Otherwise Engaged: A Fake Engagement Romance

Within seconds of walking into Bennett’s office, I knew something was wrong.

Maybe it was the fact that when I opened the door, he didn’t even look up from the sheaf of papers in his hands. Or the way he was hunched over his desk with a deep frown across his face. But I think it was the tension radiating off him in waves so palpable they practically knocked me over the second I entered into the room.

I closed the door behind me, and its click echoed ominously through the quiet office. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Bennett muttered, attention still focused on the document in front of him. After a second, he set it down, glancing up. When his gaze locked with mine, I nearly flinched. There was a look in his dark blue eyes that I hadn’t been on the receiving end of in a long time. One I’d hoped to never see again. It wasn’t just cold; it was glacial.

I took a few tentative steps toward his desk, and he straightened in his chair but didn’t stand to greet me like he normally would have. His dress shirt wasn’t as neatly pressed as usual, either. His dark hair was mussed like he’d been running his hands through it, and his undereye circles told me he’d slept very little, if at all. Which was no surprise, considering how much he had at stake. I guess that explained his frosty reception.

“If you got caught up with work,” I said gently, “we could have rescheduled for dinner tonight instead.”

He shook his head, not meeting my eyes. “It’s not about work. We need to talk.”

My stomach did a skydive. Everything had been perfect since we’d gotten back from Mexico—too perfect. I’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For everything to come crashing down. For Bennett to change his mind and bail on me again.

And now he was.

I swallowed the gravel in my throat and eased into the cream leather guest chair facing his desk, bracing myself. “About what?”

Bennett turned the stack of papers in front of him and leaned forward, wordlessly sliding them across the polished desk to me. I glanced down, confused. It was a commercial lease agreement between AM Developments as the landlord—with Lace & Grace as a tenant.

My jaw dropped. “What the hell is this?”

“What does it look like?” he asked evenly.

I grabbed the contract and began rifling through the pages, certain there had to be some kind of mistake. Much to my dismay, Quinn’s signature and initials were all over every single page. Quinn Montgomery. QM. Over and over again.

Disbelief barreled into me. We were still in the process of getting the third location off the ground and she’d made an executive decision about a fourth without even consulting me. She’d committed to fourteen thousand dollars in rent per month for five years, with an option to renew for an additional five years. What on earth we she thinking?

Oh, that’s right. Quinn wasn’t thinking. She was caught under Adam’s spell, letting him manipulate her for his own self-serving purposes. But that was no excuse for doing this, especially not when it directly affected me.

“I’ve never seen this before in my life.” I gestured with the papers. “I didn’t even know Quinn signed this.”

Bennett’s eyebrows lifted, but his expression was one of disbelief and not surprise. “You’re telling me you didn’t know about the lease.”

“I had no idea,” I insisted, reading through the termination and default clauses again. Maybe there was a loophole, or some kind of no-fault provision that applied prior to the commencement of construction. But as far as I could tell, the agreement didn’t contain an exit mechanism beyond a hefty financial penalty. “If I had been aware of this, I would have told you.”

“Right.”

The papers crumpled in my hands. “You think I knew?”

“You’re saying Quinn signed a lease for a fourth location and you had no idea.” He nodded to the wrinkled contract.

I bristled. The way he kept repeating back what I’d just said both stung and irritated the hell out of me.

“Do you see my signature on this contract?” My voice climbed and I caught myself, lowering it a notch. “Have you met my sister? This is exactly something Quinn would do—act without asking me, like always.”

Bennett drew in a slow inhale, holding it for a beat before he let it go. “It just seems like a stretch, that’s all.” He studied my face, his own expression devoid of the warmth he usually regarded me with.

An ice pick stabbed at my heart. “You don’t believe me?” Without even thinking, I pushed out of my chair, coming to stand awkwardly in front of his desk. Bennett stayed seated and his demeanor remained infinitely calmer than mine, which made me feel even worse.

“I want to believe you.”

“But you don’t.”

He gave a one-shoulder shrug, saying nothing. The room started to swim around me, and I lowered myself back into my seat. This version of Bennett who sat before me was a completely different person than the one I’d spent the weekend with. I tried to tell myself he was on edge about the bid, but that didn’t make his callous demeanor hurt any less.

My gaze dropped to the papers in my hand. On some level, I knew the lease was a big deal—potentially catastrophic, even—but while things with Bennett were unraveling before my eyes, it was impossible to care.

