“Back in, sorry, what was it that you liked to call it? ‘Bumfuck Egypt?’ I wonder why you’d ever decide to come back,” she said coolly.
“I’m not here for long,” he admitted. “Just long enough to catch up. How are you, by the way?” he asked, his eyes flashing. “Found a nice big bull to keep you company?”
Joy glared, crossing her arms. “And what business is that of yours?”
“I’ll take that as a no, then,” he laughed. “Can’t say I’m surprised,” he muttered to the girl on his arm.
“I’m engaged,” she lied quickly, the words a harsh burn on her tongue.
“Oh?” Jake asked, glancing at her left hand. “Don’t see a ring.”
“Because I’m stupid enough to bring a thousand dollar ring to a nightclub,” she bluffed sarcastically.
“Only a thousand? You married cheap,” he said.
“He’s richer than you,” she shrugged.
“Yeah? Who?” Jake dared.
Only one name came to mind.
“Chase Jones,” she said.
“Jones…” Jake said slowly, as if tasting the name. “I remember him. You two were always thick as thieves – should’ve known that you were fucking him.”
“I never cheated on you, if that’s what you’re implying,” Joy sneered.
“Jake,” the woman tugged at his shirt. “Take me dancing.”
“Sure thing,” he winked, taking an extra moment to stare down her dress at her breasts. Joy took advantage of the distraction and stepped into a stall, quick to lock the door. She waited until she heard Jake’s laughter disappear outside the restroom before she let herself tear up.
Fucking asshole.
Chapter 3
By the time Joy made it back through the crowd to see Chase at the bar, someone else had already found him.
“Ah, there she is!” Jake laughed loudly, pointing to Joy as she emerged from the sea of people. “Joy, do come join us!”
Joy froze on the spot. She looked between Jake’s cruel sneer and Chase’s blank face, wondering if she should just turn tail and run. She was surprised when Chase stood up and walked towards her, gently taking one of her hands in his to bring it up to his face and kiss her knuckles.
“I see you ran into your ex, dear,” he said, staring her in the eye.
“Uh, yeah,” she said slowly, glancing between him and Jake. When Chase just threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her back to the bar with him, she kept her mouth shut, though her eyes were questioning.
“You’re in her seat,” he told Jake calmly, towering over the redhead by a good foot.
“Of course, of course,” Jake smirked, sliding off of the bar stool like the snake that he was.
“Here,” Chase ushered Joy closer, grabbing her hips to lift her up onto the chair. Joy barely kept herself from yelping – she’d always known that Chase worked out, but she would’ve never guessed that he could actually lift her.
“Now, as I was saying,” Jake said, standing beside them with one hip out while Chase retook his own seat. “It’ll be on the ninth, at midnight—”
“What will be?” Joy asked as casually as possible, accepting the cup of wine that Chase ordered for her.
“Your ex is throwing a party,” Chase said gruffly, staring at Jake with a bored look in his eyes. “He wants to invite you.”
“Both of you,” Jake corrected.
“The ninth,” Joy said, looking at Chase. “That’s in two days.”
“Well, I am only here for the week,” Jake laughed.
Chase reached out a hand to cover Joy’s. “Do you want to go?” he asked.
“Of course she does,” Jake assured him. “I imagine that she doesn’t get invited to many parties,” he added.
Chase stood up at his words, his green eyes narrowed. But before he could do anything, Joy spoke up. “We’d love to go,” she said carelessly, staring at nothing. “It’s a Saturday, right? Chase won’t have work the next day.”
“Nor will you have school,” Chase agreed.
“Mhm,” she nodded.
“School?” Jake scoffed. “You’re still in college?”
“You’ll remember that I graduated the same year as you,” she said snidely.
“She’s about to finish her Masters,” Chase added.
“So, it’s settled then,” Jake looked at the both of them. “Midnight at my parent’s mansion, on the ninth. See you two there,” he waved, already walking away.
