Page 33 of The Match Faker

Even though Mia admitted she liked my arms, like I said before, never gonna happen.

‘Okay, let me rephrase: I didn’t lay a finger on her and I didn’t use my mouth or dick anywhere either. I swear. We were just talking.’

There was silence.

This was good. When Geena was silent for more than a few seconds, I knew she was thinking. I could literally hear the cogs in her brain turning.

‘For some reason, I believe you. At least this one looks more sophisticated than your normal type. Well, apart from having her hand halfway up her butt… Annalise is pissed. You were supposed to be laying low while we find someone to set you up with. It might take a bit longer than planned, especially now.’

‘Tell Annalise there’s no need. It’s early days, but I think this thing with Mia could go somewhere.’

I had to stop myself from laughing. The idea was crazy, but I’d already agreed and fake-dating Mia was better than the options Geena and Annalise would offer.

‘Seriously, Stone. I’m not in the mood for your jokes. We’ll let you know when the actress’s agent gets back to us. Until then, keep your shit together.’

‘Any news on that Netflix drama series?’ I asked, ignoring her comment.

‘Not yet, but I’m sure being in the headlines again like this won’t help. For the hundredth time, stay out of trouble!’

‘Will do.’

Geena hung up.

Now it was my turn to think.

If Geena knew about the arrangement with Mia, maybe she’d understand and even support it. Appearing to be in a real relationship with someone outside of the industry who I’d known since I was a kid was more believable. I reckoned it could help me land different roles.

I knew Mia said we shouldn’t tell anyone, but Geena was my agent and Annalise was my publicist. Surely they should both know what Mia and I were up to? They could help control the narrative. Get in front of the story and all those other fancy phrases they used when dealing with this kind of shit. Basically advise us how to make it work out for the best. And shut the whole actress set-up idea down for good.

Hmmm.

Then again, if either of them got wind of this, they’d call me a fool for agreeing to do it without consulting them or my legal team in the first place.

And maybe they’d be right.

I knew I shouldn’t have said yes. But as much as I liked winding Mia up, I’d always had this unexplainable thing about wanting to protect her. No, that was the wrong word. Mia had always been strong and independent, so she didn’t need anyone to protect her. Maybe ‘look out for’ was a better way of putting it.

She’d always been too trusting. And people took advantage. Like Boris. That guy was a dick.

I remembered he used to always get Mia to do his homework or buy him things. I was surprised it took her so long to dump him.

Ironically, given her profession, if Boris was anything to go by, Mia didn’t seem to have good judgement when it came to choosing men. So if I didn’t agree to this, she’d find some other idiot and they’d let her down. Ruin her and her business.

And even though we’d fallen out, hadn’t spoken for years and I shouldn’t care, for some dumb reason, I did. Like Trudy said, Mia and I could trust each other.

The phone rang again and I groaned. I really wasn’t in the mood, but I had to answer—otherwise she’d just keep calling.

‘Hey, Mum.’

‘Seriously, Liam? Another woman? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You’re just like your father. When are you going to stop all this womanising?’

‘How can you compare me to him?’ I ground my jaw. ‘Dad was married. I’m not, so I can do what I want.’

‘Not when everyone in town is still talking about the fact that my son’s penis is all over the internet you can’t. I thought you’d gone to London to lay low? You’ve only been there five minutes and you’re already screwing around. And what happened to this big action film franchise you told me about?’

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