other guy accept, but Rian declines.
“One day, Jax, one day,” Rian says.
I guess his name is Jax.
He leans back in his seat. “One day I’ll be the envy of all of you.”
“Not happening. I’ve got no complaints here. Regular sex without trying,” Dylan says.
“I don’t try either, man,” Jax says with a smirk.
Rian groans, then she leans forward. “So wait, explain this. You two are getting married? Are you living here?” she asks me.
“Then I’m back in your apartment,” Jax says to Rian. “The bathroom here is already like a subway during rush hour.”
“No.” I laugh. “It’s a fake engagement but you can’t tell anyone that. We’re just… it’s a long story.”
“The show’s about to start,” Jax says, grabbing the remote.
“Pause it,” Rian says, her attention still on me. “We’ve got time.”
I glance at Seth because these are his friends. He needs to be the one to explain.
“It’s really none of your business,” Seth says.
“You told Knox!” I can tell that she’s offended.
Seth sits in Knox’s recliner. “Fine.”
Seth tells them the entire story about the contest, and I’m surprised to find that none of them think it’s a good idea. Not even Rian, who I thought would see my side of things.
“You’re dumber than I thought.” Dylan shakes his head and goes to the kitchen for another beer.
Rian’s gaze digs into me as she wraps her head around the news. “I’m shocked you two agreed on anything. I thought you hated each other.”
Seth puts his hand over mine, entwining our fingers. “Turns out I like my soon-to-be wife.” But he picks up my hand and looks at my left ring finger, his gaze moving up to meet mine. “Jax?”
“No, I won’t be the best man in your pretend wedding.” He rolls his eyes.
“I need a favor,” Seth says, his gaze never leaving mine.
“What? I’ll admit this to you guys, but it better not leave this room. Your mom scares me, Andrews. So don’t ask me to lie to her.”
“No. I need you to tattoo a ring on my fiancée’s finger because she keeps taking off her ring.”
I slide my hand from his and roll my eyes. “I’m gonna go. We’ll do this another time.”
“Wait!” Rian calls. “Even though I am not on board with this because I think that something will go very wrong and someone will end up getting hurt…” She glances at me. “You have to be prepared, right? I mean, we didn’t believe it, so I’m sure your parents will be skeptical. If you’re going to sell it, you have to really sell it.”
She has a point. We can’t do this half-assed. We have to play our roles with conviction.
“Rian’s got a point. Because right now, Seth is coming off as a protective prick who’s bullied you into marrying him when you’d rather be thrown into a ring with UFC fighters,” Knox adds.
“Let’s add in some Jell-O so I can get a visual,” Jax says and chuckles.
Seth whips his head around to narrow his eyes at his friend. “Don’t imagine my fiancée Jell-O wrestling, man. Not cool.”
Jax holds up his hands in defense.
“I told them we should do a Newlywed Game,” Knox says to Rian because even though I’m not part of this group, I could pick her to be the one who’s on his side.
“Yes!” She jumps up, clapping.
See? I knew it.
“Let’s see, how should we do this?” Rian leaves a groaning Dylan on the couch and she and Knox go sit at the kitchen table.
Knox pulls out paper and a pen and they brainstorm.
“Great. Thanks, Andrews,” Jax says. He stretches out with his feet on their coffee table and leans his head back.
“Rian, I thought we were gonna…” Dylan stops talking when she holds up her hand to silence him.
“Please tell me you aren’t scheduling sex now.” Jax cocks one eyebrow at him.
But I never hear the answer because Rian comes over and pulls us up, pushing Seth and me toward his bedroom. “Okay, you guys have to go in there and talk to one another for a bit while we figure this out.”
“What? I was gonna order pizza,” Seth whines, turning away from the bedroom.
“Stop complaining. What’s your motto? ‘Go big or go home’?” Rian deepens her voice as if she’s Seth. “You’re not doing this half-assed. Dylan will order the pizza.”
“I will?” Dylan says.
“You go get to know your darling fiancée.” She shoves us into Seth’s bedroom and shuts the door.
The first thing I notice is that the room smells like him, and