The Accidental Boyfriend
Christina Benjamin
Crown Atlantic Publishing
Contents
Follow Author
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Also by Christina Benjamin
The Practice Boyfriend Info
The Almost Boyfriend Info
The Goodbye Boyfriend Info
The Holiday Boyfriend
The Stand-In Boyfriend Info
The Maybe Boyfriend Info
The Accidental Boyfriend Info
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Keep up with Author Christina Benjamin
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 2018 by Christina Benjamin
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Atlantic Publishing
Version 1.1
April 2018
“Things happen for a reason.”
This book is for all those who keep going,
even when they don’t know the reason yet.
Prologue
ac·ci·dent
noun
1.
an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
2.
an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.
The thing about accidents is that you never see them coming. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been on a collision course for one—accidents are sneaky like that. Some can tear your world apart, others put you right where you were always meant to be. So it does beg the question: Can an accident ever be a good thing?
Magic 8 Ball says: Better not tell you now.
1
Lucy
“I don’t know, Lucy . . . I’m a terrible liar,” Brooke protested.
“Brooke, please. I probably won’t even be late, but you’re my fall back plan, okay?”
Brooke groaned. “I don’t see why you can’t just tell Alex that you’re gonna be late. He’s supposedly your boyfriend.”
“He is my boyfriend,” Lucy corrected, rolling her eyes. She did not need to get into that argument with her best friend again.
“Fine, but he’s an athlete too. He should understand why you can’t skip swim practice. It’s not like soccer is more important than swimming.”
Lucy laughed. “Try telling Alex that.”
“Tell me again why you’re still dating him?” Brooke asked.
A whistle blew in the background and Lucy winced. She needed to get back to the pool before her coach noticed she was taking an unnecessarily long break. “Brooke, you owe me. Just cover for me if I’m late.”
“Fine, but if you’re not there when Alex comes running over for his pregame kiss all bets are off. I draw that line at kissing jock-wads!”
“Brooke! Please just stall him.”
“How?”
“I don’t care, just come up with something!”
“Like you’re in line buying unicorn farts?” Brooke cracked.
“Brooke, can you just do this?”
“It’s never gonna work.”
“Yes it will!”
Brooke was silent for a beat and Lucy had a sneaking suspicion what her quirky roommate was up to. “Brooke, I swear to God if you’re consulting your Magic 8 Ball I’m gonna scream.”
“But it’s never wrong!” Brooke grumped.
Lucy sighed. “I gotta go. I’ll do my best to get there in time. But if I’m late you better lie your ass off!”
Brooke
Brooke set her phone down when Lucy disconnected their call. She had a bad feeling about this. She hated lying almost as much as she hated her roommate’s soccer star boyfriend, Alex Alvez.
Lucy was a sweetheart and Alex was a fame-whoring control freak. For the life of her, Brooke couldn’t figure out why Lucy was still dating him. But right now, she had more pressing matters, like how the hell to lie to his face if Lucy got stuck at swim practice.
Brooke was a notoriously terrible liar, and she was doubtful in her abilities to deceive the short-tempered Brazilian soccer-god if it came down to it. She glanced down at the Magic 8 Ball resting in her lap. Lucy knew Brooke too well, because she was most certainly going to consult her favorite fortune telling system.
Brooke took a deep breath and gave herself a pep talk. “I can do this for Lucy. Everything is going to be just fine, right?” She shook her Magic 8 Ball for good measure and turned it over, letting out a little gasp of horror as the answer materialized through the blue liquid.
Magic 8 Ball says: Outlook not so good.
Jaxon
“I’m going out for a run!” Jaxon called as he battled his way to the front door of his uncle’s house trying not to let the dogs escape. Two yellow labs barked enthusiastically, tails wagging like whips. “Not today, boys,” Jaxon said giving his dogs a pat. They gazed at him with their sad chocolaty eyes. “Oh don’t look at me like that.” But they continued pulling his heartstrings with their pathetic whining. “I know, I know, but I’m going too far for ya today. And besides, it’s not like our old neighborhood. You have to stay on the sidewalks here and all the yards are fenced off so there’s no territory for you boys to mark.”
Jaxon was busy reasoning with his dogs, while scratching their heads when Uncle Steven popped into the hallway. “I’ve gotta go into the hospital tonight and your brother’s on nightshift. You got your father?”