Joy looked up at Chase. “Uh, so—”
“I called the limo,” he said, straightening his jacket. “Let’s go.”
“I didn’t know what to say!” Joy blurted. “It was the first thing that came to mind!”
“But engaged? Really?” Chase asked. “Word is going to get around, Joy. I already can’t get a date now. What am I going to do when the women give me a wide berth because they really think that I’m taken?”
They were in the back of the limo, sharing the last bottle of wine with five empty ones clinking around at their feet.
“Then why didn’t you just blow my cover?” she asked angrily. “You could’ve told him that I was off my rocker.”
“Guy comes up to me,” Chase said, spilling some wine. “Says, ‘Hey, you’ll never believe what I just heard.’ Tells me the whole thing while he watches my face, waiting for me to tell him that he’s right – that you lied.” Taking a gulp of his drink, he added, “You think I don’t remember that asshole, Joy? Prick would’ve rubbed it in your face and ran to everyone that he could of if I had told him the truth.”
“Well, gee,” Joy said angrily. “Thank you so much for protecting my dignity.”
“Fine, you know what? Fine,” he growled. “Next time I see him, I’ll tell him. Blow it wide open for you.”
“Oh, thank fucking god,” Joy yelled. “I’m so sorry that my lie completely fucked up your life.”
“I just want to know,” he said, “Why you used me. You could’ve said Alex, Zachary, Peter—”
“Because you’re my best friend, dumbass,” she scoffed. “Besides, I knew that you’d make him the most jealous.”
“Jealous?” Chase repeated.
“Yeah, jealous,” she said. “You’re rich, you fit into a tux in ways that he never could, and you’re, like, desirable bachelor numero uno. I mean, fuck, you own your own company.”
Chase seemed to sit up a little straighter at her words. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t even think about it, cause it’s true,” she said. “I used your name because you’re the best. Capeesh?” she leaned forward, slurring the word.
“So,” Chase said after a moment. “What are we going to do about his party?”
“Blow him off,” Joy huffed. “We’ve got better things to do.”
“You’re telling me,” Chase asked, “That you don’t want to rub it in his face?”
“Rub what in his face? My fake fiancé?” she frowned.
Chase shrugged, falling back against the leather seat. “We’d only have to keep it up for a week, at most.”
“And then what?” Joy asked irritably. “We call it off in a public announcement?”
“We quietly break it off,” Chase said. “People do it all the time. No one will overthink it if you stop wearing my ring.”
“Your ring?” Joy repeated. “What ring? I made it up, remember?”
Chase didn’t say anything, he simply put down his empty glass and started wrestling with his right hand. He yanked off his family’s golden ring with a grunt, holding it out to Joy with a thrust of his arm. She recognized it as the one that his father had given to him on his deathbed, the one that’d been passed down the Jones’ line for generations.
“Chase,” she began, but he cut her off.
“Take it,” he said. “You won’t find a better ring anywhere.”
Joy accepted it with shaking hands, the warmed piece of precious metal shining in the artificial light.
“Wait,” Chase
stopped her, plucking the ring back to lean forward and grab her left wrist. Looking up at her as he did it, he slid the ring onto her fourth finger.
“Well,” Joy said, eyeing the large ring as Chase leaned back into his seat. “That was oddly intimate.”
“Happy engagement,” Chase shrugged happily, a stupid, drunken smile on his face.
Chapter 4
As big a deal as Chase seemed to think that their charade would turn into, Joy tried her best to keep it quiet. She didn’t wear the ring unless she was around Chase, and that was only because he seemed to sulk whenever she took it off.
“Have you heard anything?” she asked, taking a seat on his couch. It’d only been a day since she’d met Jake in the bathroom, and even then it was barely six o’clock. Jake had just gotten off work though, and if he was going to hear any gossip, it was going to be through the shareholders.
“Not a word,” he admitted, sitting down in the armchair across from her. They were at his house, a giant mansion filled with servants. “It seems that your ex doesn’t have nearly the influence that he’d always bragged about.”
