I shrugged. Of course I was. “Sure. I know what it’s like having little sisters.”
“Thanks, man. She’s a handful, but I try to keep her safe if I can.”
I watched as he got the TV set up. I knew where he was coming from. Even though Becky was old enough to be taking care of herself, I wanted nothing more than to make sure she was okay every time she went out with friends. Hell, I hated that I didn’t live at home so I could be there to greet any boy she tried to bring home.
“Honestly, it’s not just you. It’s my sisters too. They love her.” I smiled faintly. Even my grandma liked her. She had taken the time to send me an email the other day to let me know.
I knew I was going to be in deep shit when they all found out we were no longer together. I bit my lip, trying to ignore it. I hated that I was going to be doing this to them. She only has one interest in me. And that was my fault. I knew it.
The only reason she spent time with me was because of the money I gave her. But I also knew I didn’t have any other choice at this point.
“Yea, that doesn’t surprise me.”
“Becky asked for dating advice from her.” I turned to Josh. For a split second, it was like we had something completely in common. Our love and protection for our sisters.
Only I’m the one getting the shit end of the deal.
“You know,” Josh didn’t look at me as he spoke, “there are a lot of crappy guys out there. A lot of guys who don’t give a shit about their sisters …”
“Yea.”
“I’m just trying to say … normally I’d murder anyone who looked twice at my sister … but y-you’re not that bad. I guess. I mean, if you tried to date my sister, I wouldn’t kill you or anything.”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t?”
“No. I mean, not unless you hurt her.”
I smirked. I wasn’t sure why Josh felt the need to tell me that I could try to date Fiona if I wanted. “Dude, we both know her. If she wants to date someone, she’s going to, whether you like it or not. And if you kill them, she would totally find out and hate you for it.”
Josh barked out a laugh. “You’re right. So, Mortal Combat or Street Fighter?” His eyes shone as he looked at me.
I slipped out of the tub when I heard the video games come on. Rushing to my bedroom, I closed the door behind me and changed quickly, opting for my most unattractive pair of sweat pants and a baggy sweatshirt. There. Now, with wet hair and no makeup, I was pretty much as unattractive as I could get. For some reason, that gave me a bit of pride.
I sucked in a deep breath. Alright. I can do this. I mean, all I had to do was hang out in my bedroom. Maybe read, maybe do a little Facebooking. Really, I could do whatever I wanted as long as it didn’t involve leaving this room.
But … I always sat out there with Josh. If I locked myself in my room, he would know for sure that something was up. And I was trying so hard to pretend that there was nothing wrong. We’d already been over it. Josh was sure Adam was into me, and no matter how many times I tried to tell him otherwise, he just kept repeating the same thing.
“Don’t get me wrong—I’m not happy about it, but I guess if you have to find a boyfriend, at least I know all about him.”
Over and over, that was what I heard. I hated it. I hated that Josh thought Adam was into me, and I hated that he thought I was into Adam. I mean, Adam was a jerk. He was only using me for his own reasons, and he didn’t care about me as long as I pretended to be his girlfriend.
That was the kind of guy Adam was.
I didn’t want my brother thinking we were together.
They were friends. I didn’t want anything to come between that. I knew it wasn’t fair for me to get in the way of it, but the fact was, being Adam’s fake girlfriend made me a lot of money that Josh and I could put to good use.
“So, I’ve got to take your sister again this weekend.”
My head perked up as I heard him.
“Oh?”
“Yea, just some family stuff. Some dinner for my uncle’s company.”
My brow furrowed. Why did it sound like Adam was hiding something from my brother?
“Sounds fancy.”
“Semi-formal.”
“My sister owns semi-formal clothing?”
“I doubt it, honestly. But whatever. I was just going to buy her something anyways.” I moved from where I was standing, leaning against the door so I could hear better. My mind raced. “And just … for the record. If I wanted to pick her up a necklace for the night …”
“You’re buying my sister necklaces?”
Adam sighed. “It’s something my parents do—they will be thrilled if I do it, too.”
“She likes simple things. Nothing over the top.” My heart raced as I listened to them. He was going to buy me more stuff? Don’t get me wrong, I was okay with getting paid to be his pretend girlfriend, and I was even okay with having some things bought for me. But … he had already bought me so much. “How long are you two going to keep this up?”
“As long as I have to, or as long as she’s willing to.”
I sighed.
I knew this would be hard for Adam to end. He’d never brought a girl home before me, and his family loved me. But the longer it went on, the harder it was going to be on everyone. I should end things with him. All things.
Not just us hanging out. Everything.
Us pretending to be in love. Us seeing each other outside of work. Hell, I might even get a new job. Yes. I knew I had to do it. I knew that, in some way, it would be better if I just ended all contact with him. Except Josh … That was going to be tough. They would still be in contact with each other, which meant that if Adam really wanted to see me, he’d be able to find a way to.
I padded over to my computer and dropped down.
My heart skipped a beat as I stared down at an email. Jessie.
