Fake Fiancé Player

Copyright Copyright © 2023 by Sia Wiley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Contents 1. Chapter 1 Layla 2. Chapter 2 Brody 3. Chapter 3 Layla 4. Chapter 4 Brody 5. Chapter 5 Layla 6. Chapter 6 Brody 7. Chapter 7 Layla 8. Chapter 8 Brody 9. Chapter 9 Layla 10. Chapter 10 Brody 11. Chapter 11 Layla 12. Chapter 12 Brody 13. Chapter 13 Layla 14. Chapter 14 Brody 15. Chapter 15 Layla 16. Chapter 16 Brody 17. Chapter 17 Layla 18. Chapter 18 Brody 19. Chapter 19 Layla 20. Chapter 20 Brody 21. Chapter 21 Brody 22. Chapter 22 Layla 23. Chapter 23 Brody Chapter 1 Layla My heart nearly stopped when Brody Davis walked into the bowling alley, a smuggled case of beer barely visible from the top of his backpack. It had been a couple years since my brother died, and seeing his best friend again shot me straight back to the funeral. It was the last time I had seen Brody before he and his father moved. Seeing him now sent my stomach tossing and turning. Even though he and I had broken up just before he moved to LA, there was still a part of me that wished we could go back in time. Even if we couldn’t go back in time before Paul’s accident, I wished that we could go back to before we had broken up. “Hey Layla,” Brody said as he set the backpack down on one of the benches. He gave me a smile that made me feel like I was melting into a little puddle. “Hey Brody,” I said, grinning and reaching for a beer. I glanced over my shoulder before popping off the top and pouring it into my empty cup. “How’s LA?” Did you miss me as much as I missed you? There was no way I was going to ask him that, but it was on my mind. I had missed him in the two years that he had been gone. We were sixteen and seventeen when our entire lives changed. Part of me still didn’t forgive him for running away to the other side of the country. “Sunny. Hot. I still miss it here, though. Nothing really compares to Maine.” I nodded and sipped at the lukewarm beer, wincing as it went down. Several of our friends were starting to gather around to ask Brody a million questions. I stepped away, wanting to give him time with the others and needing a moment to calm my racing heart. If I had known that he was going to be here tonight, I might not have come. He grinned and hugged our group of friends, blending back in like he had never left. As I watched him choose his ball, I wondered how long it would be before he left again. Would he give any warning this time? “What are you thinking about?” Brody asked after he had taken his turn. I set down my cup and shrugged. “Lots of things, I guess.” “I missed you,” he said, reaching for my hand and lacing his fingers with mine. “A lot.” “There’s a phone,” I said, though my voice had no heat behind it. “You could have called me. Hell, Brody, you could have stayed.” I blushed and looked away from him. He was one of the few people I felt comfortable speaking my mind around. He always had been. There was something about his green eyes and the gentle look he gave me that had me spilling all my darkest secrets. “I couldn’t stay, Layla, not after everything that happened.” “Some of us don’t get the luxury of running away.” The corner of his mouth turned up slightly as his thumb skated across the back of my hand. “You’ve always been stronger than I am.” “You only like to think that because you weren’t here to see me fall apart,” I said before I could stop myself. Brody sighed and withdrew his hand, his walls snapping back into place. “I didn’t know how to hold both of us together, Layla. I had to go.” His dad was a real estate developer and investor. He had built some huge resorts and basically created an entire town out of nothing. He and Brody never really got along. When his dad moved to LA to pursue some investments in the tech industry and some more property, it turned out he struck oil. Literally. He made the list of the world’s billionaires the following year. Brody refused to move with him when he left for California, so I was surprised he decided to go in the end. I guess he must have really wanted to get away. “How long are you here now?” “Only tonight. I’m just stopping by before I head back to LA.” I swallowed hard and nodded, not wanting to put more pressure on the situation than there already was. He didn’t have to answer to me. He didn’t need to answer to anyone. Instead of pressing him further on what his plans were, I finished off my beer and grabbed another, pouring it into my cup. “I don’t think you should be drinking that much,” he said as he glanced at the cup. “Oh look,” I said, pausing to take a long sip of the beer. “It’s my turn.” After I had knocked down a couple pins, I went back to my seat. Brody was on the other side of the lane, talking to one of our other friends. I could feel him glancing at