Chapter Twelve

Zach

Standing at the front door of my house, I wait for the hum of Honey's engine before I move. She needs to leave before I open this door; otherwise, she might see Ella, and that's a whole bunch of questions I don't want to answer. We're getting too close. She's getting too close to figuring me out, and she can't know the truth. No one but Mike can.

When the tires roll across the dampened street, I look over my shoulder to check that she's gone. My body relaxes, and I open the door.

"Who's that?" Tiff's standing next to the door, arms crossed with a wicked smile across her face. As if I needed another teenage girl giving me the third degree, now I've got Tiff asking questions when all I want to do is go to bed and think about Honey.

What the hell happened between us tonight?

"No one," I quip, sidestepping her and moving into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Tiff snorts, analyzing me with her curious glare. I play it off as nothing. "She didn't look like no one."

After taking out a glass and pouring myself a drink, I look back at Tiff. I don't want to lie to her, but I also don't want her to think I've started to like hanging out with these rich assholes. Not that Honey is one of them, but if I say that, she'll think I'm softening toward them. "Her name is Honey. We've been working on an assignment together, and she offered to drive me home because the bus schedule is shockingly bad at this time." It's not technically a lie. We are working on an assignment; it's just not the kind of assignment she'd expect. Tiffany looks down at her clambering hands, and I don't feel good about lying to her, but I can't take it back now.

"Pretty late to be working on an assignment."

Placing the cup on the counter, I look her in the eyes. "Yeah, we lost track of time." I also may have lost my mind over certain aspects of tonight, but that's for me to figure out when I'm on my own.

"You're allowed to go out and have fun, you know," she mumbles with a bitter laugh at the end. "We're the same age, remember? At least one of us should have a good time in this messy situation."

That's when my resolve shatters. Her weary smile is heartbreaking because she doesn't deserve this. Tiff worked hard at school, and all she wanted was to graduate. Now, she's just turned eighteen, is a stay-at-home mom, and has no friends because she has no time to do anything except study for her GED. Her only respite is watching her old friends enjoy their lives on social media.

Here I am, standing in some stupid makeshift costume with styled hair, trying to pretend Honey and I were studying on a Saturday night. Yeah, she's not that stupid, and I'm not that na?ve to think she believes me, but that doesn't mean I want to break her heart and tell her the truth.

"Relax, T. She's just a rich girl with so much time on her hands she was able to give me a ride back. I'm happy here," I say, resolute in my decision.

Her shoulders sag, and her gaze drops to the floor. Not wanting her to focus on trivial things since she hardly gets any time to herself, I say, "Now, did you want to watch that show? What's it called? Baseball Wives , or something?"

She gives me a coy smile as I tuck her under my arm, leading her to the couch. "I didn't think you wanted to watch that with me." Her cheeks pinken.

"Always, T. Always."

I scrub a hand across my face because I stayed up another couple of hours and watched that stupid show with Tiff. It made her happy, and that's all that matters, but man, was my mind racing and thinking about other things.

Honey being the main culprit, stealing my thoughts like I stole her breath earlier.

Shrugging my jacket off, I collapse onto the bed and close my eyes for what feels like the first time tonight. Honey's pliable body comes to mind. The way her eyes shut and her head fell back while I nibbled at her neck is something I'll find difficult to forget. She was like putty in my hands, moving in sync with every kiss.

At first, I thought she was just good at acting and wasn't getting as turned on as I was from watching her. Then she arched her back into my touch and bucked her hips against me when my hands dared to venture down. Her fingers were pulling at my hair, asking me for more, and I'm not one to disappoint. So I thought I'd test the limits, kissing her a little differently than before. I expected her to back away and essentially show me how far I could take it.

But she let me keep going… So, I did.

There came the point I was almost certain if I kept going, she'd come from my touch alone. Okay, that's a lie; I was almost certain I would come at the thought of turning her on that much. It wasn't her fault she was dressed in this tight little black dress that emphasized her every curve and made me and every other guy in the room wonder about her underwear. And yes, I knew she was wearing underwear because I could feel the strings when I was touching her.

Scrubbing my hand across my face, I groan because I can't get my fake, rich girlfriend off my mind. What the hell am I doing? This issn't how it was supposed to go. I was supposed to make money and help my family. I wasn't supposed to get these carnal thoughts about Honey, especially since I haven't had these thoughts about anyone since before Ella was born.

Ella's shrill cries pierce through my thoughts, and guilt settles in my stomach. It's 3:00 a.m., and I've been thinking about Honey for two hours. I should be focusing on football and school because I'm the one who can help my family get a better life.

Getting out of bed, I walk past Tiffany, who is passed out on the couch, and to the crying girl's bedroom. Taking Ella out of her crib, I hug her to my chest, bouncing her gently as I try to calm her. She relaxes in my arms, snuggling into my chest, and I slump into the rocking chair by her crib. I'll probably be here like this all night, but I don't care because Ella sleeping is more important than me.

When she finally settles, I look down at her sleeping form and smile. Everything about her is perfect, and she deserves the best, not the hand she's been dealt, like Tiffany. They deserve better, and I need to do everything I can to protect them.

Honey got too close to them today. She saw Tiff, and I could tell she didn't believe we were siblings. We look nothing alike, but she kept her lips pursed and said nothing. How would I even explain Tiffany and Ella to her? She just wouldn't get it, which could jeopardize this whole bet and the money. I need that money more than anything, so I need to stop thinking about my fake girlfriend as anything more than that.

It's just hard to do when she's so fucking hot.