by Ashley Goss
Chapter 18
Lacey
Today was the last day, the wedding, which meant Matteo was up very early with phone calls from Shawn. I overheard them talking, and I could tell he was nervous. Doesn’t everyone feel that way on their wedding day? I assumed It was perfectly normal.
I spent most of the day by myself in the room. I finished my book and watched a couple of tv reruns. I wasn’t a part of the actual wedding, so I didn’t have anything to do today besides showing up. Honestly, I was enjoying not having to be anywhere. I lounged around in my sweats with my hair in a bun all morning. I even splurged and ordered room service for breakfast.
Around noon, I got up to start getting ready. I let my hair down to the small of my back in waves and put on my dress, a long elegant fuchsia dress. I stared at myself in the mirror realizing how grown up I looked. I reminded myself of one of those stuck-up women from fancy dinner parties. I reached around to zip it up when it got stuck. Shit! I fidgeted around for several minutes trying to get it unstuck when I heard the door open. Matteo came to check on me, but I forgot to close the damn bathroom door. Well, since he was here, the least he could do was help me with the dress. Sure, I was exposed, but he had seen me before.
“Can you help me zip up the dress. It’s stuck.” I waved him over for help. Normally, I would feel awkward, but I didn’t. I felt comfortable around him now. He moved my hair and ran his finger down my back to the zipper. His touch made the hair on my neck stand up. “Today’s the last day, I packed my bags, and I’ll leave shortly after the wedding. My flight leaves at 5pm. Can you make sure there is a ride for me to the airport?”
He shook his head, but I could tell something was bothering him. I started to ask but then decided against it. As he zipped me up, I felt a sensation down to my core. Today was the end game. Who knew if when we got back home if he would even call me. Hell, he might never want to see me again after this trip. It was just a business arrangement, right? I pulled myself together because I didn’t want him to see my concern. My face was flushed.
I walked out of the bathroom past him to grab my phone and he stopped me. His palm landed on my cheek elegantly, “You look beautiful.”
His words made me weak. Maybe, he would call me when we got back. The last two days couldn’t have just been part of the arrangement. Could it?
I wasn’t ready to go to the wedding because it just a couple of hours it meant I’d be going home. The last seven days had been a great experience for me. A met a man who went from being an asshole to an incredibly thoughtful person. A man I could see myself in a relationship with. We hadn’t talked about what having sex meant, but I knew what I wanted. More.
Chapter 19
Matteo
Today was going to be hard. I had to say goodbye to Lacey. Today was the day we’d have to “break up.” It’s got to be done big and in front of the entire family. At first, I thought maybe I should tell Lacey about the scene, but then I thought if I told her, she might not be able to act as surprised. I needed a reaction for my family to believe it.
When the ceremony began, I couldn’t take my eyes off her out in the audience. She was the most beautiful woman there, besides the bride of course. This made me even more nervous because of what I had to do. She would hate me for it. That’s undeniable. Was I okay with the chance she might not want to see me again after today? I had to be. This is what she was hired for. Who knows if any of this was real to her? It was probably all part of the act.
Once the ceremony was over, everyone headed into the reception hall. Lacey and I kept our distance from each other knowing the end of the lie was coming. She didn’t know exactly when which probably going to make it worse. I heard my mother squeal.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I rushed over to her. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes grew wide while reading something on her phone. She looked at me with sad eyes and handed it over.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry.”
The headline read The Real Lacey Andrews: Billionaire Side Piece. There was only one thing to do. It’s time. There’s no sense in prolonging it. Lacey was standing next to my sister when I asked to speak to her in private, but really only stepping a few feet away. I needed them to hear it.
“This isn’t going to work. You are just not the person I thought you were. I found out who you really are.” I stopped and showed her the phone angrily. “You’ve been lying to me this whole time. Why have you been using me? To pay for your tuition? Here I thought, what we had was real, but then I find out this. I can’t do this anymore. I need you to leave.” I really sold it by raising my voice.
She whispered, “Okay, you sold it. Stop yelling at me now.”
She didn’t even look at the phone. Maybe she thought I was joking. I couldn’t show it to her again without making it obvious. “I’m not joking. I can’t believe I ever even kissed you. We are so different, and it would have never worked out anyway. I don’t want to see your face anymore. Leave!” I yelled again.
I felt horrible, but it had to be done. I calmed myself down and realized tears strolling down her face. This made me feel like a complete asshole. Her feelings got hurt for real. Why was I that jerk again? I already opened myself up, why can’t I just be that guy for her?
Lacey wasted no time storming out of the reception. The bad thing was her reaction was real. I had gone to far. I should have dialed back the yelling a bit.
The next thought was who could have tipped off the tabloids about Lacey? The only person that knew about us coming here together was Kimberly and my family. Of course, my family was out of the question. They would never do something like that to me. Would Kimberly? I paid her a good wage to keep my life private. Maybe, it wasn’t enough?
Abigail walked over to me with her hand on my shoulder, “Wow, I’m so sorry. I know how happy you guys were. But, I don’t know. It didn’t seem fake to me. Are you sure she was just using you?”
