Fake It 'Til You Break It(93)

Anger pulls at my every muscle, and my eyes fly to her.

She slowly shakes her head, looking from my dad to me. “That’s not—”

She cuts off when her mom grips her by the arm.

Demi pulls her foot back the half a step forward she had started to take.

“Oh, honey, don’t be silly.” Her mother tugs her closer, an undertone to her words that can only be interpreted as a warning.

My pulse spikes, but I force myself to stay put, keep fucking calm because the last thing I’m about to do is give anyone in this room the satisfaction of witnessing my anxiety.

Demi, though, she surprises me when she tugs free from her mom and steps away. Despite how pissed off and confused she is right now, my baby attempts to clear the air. “I’m not sure what my mom told you, Mr. Sykes, but I think there’s been some confusion.”

“Are you not dating my son?” He cocks his head to the side mockingly.

“Yes. Your son, not your stepson.” She cuts a quick glance my way, uncertainty in her eyes but confidence in her words. “I’m with Nico.”

My dad isn’t deterred. “Is Nikoli taking you to the dance, Demi?” he asks her.

She hesitates, her eyes snapping toward mine.

Is that not an obvious answer?

She keeps her focus on me as he adds, “Has he so much as mentioned it, let alone asked you himself?”

Doubt creeps over her and my throat begins to itch.

I glance across the room, from my dad’s silent, porcelain wife to Demi’s carbon copy mother. From Alex to my dad, my eyes settling on Demi last.

“Nico and I are going together.” Her answer is straightforward, but it kills me to hear it.

She had to be careful with her words, not let on that, no, I haven’t mentioned it, and no we haven’t spoken of it at all.

I know what she’s thinking.

Am I really going to stand here and not say a word? Not confirm I’m hers and she’s mine, allow Alex to think she’s free game when she’s anything but.

Why the fuck am I playing statue?

Why haven’t I grabbed her and drug her from this toxic place already?

Maybe I want to test her when I have no right to, maybe the pressure of being in my dad’s house with his new wife and chosen son is too much, or perhaps it’s that her mother so quickly disregarded my being what her daughter wants when she realized Alex fucking Hammons, my unclaimed, bitch of a stepbrother wanted her, too.

Whatever the reason, I say nothing at all, forcing an emotionless expression when all I really want to do is fall at her feet and erase the hurt in her eyes.

Alex, though, he opens his mouth.

“You know, I was surprised when I found out you two were hanging out.” Alex smirks and pushes to stand.

The fucker dares walk closer to her with me standing right here.

He’s baiting her and damn if she doesn’t fall for it, unable to hold back in asking, “Why is that?”

“It’s just, everyone knows Nico to be a bit of a hothead, so it was interesting he didn’t tear into me when I told him, and most of the guys on the team, I was planning on asking you out.”

Demi’s eyes fly to mine and narrow before she slowly moves them back to Alex. “That is interesting. When was this... exactly?”

My stomach muscles tighten and I grow light-headed.

Fuck.

This is not how I wanted this to happen.

“After our Thursday night game,” Alex tells her, sliding his hands in his pocket like the prick, preppy boy he is. “You know, the night Nico gave you a ride home, and I called to ask if I could come by?”

Instead of focusing on what he wants her to, she asks, “How did you know Nico gave me a ride?”

His pretty boy smile slips, but only for a second before he realizes and puts it right back in place. He lifts his hands. “You caught me. I saw you get in his truck, got worried I’d miss my shot and called you.”

I fucking knew it.

That’s the one and only reason he called her that night. To take her attention from where it could have possibly been, on me.

“Wait... the Thursday game...” Demi trails off, shaking her head.

Tension wraps around my body, making it harder to breathe.

Alex has no problem clearing it up for her.

“Yeah, the week before Krista’s birthday weekend, before you and Nico got together?” He chuckles, but the malice within it is easy to find. “I should’ve made it by that night, and maybe asked you then, huh?”

Demi’s eyes fall to the hardwood, and she rubs her lips together anxiously, before lifting her stare to mine. “Yeah... maybe.”

Anger builds in the pit of my stomach, my eyes twitching and unable to meet hers while desperately wanting to.

I fucked up.

“Competition between siblings, it’s quite healthy,” my dad says loudly. “I bet had you known of Alex’s intentions in advance, Demi, you would have made a wiser choice, am I correct?”

I keep my head straight, but cut my eyes to her, my pulse beating like crazy while my skin starts to crawl. I need to get out of here before I’m gutted, fucking torn apart from the inside out, for all these assholes to see.

Demi’s smile is tight, and I prepare myself for the sickening gleam that will fill my father’s eyes when the son he’s chosen is chosen or agreed upon by her, be it in anger or in truth.