Page 94 of Rival Darling

“Surprisingly well,” I said. “Reed really made an effort to impress him.”

I stole a quick glance over my shoulder at Reed. He was chatting with Matt now, but, as if he sensed I was looking, his gaze immediately drifted to me.

“You okay?” he mouthed.

I smiled back at him and nodded. He winked at me and continued his conversation with Matt. Given the animated way his friend was swinging an invisible hockey stick through the air, I had to assume they were reliving parts of today’s game.

“Well, that’s Reed,” Paige said. “He’s always happy to go out of his way for people he cares about.”

It was hard to argue with her. Reed had gone out of his way to help me a few times now. But I could never be sure if it was part of his efforts to maintain our fake relationship or something more.

“And I can tell he really cares about you,” Paige continued.

That got my attention, and I quickly faced her again. “You can?”

“Of course.” She nodded as she pulled two premixed drinks from the mini fridge. “Like, the way he fixed your car was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

I frowned as she passed me one of the glass bottles. “You mean when he helped me get my car towed?”

“Well, that too, but no, I’m talking about how he spent hours working at his dad’s garage to get all the repairs done.”

“Wait, what?” I stammered. “Reed was the one who fixed my car?”

Paige seemed confused as she took a sip of her drink. “You didn’t know?”

“Reed said it was his dad. He told me Danny didn’t want to charge me.”

“Typical,” Paige muttered. “It wasn’t his dad. Reed worked on it himself and put in extra hours to cover the cost of the parts. Grayson told me he was there every night. He was even late to hockey practice a couple of times.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. “Why didn’t he tell me? I never would have let him do that for me if I’d known.”

“That’s probably why he kept it to himself.” Paige lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “I swear these Darling boys are impossible.”

"I can’t believe he did that.”

“It’s like I told you,” she said with a smile. “He must really care about you.”

Reed wasn’t supposed to care about me, but if Paige was telling the truth about him fixing Betty, how could I deny that he did? What could he have to gain from secretly repairing my car for me? Why would he do that if all he cared about was scaring off his groupies? And, after what I’d just learned, how was I supposed to keep acting like this relationship was only pretend and that I didn’t care for him too?

“My friend Bonnie just got here,” Paige said, shaking me from my thoughts. She was looking down at her phone. “I need to go find her. Will you be okay if I leave you with Reed and the boys?”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” I said, nodding at her to go ahead. As she left, I slowly turned back to face the room. My heart swelled with a mixture of nerves and excitement when I caught sight of Reed. He was still talking to Matt, and he looked so handsome as he released an easy laugh. Whatever happened going forward, I felt lucky I’d gotten to be his girlfriend these last few weeks, even if it was all for show.

When he saw me watching him and that Paige had disappeared, he waved me over. As I approached, his smile seemed to get brighter, and I found myself wondering how I’d managed to keep such firm boundaries between us for so long. How I hadn’t fallen deeply in love with this boy the moment I met him. I wondered if perhaps I had and I’d just been too stubborn to recognize my feelings for what they were.

“Hey,” he said when I reached him. “I’m glad you’re back. I’ve been wanting to show my girlfriend off.”

My stomach turned uncomfortably at his words. He sounded so genuine as though he was truly proud to have me by his side. But it was also exactly the type of comment my fake boyfriend would make. While it sounded nice, it hinted at one of the real reasons we were together in the first place—to keep his female fans off his back.

I did my best to shake off my doubts. I’d already given in to my feelings for him, and I hoped he was feeling the same thing. There was no going back now.

“Do you want to go dance?” I suggested.

“Reed doesn’t dance.” Matt laughed.

But Reed ignored his friend, keeping his focus on me. “Maybe I was just waiting for the right partner.” He held out a hand toward me, and as I slipped my fingers into his grasp, my world felt complete.

He led me back through the house to the living room where everyone was dancing. It felt like every eye in the room was on us as we made our way through the crowd, but Reed didn’t seem to notice. His attention was entirely on me as he pulled me tightly against him. With our bodies pressed so close together, it was hard to think.