Page 54 of Fake It 'til You Make It

She starts to back away toward the elevator.

Fleur pouts.

‘Who is she?’ she snaps. ‘It looks like there are two of us keeping secrets in this relationship.’

I know she’ll be wearing a condescending look, a possessive offensive, but my eyes are on Abbey, who looks pretty in jeans and a buttoned vest with stylish sneakers, her hair loosely tied up, understated.

‘She’s just…’ I’m thinking on my feet and doing a bad job of it.

Fleur leans closer to me, her hands on my shoulder, claiming ownership of me.

Abbey and I are locked in a moment, as if we’re holding an unspoken conversation.I can explain, I want to say. Except I can’t, not right now. Even if I could, Abbey has turned her back on me and she’s making for the fire-escape staircase. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ She shakes her head. ‘You’re clearly busy. I’ll ask someone else.’

‘Well, she seems crazy.’ Fleur hoots, taking the door from my hand and encouraging it shut. ‘Now, where were we.’ She raises her palm to my cheek. What used to be warming feels like fire on my skin.

‘She isn’t crazy, Fleur, she’s the woman I’m seeing.’ I can’tbelieve I’ve said it. Our fake relationship came much easier to me when it was me helping Abbey out.

‘Come again?’ Fleur gripes, her hands on her hips, her head cocked to one side.

I’m in shock myself, so I stare at her, not wanting to undermine what I’ve said with my next move.

Then Fleur cackles like something out ofHocus Pocus. ‘A girlfriend? No, honey, she’s your payback and it ends tonight.’ She scoffs. ‘Why would you want a princess when you can have a queen?’

I rub my chin roughly in frustration. ‘Right, Fleur. And why would anyone choose a prince when they could have a king?’ I make for the staircase to pack myself an overnight bag. Her words strike me on so many levels. I don’t see Abbey as a princess to Fleur’s queen but I do see myself as the prince to men like my brother, even Roman. Which is exactly why I’m pretending to be just like Mike.

‘Where are you going?’ Fleur demands.

‘To a hotel.’ I start climbing the stairs. ‘For the record, my girlfriend isn’t a princess; she’s an incredible actress.’

22

ABBEY

I’m sitting on my sofa with a mug of green tea and a ramekin filled with mixed nuts, my feet pulled up beneath me, hearing occasional shouts from the apartment above, wondering who the outstandingly pretty woman is in Mike’s apartment. Hoping he doesn’t have a girlfriend I don’t know about and worried my fake date might be no longer.

Unable to resist temptation, I typeMichael Thomas baseball girlfriendinto my phone’s search engine. There are an incomprehensible amount of photographs of Mike with women, nearly always with a different woman, and every single time, the woman is very attractive. Though none quite as striking as the woman upstairs.

It takes a lot of scrolling before I find a picture of Mike and the woman the internet tells me is Fleur Dumont, a model. Of course she is! The model and the pro ball player. Like Adam and Eve, pepper and salt, pen and paper. A natural pairing. Utterly glamorous – him in black tie, her in a floor-grazing black lace Chanel gown.

She looks every bit the example of a model as she poses andsmiles, a truly exquisite smile, with wide lips and perfect teeth. So very, very slight, her body looks the way I expect every fashion designer wants a woman to look in their clothes. Her stance looks as though it’s been perfected throughout her career, or perhaps it comes naturally, but the shot captures her in an undeniably flawless light.

Only when I manage to tear my attention from the most attractive woman I have ever seen in the flesh do I focus on Mike’s image. He looks different in real life. His skin is softer and less tanned. Though he’s smiling in the image, the creases at the sides of his mouth and around his eyes aren’t quite the same.

Then again, I guess it’s red-carpet lighting, maybe even photoshopping. It’s close enough to the real him and that’s certainly the woman he is upstairs with.

Currently, raised voices are coming through the ceiling as a muffled sound and I wonder what’s going on up there.

I pop a cashew nut into my mouth and click into Mike’s Wikipedia page. Naturally, he has a Wikipedia page.

His profile image looks like a swap card sports picture – he’s running in full San Francisco Giants kit. The page is full of stats and the teams he has played for. Though I do notice his date of birth – he’s older than I thought. I had guessed at him being in his early thirties but by this calculation, Mike is thirty-six. Maybe I don’t know the man upstairs at all.

I scroll down to what I’m really interested in: Personal Life. No spouse. So whoever Fleur Dumont is, sheisn’this wife. Son of Ed and Elsie Thomas. Brother of Theodore Thomas.

Why, if Mike is in a relationship with Fleur, would his brother have thrown him a party full of sexily dressed women?

I click on a link to Theodore Thomas. His picture is in profile and his gaze cast down but the brothers definitely share a likeness. He goes by Ted and he’s one of two partners behindVanguard RED Technologies – the email I saw in Mike’s apartment was about his brother!

According to his Wikipedia page, Ted has made numerous headlines of national finance and economic publications, like theFinancial TimesandBloomberg. He’s a very wealthy entrepreneur, less famous, but wealthier than his brother, in fact. Probably just as arrogant, in that case.

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