Shawn then chimed in, “You felt so deeply for her. Are you really going to let her walk away? If you don’t fight for what you want, then every girl is going to walk away from you. Go get her!”
The sad thing was I wanted to chase after her. I wanted to apologize and beg her to stay, but I knew I shouldn’t. It was all fake. The past seven days were fake, weren’t they? I did what I knew.
I stood there and shrugged it off, then got a drink. I couldn’t blow my cover.
Chapter 20
Lacey
I couldn’t stand there any longer. My heart was shattered to know Matteo had no issue yelling at me like that in front of his entire family. I begged him to stop but he wouldn’t. Right now, my heart was in pieces. After the other night, I expected things to be different. We spent a lot of time together, getting to know each other, in close proximity. None of that mattered to him in the end. He was still too worried about his lie.
Why did Matteo had to make it perfectly clear in front of his entire family that he wished he never even kissed me? Or met me! It hurt. The kiss and sex meant something to me. It really hurt to hear those words coming from his mouth. Tears started flowing from my eyes, and I couldn’t stop it. I wanted to be anywhere but here. These last seven days had been better than I expected. Sure, the first couple were bumpy, but Matteo opened up a little bit. He showed me why he was such an asshole.
I’m not sure why I continued to let myself think that this trip would become of something. This was just a job. We both knew it was coming to an end. I shouldn’t have let my feelings blossom. The last thing I needed to do was let him make me cry. I wiped my tears away.
I headed back to the hotel room to grab my bags, but then I picked up a pen and paper and decided to express my anger. After writing a note, I felt just a tad bit better but still needed to catch my flight home.
I grabbed my bags and headed to the car to take me to the airport. None of it was real. Matteo didn’t develop feelings for me, no, he just used me. For someone who was so scared of opening up in chance of gett
ing used, he did the same thing to me. Maybe, the whole story was fake? He could have just been trying to get me to open up so he could make a move. Why didn’t I see this sooner? I could have saved myself a lot of heartaches.
Chapter 21
Matteo
As soon as she headed away from me, I had the sudden urge to stop her. To scream after her, Don’t go! She needed space right now. Her face during the scene looked disappointed. I could tell she thought everything I was saying was the truth. It wasn’t. All of it was a lie. The honest truth, I wanted her to stay. I was enjoying getting to know her, and over the past couple days, I had seen a different side of her. A side that I was growing fond of.
I could see the pity of everyone’s faces around me after she left. The only person that would talk to me was my sister and Shawn. Although, he didn’t quite know what to say.
“Listen, bro, sometimes relationships start out as a lie but end in truth. You need to decide which one you want.” Shawn said to me.
His words seeped into my brain as I realized he was completely correct. Our relationship had indeed started with a lie, but that doesn’t mean it had to end as one. Going into this agreement, I wasn’t looking for anyone to get close to, just someone to please my family until we headed back after the wedding. But with her, it became so much more. I found myself smiling when she was around, enjoying her company, and my family loved her. Could I let this just be a simple lie? Did I want it to end?
Fuck it! I ran as fast as I could up to the hotel room. I hoped I would make it before she left but when I opened the door, all her stuff was already gone. She left. My face drooped realizing she was really gone. For an instant, I thought go run after her, follow her to the airport and confess to her. That what you should do. Then, my brain said. No, that’s to cliché. I’m not doing that.
When I turned around to head back to the party, I noticed a letter sitting on the nightstand with my name on it. Fuck! Right now, I’m contemplating reading it now or later. I shook my head and flip it open and began reading.
Matteo,
When I first met you, regret came over me knowing that I accepted this job. Over these past 7 days, I went from despising you to being determined to bring out the good in you. The other night, I saw that side. You showed me a side of you that I wish I could have gotten to know better. Our kiss, the sex, meant something to me. I’m hurt to know it meant nothing to you. I don’t like that you used me in that way. That night, I believed you, and you made me out to be a whore. For that, I will never forgive you. However, maybe you don’t want to open that side for me, but you should consider opening it up for someone. Each person has so much love to give another. Open yourself up to that. I know deep down, you can be an outstanding man, but right now, I can’t even stand to think about you. Honestly, this letter should be filled with curse words and anger, but I can’t bring myself to do that. I knew to take this job that I would have to leave today, but a part of me wanted you to ask me to stay. After your outburst, I knew that was not going to happen. All of it was a ruse. This whole thing a big lie. This letter will be the last time I will give you this advice. Please don’t make matters worse and contact me. Thank you for the last 7 days.
Sincerely,
Lacey
I stared at the letter, re-reading parts of it realizing how bad I just fucked up. I closed my eyes and shook my head after realizing how awful I just made her feel. Here I was, telling her to never let a man make her cry, and I did. So badly, at that moment, I wanted to bring her against my chest, kiss her forehead, and whisper into her ear, everything is going to be okay. Instead, I did the exact opposite. I talked down to her, making matters worse, hurting her feelings to a point where I don’t know if she would ever want to talk to me again. If the parts had been flipped, and someone talked to me that way, no way I would contact them. In fact, I’d block their number. I let out a big sigh. I fucked up bad. How was I going to fix this?
