Page 11 of Falling for My Billionaire Fake Date

I open my mouth to ask more questions, but she raises a finger to her lips. “Bup, bup, bup . . . shush, girl. Go to the interview on Monday. Just go with the flow,” she says, mimicking a break-dance move, and I laugh.

I call Ava with the office’s landline, asking for fresh coffee, the old one cold and long forgotten in the heat of the conversation.

Monday could be a great opportunity or a really big mistake. I wonder which one?

Chapter ten

Jake – Memories I Need to Forget

I can’t help but get lost in the rivers of memory. Sophia used to be a big part of my life. Granted, she wasn’t special to me from the very beginning. To me, she was Bella’s best friend, and I used to see her as another little sister—just how I see Bella. I never really noticed her until their first year of college. I had just finished college then and was learning the ropes in dad’s company.

Bella had invited me to Sophia’s surprise birthday party, and I had no reason not to go. She was my sister’s best friend, who stood by her all through their high school days. Never deserted her or used her for her money or her rich background. On more than one occasion, Bella told me Sophia would never accept anything from her, but Sophia would gift her regularly.

She was soft-spoken, shy, and would only smile if I said hi to her when she came over to swim or hang out with Bella. I had gone to the birthday party that day, and on my way up tothe apartment they’d rented together in college, I met the most stunning woman I’ve ever had the privilege of laying my eyes on. I hadn’t recognized her then. We really hit it off and we got off the elevator together, making small talk.

Not until I got hit with yells of surprise and confetti did I realize it was Sophia. She had looked back at me and smiled enchantingly as if to say I was the surprised one that night, not her. I found myself glued to her side that night, and the rest was history.

Going to that birthday party became the worst mistake of my life. If I could go back in time to rectify that, I would have chosen knitting quilts with grannies in a retirement home.

The signs were there, the red flags flapped at me. But I’d always forgive, forget, and sweep everything under the carpet. I saw what I wanted to see, felt what I wanted to feel. I was irrevocably in love with her, and she knew it, she savored it, and she turned it into her greatest ammunition against me.

And every single time, she’d come back shedding tears. She knew my weakness for her tears, and she used it every single time she came back, asking forgiveness for what she called a ‘tiny’ breach of faithfulness that will “never happen again, I swear.” And it always worked. I realized it at some point, yet it still worked every time she used it against me.

I had tried holding on to what we had, with the rope of our connection totally severed from her side. Yet I kept on going, thinking I could love enough for two. But it doesn’t work that way. It never works that way. I lost myself. I forgot who I was, almost becoming her puppet.

I was able to climb out of the deep, dark hole where she had left me. I’ll forever be grateful to my supportive parents and cousin, Dylan. He had taken my place temporarily in the office, and dad had given me all the time I needed to heal.

My parents were never the clichéd cold and rich people who like to feast on their children’s happiness. We were very wealthy and happy, and we were never raised as spoiled brats.

I had just climbed out of that dark hole where Sophia had left me to rot and had offered to manage our new office out here in Birchwood, leaving my cousin in the city in dad’s company. Not many people would do that, but Dylan is practically like a child to my parents. Being orphaned at the age of four, he lived and grew up with us.

And he never misses any opportunity to appreciate my parents. He had wanted to come to Birchwood to oversee the new office, but my mother had agreed the town’s ‘air’ would do me a whole lot of good.

Now, this has to happen. I’ll be seeing Sophia again in three months, and I have no choice but to agree to it. I don’t want to hurt Bella’s feelings. But knowing Sophia, she won’t miss the opportunity to sink her talons into my heart again. And no, I’m not being a narcissist or thinking I am that important to her to want me back. She’s sick like that.

Everything is a mind game to her, and she gets a sick thrill from it. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t have some boy candy on her arm when she shows up.I used to be one of them as well.The thought hits me bitterly.

I can’t let that happen. I don’t know how, but I need to protect myself from her. And yes, I’m man enoughto admit that I’m not completely healed or immune to her charms and the tears.

Feeling the oncoming of a headache, I open the bottom drawer of my office desk and bring out some aspirin.

My phone rings and I see the letters, “Mom,” flashing on the screen, and I feel a little better. I have always been close to my mother, and she knows how to best console me over anything.

“Jakey!” I cringed at the nickname and laughed. Leave it to my mother to call an adult, ‘Jakey.’ I instantly feel better, imagining her sweet, reassuring smile and her soft, floral perfume.

“How have you been, mom? How are dad and Dylan?”

“We’re all good, Jake. I’m guessing Bella called you already?” she asks, in a cautious voice, tinged with pity.

I sigh and massage my temples, the weight of my conversation with Bella slamming me with tension again.

“Yes, mom. She called me already. And I know she put you up to this call too. Tell Bells I’m fine with Sophia coming to the wedding. She shouldn’t have to feel this way about her best friend attending her wedding, or even being the bridesmaid.”

“You know your sister well, Jake,” she says while laughing, and then continues. “I am so surprised to hear you are cool about this situation. I didn’t know you’d ever agreed to be Ethan’s groomsman, knowing you’ll have to partner with Sophia at all the rehearsals and all. You know, she is the bridesmaid, naturally, as Bells’ best friend.”

Back up there a minute.“What are you talking about, mom?” Ice and fire course through my veins, making me feel extremely hot and cold at the same time.

A big rock settles in my stomach and tiny bits lodge in my throat. I clear my throat to speak again, but I can’t. Pushing up, I walk to my office’s mini fridge to grab a bottle of cold water, drinking it in huge, rapid gulps. Undoing my tie and flinging it on the couch, I sit at the edge of the table, trying to breathe deeply.

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