He’s texting me.
“He’s been like this all week. All secretive and shit. I’m telling you, it’s a girl,” Blake accuses.
My fists clench at my cheating ex’s voice. If he so much as looks at me, I’ll make key chains with his balls.
“Is she hot?” Kendrick snorts, and I cringe.
If you only knew, bro.
“Shut up. There’s no girl,” Will snaps.
Hoping I can pass through the living room without drawing attention to myself, I suck in a breath and walk in.
Instantly, they stop talking.
And stare.
Great.
“Hey, where were you all day? Morgan was looking for you,” my brother asks.
“Didn’t feel so good. Mom gave me the day off.”
He frowns. “But… you just came home. Shouldn’t you have spent the day resting?”
Shit, what do I say?
“How much longer until dinner, I’m starv—” A female voice saves me.
I swivel to find the last person I expected to see waltz into my living room. Nicole. My brother’s ex and the only girlfriend he’s ever had. Haven’t seen her since they broke up a while ago. Not exactly a piece of cake, this one.
“Oh, hey, Kass.” She waves, taking a seat on the couch.
“Hey?” I can’t make sense of her presence. “Are you two back together?”
Alex scoffs. “Tonight, they are.”
It all becomes clear. This must be Kendrick’s excuse for disappearing after he got beaten to a pulp. He always comes up with something to ease my mom, but a fake girlfriend? Seriously?
“Wait, is that why mom wanted me to come to dinner so bad? Because you’re introducing her to your fake girlfriend?”
“Yep.” Kendrick beams.
“Let me guess, you told Mom you were staying with your girlfriend this whole time?”
“Yep,” Kendrick repeats. “My girl over here—” He points to Nicole with his chin. “—was going through a rough patch.”
“You’re crazy,” I scold.
“Tell that to Winter.” Kendrick sticks his hands up. “She’s the one who put us into this mess.”
What is that supposed to mean?
Jesus, how much have I missed?
“Speaking of Winter, where is she?” I ask. I feel like we’ve barely spoken lately. We need to catch up.
“In her room.” Kendrick shrugs.