Before I could stop myself, feelings I had been repressing for weeks tumbled out. “You pushed me away for years. Stupidly, I let you waltz back into my life without so much as an explanation. And you have the nerve not to trust me?” I huffed, fighting to restrain the hot tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn’t believe this was happening. “Do you honestly think I’d sit here and lie straight to your face? Do you think that little of me?”

Bennett’s face fell, his tone softening a fraction. “Thay. I didn’t mean it like that.”

I tossed the papers back onto his desk and they slid into the middle, coming to a stop halfway between us. “Either you believe me, or you don’t.”

“I just think you might be afraid to tell me the truth,” he said carefully.

Pretty ironic, when he was one of the only people that I did tell the truth to.

“Why don’t you trust me?” I pressed. “When have I ever given you a reason not to?”

He didn’t respond.

Realization hit me like a wrecking ball to the gut. Bennett had completely side-stepped my remark about him bailing from my life. He was intentionally avoiding the subject. There had to be a reason why.

“Is this why you stopped talking to me in high school?” My hands balled into fists, and the hurt came rushing back to me all over again. “Do you think I did something to break your trust back then?”

Bennett’s entire demeanor instantly shifted, and he looked away. He stared at the desk in front of him, working his jaw, as if weighing what to say. Time slowed to a crawl while I waited, brimming with trepidation.

Finally, his gaze snapped back up to mine, brow furrowed. “Do you really want to get into this? We were just kids.”

“Get into what?” I asked. “I didn’t do anything.”

“I’m willing to move past it, but the least you could do is own up to it.”

Panic skittered through me. I didn’t even know why. I never did anything to Bennett; that was the whole problem. One day we were friends—verging on something more—and the next, it was like we were strangers. He cut me out without any explanation.

“Own up to what?” I felt like a broken record, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

His expression clouded over like a category five storm rolling in. “You sold me out.”

“How?” I demanded, leaning forward. My panic multiplied exponentially, tangling with threads of anger and disbelief to form a knot in my belly. After all this time, Bennett actually thought I wronged him.

“My dad?” Bennett’s throat bobbed. “The whole school knew he’d been carted away in handcuffs from our house like some kind of common criminal. It was the only thing people talked about for months. There were even rumors he’d killed a guy. That ring a bell?”

A pang of sympathy surged through me. I remembered—it was impossible to forget witnessing Bennett’s life implode from the sidelines—but I still didn’t know what it had to do with me. I could tell he wasn’t done speaking, so I nodded silently.

He continued, “Holden was out of town for a soccer tournament when my dad was arrested. My mother didn’t even get a chance to tell him what happened in person, because he found out about it on the trip—in a text message from one of his fucking friends.”

My stomach lunched. “Oh my God.”

Growing up, Holden had been the quiet, sensitive type; the opposite of Bennett in nearly every way. He donated all his birthday money every year to the local animal shelter and wrote depressing poetry about subjects like global warming as a tween. I could only imagine how he’d taken that news.

“By the time Holden got back, he refused to go back to school. Failed freshman year. Had to attend summer classes and nearly got kicked out of the academy altogether.” Bennett paused, cords in his neck tensing. “All his little dipshit friends turned on him, too. He was on suicide watch for months. Let’s just say that issue hasn’t exactly been put to bed, either.”

“Bennett,” I whispered, my hand flying to cover my mouth. A fresh wave of tears pricked at my eyes. It wasn’t a huge secret that Holden struggled with his mental health, but I hadn’t known the full extent of it, and it was clear that it weighed heavily on Bennett. “I’m so sorry.”

He rolled his shoulders and loosened his tie, tugging it off and setting it aside on the corner of his desk. Unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt, he continued. “People began to make up wild stories about what my dad had done. The gossip turned vicious and started to include stuff about my mom being involved, too. She was so humiliated that she quit her position on the hospital fundraising board, which, as you may remember, was one of her favorite pastimes. And it all started because word got out about my father’s arrest.”

His last sentence hung in the air between us like an allegation I didn’t quite understand. Bennett looked at me pointedly, waiting for a response. I shifted in my seat as I tried to make sense of what he’d said, but there were still missing pieces of the puzzle.

“I’m not trying to be difficult,” I said, “but I’m afraid I don’t follow. What does this all have to do with me?”

