Fake Zoned: A Fake Date Anthology

by Malone, M.

  Gabe grins and looks between us. “Wow, she’s good. Even I didn’t see that coming.”

  Mom smiles. “Thank you. I thought it was artfully done.”

  I’m amazed and irritated at the same time. “You’re being awfully charitable towards her about this. She did accept the job after all. No one forced her to do it.”

  Mom gives me a knowing look. “Honey, I know exactly how convincing Maxwell Marshall can be. Your Emma didn’t stand a chance.”

  Finn chimes in. “Do you really want to let her go? She thinks you’re one in a million, bro. How many guys can say that?”

  I pull out the check from my pocket and stroke the now crumpled envelope. Every moment I’ve shared with Emma over the past month flies through my head. The peace, the sharing, and the laughter.

  The morning after she caught me fighting stands out in my head in particular.

  Leaving you is the last thing I ever want to do.

  The statement is as true now as it was then.

  “I need to call her.”

  “Go over there. Find her. This is not a complicated covert operation. It’s a simple find and rescue,” Finn insists.

  My mom holds up a hand. “First, let’s go to the hospital and visit your father. I want to thank him personally for paying my hospital bill. He didn’t have to do that. “

  “After that, we’ll go with you,” Gabe says. “For moral support.”

  “Or in case she doesn’t forgive you,” Zack adds.

  Gabe shoots him an exasperated look. “You’re not supposed to say that out loud.”

  I laugh, setting off a new ache in the back of my skull. “You guys don’t have to do that.”

  “That’s what brothers do.”

  I’m surprised to hear the statement come from Gabe. We haven’t known each other that long so I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t feel any obligation toward me at all. But the support means a lot. More than I can say.

  “Plus, you might need us to help you get drunk again,” Zack adds.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Emma

  The corridor outside Mr. Marshall’s hospital room is empty. When I enter the room, two large men stand up, blocking my path.

  It’s the same guys that came into the room the day we figured out Jon was stealing from him. They don’t seem to remember me though. Or at least they don’t move, anyway.

  “Hi, I just wanted to see if Mr. Marshall was okay.”

  “Emma? Is that you? Let her pass, Royce.”

  The biggest guy moves aside so I can squeeze by. Mr. Marshall is propped up in the bed reading the newspaper and has a cell phone to his ear. He has a pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose. If he wasn’t in a hospital gown and strapped to a bunch of machines, I would think he was preparing for a day at the office.

  “Mr. Marshall, what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”

  I glance back at the big guys guarding the door. “Is he allowed to do this stuff?”

  They look at each other and then back at me and shrug.

  Exasperated, I hold out my hand for the phone. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t allowed when you’ve just had a heart attack.”

  He grins and says something to the person on the other end. Then he hangs up and hands me the phone.

  “I had my guys sneak in the phone and got one of those cute little nurses to bring me a paper. I have to keep up with what’s going on.”

  I take the paper and fold it up. “I think the world will keep spinning even if you take a few days off.”

  He grumbles but finally sits back. “I heard about what happened. I wish I’d been there. I didn’t know Jon had hurt you.”

  I touch the fading bruise on my cheek. Over the past week, it’s turned a strange array of colors. Now it looks like a faint purplish splotch.

  “I wasn’t sure what to do. Tank didn’t know what was going on then and I didn’t want him to find out. I was bound by my own lies.”

  “It’s not often I say this but I’m sorry. I was only trying to help you but it ended up doing the opposite. I never wanted you to get hurt. I’m surprised Tank didn’t kill him when he found out.”

  “Tank and I–”

  I stop, unsure of how to describe the state of things between us. Non-existent is probably the most accurate. He hasn’t called me or come by the house at all in the past week.

  It’s like we never knew each other at all.

  Mr. Marshall’s smile falters. “I’m sorry, Emma.”

  “It’s not your fault. Not really. Because I could have said no.”

  “No, you couldn’t have.” He shakes his head sadly. “No one says no to a million dollars. Trust me. I’m in the position to know for sure.”

  “I did. I gave the check back to Tank. He came to see you after that and I haven’t seen him since.”

  His mouth falls open slightly. I’ve never seen him look like this. I laugh at his expression. If I’m truly the first person who has ever turned down one of his deals, then I guess that’s why.

  “But at least something good came out of all of this. Your sons are speaking to you now. I saw them all here at the hospital that day. That’s good news, right?” I clasp his hand gently.

  His hand tightens around mine. “Yes, they were here. Except for one. All except for one.”

  Now this is interesting news. “You have another son?”

  “Yes. Lucas.”

  He says the name with reverence. I’ve noticed his whole demeanor changes when he talks about his children.

  Even though he wasn’t there when they were growing up and basically was the worst father ever, he really does seem to love them. It makes no sense to me but the evidence is undeniable.

  He loves his kids.

  Despite his strange way of contacting them, he actually wants to spend time with them and have them in his life.

  “I know your secret now, Mr. Marshall.”

  His eyes shoot to mine and for the first time, he looks afraid. “What do you mean?”

  I pat his hand gently. “That you’re a big old softie. Under that stern exterior everyone else sees, you love your sons.”

