The Backup Plan

by Jen McLaughlin

  I swallowed. “It’s not.”

  “Good. Because I’d hate to have to fire my longest-running employees before they are eligible to access their retirement funds.”

  I closed my eyes, rage and helplessness taking over me. “I am not in a real relationship with your son,” I said slowly, painfully, every word slashing my heart open one more time. “I never was, and never will be. I’m just hanging out with him to make him pass his grades, to give him the level of intimacy he seems to require from me, and then I will move on, and so will he…with a girl like Amanda. Or Amanda herself.”

  Silence, and then: “Break it off with him. Tell him you don’t want a commitment, and then Amanda can swoop in and give him that intimacy you think he needs.”

  No. No. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do that to him.

  But how could I not?

  Mr. Maxwell had a man on the inside now, something I had never expected or predicted, so any hope I had of finding a way around this was now long gone. If I lied and told him we broke it off, then Amanda would just run back to him and tell him we hadn’t. If I did break it off, I’d be losing the man I loved more than anything…

  Besides my parents.

  God, my parents.

  If I didn’t do this, if I didn’t follow his orders and break Chase’s heart with lies, they would lose everything they worked so hard for. And it would be all my fault. “Sir, please, I don’t think he’s ready for me to break up with him yet. I need more time—”

  “He’s ready.” He cleared his throat. “Break up with him before the end of the day, or your parents will need to look for new employment. I was very clear what I expected of you. You’ll follow my orders, or you’ll pay the price.”

  With that, he hung up on me.

  I stared out the window, tears blurring my eyes, until I heard it.

  A slow clap from behind me that chilled me to my heart.

  “Bravo, Taylor. Bra-vo,” Chase said, his tone colder than his father’s had been. “You really had me going there, thinking you loved me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chase

  It was a lie.

  It was all a fucking lie.

  I gripped the present I’d searched for online, strangling the innocent gift that had taken me hours to find. I’d come here so excited to give it to her, to earn one of her beautiful smiles, and instead she’d given me the truth about us. I almost wished I hadn’t heard. That I could go on living in my happy bubble with the girl of my dreams, and never know it was all an act.

  She told me she loved me.

  I believed her.

  She shook her head, her eyes shining with tears. “Chase, no—”

  “Don’t,” I growled. “Don’t you dare try to talk your way down from this one. I heard the whole damn thing. Every word.”

  “But—” She took a step toward me, some of those tears spilling over. “Let me explain, please.”

  “Explain what?” I bit out. “How you pretended to like me, to love me, to make your job easier? I get that. I do. But you told me you loved me.”

  “And I meant it,” she whispered. “You told me you loved me, and I love you, too. If you give me a chance to explain—”

  I laughed. “I never should have said it.”

  “Why not?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes.

  Part of me, some part I was ashamed of, wanted to hurt her as much as she hurt me. And that was the part that spoke now. “I didn’t mean it.”

  She stumbled back. “What?”

  “I was caught in the moment. It slipped out, and then I stood by it ever since because I felt bad taking it back.” I lifted a shoulder, hating myself but kind of hating her more. “It wasn’t real.”

  Her lower lip trembled. “It…wasn’t?”

  “No.” I tossed the stuffed bear I held onto her bed. She stared at it, mouth parted, and tears poured down her face even faster now. “A girl like you can understand saying something she doesn’t really mean, right?”

  She stiffened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Whatever the fuck you want it to mean.”

  “Did you tell Amanda about my parents?” she asked, her chin tipping up slightly.

  “What?”

  “She told me you told her about my parents being servants.” She looked at me, her lower lip trembling. “Is it true?”

  “Yes. Who the hell cares?”

  “Me.” She shifted her weight, her body tensing. “I care.”

  “Did you tell my father you fucked me?” I shot back, angry because she was trying to change the subject. Who the hell cared if Amanda knew who her parents were? There was no shame in that. She, of all people, should know that.

  She recoiled, her cheeks paling. “Don’t be crude.”

  “Sorry, is that too much?” I dragged a hand down my face. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  She stared straight ahead, empty.

  “I take it back. I don’t love you.”

  Her hands fisted, and she bit down on her lip. “Okay.”

  “And you don’t love me.”

  She nodded, not looking at me. “Okay.”

  Okay. That’s it. Okay. This wasn’t happening. How could I go from happily in love to this? Something inside me snapped. “You said that you don’t think I’m ready to be alone. That if you ‘break up with me,’ I’ll fall apart and turn back into the guy I was before you ‘saved’ me.”

  She closed her eyes. “Yes.”

  “I’ll prove you wrong.” I took a step back. “I don’t need you or my father or anyone to make it through this damn university. I’ll graduate without you. I’ll be fine without you.”

  She closed her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. Something about the way she stood there, looking broken, seemed off to me. Through my pain and anger, I saw that she wasn’t any more immune to these feelings than I was. She was hurting, too. Why?

  “I know,” she finally said, her voice thick with emotion. “I never doubted you’d be fine without me, Chase.”

