When Fake Changed Everything

by J P Sayle

  Copyright © 2019 by JP Sayle

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Book Cover © 2019 Design by Tina Løwén

  People in images are models and should not be connected to the characters in the book. Any resemblance is incidental.

  Editing by Lucas Cornelius

  Proofreading by HL Day

  Book Formatting by Champagne Book Design

  References to real people, events, organisations, locations, or establishments are only intended to give a sense of authenticity and have been used fictitiously.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark on Apple.

  Films, music, and lyrics mentioned are the property of the copyright holders.

  Warning

  Some of the content of this book contains the use of explicit language and adult situations involving two males. It is intended for young adults and mature audiences.

  Title Page

  Copyright

  About This Book

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue

  Up and Coming New Releases

  Other Books By the Author

  About the Author

  When did being ‘fake boyfriends’ start making it difficult to remain ‘friends?

  Jamie Rider is a man who accepts who he is with no boundaries, but with that comes consequences that leave him vulnerable.

  That is, until Todd.

  Todd shows him that he’ll always be his knight in shining armour bringing Jamie to a new reality.

  Todd stands up to the bullies allowing Jamie to see that friendship is no longer the thing he craves the most.

  But can a fake relationship, too many years of friendship and a nasty boss prevent Jamie from gaining the one thing he now realises he can’t live without—Todd?

  ‘When Fake Changed Everything’ is a standalone book. It is M/M romance with fake relationship, friends to lovers, and a best friend who needs a sassy boyfriend who loves to wear heels.

  This book was a surprise and the characters were inspired by two pictures posted by Anna, so thank you for giving me inspiration I never knew I needed.

  To my team, Lucas, HL, Tina, Mandy, Keren, Julie and Stacey, you make this process so much easier, and for that, I can’t thank you enough.

  Jamie

  NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I told myself that I wouldn’t be pushed around by my boss, I still struggled to stand up for myself. Tears welling in my eyes, I blinked, furious with yet again finding myself in this situation.

  “Jamie, are you listening to me?” Brent asked, his voice grating like sandpaper. His eyebrows, having gone from two caterpillars to one, showed his irritation.

  Someone really needed to tell him that there were beauticians that could deal with that nowadays. Seriously, there was no excuse for looking like a woolly mammoth, not in this day and age.

  “Yes Brent, I’m listening. You want me to attend the Thanksgiving party as your date.” I choked out the last part, not sure if it would help if I was sick all over his fancy suit. I swallowed the bile burning in my throat and scrabbled to come up with a valid excuse to avoid going to the party with him.

  He’d been hounding me for days about it. As he was my boss and made no bones to hide how much he wanted in my pants, I’d been working on avoidance tactics. My stealth moves would have rivalled any operative in the SAS. Only this morning, he’d managed to collar me in the break room when I wasn’t paying attention. I needed this job to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head. What I didn’t need was to lose my shit because my boss was a jerk.

  The next words out of my mouth were like signing my own death warrant. “My boyfriend is visiting over the holidays, and as I don’t get to see him as often as I’d like, we tend to stay in.” I gave a shrug and a flirty wink, hoping he’d get the subtext without me spelling it out, and leave me alone.

  It was of course, a total lie. There was no boyfriend, and hadn’t been for far too long to count. There was, however, my best friend since high school, coming to stay for a few weeks’ vacation. So it was only a tiny white lie, okay, maybe not tiny. Todd and I had never been boyfriends, and I’m sure me even saying it out loud would constitute a massive issue for him. But hey, needs must and all, and he wasn’t there to call me out on it.

  A dark, thunderous cloud seemed to invade the room and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to avoid the downpour. I could almost feel my body getting ready to duck for cover.

  “Your boyfriend. I didn’t know you had one…”

  The pause was so long, it indicated that he didn’t believe me.

  “Well, that’s okay. You can bring him with you. I’d like to meet the man who has captured your heart.”

  The sneered last part got my back up. What did he mean captured my heart? Was he saying no one would want to capture it, or that they’d be lucky to have me? Not that that was the real issue here, but it’s where my head went. It was clearly avoidance tactics because the thought of talking my best friend into pretending to be my boyfriend for the night, terrified me.

  My heart beat faster than the wings of a hummingbird. How had I got myself into this mess? And how the hell did I get out of it? Todd was the exact opposite of me. I was small, skinny, and far too pretty for my own good. I loved clothes, make-up, and high heels. Todd was the polar opposite. Big, burly, with more hair than a bear, and he hid out in the woods like the lumberjack that he was. He didn’t mix well with others and wore plaid shirts and jeans, not that there was anything wrong with that. It just wasn’t me.

  We did have one thing in common, we were both gay, so there was that. Now you’re asking how we are even friends.

  I’m telling you, I’ve asked myself this question a lot over the fifteen years we’ve been friends. We met in junior high, after I’d yet again been the kicking post for that bastard Kent and his motley crew. Their daily plan of make Jamie cry was well underway when Todd found me. I was lying in a pathetic heap on the floor, snot and blood mixing together in an unsightly mess.

