Page 94 of Blue Line

“No, but my agent knew.” I run a hand through my hair. Holy shit. How in the hell did they pull this off?

“He owed me a favor. I asked him to go along with the story,” Sebastian says.

John was in on it? For fuck’s sake. Did everyone know except me and Hadley? It didn’t even dawn on me that Sebastian and I share an agent. But why would it?

Elias starts laughing, and I can’t help glaring at him. He holds up his hands as if in surrender, and I turn back to Sebastian, who’s watching me process.

There’s no way. They couldn’t have.

“Except there was a company that wanted both of us to be in their marketing …” I’m grasping at straws, trying to figure out what was real and what was all a ploy.

“They were already interested. When John pitched also including your fiancée in the deal, of course they ate that shit up,” Sebastian explains.

I sputter. What the hell?

“And you?” I point a finger at Holt. “You acted as though it was a bad idea. What the fuck, man?”

He shrugs, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I had to. If I’d been happy about it, Hadley would have known something was up, and she wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

I throw my hands in the air. “I cannot believe this. So was any of it really fake?”

I should be madder, but honestly, how can I be? I mean I won’t tell them that, but it got me and Hadley together, and I’ll never complain about that.

“The part where Hadley told her ex she was engaged and the party were real. That’s how I got the idea,” Holt says.

“Why?” I ask.

“We were tired of you two dancing around each other. Pretending you didn’t like each other,” Holt explains.

I roll my eyes, fighting the smile that wants to break free. “We’re not in middle school anymore. Or high school.”

“I would hope not,” Sebastian says.

“And you,” I whirl around to Sutton. “You knew too?”

“Not at first, but they filled me in after I couldn’t find where SportsCenter was talking about your engagement, regardless of how hard I searched. I tried to find you, but you were already gone for the day. Elias told me what was going on,” she says.

“And the whole ‘date for social media content’?”

“It was a good idea, right? Forced you two to go out on a date.” I narrow my eyes at her. “We did post those pictures to social media. Everyone ate it up like I knew they would.”

“For fuck’s sake. I thought I was the meddler,” I mutter.

They laugh, and I shake my head.

I’ve been bested at my own bullshit. Okay, not really, because this was next-level meddling. But again, that’s not something I’ll be telling them anytime soon. I scowl at each of them in turn to keep up the ruse of being upset.

“Not that it matters now.” I’m back to staring down at my lap, my stomach rolling. And not from all the sugar I’ve consumed in the past few days, but from the fact that I don’t have Hadley.

The past couple of months were for nothing. I’m still alone. Well, not exactly alone—I have the guys, my brothers—but I don’t have my person. And that hurts.

“We did it because we love you,” Elias finally says.

“You both needed a push because otherwise we’d all be old and gray before you two decided to act on your feelings,” Holt adds.

“And we wanted you to be happy. Together,” Sebastian says.

“But now what? It didn’t end well. She broke up with me. I thought it was a nice gesture to try to help her get a job, and clearly, I don’t know how to read the room. Or her.” I pull on the collar of my shirt.