Incredulity crossed his face. “You were the only one who knew.”

The words landed at my feet like a grenade.

“You think—you seriously think I told everyone?” My grip on the upholstered armrest tightened. I wasn’t sure whether I was more hurt or offended. There was definitely a hefty dose of shock mixed in there, too.

Nearly ten years of estrangement, all because of…this? Something I hadn’t even done?

“The only people who knew were me, my mother, our family lawyer, and you.” Bennett held up a hand, ticking off his fingers. “Once I told you, our entire school knew by the next day. The whole town, by the day after that.”

“You know I would never spread something like that around.”

“Sometimes, even telling one person is enough. You used to tell Quinn everything.” He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair, leaving it even more disheveled. “That was my fault. I should have known you would.”

“But I didn’t tell Quinn,” I said, suddenly realizing this must have explained his apparent distaste for her. “I didn’t tell a single soul. I would never do that to you, Bennett.”

“Then how did everyone find out? ” He gestured, growing visibly frustrated.

“I have no idea.” While I could see how it looked from his perspective, it gutted me to know he thought I’d do that. I frowned, mulling over the possibilities. Bennett was popular in high school, and he had no shortage of other friends to confide in. “I figured you must have told Pierce or one of the other guys on the team.”

“No. I didn’t trust any of them with that information. I knew none of them would be able to keep their mouths shut.”

Everything about that day came rushing back, and a sickening recognition dawned on me.

I stood up again, fraught with adrenaline. “I think I might know how it got out. Do you remember the day you told me?”

“Sure,” Bennett said. “I was cutting bio, smoking a joint by the side entrance. Hard to forget a day that shitty.”

“Did you happen to see who I was with?”

He took a sip of coffee from his black mug, placing it back down. “No, I didn’t even see you coming until you swooped down and snatched that joint out of my fingers.”

“Millie and I had just left AP Biology when I spotted you, and then I blew her off to go intervene. What do you think is more likely? That I’m lying to you nine years later, or that the biggest gossip in the entire town circled back, eavesdropped on our conversation, and blabbed to everyone?” Despite the molten anger churning within me, my voice cracked. I’d never been so furious, devastated, and resentful all at once in my entire life.

I leaned against Bennett’s desk, mind reeling. I was going to find Millie after this and ream her out until I lost my voice. Even that wouldn’t make up for what she’d done. She cost me something that could never be replaced. But Bennett played a role in that, too.

“Fucking Millie,” Bennett murmured, more to himself than to me. “Makes perfect sense, though. She even tried to ‘console’ me.”

A sliver of doubt crept into the back of my mind. “We both know Millie’s always had a crush on you, so why would she blow up your life?”

Her involvement was the only logical explanation, yet it was still illogical in its own way. While I hated to punch holes in my only plausible alibi, I needed to understand her motives.

“Wanted to drive a wedge between us, obviously. She was jealous of you.”

“Of me being your study partner for AP Chemistry?”

Bennett stood up and pushed his chair back. His eyes darkened, expression smoldering. He stepped around his desk and came to stand in front of me. His fingertips landed on my hips, thumbs pressing in possessively. My breath stuttered and my body instinctively started to lean into him, eager for more.

“I can’t tell if you’re messing with me right now or if you’re actually this oblivious.” His nose brushed mine, breath warm against my face. I almost tilted my head to close the distance and crash my lips into his, but my brain slammed on the brakes and stopped me.

I took a step back, withdrawing from his grasp. “Let’s go with the second answer.”

“I liked you,” he said. “Sitting next to you in AP Chem was the highlight of my week. Why do you think I asked you to homecoming?”

My heart crumpled like a fender bender. Back then, I’d harbored an enormous schoolgirl crush on Bennett. I had no idea he’d felt the same way. We wasted years—almost a decade—apart all because of one stupid misunderstanding. Because of his pride.

“If you liked me so much, why didn’t you talk to me? We used to tell each other everything.” I tried to catch my breath, but it snagged in my throat. It was taking every ounce of strength I had to keep my tears at bay. “I was your friend, and you were supposed to be mine.”

“I’m sorry.” There was anguish written across his face. “I was a fucking wreck. As far as I knew, my mom was dying, my dad was about to serve life behind bars, my little brother was liable to kill himself the next time I left him unattended—then I went and ruined all of our lives by letting news about my dad’s arrest get out. Plus…” Bennett scrubbed a hand across his jawline, shaded with a day’s worth of rich brown stubble. “I was embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? Why?”