Right now, I needed to head back downstairs, the last thing I needed was my family being worried about me. To them, I was madly in love with this girl. Breakups had never been good for me. I don’t want them to think they needed to come to pry me off the bed. This break-up was nothing like it was with Kelsey. I wasn’t the one that got hurt instead I was the one who inflicted the pain. After all these years, I just treated someone the one way I begged not to be treated. How fucking foolish was I? Pretty damn foolish.
I stood up from the bed, took a deep breath, and headed downstairs. I knew the rest of the night wasn’t going to go well for me. All I could think about was Lacey’s face. Her disappoint. Her anger. Her sadness.
Chapter 22
Lacey
When I finally arrived home, a cab took me back to the campus. Weirdly, the first thing I wanted to do was lay down in my bed. Sleeping on that pull-out couch was very uncomfortable especially for six nights. I don’t understand how anyone can do that. It didn’t take long for Angela to walk in.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were back. Where did you go? Have fun?” Angela continued to ask many questions.
“Yeah, it was fine. Glad to be home for sure.”
She came over and sat next to me on my bed, “Did you meet someone? You look like you just got into a huge fight?”
I don’t know what it was about Angela, but she can always tell when something is wrong. “Yes, I did. But, it ended in tears. What’s new?” I didn’t really want to talk to Angela about this. She wouldn’t understand, and I can’t tell anyone about where I was. It was part of the deal with Matteo. I might hate his guts right now, but I still needed payment from him.
The next couple of weeks for me didn’t go so well. I assumed my life would be kept under the wraps, but horror soon struck. Everyone on campus had seen the article on me. I felt like my private life had been leaked all over the internet, and They were still following me.
All I could really do was make Studies became my top priority. My grades needed to improve, and it was going to take a lot of effort into doing so.
After three days of torture, In the middle of my English lit class, my phone chimed. I Side eyed it because I didn’t want my college professor glaring at me for checking my phone. A $10,000 deposit had been made. My heart sank realizing that was it. Our arrangement was over. Not that I expected a phone call or text from him. It was Matteo. He’s probably back to his asshole ways. I was wondering how long it would take for him to deposit it but there was no way I was going to harass him about it.
After class, the first thing I did was going to the bank and take out $5,000 to pay off the rest of the tuition for this year. Boy, it felt great to be handed a paper saying PAID IN FULL. It took a lot of stress of my shoulders. All I had to tell my parents was that I was offered a scholarship. They wouldn’t ask questions.
As I walked into the dorm room, my phone chimed again, only this time it was text.
Matteo: Did you receive your deposit? Just want to confirm since it is a lot of money.
I didn’t really want to talk to him at this point. I was still so furious about what happened back in the Bahamas that a one-word answer would suffice.
Me: Yes
I was just so pissed at how he ended things after how close we became. I mean I didn’t expect him to fall in love with me or anything, but I expected to at least end things in a manner that wasn’t me crying my out in front of his entire family.
Honestly, I thought he might call me when he got back. Maybe, he had realized how wrong he did me. Honestly, sitting here on my bed, I can’t believe I thought that. Matteo was back to his old ways. The egotistical stick up his ass Matteo. As long as he was that way, he was never going to find happiness. I hoped he would at least take my advice as use it to his advantage. Probably not.
Chapter 23
Matteo
After the Bahamas, I decided to take another week off. Honestly, I needed it. So much had happened over the previous week that I needed time to readjust to the world. This was the real world, not a
fantasy. In what world would Lacey and I work? I knew I was a fool for even thinking about calling her. It would be a mistake. She surely didn’t want to talk to me after the way I ended things.
Shawn and Abigail had called a couple times since being back but I hadn’t returned them. I just don’t know what to tell them. They want me to fight for her, but they don’t know the whole story. I could never explain to them about the arrangement. My mother would kill me. It couldn’t get out. As I sat on my couch in my boxers and a t-shirt, I realized I was moping. I hadn’t moved from this couch all day besides to go to the bathroom. Hell, I haven’t even eaten anything. I needed to get out of this slump.
I got up and grabbed a pint of ice cream out of the freezer and plop down on the couch when I heard a knock at my door. It’s 10 o’clock at night, who the hell would be knocking on my door? I swung the door open to find Shawn.
“Hey man, I wanted to stop by and check in on you. Your sister is worried sick. Why don't you call us back?” He said walking into my apartment and sitting on my couch.
I laughed because he didn’t even wait to be invited in. “I just don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.”
He got closer to me, “Listen, man, we all know you were happy. Just put things aside and go get her back. There is no need to let your ego get in the way of your happiness.”
Maybe he was right? We were close at the end. Closer than I’d gotten with a woman in a long time. Before that last day, I even had thoughts of extending the offer of a real date when we got back. However, I knew once I “broke” up with her, things weren’t going back to the way they were. I should have done things differently, but I can’t change that now. Plus, how would I know if she was even remotely interested? She texted back with a one-word answer which meant she was still furious at me or just wanted the money.