“Jake? A braggart?” she snorted. “What a surprise.”
“Mhm,” Chase hummed in agreed amusement before leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I took tomorrow off,” he said.
“Wait,” Joy frowned. “You took a day off?” While Chase only ever worked half-days on Saturdays, it was still something that he never missed. “Why?”
“We’re going shopping,” he said simply, standing up.
“We?” she repeated. “Uh, where?”
“The Millennium Mall,” he said carelessly, walking over to his liquor cabinet.
“The mall?” Joy scowled. She hated that place – it was a powerhouse of brands and thousand dollar price tags. And, while her family may not have been poor, they were certainly not the most loose with their money. “Don’t you think—”
“We’re going to buy you a dress,” he said, pouring a glass of scotch. “One that you actually like. And I’ll get a tie to match,” he added.
“Chase,” Joy said seriously, standing up to march over to him. “You don’t have to take this so seriously, you know.”
“I know,” he nodded. “But maybe I want to.” He brought the scotch up to his lips.
“Yeah?” she said, stealing his drink out of his hands. “Maybe I think it’s a waste of money.”
“Maybe I don’t think that there’s a limit to seeing a woman in a flattering dress,” he shrugged, pouring another.
“Implying that my other ones aren’t,” she frowned.
“Implying that you don’t look good in everything,” he snorted.
Joy paused. She opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn’t sure what to say, so she simply took a drink instead.
“Look,” Chase said, placing a lid on the decanter. “You’re my oldest friend, and you’ve never asked me for anything. Let me do this for you,” he said, coming up to stand beside her.
Joy shrugged, still stuck on what he’d said earlier. “Do what you want,” she said.
Chase came calling the next morning at eleven a.m., and Joy only took an extra fifteen minutes to get ready before they were back out the door and on their way to the mall. He’d left the limo at home and brought the Mercedes instead, his green eyes sharp on the road as he navigated the lunch traffic.
“You hungry?” he asked as he turned into the giant parking lot. “Or did you already eat?”
“I’ll be honest,” Joy grinned. “I rolled out of bed at ten and didn’t even have time to do my hair before you showed up.”
“So, I’ll take that as a no?” he asked with a smirk.
“Good guess,” she said.
After paying for valet parking and stepping out in front of the jewelers, Chase ushered her through the second hallway to Chianti Bella, the popular Italian restaurant with a view of the water fountains.
“Reservation under Jones,” Chase told the hostess. She led them to their table with a smile and offered a choice of wines, to which Chase picked a red vintage and poured Joy a glass.
“Reservation, huh?” Joy muttered as soon as the hostess left.
“Nothing wrong with being prepared,” he said smoothly, opening up the menu.
Joy picked hers up with an eye roll, and nearly cursed when she tried to read the menu. “It’s all in Italian?” she hissed.
“Yes, don’t you— Oh,” Chase raised his eyebrows. “Oh, that’s right, you studied German and French. Look, don’t worry. I’ll order for you.”
“I want steak,” she demanded quietly. “Medium well.”
It didn’t take long for their food to arrive once it was ordered, though Joy had a feeling that the quick service had more to do with Chase’s last name than the restaurant’s fast kitchen. She got her steak, a thick cut of beef smothered in white sauce atop a bed of noodles, and Chase settled for a seafood pasta of shrimp and muscle.
“What do you think?” he asked, motioning to her plate.
“It’s good,” she nodded, twisting her fork. “Well seasoned.”
“Mine too,” he said. “Want to try?” he asked, and to Joy’s embarrassment he held out his fork with a stuck shrimp on the end.
“Uh,” she said, glancing at the people looking at them. “Sure,” she said, taking the fork out of his hands to scrape the shrimp off onto her plate and hand it back. “Thanks,” she said.
Chase smirked at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking and took a sip of his wine, his eyes laughing at her over the glass. She merely looked back with a smile that promised pain if he ever tried something like that again.
It was a good hour before they actually ventured into the mall to find her a dress. The food sat warm in Joy’s stomach, and she complained to Chase as he led her to the various shops.