Jaxon nodded. “Yeah, I got
him.” He swallowed back the bitterness that suddenly rose up within. “How is he today?”
“He’s trying,” Uncle Steven replied solemnly.
Not hard enough. Jaxon swallowed the smart remark on the tip of his tongue. He knew his uncle was just trying to make things better. But that was the problem—he shouldn’t have to. That responsibility lay with Jaxon’s father, not his brother who took him in, or his sons who had to take turns babysitting him.
Sometimes Jaxon didn’t know why he bothered asking about his father at all. He already knew the answer. Especially since he’d seen him last night, looking glassy-eyed at a bottle of Jack he’d drank his way through.
“It’s gonna take some time,” Uncle Steven intoned, placing a hand on Jaxon’s shoulder.
That was the one thing Jaxon didn’t have. In a few short months he’d be graduating and moving on to college. That was the plan anyway. But if things didn’t get better with his father soon, all bets were off.
Jaxon knew putting off college was a real possibility since someone had to look after his father. He wanted to be bitter about it, but it was hard when Jaxon felt responsible. If it weren’t for him, maybe his father wouldn’t be drowning his unquenchable depression in endless bottles of booze. If it weren’t for Jaxon . . . well, everything might be different.
“Want me to order you something for dinner before I leave?” Uncle Steven offered.
“Nah,” Jaxon replied. “I’ve got it covered.” Which meant he’d order pizza and try to catch up on his never-ending homework while keeping an eye on his father.
“How about something healthier than pizza?” Uncle Steven asked as though he could read Jaxon’s mind.
“What’s wrong with pizza?”
Uncle Steven crossed his arms. “It’s not the healthiest choice you could make.”
“Hence the running.” Jaxon gave his uncle a salute, then he slipped out the door and started his run. Being able to eat anything he wanted wasn’t the only reason Jaxon ran so much. His uncle probably knew that, but thankfully he didn’t push.
Ever since Jaxon moved to LA, running was the only way he could keep his emotions leashed. Some days were worse than others. And today . . . today was a bad day.
2
Lucy
Shit! Was that really the time? Lucy cringed as she glanced at the dashboard clock again. Her swim practice had run over and now she was stuck in rush hour traffic. Which in LA basically meant she was going nowhere fast.
Brooke was going to kill her. Alex’s soccer game was starting in ten minutes! Which meant poor Brooke had been stalling him for a while now. Lucy cringed. She could only imagine the wacked out things her eccentric roommate was coming up with to cover for her. To say Brooke and Alex didn’t get along was the understatement of the century. More like barely tolerated each other.
If it weren’t for Lucy, the soccer star and the artist would probably never have crossed paths. They were like oil and water—or maybe hot sauce and watercolors were more accurate. Either way, if Alex and Brooke were being forced to converse right now, who knew what Lucy would be walking into. But one thing she did know, there was no way she would make it to Alex’s game in time.
“He’s gonna kill me,” she hissed to herself.
Lucy pounded on the horn and beat the steering wheel. Why was there never enough time in the day? Classes, homework, swim team and Alex’s insane soccer schedule never left Lucy with any free time.
This wasn’t at all how she thought her last year of high school would be. It was all flying by so fast and she was missing everything. She couldn’t remember the last time she went to a party or went out with her friends. Wasn’t she supposed to be trying to get into clubs or using her fake ID? She hadn’t done anything fun like that since sophomore year. Hell, she hadn’t even been on a date this year. Really, was dinner and a movie that much to ask for? And all for what? So she could sit on the sidelines at Alex’s soccer matches?
Lucy sighed. Sometimes she really didn’t know why she was dating Alex. Lately, she’d been feeling overwhelmed by their situation. Dating him was like boarding a one-way train with no stops. At the time, Lucy thought she was okay with the destination. But that was five years ago. Was she really not allowed to change her mind now? It certainly felt like it.
Lucy glared at the unmoving brake lights ahead of her. Brooke was right; Lucy should’ve just told Alex she had swim practice today rather than trying to kill herself getting to his game. At the rate her Jeep was crawling, she’d be lucky to make it by halftime. Brooke would’ve caved by then and that meant Alex would spend all night lecturing Lucy in his annoyingly perfect Brazilian accent about how his soccer career is more important than anything Lucy wanted to do.
