw clenched. “She was just being polite. What was she supposed to say? The noodles were overcooked and the sauce obviously came from a jar?”
My jaw dropped. It was one thing for me to dis my dad’s cooking, but Grayson was going too far. “Hey! You don’t talk about my dad like that.”
Grayson sighed, his whole body radiating irritation. “This is my whole point!” He ran his hands over his face. “Do you want our parents to date each other? What if they get married?” He lifted a brow.
I scoffed. “They are not going to get married.”
“Oh, really. Because my mom hasn’t dated anyone, not a single person since my dad disappeared.”
Whoa. Really? “That’s crazy, your mom is gorgeous. Why wouldn’t she date?”
Grayson looked down his nose at me. “Because she was crushed. My dad was her high school sweetheart and he just left her with a baby and no money for almost eighteen years.”
A baby. Him. Grayson’s green eyes filled with emotions I recognized because I’d felt them myself. Pain. Anger. Resentment. He knew what it was like to be left behind by someone who was supposed to love him. At least my mom had waited until I was almost an adult. How would it feel as a little kid? If one of my parents hadn’t wanted to be with me or see me at all? Watch me grow up? It broke my heart just thinking about it.
I reached out and touched his sleeve. “Grayson-”
He yanked away, breaking the connection between us. “Don’t. I don’t need your pity. Just-” Looking away, he pushed his fingers through his hair again.
He didn’t need my pity but I felt it anyway. For both of them. I couldn’t imagine what they’d been through. I wasn’t exaggerating. Michelle was beautiful. She barely seemed old enough to have a child Grayson’s age, which made me think she’d been very young when he was born. It couldn’t have been easy raising a child on her own for all those years.
Grayson faced me again. “Look, I don’t want to run my mom’s life. I don’t. But my coach? Your dad?” He shook his head.
The way he said ‘your dad’ felt like he was saying ‘your dad’, that if it had been someone else’s dad Grayson might be okay with it. That stung. But hadn’t I been thinking the same thing? Our parents dating…dating could turn into something permanent. Grayson in my life- permanently. It wasn’t an option. Especially, not as my step-brother.
“But why do we have to date to keep them apart?”
Grayson’s eyes widened. “We talked about this! Didn’t you see how they reacted? One minute they’re holding hands and the next they couldn’t get far enough away from each other.”
He was right. I had noticed. It also made me feel incredibly guilty. I started to shake my head. We couldn’t do this.
Grayson’s impatient sigh brought me back from that kind of thinking to focus on him. “I don’t like it any more than you do and mostly, I’m just trying to buy us some time. Saturday was the first time I’d even seen them talk in months, how attached could they really be? We just need to keep them apart long enough for them to move on.”
I thought about the phone conversation I thought I overheard Saturday night and wondered if I should tell Grayson. He seemed determined to keep his mom from dating my dad, enough that he was willing to lie to everyone. What would he do if he thought our plan wasn’t working? What lengths would he go to? Was my dad really that bad?
I needed time. Time to figure out what was going on with my dad and Michelle. If they were serious. If they were in love. I wanted my dad to be happy. Grayson and I were being selfish, but maybe he was right. Pretending we were dating would buy us some time. I had a feeling our parents would do anything for us, even if it meant staying away from each other so we could be happy.
I groaned. “We suck. You know that, right?”
He ran his fingers through his hair for the third time since he’d barged into Dad’s office. “I know. I know. But they can’t be that serious. Let’s just separate them a little, for a little while and see what happens. Hopefully, they will just drift apart and we can break up and that’s it.”
I didn’t like it, but I knew I was going to go along with it anyway.
“Okay,” I agreed, holding out my hand.
Grayson eyed my hand before meeting my gaze. “Okay? We have a deal? Fake dating to keep our parents from real dating?”
This was such a terrible idea, I couldn’t believe I was actually agreeing to it. That didn’t stop me from nodding.
“Fake dating to keep our parents from real dating. It’s a deal.” I reached my hand out again, thinking we would shake on it. Seal the deal. Apparently, he had other ideas. For the first time that morning, Grayson’s eyes burned with something other than stress.
Oh, no. I took a tentative step back, the backs of my legs bumping into Dad’s desk.
“A handshake?” he asked, shaking his head with a smirk. “I would never shake hands with my girlfriend.” He took a step toward me.
Bracing my hands on the edge of the desk, I leaned back as far as I could go without laying across its surface. Grayson advanced again, a predatory gleam in his eye.
“If we’re going to pull this off, you can’t turn green every time I look at you,” he said.
“I don’t turn green,” I replied breathlessly, hating myself that he could do that to me.
One corner of his mouth curled in a smirk so confident I wished I had the willpower to push him away. He could use a dose of humility. Unfortunately, I was paralyzed, desperate to know what he would do next. Would he kiss me?
“I don’t want things to get confusing.” His breath brushed my cheek.
“I’m not confused,” I promised. Brain, please let my body know we are not confused!
“Good.” He didn’t sound like he believed me. “Because it’s no secret I’m an affectionate gu
y.”
Affectionate.
“I don’t want lines to get blurred.” His nose trailed the length of my jaw and my breath hitched. “People have to believe the act.”
I commanded my heart to slow it’s pace, positive Grayson could hear it pounding in my chest. “I understand. Fake.” The word tasted bitter on my tongue.
“That’s right.” His lips were a breath away from the corner of my mouth. I held my breath wishing I could see into his eyes, but if I moved even a fraction I’d be kissing him.
It didn’t matter.
Grayson nipped my lower lip.
I gasped, my eyes flying open. It was a mistake, witnessing the smolder burning slowly in their depths, but I didn’t move away. When his lips lowered to mine again, I held his gaze until his face blurred and there was no choice but to close them again.
It was over almost before it began, just a brief meeting that left me wondering if I’d imagined it, but I knew I hadn’t. My imagination could never have conjured sparks like that.
He lifted his lips from mine. My heavy lids refused to open.
“That’s how you seal a deal,” he murmured, ruining everything.
My eyes flew open.
Right.
This wasn’t real.
Reaching up, I pushed against his chest.
Distance. Air. I needed lots and lots of space.
Grayson moved back, his intense green gaze never leaving me, but I was too flustered to return it. I couldn’t look at him. There was no way I wanted him to know just how much his kiss had affected me, how he affected me.
This wasn’t real.
I just had to keep telling myself that. I didn’t want it to be real, anyway. Grayson was a pro.
I stole a glance at him. His eyes burned with satisfaction. He knew exactly what he was doing. I straightened my shoulders. Well, I’d give him that one. I hadn’t been prepared for it after all. But that was it. From now on I’d be ready.
This wasn’t real.
9
Grayson
Mia’s chocolate eyes could have melted iron. I wanted to think her reaction to my kiss meant she wanted another one and not that she wanted to kill me, but I didn’t think that was the case.
Dating: For the Block Page 7
