Jace smacks the back of his head.

Edging apart, Dylan and I both flip him the bird.

“How was your drive here?” Jace asks as we get out of the car. “Any problems?”

“Nope.” Dylan wraps her arms around him. “It was perfect. Just like you.”

“Nah, perfect is this ass.” As if proving his point, Jace grabs a handful of her derriere. “So are you and Sawyer almost ready to get inked, or you both gonna chicken out on me?”

“I’m definitely not chickening out. Neither is Sawyer.” Breaking their embrace, Dylan looks at me. “Right?”

Despite the anxiety coursing through my system, I nod.

A few months ago, we decided to get matching butterfly tattoos for our upcoming birthdays.

Dylan’s getting hers in memory of Liam, and I’m getting mine in memory of my nanna, who loved butterflies.

However, now that it’s actually happening, I’m starting to have second thoughts.

“Hold up. Little Miss Bible Thumper is getting a tattoo?” Cole mock gasps. “Are you sure God will be okay with you desecrating your body like that?”

I glare at him. “Go to hell, Covington.”

Oakley looks between us. “Damn. Trouble in paradise already?”

I smack a quick hello kiss on his cheek. “Don’t act like you don’t know we’re fake dating.”

Oakley pouts. “Does that mean there won’t be a wedding? Because I heard desperate bridesmaid sex is awesome.”

I point to Dylan and Jace who are walking hand in hand toward the tattoo shop. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, bud. I suggest you ask the real couple to help you out with that.”

Cupping his hand over his mouth, Oakley chases after them. “Yo, when are you two lovebirds getting married?”

Jace turns white as a sheet and Dylan looks horrified.

A laugh slips from my mouth. Oakley’s going to be waiting awhile.

I’m about to catch up to them, but Cole grabs my wrist. “Here’s a thought. How about you stop telling people our private business.”

I have no idea what he’s referring to. “What are you talking about?”

“Stop telling people we’re in a fake relationship, because word will get around.”

“Relax. It’s Oakley.”

“Yeah, and Oakley has a big mouth. He’s also fucking around with Morgan, who is best friends with Casey. It’s only a matter of time before he slips up and tells her.”

For some reason hearing her name out of his mouth sends a surge of jealousy through me.

“Wow, you sure spend a lot of time thinking about your ex.”

He looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” I shake my head, feeling like an idiot for saying anything. “Look, we’re not on school property right now, and I highly doubt Cortland’s in the tattoo shop, so how about we just…I don’t know…not talk to each other for the rest of the day.”

Chapter 30

Cole

Sawyer telling Oakley the truth shouldn’t bother me.

But it does.

Same goes for her not wanting to talk to me.

Hell, if anything, I should be happy she can draw a line in the sand and separate things between us so easily, because most girls can’t.

They get clingy and needy.

Constantly confusing what things are with what they want them to be.

But not Sawyer.

Nope, my Bible Thumper has no problem placing me back in my box.

“Who shit in your Cheerios?” Jace questions.

Dodging his question, I continue watching Sawyer and Dylan talk to one of the tattoo artists in the shop. He’s only a few years older than I am, but unlike me, he’s covered in tattoos and his earlobes—if you can even call them that—are overstretched around some black holes.

But his appearance isn’t what’s bothering me.

It’s the way he’s paying extra special attention to Sawyer.

Jace follows my line of sight. “I told you dating her was a bad idea.”

“We’re not dating.”

“Funny, because last time I checked, that’s what calling someone your girlfriend meant.”

“It’s fak—”

“You ready, man?” some dude calls out behind us.

Jace whips off his hoodie. “Hell yeah.”

I raise a brow. “You’re getting ink today, too—what the fuck is that?”

Jace isn’t new to tattoos given he’s been getting them since he was sixteen, but I can’t help but notice the new one under his ribcage.

Upon closer inspection, I realize it’s the chorus to a Jimmy Eat World song.

Specifically, his girlfriend’s favorite one.

“Jesus fucking Christ. You let her brand you?”

Jace shrugs like it’s no big deal. “She didn’t brand me. I branded me.”

“That’s even worse.”

Needing support from someone else with balls—since my brother no longer has his—I look to Oakley, who’s currently flirting with the girl at the counter and wave him over.

The moment he reaches me, I gesture to Jace’s new ink. “Can you believe this shit?”

Oakley squints. “What is it?”

“Lyrics to Dylan’s favorite song.”

Surprise crosses over his features. “Oh. That’s…interesting.”

“The word you’re looking for is dumb as fuck.”

Jace reclines in an oversized chair. “Are you done yet?”

He should know me better than that. “No.” Raising my hand, I halt the tattoo artist. “Not so fast. I need to make sure my idiot brother isn’t getting another sissy tattoo for his girlfriend.”

“Shut up, Cole,” Dylan grinds out as she settles into a seat. “It was really sweet of him to do.” She makes eyes at my brother. “Not to mention incredibly romantic and sexy.”

I make a gagging sound.

Sawyer plops down in the empty chair next to her. “Don’t mind him, he’s just missing this thing in his chest called a heart.”

She’s not wrong.

Turning back to my brother, I ask, “What are you getting done today?”

“A butterfly,” he deadpans.

Oakley and I exchange a glance…then we both start howling with laughter.

It’s bad enough he has some girly lyrics tattooed on him, but a goddamn butterfly?

I look at him seriously. “Did it hurt when she neutered you?”

That only makes Oakley laugh harder. “Does she keep them in a jar so you can see them every now and then?”

Jace narrows his eyes at us. “Fuck off.”

“Don’t worry, baby,” Dylan says. “Your brother’s just being a hater because he has to pay someone to be his girlfriend.”

Well, shit.

Sawyer asked me to donate ten-grand to her church at the end of all this, but I didn’t think of it as paying her to be my girlfriend.

Is that why she’s able to turn it on and off so easily?

Is it just about the money for her?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out my donation to her family’s church will benefit her in some way.