Page 21 of The Pump Fake

Cliff

Waiting outside of the building where the gala is being held, I take a deep breath and tilt my head toward the sky. Tonight is an important night. Not just for my company but for me too, because I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell Jade that I don’t want this relationship to be fake. I want it to be real. I want her to be mine and only mine.

“Hey, Cliff.” I hear a feminine voice from behind me and I turn toward it.

“Jade,” I breathe out softly. It’s all I can do right now looking at her. What a sight to see. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you. And thank you for the dress you sent over. It’s beautiful,” she says, almost shyly.

I take three large steps and wrap my fingers around her waist, pulling her into me. “It’s not the dress that’s beautiful, it’s you. It doesn’t hurt that you’re wearing my favorite color too,” I say, grinning at her as I place a small kiss on her cheek.

“It sure is,” she says, looking into my eyes, her hands gliding down the lapels of my tux. “You know you don’t look so bad yourself,” she breathes out.

For just a moment, we’re locked in a trance where the only two people that exist is us. My mind is filled with thoughts of getting her home and ravishing her when the slam of a car door brings us both back to the present. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. It’s time to get this show on the road.

Letting go of her waist, I move to her hand and begin to lead us toward the door of the building. “Shall we?”

“Let’s do this,” she says as I open the door for her, and we walk into the hotel, the staff leading us straight into the room that is holding the gala.

When we walk in, Jade’s eyes go wide and she says, “Wow, it’s beautiful.”

I look around and see the same thing that I see every year: Fairy lights hung around the room, a bar placed in the back, tables covered in black and white tablecloths, and a chocolate fountain with desserts surrounding it. Shrugging my shoulders, I murmur, “It looks like this every year. I guess I’m used to it. Our table is this way.”

We head over to the table that we were assigned to, and Hunter is already sitting there with a few other people from work. We grab the last two chairs right next to him. “Hey, Hunter. How’s your night?” I ask as I pull out a chair for Jade.

“Just got here, but so far, not too bad,” he says.

Jade gives us a quizzical look. I lean over and whisper, “He means so far he hasn’t had to be in the company of Sally MaeRobinson. She’s the CEO’s mother and can sometimes be a little bit handsy.”

Jade’s eyebrows shoot up with my comment. “Isn’t that sexual harassment?”

“She’s like ninety years old,” I say, waving her off. “No one’s worried about it, but she can also go on and on.”

Hunter leans over the table. “Jade, I heard from Mr. Wilkes today.”

“Oh yeah. So did I,” she says smiling.

I grip her hand and hold it in mine. Leaning into her, I say, “You didn’t tell me?”

“I was going to once we got settled, but Hunter over here beat me to it,” she says but doesn’t explain any further.

“Well, what did he say?” both Hunter and I ask.

“They told me that they were happy with how I’ve been with the team this season, on the court and off the court,” she explains.

“That’s great,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a side hug, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips before whispering, “I’m so proud of you, Elsa.”

She pulls back with mischief in her eyes when she sasses, “You can’t call me Elsa. I’m no longer the ‘ice queen.’”

“You’ll always be my ice queen,” I tell her.

Hunter joins in when he says, “Well, I guess you two can stop this ‘relationship’ anytime now, right?”

My heart drops at the mention of our fake relationship because it has never felt faked. No, it’s very real for me. I look over at Jade when she whispers, “Yeah.”

Before we can go any further though, the lights go out and a spotlight is brought to the stage, interrupting any conversation we might have. The CEO of our company comes out onto the stage and grabs the microphone. “Welcome to our annual Elevate Sports Agency Gala,” he says and the crowd cheers.

The CEO goes on and on about our company, but I tune out most of what he’s saying because my mind is still stuck on the woman next to me. I never thought much about if she would or wouldn’t want to continue our relationship. The idea of asking her to be my girlfriend for real has me panicking.

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