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Thick saliva pooled in the back of my throat as I slowly processed what Wade was saying. Even with the chill in the air, my skin broke out in a thin veil of sweat. I pulled the sleeves of my jacket down over my palms, taking deep breaths to calm myself. I was going to be sick.
“The contract is already written. Pen meets paper tonight, Zane. You’re too late,” Wade laughed. He took a step toward him and I flinched, wondering if his anger would get the better of him, if he’d throw a punch. “I doubt you could gather enough evidence to properly convince him before he signs.”
“You know damn well I could.” Zane didn’t even flinch as Wade closed the distance between them.
“And what would that net you? You’d upset Chloe. She did her fucking best for me because she’s my sister, Zane. Flesh and blood. Do you want her to feel like that was for nothing? Do you want her to blame herself for telling you something she absolutely shouldn’t have?” Wade’s face was going red, the veins in his forehead flexing against his skin. “All of that just to spite me for hiring some girl I couldn’t give two shits about at the end of the day.”
I took a step back from the door and fought the burning behind my eyes. He’d sounded so cold, so bitter, so angry. Had talked about me as if I were a bug trapped under his boot, as if I meant absolutely nothing to him. I’d let it happen again despite what I swore to myself. I’d dropped my walls. I’d fallen. And he’d fucking lied to me.
I clutched the fabric of my dress where it fell against my chest, resisting the choking sound I so desperately wanted to let out. Forcing myself to breathe in, the air felt like needles as it filled my empty lungs and hit the back of my lump-filled throat. I wanted to go home.
The ringing in my ear was enough to distract me from whatever else they were saying. All I could focus on was calming down, collecting myself, and as I slowly began to relax, I could hear the screeching of tires as someone pulled out of the parking garage. Considering we were the only few left in the building, it was either Zane or Wade. I could make it through the evening. I had to. It was the last thing to do and then I was free, the contract would be signed, and I wouldn’t have a reason to keep playing this role for him. And as much as that made my chest feel as though it were on fire, I had to do it. For myself, for Mom, and for my own sanity.
I’d get through the evening then forget that he existed.
I’d done it before. I could do it again.
————
“Are you okay?”
Wade squeezed the stocking-covered flesh of my thigh as we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant he’d booked out. “I’m fine,” I lied. I’d kept my eyes glued to my phone for the entire ride over.
“You’ve barely spoken since we got in the car. Is everything alright with your mom?” he asked. He pulled the car into the space he’d reserved in front of the restaurant and shifted into park before turning to look at me. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze. “We don’t have to do this if you need to be with her. I can figure something else out.”
“She’s fine,” I sighed. I tried to think of something coherent I could assemble together to explain my attitude, but I wasn’t sure if it was even worth it, if he even cared. The words he spoke sounded like he did, but everything he’d shouted at Zane back in the garage played on repeat in my mind. If what he’d said back there was true, then he didn’t care. “I’m just nervous.”
He lifted his hand from my knee and pushed a loose curl back behind my ear. I flinched. “You don’t need to be nervous,” he said. “You did a great job at the resort. It’s only a few hours this time instead of a few days.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” he insisted, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I could feel the worry emanating from him that I’d back out. He was giving me the option, but I could tell it was just to play up to his nice-guy facade. I was tempted to take him up on it.
“It’s fine. Let’s get this over with.”
————
Two scribbled lines of pen marks and three cocktails later, my job of being his pretend girlfriend was done. I clutched the margarita in my hand like a cross as I watched Wade laugh and joke with Dom’s father. Alec wasn’t the greatest of men by any stretch, and I’d noticed the countless times he’d looked at me and the other women in attendance like we were pieces of meat. Maybe he and Wade really would get on well.
I want you. I don’t want to stop.
I took a sip of my drink to calm my twisting stomach. Every moment, every piece of it had been a lie. I’d bared myself to him in almost every form, given him every inch of me on a silver platter, and he’d played along to keep me on board with his stupid fucking plan. And to think I’d told my mother I was falling in love with him. No matter how wrong it was to wish she’d forget it, I wanted her to.
Every kiss of shared breath wasn’t real. Every night spent between the sheets for hours and hours, never able to get enough, was one-sided. Every gift, every sweet moment, was to keep me playing his game.
A hand snaked its way around my waist and I wanted to throw up on his shoes.
“Hey,” Wade whispered, his mouth so close to my ear that I could feel his breath fan out across my skin. “Talk to me. Something’s wrong.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Three and a half cocktails for you seems more like a call for help than a good time.”
“I’m fine.”
“Then dance with me,” he grinned, spinning me around carefully to face him. “Celebrate with me. This is just as much your victory as it is mine.”
Bullshit. The word fought against my lips to be set free, but I clenched them closed, keeping them locked away. No use burning bridges tonight. We would be finished after this anyway, and I would need a job again. I didn’t bother thinking about him covering Mom’s medical bills like he said he would. I doubted any of it would hold up after the night was over.
