Page 5 of Where We Fall

"Look," Mia cuts us off. "Let's not get sidetracked here. What we need is a solution. Mr. Hansley's annual fundraiser is in two weeks, and we need to make him see that it's just a misunderstanding of character.

I raise my eyebrow at my sister, unsure where she's going with this.

Luke leans in to speak. "Marcus, you need to show up at that fundraiser with a date. You need to play up how happy and in love you are with her. Maybe if he believes you've seen the error of your ways, he'll stay on with us," he explains. "I'm sorry man, it's the only way we could think to turn this around."

I lean forward, mirroring Luke, and rest my elbows on the table, not sure if I heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry. Are you telling me that instead of standing up for your brother, instead of being honest with this man and telling him that I'm not the guy he thinks I am, you're going to make me grovel and pretend I'm in love with someone?"

Gabe rubs the back of his neck. "Come on, man. Don't be like that. Of course, we tried to tell him, but he's a stubborn man. He won't listen. It's just for one evening. You know we can't afford to lose this account."

I rub my eyes with my fingers as my head begins to ache. Lack of caffeine and stress will do that to you.

"There's gotta be a better way. I shouldn't have to parade around with some stranger on my arm, pretending to feel things that I don't."

"Well," Mia says as her voice raises an octave. "She doesn't have to be a stranger."

Her eyes move from mine to Lexi's then back to me again.

It takes me a minute to understand what she's suggesting. When it hits me, a laugh escapes.

"You can't be serious. You don't want me to go with,Lexi?"

Lexi's eyes widen likeshejust realized what Mia's suggesting.

"Wait, what? I don't think that's such a good idea," Lexi protests.

"You didn't evenaskher before bringing her into this meeting?" My mouth drops.

I look over at Lexi and realize she is every bit in the dark as I am. I fall back into my chair, rubbing my hand over my face.

"It seems like our best option," Gabe says sternly. He's the oldest in this room, and whenever he steps in, everybody listens. I know I'm screwed. I'm going to end up saying yes to this whole ordeal if Gabe is on board. "Trust me, man. I hate this just as much as you do. I wouldn't dare to even think of asking the two of you if I hadn't thought it over a million times. I just think it's the best way to settle his nerves for a little while. I really don't think it will be that hard. Lexi, you were already scheduled to attend the event anyway, since it's your hometown and all. It will be no different, except when you talk to the guy, pretend you're in love. It's not like the two of you have to spend the entire evening with each other."

I guess he does have a point. The evening won't be much different.

I steal a glance over at Lexi.

Shit, there's no way William's going to believe it. She's not the type of girl I'd ever go for.

Don't get me wrong, she's sweet and a huge asset to our team, I just don't think of her in that way.

It's like she's actively trying to be invisible, undesirable to the opposite sex. Her clothes always seem two sizes too big. Her hair is always effortlessly up, but not in a sexy way. More like in aI didn't have time to do anything with it so this was my only optionway. I've never seen her wear makeup, or color at all for that matter, and her glasses are always sliding down her nose.

She starts to squirm under my eyes. I don't think she would be very comfortable pretending to be in love with me either.

"Well, what do you say?" Gabe says, bringing my attention back to him.

I exhale. "Fine. I'll do it."

"And Lexi, we're so sorry. We were going to ask you at our meeting yesterday, but you got tied up with working on the software reconfiguration and had to cancel. What do you say?" Mia's shoulders lift.

Lexi pushes up her glasses, looks at me for a brief second, and then back to Mia.

"I'll do it. If it'll help the company. I don't want you guys to lose your largest client."

"Perfect. Thank you so much for doing this. Both of you." Mia looks between the two of us.

I nod my head and stand up abruptly. I need a cup of coffee and some ibuprofen, stat.

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