Page 124 of Faking it For Summer

There’s no love lost between them.

“So, I was just telling Andi here that you went to New York because I was chosen to take over the company, and you couldn’t take it.”

“Is this really the time and the place to have this conversation?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rex laughs as if he didn’t just insult his brother. “Andi was just asking me why you left Coconut Beach, and that was it, right? It obviously wasn’t because of your budding romance with Mia. You guys weren’t together back then because she was kind of trying to bounce on my?—”

“Hey!” Luke shouts and grabs Rex by the neck. “Don’t you ever fucking talk about my girlfriend that way again.”

Andi looks over at Rex, frowning. “What’s going on, Rex? This is our engagement party.”

“And you told me you were pregnant, and you’re not.”

“I thought I was,” she says.

Rex rolls his eyes. The air is cold and tense.

I press my lips together. I feel like this is not a conversation I should hear, and I feel like it’s not a conversation they should have when they’re about to get married, but it’s none of my business.

“Let me go,” Rex says, pushing his brother off of him.

“I will not have you constantly disrespecting Mia and me. We will just leave. We will do our own thing, and we won’t come to the wedding.”

“Whatever. I don’t care.”

“You know what, Rex? I think you do care,” I say finally.

Luke looks at me in surprise.

“Excuse me?” Rex glares at me.

“I think you are jealous of Luke. I think you’re constantly putting him down because he is the man you will never be in every single way. And you know what? When I was young, I was dumb, and I had a crush on you, and it went nowhere, and boo hoo hoo, but I am over it. You should get over it too. You know what? I don’t care if you think I’m hot now. I don’t care if you think I’m sexy. I find your comments to be extremely disrespectful to me, your fiancée, and to your brother, who I am in a relationship with. Do you think I’m going to choose you over this amazing man who has always been there for me? He is smarter than you. He is funnier than you. He is sexier than you, and he’s more intelligent than you.”

“I kind of think smarter and intelligent mean the same thing,” Luke says, grinning. I just shake my head at him. “But continue, my darling.”

I turn back to Rex. “I chose Luke because I know his heart, and I know he’s a good man. And I choose not to want you in my life, Rex, because you’re horrible. And the best thing you ever did for me was reject me. I thank God that you rejected me because how horrid would my life have been if I had been with you? We never even kissed, Rex, and I’m glad for that.”

Rex looks stunned at my comments, and I’m kind of stunned that I made them.

“And just so you know, Rex, Luke is an amazing lover, and he satisfies me, and he makes me come like I’ve never come before in my life.”

I look over at Andi, and I’m pretty sure that she can’t say the same thing because I don’t know what’s going on here, but she looks miserable—maybe because she realizes she’s marrying a jerk.

I take a deep breath. “But I will not let you talk to me like that again. I will not let you talk to Luke like that again. You can fuck all the way off, okay? I don’t know why your parents did what they did, and that’s on them, but Luke doesn’t need you or your family’s money. And frankly, you’re lucky he took time out of his busy schedule to come and support you. You should thank him.”

I hear clapping from behind me, and I swing my head around in shock. Juniper, Wendy, Louisa, Gigi, Davis, Rafe, Carter, Preston, my grandmother, and Luke’s grandmother are all standing there, clapping.

Juniper gives me a big thumbs-up and whispers, “Well done.”

“Come on, Luke,” I say, grabbing his hand. “We need to talk.”

He nods, and we head out of the ballroom.

When we exit the door, he turns to me. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“But I had to do that, Luke. I have known you your entire life, and I know your childhood—you’ve always been compared to your brother. Your dad’s a jackass for that, and your mom was not cool for letting it happen. And I know you’ve always felt inferior to Rex, and I know he says and does things to you, and gets under your skin. I know you know you’re better than him, and you always stick up for me. I know you would’ve beaten his ass tonight, and I love you for it. But I can speak up for myself, and I can speak up for you when I have to, and I can put him in his place because I am fucking Mia Bishop. And, yeah, I’m just a girl, and sometimes, I cry at movies, and I cry when I see animals looking lonely, and I cry when I don’t get to speak to you, and I cry when I read books that make me sad. I laugh, and I joke around, and I’m goofy, and I do all sorts of things. But I know how to stick up for myself. Your brother is a bully and a jerk. He has insulted me, and he’s insulted you, and I’ve had enough. I have had motherfucking enough, okay? From the moment I got that invitation, I should have told him where to stick it.”

“I’m kind of glad you didn’t,” Luke says, his lips twitching.