The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(72)

I’m breathing heavily now. Abigail just raises an eyebrow at me while everyone else gapes in shock.

“If you think Hallie’s a dyke for playing soccer, what do you think about the rest of us? Huh? Are Tia and Maria dykes too?” I ask, gesticulating around at the girls who are staring at me, not saying a word. They’ve never seen me take someone on before, never seen me argue like this. This isn’t something I do. “Am I?” I scoff. I allow a smirk to appear on my face, taunting her. “I’m not though, am I? And you know that, don’t you? You know that because I’ve got the one person you want more than anything else in this world, the one person I prove I’m not a dyke to every single time I see him.”

There are snickers from around us, and I don’t even care that I’m implying Chase and I are sleeping together. I want to crush her for the way she just made Hallie feel.

“And you do want him, don’t you? You want him so badly it kills you every time you see him with me, but you need to get used to it because he…wants…me. The one guy you want more than anything wants this soccer-playing dyke.” I pause and take a deep breath while everyone just stares at me with their jaw hanging open. It’s not just the original group anymore—a crowd has gathered around us, and they’re all watching intently. “He’s mine, Abigail, all mine. Now if you don’t mind, my dyke friends and I need to get to class.”

I brush past her without another word, Sophie right on my heels. I grip Hallie’s hand as I pass her and pull her along beside me. We don’t need to hear anything more from Abigail Baker.



Chase is waiting for me by my car when I finally leave school at the end of day. Of course he is. He’s leaning against it, looking down at his phone, but as I approach, a huge smile covers his face and he stands to face me, shoving his phone into his back pocket. His eyes flash with amusement.

“Hey.”

He doesn’t say anything in return, just grins even wider, if possible.

I sigh. “So I guess you heard about me and Abigail then?”

“Uh huh.”

I sigh. “Who told you?

“Oh, I got a word-by-word account from several people.”

Shit. Heat floods my face and I close my eyes in embarrassment. I’m sure they told him every single detail.

“So I’m yours, huh?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I open my eyes to look at him, and his grin hasn’t budged.

I shake my head. “I’m sorry about that. She was just being such a bitch and I could tell she wasn’t sorry so I wanted to piss her off and I knew that would do it. I mean, you’re the only thing she wants and I knew that would make her mad. I just said it without thinking—”

“Livy—”

“I mean, I know you’re not mine. I know this is just fake and I don’t want you to think I actually think that—”

“Livy—”

“It just came out before I even knew it and I think it worked. I’m pretty sure she wants to kills me now, but yeah, I should have told you before I—”

“Livy!” I break off at the sound of him chuckling. “Stop.”

I finally look at him. Throughout my ranting, I was kinda looking over his shoulder, not focusing on him, but now when I look at his face, he doesn’t look mad at all. He just looks like he thinks it’s funny—really funny.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You. You’re cute when you freak out.”

I frown. “So you’re not mad?”

“No! Not at all. I just wish I’d been there to see it myself.” He smiles down at me, taking a step closer. “I’m glad you put her in her place.”

“Yeah?” I ask, surprised. I know he doesn’t want to get back with her, but he clearly cares about her. Their relationship is so messed up that I even thought he might take her side on this.

He nods. “Yeah.”

“And you’re not mad about the ‘he’s mine’ comment?”

He takes a step even closer to me and rests his fingers on my hip bones, his large hands pressing in gently. He looks down at me with a smirk on his face.

“I’m glad you shut Abigail down.” He reaches up and brushes a loose strand of hair out of my face, gently tucking it behind my ear. “And I love that you called me yours.”

I freeze at his words, and my heart almost stops beating as he leans down and plants a firm kiss on my mouth. It’s not a kiss of passion like we’ve shared before, or a playful one on my cheek when he’s joking around. This one is unhurried and familiar and comfortable, like he’s not worried about making my knees buckle because he knows this won’t be our last kiss, like we’ll have many more of these kisses to come, like he’ll do this every day.

He pulls back, squeezing my waist. “I gotta go.”

I nod, in a daze as he grabs his stuff and jogs off. After a minute, I manage to pull myself together and turn around to watch him turn down a side path off toward the athletic fields. That’s when I glance around the parking lot and see it’s deserted. There’s no one here, especially not Abigail or Jessie. He didn’t kiss me for anyone else’s benefit. He just kissed me.





THE SUN IS SETTING AS Chase and I drive down the streets from my house to Jessie’s. We’re running late; the bakery was so busy today that it took forever to clean up afterward and I ended up having to text Chase to tell him to pick me up later than planned. I’ve already had two texts from Jessie asking where I am, and even though this is his 18th birthday, the party he’s been planning for what seems like years, I don’t want to be there. I don’t want to be in the same room as both Jessie and Chase when they’re both making me feel all kinds of emotion. I’ve had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach for the last couple of days and all I want to do is stay in my room, put my head under the covers, and pretend everything in my life is normal and I’m not a confused mess.