Three years ago.

Jace's POV

I don't think any guy has ever been in a position where they have to ask their girlfriend if she's cool with them fake dating another girl.

I feel bad for Olivia, I feel bad that I'm so determined to do this for a girl who's not Olivia.

I'm supposed to be on my way to the racing ring right now but I felt like dropping by Olivia's house to ask her how she felt about the whole situation.

But now that I'm here, sitting on her bed and watching her do her homework while humming to a song that's playing in her room, I just keep thinking that she deserves someone better than me.

I know, I know, I literally just asked her to be my girlfriend but I've put myself in her shoes and the thought of her being public with someone else, someone as hot as Cass, that thought makes me jealous as hell.

She peeks over her shoulder and catches me staring absentmindedly, her red lips stretch into a warm smile and she spins her chair around, giving me a playful suspicious look.

"What are you thinking about?" She questions.

"I have to ask you something." I go straight to the point.

"Ask away." She leans back in her chair.

Where do I even start?

I scratch my head while constructing a sentence that won't make things more awkward than they already are.

"Did it...... bother you when you saw me leaving the cafeteria with Cass?" I start there.

She doesn't give me an immediate answer or a reaction that could give me an answer,  she lifts her thumb to her lips and bites on her nail, stalling.

"No." She finally responds but I notice that she averted her gaze while saying that no.

"No? How come?" I feel a little surprised either way.

"Jace, I haven't been in a lot of relationships but I know that every relationship has to have this little thing called trust." She says, confidently.

I purse my lips, nodding my head even though I'm completely disagreeing with her in my mind, not about the trust thing but the trusting me thing, not because I'm going to break her trust or anything but because she doesn't know me well enough to trust me yet.

She brings herself to her feet and walks over to me, she sits beside me and holds my hand in hers. We smile at each other.

"I trust you, Jace, I know Cassandra Richardson looks like the type of girl that steals boyfriends but I trust you and that's all that matters." She says, her words wipe my smile away.

This is exactly what Cass was talking about, society labels her type with all sorts of different names and my girlfriend plays a part in that society.

"She's not the type of girl that steals boyfriends, Liv." I defend, "Don't judge her based off of her looks, that's messed up." I say coldly.

"Okay, geez, sorry." She laughs.

"You're not but that's okay." I stand, looking down at her, "Should I come check on you after the race?" I ask, she immediately nods and I start walking towards her door.

"I'm sorry I bad mouthed your friend." She says behind me, I sigh, turning around to look at her again.

"Liv, she and I are pretending to be in a relationship, it helps her with her social media stuff and I wanna help her because she helped me but I swear on my life, I won't do it if you don't want me to, so I'll ask again, are you good with all this?" I ask in a serious tone.

She shifts uncomfortably, glancing down at her feet.

"Are you going to be kissing on the lips?" She asks while staring at her feet.

"No," I answer.

"Touching unnecessary? Holding hands?" She places her hands on her knees.

"Only when necessary." I say honestly, she slowly shifts her gaze to where I'm standing, pining me with a look that could possibly kill me.

"Only when necessary?" She raises her brows.

"I mean, holding hands doesn't mean anything and maybe I'll have my arm around her a few times." I shrug.

"Arm around her waist or shoulder?"

"What's the difference?"

"Is that a serious question?"

"Where do you want my arm to be then?"

"Shoulder." She says in a duh tone, "With a distance between your bodies." She demonstrates the distance with her hands, I laugh. "I'm serious, Jace." She rolls her eyes.

"I know." I walk back to her, stretching my hand out for her, she takes it and I pull her up, snaking my arm around her waist and kissing her forehead.

"You're cute when you're jealous, makes me hard a little bit." I kiss her neck.

"Promise you'll be good?" She trails her forefinger along my jawline.

"I promise I'll be good." I tangle my fingers in her long dark strands.

"I trust you." She whispers.

"Does that mean you approve?" I whisper back playfully, tilting her head back.

"Yeah, I approve." She giggles, biting her lip.

I bring my lips down to hers, pulling that wet lip between my teeth, licking it then sucking it into my mouth, she gasps into my open mouth, fisting my shirt and pulling me in for more but I can't go farther than this. I'll tear her clothes off and she'll let me but I don't think I'm ready to have sex again after what happened last time.

"Liv," I pull away.

"What's wrong?" She studies my face.

"I have to go." I say.