  Then along comes Todd to the rescue. He was a newbie, having transferred from another state because his parents were getting divorced. I’d seen him in the corridor and we’d shared a couple of classes, but he’d never spoken to me. That wasn’t unusual, no one spoke to me. Well they did, but it was normally to shout obscenities like fag or homo. Or any combination you can think of. By then I’d heard them all.

  They hurt. I’d learned that because I was too pretty with a penchant for wearing a little make-up and feminine clothing, nothing was ever going to change. I was wrong. The moment Todd stepped in front of me while I was curled up on the floor trying to protect my face from the fists heading in my direction, my life changed.

  He evidently hadn’t got the memo that no one messed with Kent the golden boy. Todd waded right in and gave the bullies a taste of their own medicine. It was one of the best days of my life, and ever since, Todd had become my saviour. I can’t say it got better in school, but it got so I didn’t go home with bruises on a daily basis, which was a plus.

  That being said, never once had I ever been
stupid enough to mix up what he offered me, friendship, with anything else. Oh, I wanted more, I can admit that. Fuck, he was gorgeous regardless of the fact he loved plaid. Tall, dark, hairy, with muscles that would rival King Kong. What’s not to love? If I then told you he was the kindest person I knew and never judged anyone, you’d be as smitten as me, right?

  Fingers snapped under my nose and pulled me from my thoughts. When I met Brent’s gaze, I could see the interest, along with something that made my skin crawl.

  “So, I’ll put you down as bringing a date. But if your boyfriend can’t make it, then remember I’ll be your date.”

  A confidence that really wasn’t appealing in any way, rolled off him as he gave me a nod and walked out of the room. Sagging against the counter, I struggled to keep it together. The buzzing in my ears and throbbing at my temples were not helping my cause. I shut my eyes and rubbed at my temples. Doing my best impression of meditating standing up, I sucked in several breaths.

  Heaving a sigh, I opened my eyes and realised that it wasn’t going to work. My head was battered with the thought of going to a party with my sleazy boss. Ever since he’d been transferred from head office two months prior, he’d been pressuring me to go out on a date. I’d somehow or other avoided being in a position where I had to go. No matter how many times I said no though, it made no difference.

  Now, with this mandatory work function, I was fucked, because as much as Todd loved me as a friend, there was no way he would agree to be my fake boyfriend. Not even for one night. Would he?

  Todd

  HEFTING UP MY BAG, I walked up the last flight of stairs to Jamie’s small apartment. I’d been coming here for my vacations ever since Jamie had bought the place five years ago, after moving out of his mom’s house.

  The first time Jamie invited me, I’d been a little scared of what it would be like being trapped with him in a small space. He had a tendency to take up all the space he was in. He might be tiny, but his personality made up for that.

  Not that I was complaining, because I’m not. I love that about him. He doesn’t take shit off anyone. He owns who he is, right down to his sparkly make-up and flamboyant clothes.

  I shuddered. I love him. He was my best friend, but the thought of what he did to his body made me cringe. Once, he took me to a beauty parlour. Just watching them pluck at his eyebrows was more than enough to have me running screaming from the shop. No one needed to be plucking or pulling at shit with those tiny tweezers, never mind what they did behind closed doors with a waxing kit.

  Ignoring the way my cock twitched at the idea of feeling Jamie’s smooth skin against it, I shifted my mind to the long list of jobs I had to do when I got back home. Fortunately, that was enough to stop my dick from getting any ideas, just as I stopped at Jamie’s door.

  Knocking, I prayed that Jamie had remembered I was coming. Twice in the past he’d forgotten, which didn’t do a lot for a man’s ego, even if we were only friends.

  The door burst open and a whirlwind carried me through the door in a waft of scent and big hugs. He was so tiny. It still amazed me that he could hug me and make me feel small. It was no mean feat considering I was six-foot-five, and triple his size and weight.

  “Oh, you made it in good time. I take it there was no traffic or not much anyway? I have your room all ready and I’ve got steaks all thawed. The beer is chilling in the fridge.”

  He lost me at beer in the fridge as he continued to talk ten to the dozen while dragging me through his apartment and into the room I’d claimed as my own. I dropped my holdall and eyed my best friend. There was something a little off with him and I couldn’t put my finger on it. The chatter was normal, but the edge of nervousness was not.

  We’d known each other too long, and I knew him almost as well as I knew myself. Something wasn’t right.

  Our first encounter had left me with two things, a hatred for the popular boys in the school I’d transferred into, and a part of my heart claimed forever by the boy who lay curled up, scared and defenceless against the bullies, but who still hadn’t let them beat the light out of his eyes.