“When I thought you betrayed my trust, I assumed you didn’t like me anymore because of what happened with my dad.” He peered down at me, deep blue eyes gleaming with sadness. “That sounds really fucking stupid, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t know what to say. It was a lot to process, especially when I’d had less than twenty minutes to do it.

“I was pretty torn up when you went to homecoming with Archer after that,” he added.

Oh, that was rich. He was torn up. The guy who persecuted me for a crime I didn’t commit. Meanwhile, I cried so hard I burst a blood vessel in my eye, lost ten pounds from not eating, and couldn’t even look in his direction at school without nearly breaking down into tears all over again.

“You may recall that I was supposed to go with someone else, but he decided to stop speaking to me. I went with Archer to save face, and I had a terrible time.” I gritted my teeth, fighting back another wave tears that threatened to overflow.

Bennett grunted, and something that looked like jealousy flitted across his face. He took a step closer. “You seemed okay to me.”

“How would you know?” I crossed my arms, hugging my body to maintain the distance between us. “You weren’t even there.”

“I went to try to talk to you,” he said. “I missed you, and I was starting to think I’d made a mistake. When I saw you two kissing, I figured I’d fucked things up for good.”

All of his goddamn assumptions had been wrong. Every single one. I opened my mouth to argue, but he held up his hand, cutting me off.

“That was sixteen-year-old logic, Thay.” He leaned one hip against his polished desk, facing me. “I know I have no one to blame for that other than myself. You had every right to go with him and do whatever you wanted, no matter how much I hated it.”

“Archer kissed me. I didn’t kiss him back,” I said, recalling that horrendous homecoming dance. His breath had smelled like the cheap beer he and his friends somehow managed to smuggle in. He also tried to get handsy with me over in the corner of the dance floor. “You must have had the world’s worst timing if that’s when you came across us. Want to know what the rest of the evening looked like? I cried in the bathroom twice. Hated every minute of the dance. And made Archer take me home early because I was too upset about you. Does that make you happy?”

“No,” he said. “It makes me feel like shit.”

“That makes two of us, then.” A lone tear slipped out, trailing down my cheek, and I brushed it away with my finger. “You’re the only person who ever broke my heart.”

He looked stricken. “Don’t you think I know I made a huge mistake?”

“How do I know you won’t make the same one again?” Another tear escaped and he lifted his hand like he was going to reach for me, but when I leaned away from him, he let it fall to his side instead.

“Thay, I would never. I’m not going to screw up a shot with you twice. That’s why I talked to you about the lease.”

“Talked to me, or accused me of knowing about it? Which one do you think you did?”

Bennett’s lips pressed into a line. “You’re right, my delivery sucked. I assumed the worst, and I’m sorry for doing that.”

My issue wasn’t the delivery itself so much as what it meant.

I’d already lived through him doing that once. My heart wouldn’t survive a second round.

A weighty hush fell between us while the chrome analog clock on his desk ticked away. Twelve ticks passed, and neither of us spoke.

“Please don’t shut me out,” he said quietly. “I can’t imagine my life without you now.”

His plea eroded my resolve until it nearly broke, but I knew it was the only logical course of action. The only sane course of action, too. Right now, I could stomach the idea of walking away because what we had was never technically real. It was infinitely better than having him walk away once it was.

“Look…” I faltered, unable to bring myself to verbalize what I was really thinking. “This is a lot to process. I need some time, okay?”

“No.” His voice was firm, like he knew what was actually running through my mind. “I’m not going to let you walk away like this.” He reached for me again, but I took another step back, gathering my purse from off the chair. I clutched my purse against my coat, trying to conceal my trembling hands.

“Remember the favor you owed me?” I asked. “I’m cashing it in. I need you to leave me alone until the engagement party.”

It was a week and a half away, longer than we’d gone without talking since this all began. The idea of not talking to him for that long killed me—which was exactly why I needed the space. Cut my losses now or have my heart cut to pieces later. It would be better this way, even if it hurt.

He blinked. “You’re still willing to go through with that?”

I didn’t want to; the idea of pretending everything was okay with Bennett in front of an audience seemed akin to psychological torture. I already told him I would, though, and I always kept my word.

“I will. But it’s the last time I’m going to pretend.”