My high school best friend. We hadn’t talked in ages. My hands shook as I opened the email and read it to myself.
Hey, Hey.
Oh, my God, it has been so long since the last time we talked! How are you doing? What’s been new?
I’ve been super busy. I decided to make some huge life changes. I’m expecting! I’m four months along, though the father isn’t in the picture. I’ve been seeing one guy who is amazingly supportive. Although he doesn’t have a job, he’s trying really hard to make sure he can support us when the time finally comes.
I also started a blog. I decided that this would be the best way to make a living with this little guy growing in me. I already can’t wait to have him out!
Mom and Dad have been good.
What about you? Do you have anyone special in your life?
I miss you so much! It’s been forever since we talked. We should get together sometime soon! When are you free? You should bring that special someone with you, I’d love to meet them!
Lots of love,
Jessie.
I stared down at the email, reading it a few more times before blowing out a soft breath. Damnit. I hated the feeling I had in my gut, but why else would she have worded her email like that? If she knows that Adam and I are ‘together’ she could just be emailing me to see if we can get together so that, in some way, she can benefit from it. I didn’t want to think that poorly of my old best friend, but I had no clue what else to think. I mean, it’s not like I’d heard from her since moving away.
I bit my lip. I can wait to reply to it, I thought. I mean, it’s not that I really wanted to put it off, I just had no clue what I was going to say or what she wanted from me. So it was probably best to think about it a little before actually replying. And honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her anytime soon. I know, that sounded really bad, but if she just wanted to use me for my money, then there was no point in us seeing each other ever again.
What about Mom and Dad? I had to admit that it was a possibility they were going to want the same thing from me as well. And that scared me, honestl
y.
I had wanted my parents to come back into my life for years, and they were finally back. But what if it was only until Adam and I split up.
Then I’ll find out pretty soon, I thought.
76. Chapter Twenty-four
I knew I needed to get moved. Or just quit my job. I’d tried a couple times to ask that my cleaning route be changed, but each time, they said they couldn’t do it, so I suffered.
I bit my lip. What if I have to quit my job?
I mean, it was going to suck, but I had a lot of money. I’d be able to make it work. If I had to put off school for another year, it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, the job market here sucked, the only reason I had gotten this job was because Josh had a friend there—I hadn’t realized it was Adam, and I hadn’t realized that Adam was the owner’s son until the first weekend I had spent with his family. It was … interesting to say the least.
“Hey, can we talk about my cleaning schedule? Please”
The elderly woman who was in charge of them looked at me. “You’d still like to be moved?”
“Yes, please.”
I was feeling good about this. I was feeling hopeful.
She looked down at the papers, her brow furrowing. She gave a soft smile. This is it, I thought, my heart racing.
“I’m sorry, Fiona. It doesn’t look like there is anything I can do about it.”
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. “Oh. Okay …” I tried not to sound as disappointed as I felt.
“But, since you’re in here … could you go clean up a room for me?”
“Let me guess,” I sighed, “Adam’s.”
It wasn’t a guess. I already knew that was where she would send me.
“I didn’t realize you two were on a first name basis.” She gave me a wide smile, and my cheeks flushed.
I shrugged and turned on my heel. It was going to be the fourth time within the past six hours that I was going to have to go in there and clean up his mess. I had no fucking clue how he managed to get it so messy right after me cleaning it.
Slowly, I made my way down the hallway and towards his office. “You needed the office cleaned, again?” I asked, looking around.
“Well, not so much again, more like I need it done right.” His voice was cold. He stood, pointing towards a small coffee stain on the desk.
I swallowed dryly. I had cleaned the desk, that stain hadn’t been there. I opened my mouth to protest but closed it before I said something I shouldn’t. He can still get you fired, I reminded myself. Without a word, I crossed over to it and cleaned it quickly.
I watched him out of the corner of my eye every chance I could steal a look. I hadn’t said a word to him at all today.
“There is a dinner this weekend—”
I took a deep breath. I knew about it. I’d already prepared my answer. “Oh, I um … actually have something going on this weekend.”
I felt guilty saying it. I knew that he probably really needed the support. His family was nice; it was the extended ones that all seemed batshit crazy. With cousins that tried to hit on me, and others that … well, I had no clue what they did.
“Oh. Well—”
“Sorry. I know you are paying me to pretend to be your girlfriend, but maybe you can find someone else?”
I looked over just in time to see him frown. He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t say anything.
I finished cleaning up the coffee stain and left the room without another word to him.
This is crazy!
I was beyond mad. What the hell did he mean I needed to come back and clean his office again?
I stared at the elderly woman who had said it. “I … I’m sorry. He said you didn’t do a quality job.”
She honestly sounded scared. I must have looked beyond pissed.
“It’s fine,” I said, gritting my teeth. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. After all, it wasn’t her fault that he was being an asshole. “I’ll go fix that right now.”
I wanted nothing more than to storm in there and hit him with a broom. Or maybe just tell him to deal with it himself and to leave me alone. I could give my two weeks right here and now.