  That light had captured my heart the moment his pretty bluebell-coloured eyes landed on me and stole my breath. My world somehow got brighter and was never the same again. Not that I’d ever let on. Jamie was a butterfly who was drawn to pretty things, something I was not. Over the following years when I realised I was gay, I’d hoped that maybe there could be more between us than friendship, but he’d never shown any interest in me. So I’d accepted his friendship, then tortured myself for years watching him with other men.

  “Are you going to just leave your bag there? You’re not going to unpack your clothes?”

  His jabbering brought me from my musings. I glanced down at the bag I’d stepped away from to follow him.

  When I glanced back to him, there was a frown gracing his smooth brow. Seeing how this was going to end, I reluctantly stepped back to the bed. “Erm no, no I was—”

  “Oh stop”—Jamie held up his hand as he spoke over me—“don’t even go there. How many years have I known you? You don’t give a rat’s ass whether your clothes become a creased mess. I bet you never even ironed those clothes before you packed them.” He pointed at the bag, his gaze drilling holes into me.

  Iron, who does that?

  I would never admit to not owning an iron. I’m not stupid. The heat now speeding up my cheeks faster than my corvette, revealed my answer even if the words never left my lips.

  I did my best not to hunch at his hard stare. Pushing my shoulders back, I met his twinkling eyes. “Maybe… but I was busy right up until ten minutes before I needed to be out the door. Denny fucked up the chainsaw and left me working with the old crappy one. I don’t know why I let him near my equipment. He’s a walking disaster,” I grumbled good-naturedly.

  Denny was one of my employees, who helped with the logging business I’d inherited from my grandfather. My father had up and left my mom and me when I was thirteen. He found he much preferred the stripper from the next town. My mom upped sticks and returned home, moving back in with my grandfather.

  My grandmother had died the year before we moved in and my grandfather was struggling to cope. So it gave my mother the perfect excuse to return home without making a fuss. Then she’d got sick not long after and died. That left me in my grandfather’s hands. He wasn’t the most affectionate man, but he cared enough to make sure I learnt the business and treated others with respect. Sadness that often came when I thought about the cantankerous old codger came in a gentle wave. It covered me and reminded me it had only been two years since he’d succumbed to the cancer that had been eating at his liver.

  “What was that sad sigh for?”

  Soft hands gently cupped my bearded cheeks. A ball of emotion choked me and made it impossible for me to talk. There was a look of adoration on Jamie’s pretty face. My heart took up tap dancing and set up a rhythm that made my pulse struggle to figure out how to keep up.

  I pulled back, frightened at how vulnerable and naked I felt under his scrutiny. Fear that he’d see what I’d always kept hidden was enough for me to turn away. Plucking at the zip on my bag with trembling fingers, I dragged out the clothes I’d rammed in six hours earlier, knowing it would be enough to distract him.

  I slowly counted in my head, not getting further than three when he saw the mess of my clothes.

  “Whattttt the hell did those poor clothes ever do to you?” His screech pierced my eardrums and in defence, my hands came up to cover them.

  “Nothing. I told you I was in a hurry.”

  I didn’t get any further as I was pushed away from the bed. Did I tell you he could be as strong as ten men when there was a clothes injury? Well he was, and I should know. I nearly staggered with the force with which he knocked me away from the bed.

  “They’re only clothes, for pity’s sake.” Yeah, that might have not been the right tack to take. Seeing this was about to turn ugly, I backed up a foot
. Jamie’s cheeks were now the colour of a tomato and I was sure there was steam coming out of his ears. His pointy chin jutted out as his hands went to his hips, drawing my gaze to the super skinny jeans he wore.

  Don’t go there! No looking at your best friend’s dick.

  It didn’t matter how many times I said it, my eyes had a mind of their own, and my body was more than happy with that. My dick bucked against the zip of my jeans at how the tight material outlined Jamie’s cock.

  Oh fuck!

  Thankfully, my thoughts were derailed by the tirade Jamie levelled at me. My dick, though, liked the telling off it was getting and didn’t seem to get with the programme that we were in trouble.

  “Only clothes? Why you heathen. I don’t know how we can be friends when you have such disregard for your clothes.”

  My lips twitched at how he could make his voice drip with such disdain.

  He picked up the crumpled jeans that had seen better days, and sneered, “I take it back. These are only fit for the bin and should never be classed as clothing. It’s a rag.”

  I darted across the room before he could do anything more than stare at my jeans. I’d learnt in the past when Jamie thought something was a rag, he’d make it so you could never wear it again, ripping and cutting to his heart’s content. That was so not happening to my favourite jeans. “Leave them be. Those are my favourite and they fit me perfectly. They’re not too tight and relaxed enough that I feel comfy.”

  “Relaxed? How can you be relaxed when all your bits are falling out through the holes?” he demanded in a huffy tone.

  “How many times do we have to do this, before you realise I’m a lost cause?”

  “Until I draw my last breath,” came his quick response. It was offered with a wide, toothy grin that caused laughter to rise and burst out of me.