Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter 159

But Lindey wasn't buying it. She gave him a little swat. "Oh, please. You think you can use Rea to get out of this? Not happening."

""Hey, Lindey." I called out.

At the sound of my voice, Lindey froze. She turned around, her eyes lighting up when she saw me, but the second she realized I had probably caught the whole intimate scene with her and Matthew, her face went bright red.

She quickly dropped Matthew's hand and made her way over to me. "Rea, you're here! Have you eaten? I'll have Isabel-"

"I've already eaten," I lied, even though my stomach was growling. It suddenly hit me that I hadn't asked Hayden if he'd eaten either.

"Why didn't you have your dinner here?" Lindey asked, sounding a little annoyed.

She was acting like Hayden wasn't even there, not a single word or glance his way. But I knew Lindey better than that-this was her very subtle way of showing her disapproval.

Still, Lindey had too much class to be totally rude. After what felt like an eternity of her ignoring him, she finally turned her attention to Hayden, "You must be Rea's friend?"

I squeezed Hayden's arm lightly, giving him the signal to step in. He caught on and greeted her politely. Hi, Mrs. Johnston."

Rea's friend, you're not a stranger.

stood up as well, and I made my way over, handing him the gift with both hands. "Matthew, happy

always so thoughtful," Matthew said with a warm smile, accepting the gift like it was the best thing

Hayden

"Take a

and fruit while we settled in. Her gaze bounced between me and Hayden before she spoke again. "Rea, just because you brought your gift early doesn't mean you're off the hook for the actual party. Matthew and I still expect you there." She totally read my mind. There went my plan to

With a smile, I nodded. "Of course. Hayden and I will definitely

me at the party, she'd have to accept that Hayden and I came as a

of young men

Chapter 159

+25 BONUS

Network?

right. That was just her way of saying, 'Hayden doesn't belong here, and the party's gonna be full of rich, single guys,

was, he'd always be just another

and save him. I wanted to

glanced over at him. He was completely unbothered, as usual. "I'd love to

back a smirk. He was

Total fail. It was like trying to knock over a