She squeezed her eyes shut at the next red light, already envisioning their conversation. It was always the same. “Luz, you’re the girlfriend. You need to be the girlfriend. Nothing else, lindenza.”
Lindenza—pretty. That’s all Lucy was to Alex lately, a pretty thing to have on his arm.
She sighed. It wasn’t always like that. She’d fallen in love with Alexandre Alvez the moment she met him. They were only children back then. Alex was just the sweet boy who lived next door. He wasn’t a YouTube celebrity or a soccer sensation being stalked by gold digging women and MLS scouts. They’d just been a boy and a girl who grew up together, who shared their first kiss, their first love, their first everything.
It broke Lucy’s heart that she could feel the special bond between them slipping away. She still loved Alex. She probably always would, but she knew things weren’t right between them. They hadn’t been for a while. But she couldn’t seem to find a way out of her situation. And if she didn’t get to this soccer match on time, things would just get worse.
Brooke
“Where is Luz?” Alex asked for what seemed like the millionth time, making Brooke’s brow bead with sweat. She mopped it away with her fluffy lavender wristband while stalling for time. Dang it, Lucy! You were supposed to be here by now. The game was about to start and Brooke had already told Alex that Lucy was in the ladies room, twice.
“Umm, I don’t know. I guess she must still be in the ladies room. You know us girls, the line can get pretty long when bitches be gossiping and braiding each other’s hair.”
Alex gave Brooke a funny look and she mentally scolded herself for allowing a slip of verbal vomit. That’s always what happened when she tried to lie. Her normally sharp tongue turned useless and random things that made no sense at all spilled out of her mouth. Brooke barely had a filter as it was, but when she lied it got ten times worse.
“Maybe you should go check on her,” Alex suggested. “I need my good luck kiss before the game.”
Brooke stood up quickly, spilling the Skittles that had been resting on her lap. They bounced everywhere while Alex looked on in disgust. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone in the stands nearby was glaring at Brooke like she had two heads. Great. Just what she needed in her life.
“Taste the rainbow,” she blurted out trying to roll with her clumsy candy fumble.
“Can you just go check on my girlfriend?” Alex muttered.
“Right.” Brooke skirted out of her box seats, grateful for an excuse to get the hell away from Alex’s glare.
She jogged up the stairs to the corridor that led to the main concourse, dreading what she’d have to come up with next if Lucy didn’t show up soon. The only thing Brooke had going for her was that Alex probably wasn’t suspicious of her verbal diarrhea since just about every girl on campus fell over themselves stuttering when Alex gave them the time of day. Of course, Brooke wasn’t usually one of those girls. Those two-faced jersey chasers were half the reason Brooke was always telling Lucy she could do better. Alex was a shameless flirt. Sure he was a gorgeous social media megastar with millions of followers, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a grade-A douchebag.
Last summer, Alex was caught making out with Trista McAllister on camera. Caught, for Pete’s sake!
But that still wasn’t enough to make Lucy dump him. The video went viral, but it was like the guy could do no wrong. Sometimes Brooke wondered what the hell Alex had on Lucy to make her put up with his bullshit. It must’ve been something big, because after the Trista-Alex make out video, it was like open season on campus. Girls were practically throwing themselves at Alex right in front of Lucy, but none worse than Trista.
Trista McAllister was the most popular girl on campus, which at Saint Andrews
Prep, meant she had the most money. And homegirl had it bad for Alex. Maybe he had magic man bits or something. Why else would Lucy deal with such blatant disrespect?
Whatever it was, Lucy remained by Alex’s side, the dutiful girlfriend. She even kept up all his ridiculous rituals. Like the good luck kiss before every soccer match.
Alex was a superstitious freak. One game he happened to run up to the stands and kiss Lucy over the railing after a particularly awesome goal. That was one of the best games of his life and the first time he was featured on ESPN. Ever since that day, Alex made sure to do the same thing at the start of each game and the tradition was born—which was why Lucy wasn’t allowed to miss a game.
The Accidental Boyfriend: A YA Contemporary Romance Novel (The Boyfriend Series Book 7) Page 1