Run, Girl (If You Can)

Michael Gray was in the bathroom when his phone rang. Mandy would have ignored it if it were anyone other than Aaron Hale, her fiancé's notoriously snobby half-brother. He had seemed genuinely sad when he talked about how Aaron wanted nothing to do with him but pretended to anyway.

She giggled slightly to herself as she crossed the room to pick it up. Messing with this man could be fun. It was the least she could do for Mikey.

"Hey there, future brother-in-law," Mandy greeted cheerfully. "Mikey's busy at the moment. Can I take a message for him?"

"He actually lets you call him Mikey?" Aaron asked flatly. "Sorry, forget that. I was going to ask him to have dinner with me but since you're here I may as well invite you too. My wife and I would like to meet you."

She snickered at how he had blurted the first thing that came to mind instead of keeping his cool. And Mikey said he was always such a cold fish! Fl.u.s.tering people like that was particularly satisfying.

Aaron didn't question the fact that she called him her future brother-in-law. So Violet had told her parents about their awkward encounter in the pet store after all.

He had slipped up in the beginning but had recovered his decorum quickly. No fun. She would have to tease him a bit more. Take it as slight revenge for hurting the feelings of the one she cared about.

"And I've been dying to meet you," Mandy said in an indecipherable tone. "Mikey has told me so much about you and your family."

There. That would leave Aaron wondering exactly what he had said.

It was a good way to keep people on their toes. She had learned how to put on different faces with different people the same way her fiancé had. It was yet another thing they had in common. Mandy could only be genuine with Britt's family and now Mikey.

"And I know absolutely nothing about you but your name," Aaron replied coolly. "We'll have to rectify that."

"Oh sure, I'm an open book," she said sweetly.

At that moment the toilet flushed and Mandy knew she was running out of time. What else could she say to get under his skin before Mikey came back and wondered why she was on his phone?

While she frantically tried to think of something clever, he came back and smiled at her before noticing what she was doing. His eyebrows furrowed as the smile dropped immediately.

"What are you doing?"

She gave him her most innocent look. "Aaron called and I wanted to say hi."

Mikey let out a soft snort before indicating that she should put him on speaker. So he wanted to play her little game with her. Excellent.

"Hello there, baby brother," he said in the falsest voice she had ever heard. "I see you've met my lovely Mandy."

Mandy could barely hold back her laughter. Was this how he always talked to Aaron? If so, that was too funny. Based on the way he responded a moment later, she figured that it was. He didn't question the tone at all.

"Unofficially. When exactly were you planning on telling me you were engaged? I would have congratulated you sooner."

"The next time we went out to eat, of course," Mikey responded smoothly. "Why don't you bring my sister-in-law along so we can all get properly acquainted?"

"That sounds nice," a female voice spoke up from Aaron's end.

He must have put his phone on speaker as soon as they did since this voice hadn't made an appearance until now. Mikey hadn't said much about Keeley Hale aside from the fact that Aaron was obsessed with her, claiming she was the only reason he decided to overthrow their father.

She had a pleasant voice. Mandy wondered how someone who sounded nice could be so heartless to her poor fiancé. Perhaps she was going along with what her husband wanted. Or it might be because Mikey's suave voice was fairly off-putting.

It was hard to believe he actually talked like that to everyone else. Did people actually buy that? Nobody sounded that smarmy without trying.

"Keeley, I didn't know you were in on this call. What a pleasant surprise. How have you been the last month? I'm afraid our usual gathering sorely felt the absence of your charming presence," Mikey flattered.

Mandy bit back another laugh. Did he always treat his family like this? If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was trying to make them feel uncomfortable on purpose.

"Sorry about that; I had to work. New project and all," Keeley apologized. "Why don't we set a time to get together? We could go to that sushi restaurant you like."

Mikey was about to say yes when she clamped a hand over his mouth and shook her head. She had a plan. The best way to show off would be if she cooked a fancy dinner at their newly redecorated apartment.

Since moving in, he had let her have (almost) free reign over making things more homey. Now his bachelor pad looked more like a place where a couple lived. She planned to put up a framed picture of the two of them before the Hales came over to confuse them even further. Maybe even more than one.

"I'm not the biggest fan of sushi but I am a pretty decent cook. Why don't the two of you come over here for dinner?" she suggested. "Keeley, you could bring the dessert."

"She makes amazing desserts," Aaron said with a hint of pride in his otherwise flat tone. "Set a date and we'll be there."

Mandy removed her hand from her fiancé's mouth so they could finalize the arrangements. She felt pretty smug by the time they hung up. Putting her full plan into action would take a little bit of work but she had a feeling Mikey would go along with it.

After all, he had wanted to show his perfect little brother that he was capable of being as happy as he was. What better way to do that than put on an epic show?

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