"Right now?" She whines, trying to kiss me again but I dodge her kiss.

"Yeah, I have a race." I smile at her.

"A little longer?" She kisses my chin, "Please?" She plants a kiss on my sealed lips.

"You're horny." I accuse, staring at her face, she snorts a laugh.

"No, Jace, I'm not...." She trails, leaving the sentence hanging cause she can't bring herself to say the word.

"Say it." I push.

"No." She steps back from me, rubbing the back of her neck, "Can I come with?"

"Yes, Olivia, you can come with me." I wink at her.

"Oh my God, shut up." She gives me a playful shove, palming her face in embarrassment, I laugh.

"Olivia, you don't have to be embarrassed." I say through my laugh.

"Let me change into something comfortable." She changes the subject, turning on her heel and walking to her closet, "Close your eyes." She tells me as soon as she opens her closet.

"Why?" I ask.

"Cause I wanna change." She says.

"Then change." I respond, she sighs.

"I don't want you to see me naked." She mumbles.

"But you won't be naked, you'll be half naked." I point out.

"Same thing, close your eyes." She orders, I release a defeated sigh, letting my eyelids fall shut.

"I feel like you're gonna open them at some point." She speaks.

"Well now you're just giving me ideas." I open my eyes, "I'll wait downstairs." I kiss her forehead before leaving the room.

I wait for her downstairs, her dog Sam is still at some kind of war with my presence, every time we're in a room together, it looks like it's about to bite my head off.

"Ready?" She descends down the stairs wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"Yeah." I smile at her.

We head out of the house but she halts when we near my bike.

"What's wrong?" I ask, thinking she forgot something in the house.

"Motorcycles. I hate motorcycles." She says.

"You've got to be kidding." I huff.

"I kid you not, do you know how many people die from riding this thing?" She points at it.

"Do you know how many people die from driving cars?" I point at the car in her driveway.

"Cars aren't-"

"Liv, I don't have time for this right now." I grab my helmet and I slip it on her head, patting it once it's secured on her head, she gives me a bored expression in return.

*********************

The racing ring or the valley is where all the troubled kids hang out on random nights, I've been racing here since I was fifteen, it's illegal but they don't tell you that when you're a good racer and new to the thing.

Long story short, I found out it wasn't legal and I still continued racing, mostly because I love it here, it's a different kind of fun.

I leave my bike with Owen, he always double checks the bike before the race for some reasons.

I grab Olivia's hand and I walk us to the real party, where everyone is drinking, cheering and chanting while watching two motorcycles race each other around a large bonfire.

"This is insane." Says Olivia.

"Welcome to hell." I whisper in her ear, she sends me a playful glare then smiles and elbows me.

"You're late," Blair walks up to us, pointing a finger at me, "And you're so awesome for coming, c'mon, I got drinks." She grabs Olivia's hand and drags her away, Olivia looks over her shoulder, calling for help but a part of me wants her to be friends with my friends so I let her go.

"How did you convince her to come to this?" Diego stands in front of me, watching them disappear into the wild crowd.

"She volunteered." I chuckle.

"Okay, Jace, I see you." He punches my shoulder, I shake my head at him.

"Cass here too?" I look around the crowd for the blonde.

"I think it's gonna take you a while to understand that Cass lives the life of a twenty-something year old woman, she can't be found hanging out around here." He  says.

"Okay, where is she then?"

"Probably having more fun or just fully bored." He shrugs.

"Yeah." I picture her having fun and being bored.

"Is that concern in your tone?" He squints his eyes at me.

"What?" I start walking back to where I left my bike.

"That 'yeah' it sounded more like you were wondering if she was okay, if she was having fun or if she was just sleeping it off." He follows me.

"No, don't be ridiculous." I tuck my hands in my pockets.

"Jace," He grips my shoulder, stopping me from walking and standing in front of me.

"What?" I ask irritatedly.

"If you dare fall for Cass while you're in a relationship with Olivia, that will be the end of our friendship." He threatens.

"What? Are you crazy? I'm not going to fall for Cass, I like Olivia, and you know that." I try to walk passed him but he extends his hand, stopping me.

"Yeah but I know that look." It's funny how serious he looks while saying all this bullshit.

"Bro, you're overreacting, there is no look, I'm with Olivia and I'm fucking happy for once, man, congratulate me or something, Jesus fucking Christ."

He whistles, shaking his head at me like I'm dumb or something, "We'll see."