“You don’t eat before going clothes shopping,” she told him. “It’ll fit you differently. Plus you feel super full, so—”
“How about this one?” he asked, pulling off a royal blue dress from the rack.
“Uh, a little long, isn’t it?” she asked. It wasn’t that Joy was short, it was just that a lot of clothes that came in her size width-wise never really matched up length-wise.
“We can have it hemmed up at the end,” he said. “Here, feel the fabric.”
Joy ran her fingers over the silk flyaway sleeves, marveling at the softness there. “But,” she said hesitantly. “Do they even make this in my size?” Most of the stores at Millennium only went up to a size 8, which fell about five sizes too short of what Joy needed. Not to mention, the stores only really kept extra small display pieces out on the floor, making people like Joy have to ask if they even carried additional sizes.
“Excuse me,” Chase stopped an attendant. “Could you find a, uh,” he looked at Joy.
“An eighteen in that dress,” she said bluntly, refusing to feel embarrassed.
“Certainly,” the girl smiled kindly, accepting the dress from Chase. “I’ll be right back.” She disappeared around the corner, leaving Joy in an awkward silence with Chase.
She thought he was going to ask about her size, but then he just said, “What do you like better? Diamonds or sapphires?”
“I own both,” she said after a moment, frowning at him. “I don’t need jewelry from—”
“Here we are,” the woman returned. “Now, we have dressing rooms right back this way if you’d like.” As Joy was led away, Chase made an obvious move for the jewelry case.
Not wanting to give him the time to buy anything else, Joy slipped on the dress as quickly as possible and sent the woman to go find him.
“Joy?” he called from outside the dressing room. “Do you—”
Joy stepped out from behind the curtain and gestured to herself. “What do you think?” she asked.
As Chase’s jaw literally dropped, Joy couldn’t help but preen under the attention. The dress he’d picked out looked amazing – it framed her curves while keeping her
stomach looking small by comparison, and the flat sleeves at her shoulders only distracted from her chubby arms.
She looked good.
“Do you like it?” Chase asked, clearing his throat. “Cause I like it.”
“Sold,” she winked at the woman before going back into the dressing room to change.
It was the first thing that she’d worn in a long time that she actually hesitated to take off.
Chapter 5
It was six by the time they arrived back at Chase’s house. After the dress he’d made her pick out shoes, and after shoes he’d needed to find a tie, and then he had insisted that she needed to get her hair done. All in all, it was one of the most exhausting shopping trips that she’d ever taken, and that wasn’t even counting what Chase had gone off to buy when they’d separated at the salon.
“Here,” he said, rifling through a shopping bag from Victoria’s. He pulled out a black velvet box and tossed it to her. Joy barely caught it, and she glared at Chase from her spot on the couch.
“What else could you have possibly bought?” she demanded, her lap already covered in jewelry and shawls.
“Open it,” he said, crumbling up the bag to toss it into the pile behind him. Joy forced a sigh and popped it open, unsurprised to find another sapphire bracelet.
“Seriously,” she said. “Half of this stuff has got to go back.”
“Pick the ones that you want to wear tonight,” he shrugged. “And keep the rest for other occasions.”
“Chase, I mean it,” she leaned forward. “What’s with you, anyway? You never spend money like this.”
“I just thought that we had something to prove,” he said.
“Which we can accomplish just by showing up together, no money needed,” she pointed out.
“But money is all I’ve got,” Chase said quietly, his back to her.
“What?” Joy frowned. “Chase, you—”
He cut her off with a long-winded sigh, and muttered, “I love you.”
Joy felt her heartbeat, once, thrumming throughout her entire body. It rang in her ears, and she wondered if she’d misheard him. “What?”
PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Shapeshifter Romance: The Vampire's Stolen Bride (BBW Fantasy Alpha Male Romance Books) (New Adult Vampire Fun Mature Young Adult Billionaire Steamy Love and Romance Novella) Page 40