  “Funny, because according to what you said, you think I won’t be. You told my dad I wasn’t ready to be alone.” I forced a laugh. It was hard, and it hurt, but I’d be damned if I let her know just how badly she’d hurt me. “But, to be honest, you overestimated your hold on me.”

  She flinched. “I guess so.”

  I said nothing.

  After a moment of silence, she said, “I never wanted to hurt you.”

  “You didn’t,” I lied, shrugging. “I’m pretty hard to hurt. I’m just pissed you lied to me instead of telling me the truth.”

  “You’re…” She licked her lips. She stared at me, looking like I struck her.

  Funny, when I was the one bleeding out all over her floor.

  “You meant something to me,” she said, her voice cracking.

  “Then why did you tell my father I didn’t?” I demanded, closing the distance between us. I placed my hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently so she’d open her eyes. “Answer me.”

  This was my one last attempt.

  If she told me she had been lying to my father, that she loved me for real, I’d believe her. If she loved me…I’d forgive her for anything.

  “Does it matter?” she asked, her voice flat. “Like you said, you’ll be fine, right? You won’t fail. You won’t miss me, and I…I won’t miss you.”

  I’d read books where the character described their heart breaking. I’d seen it on TV over and over again. But I never really got it. How the hell could a heart break? It wasn’t glass. Wasn’t fragile. It was an organ, filled with blood. That shit didn’t break.

  But now? I fucking got it.

  Taylor broke my heart.

  I guess some part of me had been hoping she had an explanation for all of this, but I guess I was putting too much faith in her. That was my first mistake. My second had been falling for a girl who worked for my father. I wouldn’t do it again.

  “Glad that’s all cleared
up,” I forced myself to say, dragging a hand through my hair. “Now that it’s all out in the open, what’s next? I study on my own? We keep studying together, but no sex? Or did you still want to keep fucking me out of convenience?”

  She reared back. “Chase.”

  “I mean, it was fun. You’re good.” I lifted a shoulder carelessly, selfishly wanting her to feel some of the pain I was feeling—even if I was doing my best to hide it from her. “I could muster up enough interest to keep fucking you if you want. Is it in your contract from my father? Four orgasms a week?”

  She slapped me across the face.

  Hard.

  I deserved it.

  “You haven’t changed at all, have you?” she spat, anger glowing in those blue eyes now instead of tears. Good. I didn’t believe them anyway. Not when she’d admitted to pretending to love me. “You’re just like him.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. If either of us was like him, it was her. After all, she hadn’t seen anything wrong with barging into my life and pretending to fall for me to reach her goals. He would have done the same thing.

  “Guess so,” I said, letting her think whatever the hell she wanted. “So, that’s a no on the sex?”

  She crossed her arms, trembling. “Yes, that’s a no.”

  “Whatever.” I laughed. It wasn’t fair that she’d barged into my life, woken me up, and now was fine to just walk away from me again. She’d made me love her. She’d made me dream of a future with her, and now she was ripping it all out of my hands and walking off with it. “You coming to study, or no?”

  She shook her head. “I am not.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  With that, I headed for the door, desperate to escape before I did something embarrassing like beg her to love me. I practically ran down the stairs, needing to get away from her and her lies, and all the things I’d thought we could have together. My heart pounded painfully, and my throat was tight as I pushed through the doors and out into the sunlight.

  Oddly enough, as I stepped outside, Amanda stood there. She took one look at me and hurried over, her eyes wide with concern. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I bit out angrily, wanting nothing to do with Amanda, since she would just remind me of her. “I need to get out of here.”

  “Want a ride?” she offered, holding her hand out.

  “I’m not interested in you,” I said flatly.

  “I know you’re not ready yet. I told you I’d wait until you were.” She frowned, still holding her hand out. “I’m just offering a ride to a friend.”

  I glanced up at the building, toward Taylor’s window, and I swore I felt her eyes on me. Maybe it was that feeling, or the need to hurt her like she hurt me, but for whatever reason it was, I slid my hand into Amanda’s, and let her lead me away.

  Away from her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Taylor

  Life had been hell. Pure and utter hell.

  Ever since Chase overheard me on the phone and let me know that I had meant nothing to him at all, I had been wrapped in a cocoon of pain and loss, while he’d been making friends, laughing, and overall winning at life. I was happy for him. Honestly, I was. Seeing him happy almost made the pain I was in worth it.

  Almost.

  But I missed him. I missed his laugh. His touch. His smile. I missed the way he always tried to make me crack while I was studying or focusing on class.

  I missed him.

  He didn’t miss me at all.

  Across the room, he sat next to Amanda, a cheerleader I didn’t know, and some football guys who used to be assholes to him. Guess he didn’t care about that anymore.

  Just like he didn’t care about me.

  It was easier this way. That’s what I kept telling myself, anyway. After I broke up with him, his father had thanked me, paid my tuition off completely, and assured me that my parents were safe from any repercussions from my straying from the agreement.

  I’d done what needed to be done.

  Protected my parents. Lost the guy.

  But who was going to protect me?

