Forbidden Boy by Abbott, Hailey (the false prince series txt) 📕

Chloe laughed. “Do you remember when that was us? Watching senior guys pass by in the hallway at school and just totally losing it?”

“I know! Mitch even went up and asked them their names, and they just giggled and ran away.” Julianne leaned in closer to her sister, still laughing. “I thought Lucy was going to make them name tags or something.”

“It sounds like it was fun.” Chloe sighed. “Much better than filling out charts all night.”

“You’ll have to come with us next time. It’ll be great!”

Julianne promised.

Julianne linked her arm through her sister’s. She couldn’t have been happier to be sitting on the beach with her best friend in the world after a fabulous night, with one glaring exception. She felt gross not telling Chloe about Remi. Right now, they were the two most important people on Earth to her, and she would have loved it if they could somehow get along. She had a feeling they would, if Chloe could forget he was a Moore.

Save for some pilfered Halloween candy when she was eight, Julianne had never hidden anything from her sister before. It made her feel dirty.

Chloe’s voice jolted Julianne out of her reverie. “Let’s talk more about your night!”

“Okay,” Julianne replied enthusiastically. “What haven’t we covered? So, the Fishtail was packed, the music was great, people were dancing. It was really fun.”

“The guys were cute?” Chloe reaffirmed.

“Definitely,” Julianne answered, though her thoughts centered around one cute guy in particular.

“I haven’t been out in for-ever,” Chloe enunciated.

“All I do these days is work. I don’t think I’ve been to a party since Malibu.”

“Yeah …” Julianne trailed off noncommittally. She was realizing that her promise to go out with her sister next time around might not work if she wanted to see Remi, too.

“Can I ask you a question?” Chloe asked thoughtfully. Julianne felt her heart sink. She couldn’t have a heart-to-heart with Chloe right now. Not when there was something so big that she couldn’t share.

“Yup?” Julianne squeaked.

“How would you feel about having a little soiree next week?” Chloe suggested conspiratorially.

“While Dad is in New York?” Jules was hesitant—she already had way too many secrets in her life right now.

“You, my dear, are a mind reader. You know, like a bringing-down-the-house party?” Chloe pressed on, full steam ahead.

“A what?” Julianne had no idea what Chloe meant.

“A bringing-down-the-house party. You know, if the Moores are going to level our house anyway, then we ought to throw it quite the goodbye shindig.” Julianne felt her heart thud to her feet. Her pulse was racing.

“But wouldn’t Dad be pretty pissed off if we get to keep the house after all and there’s nothing left but a post-party pile of stones and beams?” Julianne focused on the mounds of sand she was still transferring from leg to leg.

“Fair enough,” Chloe answered thoughtfully. “I was halfway joking, anyway.”

Julianne rested her head against her sister’s shoulder.

Her heart was still racing with the stress of being dishonest. “I know,” she said softly.

“So, tell me more about the Fishtail,” Chloe chirped.

“Who was there, who was single?”

“Um, Hunter and Mitch,” Julianne began.

“Yeah, but you run with them. They don’t count.

They’re too sibling-y to make out with. Who else?”

Chloe pressed on.

“Oh, I don’t know. Some surfers. Some guys playing pool—Lucy was really into them.” Julianne wished this conversation would just stop, somehow.

“Hmm. Definite potential,” Chloe declared. “Anyone really catch your eye, though? Anyone special?”

This was becoming torturous. “No one new.”

Julianne answered, choosing her words deliberately so that she wasn’t lying, exactly. She thought she and Chloe had covered all of this already.

“Well, just meeting new guys is half the battle,”

Chloe said supportively. “I know it was tough for you to get over McMansion Jr., but I’m really glad you did. It’s good to see you going out and meeting new guys.”

Julianne was silent.

“Jules, you know I’m proud of you, right?” Chloe’s words were like salt in a huge cut on her sister’s heart.

“That painting was really amazing, you know,” Chloe said after a moment of silence.

Julianne smiled at her sister. “Thanks.”

“Have you given any thought to applying to schools yet?” Jules could tell that her sister, always the organizer and the achiever, was gearing up for a big Jules-goes-to-college push.

“Sure,” Julianne said. “I mean, you know, some.

Nothing really serious. I’ve been sort of … occupied with other things this summer.”

“No, totally. I understand that.” Chloe nodded. “But you should really check out some art schools. You’re incredible—you’ll be beating off recruiters with a stick.”

“Oh yeah. That’s the best way to get a full ride to college, ya know,” Julianne teased. “I’ll definitely bring a stick along to all my campus interviews.”

Chloe giggled. “I think that’s what they mean by taking the college application process into your own hands.

Beat them into submission and so on.”

“You never miss a beat, do you Chloe?” Julianne laughed at her own bad joke.

“Oh God, we really are related.” Chloe snorted.

“Please tell me we don’t pun alike. I think we Kahn girls may be genetically not funny.”

“I’m afraid it’s true,” Jules agreed—but she couldn’t help but laugh.

Chapter Twenty

A“w yeah!” Randy called as Julianne and Remi walked toward the staircase to the basement, tiles crammed into their tool belts, cement and spreaders in either hand. “If the bathroom’s a rockin’, don’t come a’knockin’.”

“Oh, stop!” Julianne laughed. “Remi and I are just going to lay some tile.”

“Well that’s a shame, darlin’,” Randy replied. As Julianne followed Remi downstairs, she heard Randy chuckling to himself.

Crammed into the tiny auxiliary bathroom in the basement of the eco-house, safely hidden from the tor-rential rains outside, Remi reached for a tile across Julianne’s lap and (maybe not so accidentally) brushed across her thigh.

Every time he got anywhere near her, Julianne felt like she’d just walked into a really pleasant bug zapper.

Everything flashed blue and electric and she had to double check to make sure that she was still breathing.

She pulled herself together long enough to raise a sly eyebrow and tease, “Excuse me, Mr. Moore. A responsible project