Page 55 of Movers and Fakers

To distract from the storm of emotions crawling across the horizon of my mind, I decide to poke at Aurora just a little.

“Before we start, we should set a time for our date,” I say with a smirk. “You know, since you lost the bet.”

Her mouth turns down, and the expression makes her no less kissable. In fact, it only makes me want to kiss her more. Which is unfortunate for me, since I agreed to rule number one.

“I’m thinking right after this we head to Haymakers. There won’t be as many people there this time of day, so it can be just us,” I continue.

Aurora’s frown holds. Then, her eyes light up, shifting her expression into something a touch mischievous. The kind of expression that gets my blood pumping in anticipation.

“If you can get every question right on a mock quiz at the end of this, I’ll leave from here to go to the gym,” she says.

“You know, you already agreed to the date. Technically, I don’t have to do anything else.”

Aurora smiles, but it’s more sassy than sweet.

“And technically, that deal was just words spoken at a party. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

I chuckle. “So that’s how we’re playing things, huh?”

She shrugs. “Those are my terms. Take them or leave them, Rosewood.”

I shake my head at her using my last name again, knowing that she’s doing it just to goad me.

“All right, Princess, you’ve got a deal. But no backing out once I win, again.”

“Hope you’ve picked up some study skills during our last two sessions, because I’m not going easy on you,” she retorts before opening up her textbook.

Despite her words, however, I find the quiz at the end of our session a little easier than I expected. It could be that I’m getting better at Digital Logic, but I’m not so sure about that. And when Aurora “grades” my quiz with a perfect score, she doesn’t seem nearly as annoyed as she should be with the loss.

All of those clues gather together to form a theory in my mind. One that leads me to believe my fake girlfriend might like me, just a little.

Chapter twenty-seven

First and Only

Aurora Driscoll

Warm air and the faint smell of sweat mingled with disinfectant hit me as I walk through the door Hayes is holding open. The first thing in Haymakers that catches my eye is the large boxing ring set up to the right. After that, I take in the large hanging bags, gym equipment, and lockers. It looks to be well kept, and that’s confirmed when I see a guy that could play Goliath in a movie bend over and spray a weight bench, then wipe it down with a rag.

“Come on, Princess, let’s get you in some gloves.”

Hayes walks over to the lockers and sets a black duffel bag on a bench.

“Do they have some to rent?” I try not to wrinkle my nose at the thought of wearing used sweaty gloves.

Hayes smirks and unzips his bag, then pulls out a pair of pastel-pink boxing gloves with white Velcro accents.

“How long have you had those?” I ask him.

It’s only been a couple of days since the Shadow Ring fight, but considering how fast he got my shoes in, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to get gloves, too.

“I ordered them the day you threatened to hit me.” My brow furrows and he chuckles, holding the gloves out to me. “Before we started this.” He gestures between us with the gloves. “You said you’d be the first to hit me, I told you—”

“That our first date could be this.” I finish his sentence. “Sparring with pink gloves.”

I recall the walk to class, how he’d gotten on my nerves. It wasn’t that long ago, but so much has happened since then it feels like a lifetime.

“You were so certain that this would happen?” I ask him, my disbelief evident.