Fake Game (The System #3)

Chapter Twelve

TWELVE

DEER

“ O h my Gods.”

“What?” Lee whips her head around to search the restaurant. When she sucks in a gasp, I know she’s spotted the man and woman. “Stop. He brought her here? Fancy.” Her eyes are wide as saucers as she turns back to me.

“Agree. It’s an intimate choice,” I hum, taking a large sip of my second Hong Kong Iced Tea of the night. “Wait, does he even decide the places he goes if they’re blind dates?”

Lee’s brows furrow. “Good point. Probably not.”

I gnaw on the end of my straw as I continue to sneak glances at the couple in the back booth, who were previously hidden by a party of twelve that just left.

“How long have they been here? I didn’t see them come in.”

I shrug. “I dunno. He was still at the apartment when you picked me up.”

“See, aren’t you glad I dragged you out?” She angles her wine glass toward me. “Told you it would be worth it.”

“You didn’t drag me.”

“Mmm, my thirty back-to-back text messages and four voice notes beg to differ.”

“You’re being dramatic. It was three voice notes, not four.”

Lee snorts as she cranes her neck to watch Jackson and his blind date. “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“Something boring,” I mumble around my straw.

As much as I try not to, I can’t help but continue watching them.

“Oh, she’s def interested,” Lee comments as the girl laughs and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “Doesn’t he normally dip from his dates within like ten minutes?”

“Supposedly.” I blatantly bite down on the straw, grinding it between my molars.

“Death glare, much?”

I release the mangled straw and flick my gaze to Lee who has switched her attention to me. I roll my eyes with a tense smile. “That’s my concentration face.”

“That is not the face you make when you’re trying to decide which villager to live on your island. That’s the face you make when the villainess appears in your dating sims.”

“Mean.”

“Just saying.” She reaches forward and tears one of the red bean buns in half before taking a large bite.

I follow suit, ripping open one of the taro buns and shoving half into my mouth.

My eyes narrow as I watch Jackson nod at whatever the girl is babbling about. I didn’t even know he was going out on another blind date tonight.

Not that he owes me that, but you would think it might have come up when I told him I was going to dinner with Lee. He’d grilled me for a solid five minutes about whether Lee’s security was coming with us and how long I’d be gone for. He wanted to make sure I was being safe—as if I wasn’t already freaking nervous as it was about leaving the damn apartment.

But as always, Lee is my weakness. She’s the only person who can get me out of my comfort zone and into functioning society. Plus, this is one of my favorite restaurants, so there is a level of familiarity here that makes me less nervous.

I polish off my drink, sucking on nothing but remnants of ice residue as I continue glaring at the couple. Jackson’s attention wanes from his date. He scans the restaurant, gaze colliding with mine. A fleck of ice flies through the straw and goes right into the back of my throat, and I let out a choking cough.

When I look back up, he’s still staring at me.

Shit.

His date takes notice, and she swivels her head, her eyes darting around.

Double shit.

I raise my hand to cover my face as discreetly as possible as I turn to Lee.

“What are you doing?”

“They’re looking at us,” I whisper under my breath.

“Why are you whispering? They can’t hear you from here.”

“You’re whispering, too!”

“Because they’re looking at us!”

I spread two of my fingers apart and chance a quick peek. The blood drains from my face as Jackson raises a hand and waves me over. He keeps looking back and forth between me and his date, saying something that is causing her to cross her arms.

Mm. Nope.

I want zero part in whatever is happening.

Taking a deep breath, I sit up straight and allow a tight smile to thread across my face as I raise both hands to wave them side to side in a “no thank you” gesture.

Our silent exchange is blissfully interrupted as our waitress returns to our table.

“Hi, can I get either of you anything else tonight? One last drink, maybe?”

“No!” The word basically catapults out of my mouth, stunning the woman. Shit. I soften my face and give her a placating smile. “Sorry, no. We’re good. Just the check, thank you.”

The woman nods her head, collecting our empty plates. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

I refuse to look back at Jackson’s booth. Instead, I busy myself by grabbing my handbag and sifting through it for one of my credit cards.

“Deer.”

“Yeah?” I chance a glance over at Lee, who has gone stock-still.

“They’re coming over,” she whispers through gritted teeth.

“What?” I’m torn between looking over and throwing my body under the table. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, they are walking over here.”

“Why?”

“How should I know!”

Oh my Gods.

Fuck it.

I grab two hundred-dollar bills that are floating around in my mess of a handbag. It has to be enough to cover our meal and drinks.

I slap the notes onto the table and then grab Lee’s wrist as I stand up.

“Let’s g—” The words die on my lips as my eyes meet a pair of deep black pools.

“Babe.” Jackson’s hand rests on my right shoulder. His thumb rubs my skin in a weirdly reassuring pattern.

Babe?

His date pops her head around Jackson’s giant form, her slick black hair swaying to the side. Her perfectly plucked brows pinch together as she clutches her hands to her chest.

“Hi, I am so sorry about all of this. Jackson explained everything.”

What?

“I’m Grace.” She holds out a hand.

My mind begins to whirl, but I allow myself to slide my mask back on, lifting my chin as a dazzling smile softens across my face. I reach forward and shake her hand.

“Deer.”

Her grip tightens as she looks deep into my eyes, sincerity bleeding out. “I completely understand the struggle. I dated my last boyfriend for a year before I told my parents, and they still took forever to accept him. We broke up because he couldn’t deal with the pressure from them.”

I’m so lost. Why is she being nice?

“I told Jackson he should probably just tell them. It really helps with the stress, and Lei yi would have his back. From the way she raves about him, I know she’ll get everyone else on board. And you seem really sweet.” She pats my hand. “Seriously, there’s no sense in Jackson being dragged around on pointless dates when he’s already got such a cute girlfriend.”