  “That I do.” He takes a deep breath and then struggles to sit up a little higher against the pillows. “But wait, what about your schooling? Your dreams to become a veterinarian and help animals? How will you do it now?”

  “I’ve got some scholarship offers to schools in North Carolina. It’ll be a chance for me to make a fresh start. I can forget about all the bad things in my past and just move on with my life. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to say goodbye.”

  The knowledge that I’ll never see him again brings an unexpected well of emotion to the fore. I cough a little to keep myself from tearing up.

  For a little while, visiting Mr. Marshall made me feel like I had a family again. But I have to deal with reality or I’ll never be able to be a part of it.

  It’s time to move forward.

  * * *

  There’s a chorus of voices out in the hallway. The two guards stand but then immediately move back.

  Tank steps in the room, followed by Finn and his other two brothers. Then someone else steps in behind them. When Finn moves to the side I can see who it is.

  Claire.

  Shame brings a blush to my cheeks. “I should go. Your family is here to see you. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?” Tank interrupts. “Where are you going?”

  He stares at me until I meet his gaze. It’s so hard to look at him, knowing how much pain I’ve caused him. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I hurt him. Now I’m here, making his time with his father uncomfortable.

  I shake my head and look back to Mr. Marshall. His eyes are kind, like he understands that I need to get away.

  “I have to go.”

  He squeezes my hand. “Go on. I’m going to miss you, Miss Shaw.”

  I don’t look at Tank as I walk out. I have to pass Claire to g
et to the door. Facing her is even harder than facing the others. They all know what I did but with her, it’s worse. It feels like I betrayed her, too.

  Right before I reach the door, I pause and look at her. “I’m so sorry. You have no idea how much.”

  To my surprise, she pulls me into a hug. The tears I’ve been holding back so far finally overflow. When I pull back, she wipes my cheeks.

  “You have no idea how much I understand.” Then she looks over at Mr. Marshall.

  I nod at Finn as I pass and then I’m finally in the hall. After the small confines of the room, it feels freeing.

  “Wait, Emma.”

  Tank appears in the doorway. It’s pathetic but after a week of no contact at all, my eyes eat up the sight of him like visual candy. He’s as beautiful as always, even with bags under his eyes and a good bit of stubble on his cheeks. I take my time memorizing his face.

  It’ll have to last me for the rest of my life.

  “Where are you going? Back there, you said …” He places an arm against the doorjamb. “What was all that about saying goodbye?”

  “It’s okay, Tank. We don’t really have to do this part. This thing with us has been backward from the beginning. Do we really need to break up when we never really got together in the first place?”

  He takes my hand and leads me to the waiting room. It’s filled with people already. He lets out a disgusted sound and then pulls me to the same stairwell where we argued before.

  “I was coming to see you after this.”

  “You were?”

  He doesn’t look angry but I’m too numb from the past week to know whether that’s reality or if I’m just spaced out.

  “Yeah, I was. I’ve spent the past week in and out of this hospital visiting my father and spending time with my brothers. It always felt like something was missing. Someone was missing. You.”

  My heart starts beating so hard I need to take a breath to steady myself. “I wanted to be here. But I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”

  Tank grabs my hands. “Here’s the thing. I know how I feel about you. Ever since the beginning, being around you has been one of the only times I feel calm. Happy. You center me, Emma. But I’ll always wonder which memories between us are tainted. Were you only with me for the money while cooking dinner for my family? Or were you thinking about the money that night when you cleaned the cut on my arm and I held you all night? Which memories are real and which are manufactured?”

  I shake my head. “None of them. From the very beginning, I couldn’t do what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t see you as a job. You wouldn’t let me. You kept surprising me with how smart and funny and sweet you are.”

  “Sweet, huh?”

  Even in the midst of a serious conversation, he can manage to be arrogant. I laugh.

  “Yeah, I’ll admit it this once. You’re incredibly sweet. And when I was with you, all the bad stuff went away for a while. I’ve never been happier than when I was with you.”

  “That’s exactly how I feel. So, I don’t care about what my father did or didn’t do anymore. I’m in love with you, Emma. I don’t want you going anywhere.”

  His head descends slowly, his eyes on mine the whole time. Then he kisses me and all thoughts, all worries, and all fear dissolves.

  It’s just his lips on mine and the knowledge that he loves me.

  A door opens on one of the floors above us and there’s the rhythmic stomp, stomp, stomp, of feet on the stairs.

  “I guess we should go back. We’re not supposed to be in here.” I look up at the open staircase above us.

  Tank grins. “I don’t care. Break the rules with me, Emma.”

  I glance back at the open air above us, and then launch myself into his arms. He catches me and I wrap my legs around his waist. As we kiss, someone passes by us going up the staircase and I don’t even care to look.

  Tank is the only thing I want to see.

  “So you had an interesting strategy for getting my attention. I asked you out for weeks in a row and you refused every time. I’ve never seen that used as a way to get a date but I suppose it worked.”

  “I wasn’t playing hard to get. As hard as this may be on your ego, I said no because I didn’t want to go out with the bad boy in leather who looked like nothing but trouble. Besides, that was way before your dad even made the offer.”

