Page 132 of Faking it For Summer

“No,” Luke says. “We can be co-CEOs. I can help you. I can maybe mentor you, teach you, give you some?—”

“You’re going to mentor me?” Rex laughs. “Are you fucking kidding? I would listen to you for advice? You loser.”

“I don’t think he’s the loser, Rex,” I say loudly, then press my lips together because this is maybe not the time and the place for me to get involved.

“It’s up to you, but if you continue running the company the way you have been, there will be no company. You have to see that.”

Rex looks stunned, but he nods. “I can’t do this anymore.” He storms to the side of the room. He looks around the room and starts laughing like a hyena. I wonder if he’s lost it and is finally cracking. It wouldn’t surprise me. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this shit.” He stands there like he’s waiting for someone to console him, but everyone in the room is too shocked to say anything.

“You can’t do what?” Andi jumps up, and she’s looking more enraged than I’ve ever seen her in my life. I almost wish I could take my phone out and livestream. This isdrama, and the girls in my friend group would salivate to watch this live. The thought immediately makes me feel guilty. I shouldn’t want to share this with anyone. But, man, the room feels like the set of a daytime soap right now. “What can’t you do, Rex?” she yells, and I look over at Luke, whose expression is equally shocked as mine is. His lip twists up at the side, and I press my lips together.

“What do you think, Andi?” His sarcastic voice would make me slap him, but she resists. She’s stronger than I am, that’s for sure.

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Like what?” he sneers.

“It’s off.” She looks over at me, and I freeze. Have I caused this? Holy cow, Batman, was she going to blame me for this?

“What’s off?”

“The engagement is over, Rex. The wedding is off.” There’s dead silence in the room. You could hear a pin drop if someone happened to be sewing. My jaw drops as she walks over to him and presses her finger into his chest. “You and me are done.”

“This is not happening. Are you kidding me?” Rex leans forward and grabs her hand. “So, what I thought was true, huh? You’re just a gold-digging hoe? You’re leaving because I’m not the CEO now?”

My loud gasp is heard throughout the room, and Luke inches toward me slowly. I’m glad that he’s coming to my side because standing here alone is making me far too self-aware, even though I’m not even close to being the center of attention in the room.

“No, Rex, I’m leaving you because I caught you fucking Talia in our room last night.” Andi looks around, voice shaking.

I need to text Juniper and tell her the gossip, but there’s no way I can start texting in the middle of this. Everyone would know I was acting like one of the busy Bees, plus I don’t want to miss a second of this.

“What?” Rex looks around as if deciding whether or not to deny it. I think he decides against it because he doesn’t say another word. I, for one, believe Andi one hundred percent.

“I’m sorry for being so crude, but I can’t take this anymore. This is the second time, Rex. I can’t take you cheating on me. I don’t want to marry a man who cheats on me and has no money. I can’t do it.” A sputter escapes from my lips, and I pretend to cough. “A broke cheat is not the sort of man I want to be with.”

“He was sleeping with Talia?” I blurt out. I can’t stop myself now. This is juicy. I also want to ask if a rich cheat was okay, but I don’t dare. I think I already know the answer to that question anyway.

“She said that she was going to have one Haverbrook brother, no matter what it took.” Andi starts crying. “She was my best friend.” She looks at me. “She tried to fuck Luke as well, but that didn’t happen, so she went for Rex, the easy Haverbrook brother.”

“I’m not easy,” Rex says, offended. “Plus, what do you mean she wanted Luke as well? She wasn’t talking about Luke when I was blowing her back out.”

“Rex Haverbrook, watch your language.” His father finally speaks up, as his mother starts crying. I look over at Bitsy, and she looks astounded, but there’s a twinkle in her eyes. I know that even though Rex is her grandson, she’s going to be spreading this story far and wide on Coconut Beach,

“You’re disgusting.” Andi sniffles. “To think I thought you were the one.”

“Let’s be real here,” Rex says, scoffing. “I didn’t even want to marry you. We had sex one time, and you told me you got pregnant, and I felt pressured into marrying you so that my kid wouldn’t be a bastard. And then you weren’t even pregnant, but it was too far along for us to call this shit-show off.” Wow, he’s a bigger jerk than I thought.

“Well, I thought you loved me.” She looks miserable, and my heart goes out to her.

“Yeah, Ilovedhaving sex with you that one time.”

“That’s enough, Rex.” Luke shuts him down, and I’m so proud of him for speaking up. “I don’t know how or why you think you can be that disrespectful to women, but it’s not okay. Do you hear me? I don’t care what happens with the businessand what you decide between us, but do not speak to Andi that way.”

“Are you for real, Prince Luke. You’re everyone’s savior now? You have a thing for her too?”

“I don’t have to have a thing for a woman to be kind and decent and respectful. You should be ashamed of yourself, Rex.” Luke squares off against his brother. “You are a horrible human being.”

“What did we do wrong?” Mr. Haverbrook stands there, looking ill. “What can we do to fix this?”