Lee lets out a choking noise.

My. How the tables have turned.

“Thank you,” I smile, pulling my hand from her grip. The practiced persona of Deer, the darling of the streaming world, comes spilling forward as I play my part.

I curl myself into Jackson, placing my hand on the center of his chest. The hand he has lazing on my shoulder halts, and I feel the rest of his body stiffen. I stop myself from smirking, pushing my sweetness dial even higher.

“It’s been so hard with him going on these dates. Absolutely rips me apart.” I raise my head, angling it to look up at him. Gods, why is he so freaking tall? I can trace the entire outline of his jaw from down here. “But I know I can trust him. We just have that bond, don’t we, babes?”

Jackson looks down at me, sliding his hand from my shoulder down the length of my arm to rest above my elbow. Goosebumps break across my skin as he gives my arms a light squeeze, something warm stirring low within me. The corners of his lips tilt up in a small smile. And while I know it’s just the one he uses in public, it still throws me off-kilter.

“Of course.”

I can feel the words rumble through his chest, and I’m frozen, caught in his gaze.

“Well, I wish you guys the best of luck. And don’t worry, I’ll keep everything above board when I see your dad at the hospital. Promise.”

“Thanks, Grace.”

“No worries. See you!”

Grace gives a sweet wave as she walks away, and my brain finally starts to come down from the high.

“Okay. What the heck is going on?” Lee pokes her finger into my hip.

“Ow.” I step away from Jackson, ungluing my body from his to glare at her.

She cocks her split eyebrow and crosses her arms.

“Ask him.” I shrug my shoulder back toward Jackson.

“It’s not a big deal.” The indifference of his tone matches how cold my skin suddenly feels without his contact.

“Did you or did you not tell that girl that Deer’s your girlfriend?” Lee takes a step forward into our space, trying to look menacing. Except we are the same height, and it really doesn’t do much to deter Jackson when he is a solid foot taller than both of us.

“I just needed an excuse to cut the date short.”

“And you decided to use me?”

“You’re the one who offered, Sparkles.”

“And you’re the one who made it sound like you’d rather throw yourself off a cliff than pretend to date me.”

“It was a onetime use,” he shrugs.

“Onetime, my—"

“Hi, sorry for the wait. Here’s the check.” Our waitress finally makes her return.

“Right,” I reach for the two bills I’d thrown on the table.

“Here.”

I whip my head back to see Jackson tapping his phone on the POS system.

“What are you—”

“Thank you, have a lovely evening.” The waitress smiles and leaves us.

Jackson tucks his phone back into his pocket and lazily saunters away in the opposite direction, to the exit of the restaurant.

“Hey, we’re not done here,” I call out.

He just raises a hand and gives me a pitiful wave.

“Gods dammit,” I huff, shoving the money back in my bag and grabbing my jacket as I stalk after him.

“What’s he talking about?” Lee jogs up beside me.

“The other day, Stevie suggested he pretend to date someone to get his family off his back. I suggested myself.”

“Why would you suggest yourself?”

That’s what I would like to know.

I’m just gonna call it a temporary disillusion from being in too close proximity to his hot body. It was easy to distance myself when we only chatted virtually, but now that I am constantly around him, it’s making my brain go all mushy.

“Doesn’t matter because he said it was an awful idea.”

“Clearly, that’s not the case.”

“Clearly,” I mumble.

We catch up to Jackson outside the restaurant, where he has the passenger door to his Jeep open. He nods towards the interior of the car, “Come on. I’m not holding this door open forever.”

“What?”

“Home. Unless you’ve found somewhere else to sleep over the last four hours?”

Gods Dammit.

I shoot Lee an apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She pulls me into a hug that abates some of my annoyance. “Call me when you get back so we can debrief, ‘kay? I’m not letting this go just yet.” She waggles a finger before walking off.

“Come on, Sparkles.”

I groan, glaring at him before hauling myself into the passenger seat as he closes the door behind me.

How did this happen?

I stare out the window, watching as Lee gets into her own car and wishing I’d made up some valid excuse to follow her. I should’ve said we were having a girl’s night and I was sleeping over.

“Buckle up.”

Jackson’s deep timbre pulls me out of my haze as he starts up the car.

“Why did you pay?” I ask, fastening my seat belt. “I’m perfectly capable of covering my own dinner.”

“Consider it a thank you for your service.”

“A service I thought you didn’t want to purchase.”

Jackson runs a hand down his face, like I’m the one annoying him when he brought me into this whole situation. “Look, the date was going badly.”

“Seemed like she was having a great time,” I grumble, remembering the way she had been laughing with him.

“Exactly.”

“You’ve lost me.”

Jackson sighs.

“Look, I know you’re a man of few words, but I’m really going to need you to spell this out for me, big boy.”

“Don’t call me that,” he grunts.

“I’m waiting.”

“Grace works at my father’s hospital; I couldn’t exactly ditch her in a shitty way. It would’ve gotten back to them, and I would’ve been in an even worse situation. The Wangs are close with my family. My mom even called me to make sure I made a good impression on this date and that I not screw anything up.” We stop at a red light, and he runs his hands through his hair. “Grace was a little too into the whole idea, and I didn’t have many options until you showed up.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s just a one off.”

“Sure.”

His dismissal burns.

We sit in silence the entire ride back, light music filtering through the speakers as I fidget with the lace on the edge of my skirt. All the while, I can’t stop myself from sneaking small glances at him, some part of me disappointed that this is where the farce ends. The same part of me that lit up when he held my arm and pulled me close, that broken part of me that seems to be slowly stitching itself back together the longer I’m around him.

The situation might have been fake, but the way my heart beats is very real.