Faking Faith by Josie Bloss Page A

and then looked back at Abigail. She was still staring at me, beaming.
    “So … ” I said. “Did, um, your dad drive you here?”
    She blinked. “Oh, no. Daddy was busy with work, so my brother Asher drove me! You have to meet him!”
    Uh oh.
    From a shadow in the alley behind Abigail, a figure emerged. And there was Asher, the mysterious older brother, in the flesh.
    “This is Faith!” Abigail told him excitedly, dropping my hands so she could hook her arm in his. She was bouncing a little on her toes. “Can you believe she’s finally here? Asher can tell you, I’ve been waiting for this day for absolutely forever. It’s all I’ve talked about for weeks!”
    Asher cleared his throat and nodded his head.
    “Very pleased to meet you, Faith,” he said in a deep voice.
    I’d instantly clammed up as soon as I caught sight of him. Asher was entirely too good-looking for me to feel comfortable.
    Trying not to stare, I took in his light brown hair, which was a little long and curly on top, and a square-jawed face with startling blue eyes. His respectable blue button-down shirt was rolled up to his elbows, exposing strong brown forearms. From what I could tell, beneath his clothes was the body of a Greek statue.
    It wasn’t the sort of hotness that asshole Blake had. Not a preened and self-aware handsomeness, with muscles mostly acquired at a ritzy, air-conditioned athletic club and a lazy tan from trips to Florida or lying out by the family pool. I could tell this boy came by his appearance honestly, through hard manual labor and working in the sun. Asher had clearly earned it.
    But he still scared me.
    Because what caught me so off guard was the realization that I hadn’t actually been attracted to anyone since Blake. Of course, I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to be around guys who weren’t harassing me or actively ignoring me because of my bad, Blake-created reputation. Even the so-called “nice guys” who I’d been friends with since elementary school averted their eyes and laughed along at the nasty jokes the bullies made about me. None of them had stuck up for me.
    Guys in general felt dangerous and unknown. I’d more or less shut that part of my brain down and convinced myself it would be fine to never kiss another person until college.
    But suddenly, with this cute boy, I couldn’t help but notice how there was something about his face and voice, and the softness around his eyes, that sort of woke me up again. It was weird and upsetting. I didn’t want to feel that way. I didn’t want someone to have that sort of power over me again.
    Because the last time I let that happen, naked pictures of me ended up on the Internet.
    Asher was smiling shyly at me, waiting for a response.
    “Faith? Are you all right?” Abigail asked, looking concerned.
    “Hello, Asher. Lovely to meet you,” I said quickly, keeping any coyness in my voice to an absolute minimum, conscious of the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be noticing him as anything other than my friend’s older brother.
    In this world, flirting was looked down upon and considered defrauding. Faith would be horrified by the idea. In fact, Dylan was a bit horrified by the idea as well.
    I already knew Asher had the potential to be a big problem.

NINE
    W e drove back to their farm in the dusty family pickup truck. Abigail took the middle seat and talked excitedly without pause for the whole trip. Asher drove silently, leaning his forearm out the window, tapping along to an unheard tune on the steering wheel.
    I wondered what the song was.
    No, Dylan! I admonished myself. Stop this right now. You are not here to get inexplicable crushes on completely unattainable boys! You are here to …
    What? What exactly was I here in this absurd situation to do?
    “And I thought we could be in charge of dinner one night!” Abigail was saying. “You said you make a mean fried chicken on your blog, didn’t you? And maybe you could make that red velvet cake that