I shrugged like yeah, and she smiled at me again, leaning forward until her shoulder touched mine. Fucking finally—progress.

“But that isn’t who you really are, Grayson Crowne,” she said softly, and our eyes locked.

“What do you know of it?” I asked, voice raw.

“I always thought I knew the parts of you everyone else didn’t. The arrogant boy who secretly did everyone’s homework.”

So of course someone had to stumble over and ruin it.

“Lottieeeee.”

Lottie blinked, turning to find her friend Aundi.

“I need a teammate for pong. Come play with me.”

“I’m busy,” she said.

“With Playboy Gray? I think he’ll be fine without you.” Aundi tugged on her wrist.

I looked away, over the ocean and to the beach, while they battled it out. Eventually Lottie shooed Aundi away, but the vibe was dead. Awkward. Stale.

“Did you ever consider dating me?” I asked after a moment. “You let me court you for a year, but the entire time you knew about the marriage. Were you ever once interested in me?”

Lottie bit her lip. “I mean…are you asking if I would have had I not known of the marriage?” She looked away.

Fuck.

Yeah, fuck this.

I pushed off the railing.

“But wait, Grayson!” She caught my arm. “You’re Playboy Gray. I don’t want to be with someone with a wandering heart. You don’t know—you don’t understand what that’s like for me. What I’ve grown up in.”

She looked close to tears, and why the fuck wouldn’t she be? An entire year she was forced to entertain me, her worst goddamn nightmare.

I opened my mouth to contradict her but stopped. Why bother? At that exact moment, as if fucking fate knew, my eyes collided with Snitch. She knew my secret; she knew I didn’t have a wandering eye.

Fucking worst of all, she asked questions.

But why her?

Why did it have to be her?

I gently removed Lottie’s arm from mine. “Yeah, that would suck.”

I looked around at the party pulsing with models, actresses, and princesses, and found the nearest two girls dressed in only bikinis. I draped my arms around them. “Who wants to party with Playboy Gray?”

STORY

Be a good pet and stay.

Which I’d done. For the past hour. We were on the back of a small docked yacht, our view the glimmering Fourth of July party beach. I always thought the Crowne Fourth party was the most exclusive party in the world, but this was the other side of the other side. We were far enough away to be secret, close enough to still see the glittering sand and fireworks.

On the yacht, everyone was either dressed in their best, in the skimpiest bikinis known to man, or in absolutely nothing at all.

I couldn’t have stood out worse.