  “It was? Well, when did he make the offer?”

  “Um, it was actually the day you showed up at the club. Which was a totally crazy coincidence now that I look back on it.”

  Tank pulls away, a strange look on his face. “Wait, that can’t be right. It must have been before that.”

  “No, it was that day. I remember so clearly because it was the strangest day ever. I got offered a million dollars in the afternoon, then my crappy car wouldn’t start and then I got fired from my strip club waitressing job. Strangest day ever.”

  Tank chuckles and then it turns into a full belly laugh. He picks me up and spins us around.

  “What? What is going on?”

  “There was no job. My father was matchmaking, Emma. I remember that day clearly, too. I was just leaving my brother’s place when my boss called asking me for a favor. I’d just been telling Finn I’d signed the papers accepting my father’s terms.”

  “Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense. So that day when Mr. Marshall offered me the money—“

  “I had already signed,” Tank finished. “There was no need for you to convince me to do anything because my father had already gotten what he wanted. Except apparently that wasn’t the only thing he wanted. He wanted to give you the money because he likes you. This was the only way he could figure out how to do it. And it was his way of pushing us together.”

  Joyous laughter bubbles up inside me. “I knew it. A big ole’ softie.”

  Tank leans against the wall, pulling me into the cradle of his thighs.

  “I don’t know what the future will bring but I need to know you’ll be a part of it. I need to know you’ll be with me as I face it.”

  I cup his face and pull him down so he can see the truth in my eyes.

  “That’s exactly what I want, too. I was so scared you wouldn’t want to see me anymore.”

  His lips brush across my forehead. “My brother pointed out something I couldn’t ignore this morning. You turned down a million dollars for me. If that doesn’t prove you’re really in this for me, then I don’t know what ever could.”

  He kisses me again and we collapse back against the wall, entwined in each other’s arms.

  “I guess since that million dollars isn’t dirty money, maybe I shouldn’t have given it back to you then, huh?”

  Tank grins at me and then pulls something from his back pocket. It’s the envelope I gave him but it’s all crumpled and creased.

  “You’ve been carrying that around this whole time?”

  He shrugs and his arms tighten around my middle. “It was my last connection to you. You can have it back. I honestly don’t care.”

  I shake my head. “I’ve already got exactly what I want right here and it has nothing to do with money.”

  Everything is still up in the air. I’m not sure where I’m going to live, where I’m going to go to school or how I’m going to pay for any of it. I don’t want Tank paying for it but beyond that I haven’t got a clue. But I know I can figure it out.

  All that matters is Tank will be with me through it all.

  Epilogue

  Tank

  One month later …

  I enter Finn’s penthouse balancing two large pizzas under one arm and carrying a six-pack of beer in the other. I look over my shoulder at Eli, who stands uncertainly behind me.

  “Come on in. Have a beer. Take a load off.”

  He waves at Finn, Gabe and Zack who are sitting on the couch. There’s already a basketball game playing on the big screen.

  “Guys, this is my boss, Elliott Alexander. Eli, my brothers. Finn is in the armch
air, the one who looks like my clone is Gabe and the one with the Mohawk is Zack.”

  Eli waves amidst the chorus of hellos. “You guys look like you’re set. I won’t stay. I just wanted to bring you that information you asked for, Tank.”

  I set the beer down on the floor and hand the pizzas off to Gabe. I take the envelope he’s holding out. He seems uncomfortable and I can’t get why. We’ve never really hung out before but I wanted him to meet my brothers. Yet, he’s acting like he can’t wait to get out of here.

  “Okay, if you can’t stay I understand. I just figured you might want to escape for a while.”

  He drops his head. “Yeah. I just bought the house and it’s been taken over by a bunch of women I haven’t seen since I was in Sunday school as a kid.”

  “Eli just got engaged,” I mention to the others. “His fiancée is in the middle of planning the wedding.”

  Zack gets up and walks to the kitchen. When he comes back, he hands a beer to Eli. “You probably need this.”

  Eli laughs but stops when he sees me ripping open the envelope. “Hey, I’m going to give you guys some privacy for a minute.” He doesn’t look at me before walking into the kitchen.

  Zack looks at me and shrugs. “What’s going on with him?”

  “I have no idea—“ I stop mid-sentence when I pull out the stack of files in the envelope.

  I asked Eli to assist with a background check that was proving more challenging than I’d expected. He’s got a magic touch with finding things that other people want to keep hidden.

  My brother Lucas obviously didn’t want to be found.

  Zack follows me as I walk over to the couch still scrutinizing the pictures. Gabe and Finn look up as I step in front of the television.

  “I think my boss is trying to give us privacy since this is a family matter. He found our little brother.” They all look over at Eli, who is currently bent over trying to pretend he’s fascinated by the contents of Finn’s refrigerator.

  I raise my voice. “Eli, you can come over here now. It’s cool.”

  He looks up at the sound of my voice. “You sure?” He glances over at the others, uncertainly. At their nods of agreement, he walks over and perches on the arm of the couch.