  Chase laughed, and I stiffened, staring straight ahead. We were having a light day today in Statistics since we had taken our midterms early, and we’d broken off into groups. He was in his, and I was in mine. He hadn’t even looked my way when Professor Franklin told us to pair off. He’d just gone over to Amanda like they’d never broken up.

  What would Chase say if he knew she was in league with his father but hadn’t told him? At least I’d been honest…even if it hadn’t mattered in the end.

  I would bet Amanda hadn’t been.

  “Don’t pay attention to them,” Anna said, frowning their way. “He’s just trying to make you jealous.”

  I didn’t look at him, even though I really, really wanted to. “He’d have to care to want to make me jealous, and he doesn’t.”

  “Please.” Anna rolled her eyes. “Don’t be as stupid as him.”

  “I’m not,” I said defensively. I knew they still hung out with him, her and Bryce, just like they still hung out with me. We just did it in threesomes now, instead of a quartet. We shared custody of our new friends. “I’m just being real. He told me he didn’t care.”

  “Just like you told him you didn’t,” she retorted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “And here you are. Not caring. Right?”

  “Right,” I lied, still staring ahead.

  “He doesn’t like her.”

  Slowly, hesitantly, I looked at them. She kept touching him, her fingers lingering, but he was mostly keeping his hands to himself. With me, he’d always been in contact, whether it was an arm around my shoulder or a hand on my thigh. “They have history.”

  “So do you,” she retorted. “Why did you tell him you didn’t love him?”

  “I had to. It…” I pressed my lips together. “There was no other way.”

  “Sure there was,” she argued, snapping her fingers in my face. “Hello.”

  I jerked. “What?”

  “Why not tell him you’re miserable without him?” she asked, frowning. “Because as someone who hangs out with both of you, I can say that he’s just as miserable without you. You two just need to make up, and then we can go back to hanging out together, and I can stop reliving my childhood and suffering the whole divorced child syndrome again.”

  I shook my head, not meeting her eyes. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…” I hadn’t told anyone the truth, and it was killing me.

  Even when Chase had heard me and gotten angry, I’d been prepared to risk it all, to tell him the truth about his father’s threats…right up until he told me he didn’t give a damn about me. I’d been so scared of hurting him, of breaking his heart, but he told me he didn’t love me, and then, I’d known. That fight had been the best way to end it.

  I saved my parents, got the tuition paid off.

  Done what needed to be done.

  But I wanted someone to know the truth. Someone who understood why I’d let him walk away, and didn’t judge me for it. If he had actually loved me, if those three little words he’d spoken to me had been true, I would have risked everything for him. I would have lost anything for him.

  But he didn’t care.

  He never had.

  That’s what hurt the most.

  “Taylor?” she said.

  “You can’t tell anyone.”

  “Of course not.” She crossed herself. She wasn’t even Catholic, and did it backward, but it made me smile anyway. “I swear.”

  “My parents work for his parents.” I swallowed. “Like, they’re his servants.”

  She nodded, showing no signs of shock or anything else. “Okay. And?”

  “And…”

  I started talking. Everything came pouring out of me, from the time Chase and I met, and how his father warned me off back then. I fast-forwarded to now, and how I came here to get him back in the game, and finally en
ded with what happened last week.

  “What did his dad say on the phone?” she asked, completely enthralled.

  “That I needed to break off my fake relationship with his son by the end of the night, or he would fire my parents for real.” I swallowed. “He threatened before, but he put a timeline on it.”

  “So, you broke up with him,” she said slowly. “To save your parents.”

  “I didn’t really need to.” I glanced at him. He’d been looking at me, but as soon as I met his eyes, he looked away, turning his body toward Amanda. “Chase heard me on the phone, assumed I was telling his father the truth, and told me he didn’t give a damn about me. So…I let him think what he wanted. I let him think I didn’t care.”

  “And he let you think he didn’t care,” she said, shaking her head. “If he found out his father had threatened you…”

  “He can’t.” I rubbed the tip of my nose. “It’s over.”

  “But—”

  “He’s fine, like he said he would be, and he’s studying hard. He doesn’t need me, so it’s best to just end it here so my parents are safe.”

  “But you two love each other,” she cried.

  “No, we don’t.” I shook my head. “I love him, but he doesn’t love me. He hasn’t even tried to talk to me, or see me. All he cares about is Amanda and getting back into the in crowd.”

  “That’s not fair,” Anna said, narrowing her eyes on me. “Have you tried to see him?”

  “N-No.”

  “But you care, right?” she pointed out.

  “I do.” I lifted my chin. “I care enough not to try and drag him into the threats and the mess that our life would be if we were together.”

  She shook her head. “But—”

  “No buts.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “If we were together, his father would fire my parents. He would have a fight with his father about that. He would end up disowned, and then we’d be alone, and my parents would be out of a job and home.”

  “But you’d have each other.”

  “And that makes it okay?” I shook my head again. “If he truly loved me, the kind of love that doesn’t die and the kind of love that people fight for, I would have risked it. But he walked away, got in a car with Amanda, and didn’t look back.”