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

Chapter 697 Chapter 697 Chall

The second I brought up my dad, Wayne clammed up. Guess it's hard to chat when your dad's the reason mine's

gone.

"There will never be meatballs I like in this world again," I said, staring down at the meatballs Xander had made. I tried to sound casual, like I didn't care, but my brain was screaming, 'Don't blow this! Don't let Wayne catch on about Xander. Because now? I knew. Xander was Hayden. The disguise, the secrecy-it wasn't random. He had a reason. Whatever it was, I just had to roll with it for now.

"Rea, I'm really sorry about your parents." His voice dripped guilt, but his face? Ugh, it was all fake pity, like he thought that'd fix anything.

It didn't. If anything, it made my stomach twist, but I just smiled tight and said, "It's not your fault."

He gave a bitter smile. "You're... so kind, Rea."

Yeah, kind enough to almost forgive his family once. Key word: almost. I'd learned better. No way I'd let that slide

-not now, not ever.

before I snapped, so I grabbed my drink-pumpkin spice milk. One sip, and it was

And when he finally stops pretending he's not Hayden,

said, not holding back, even with Wayne's eyes practically glued

tonight?" he asked, like he'd been hanging on to my

a little pumpkin spice milk off the corner of my

because Wayne's eyes

wasn't shocking; he'd been pretty obvious about his interest. My gut reaction was to turn him down, but after a second, I reconsidered. I'd been stringing him along lately, and

"What do you feel

You pick," I

stepped into the office but backed out fast

"I'll get going,

I exhaled a huge sigh of relief and focused back on the meal Xander had

was a lot, but I didn't even pause I cleared the whole container. And honestly, I was

I grabbed my phone and noticed a message from Ron: [Didn't seem like a good time

Ron-blunt but perceptive. I didn't bother answering. Instead, I tried

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