No.
I was going to think about this. I needed to make sure I didn’t jump the gun on anything.
I needed to make sure I’d be able to make the money last if I quit my job. It wasn’t going to be easy for me to quit. I hated quitting my job, and I hated giving up on something. And to me, this was giving up. It was letting him win.
I made my way into the office and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. I could see a coffee stain that I had clearly cleaned up and sucked in a deep breath. Thankfully, he was nowhere to be seen. And I was very much okay with that; otherwise, I probably would have lost it on him.
I don’t get it. Was this some sort of punishment? Was this the price I had to pay for my brother getting me this job? Maybe this was some sort of joke they had going. How many times can we make Fiona clean the same room before she goes crazy?
No, that didn’t sound like Josh or Adam for that matter. He’d find better ways to drive me crazy, and I knew it.
I sucked in a deep breath. Normally, I had around fifteen minutes to get a room clean. Of course, this office was where I spent most of my time, so I have to admit, I wasn’t too worried about it. If he was going to complain when I did the best I could, then he was going to complain, and that was that. I couldn’t do more about it, so I was going to at least try to relax about it. I washed the desk off, careful to make sure I got under everything and triple checked that there were no stains. I didn’t miss that coffee one. There was no way I could have. But I wasn’t going to bring it up. I was just going to grin and bear it.
That doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it, I thought.
And I knew I wouldn’t be happy about it at all. I bit my lip as I grabbed the almost empty garbage can and tossed the small amount of waste into the big bag I had with me.
“Oh, there you are.”
His voice made my heart skip a beat.
“Yea. I’m just finishing up; I’ll be out of your way in a sec,” I said, quickly putting the trash can down where it had been.
I avoided all eye contact as I slipped out of the room.
“Hey ...” He stopped me just as I got out of the office, “About this weekend …”
“Yea, sorry about that, but I’ll let you know if my weekend clears up.”
I rushed off without giving him a chance to say anything else. Guilt tugged at the pit of my stomach. I’m only doing what will be for the best, I reminded myself.
I knew it was the truth, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I still felt like a really crappy person for just bailing on him when he probably needed me. No. He doesn’t need me. He could easily find someone else to go be his moral support—right?
I mean, I was sure he could pay someone who was ten times better at being moral support than me. I seemed to annoy him, honestly. I’m not stupid. I knew that. And I was sure he did, too.
So why did he keep trying to get me to go with him? Was it just because his family liked me?
Probably.
I blew out an angry breath.
The girl was fucking difficult. I was trying to open up to her and admit that I needed help, and she just kept rushing off before I could get the words out.
I picked up my phone. “Hi, I’m sorry to do this but could you send Fiona in here again?”
“Did she do a bad job again?”
“No, it’s nothing too major. I just need to … go over something with her.”
“I’ll send her in right away; please let me know if she doesn’t show up. I’ll get the paperwork ready.”
“No need for that.”
I wasn’t going to write her up. I hung up the phone without another word. I didn’t want to get Fiona in trouble. I just … wanted her.
I bit my lip. I knew she was going to be mad at me when she came in here. I kne
w she was going to be hard to deal with, but I needed her. Was that such a bad thing? She said she’d be there for me, right? Well, she’s not. I hated admitting how hurt I felt by that thought. I sighed. I knew I shouldn't blame her for not wanting to go out again this weekend. I mean, I’d been taking up her weekends for almost a month now. Wow. I couldn’t believe how long it had been already. No wonder I actually liked the girl. I’ll figure something out, I promised myself. I had no other option. I had to figure something out or I was screwed.
Not just that, but my family had grown to like her so much. They all wanted to know if she was coming on the weekend. Even Becky had taken enough of a liking to Fiona that she felt comfortable asking for advice from her. Not that I was happy about the advice she was looking for.
I’m screwed, I thought.
“You called about something?” She stood in the doorway and sounded beyond pissed.
I looked up. Her eyes blazed with answer. In a way, she was still kind of cute, not that I was planning on telling her that. I knew that would just make her even more mad at me. And I didn’t need that.
“Yes. I—”
“What exactly did I do wrong now?” she asked, pacing into the room, throwing her arms up into the air. “I look around, and I don’t see anything wrong with the office. Did I miss some invisible stain?”
I swallowed dryly. I hadn’t been prepared for how angry she would be with me.
I took a deep breath. It’s fine. I’d sort things out with her, right?
Rage simmered inside me. “Oh, or did I not do a good enough job with the windows?” That was an excuse he liked to use a lot.
“I—”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to any of it. “I don’t fucking get it. I have to clean this office a dozen fucking times a day!” I didn’t care if anyone heard me scream. “Why? Why do I always have to come in here?”
He stared at me blankly. “You really don’t get it, do you?”
I choked on hair. “No!” I flung my hands into the air. How was I supposed to get it? What was it, even? How was there any way I could understand why he had me come in here hundreds of times a week?
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 50
