Page 36 of Love Me Like It's Real
I almost burst out laughing but I choke it down by biting the insides of my cheeks and only when I know it’s safe do I speak again.
“A dating? Specialist? What does that even mean?”
He shrugs and a cocky smile crosses his face. “Well, it can mean a lot of things. But for me, it mainly means I get couples together and I split them apart.”
I narrow my eyes, staring at him. “Okay, you’ll have to walk me through that.”
He shifts in his seat and turns his chest toward me, facing me. “People get in touch with me when they want to get a guy, or girl. I meet with them and make sure to do everything in my power to get the other person jealous enough to ask them out.”
He must be kidding. He’s kidding right?
“That’s…very niche. I thought you didn’t believe in love or dating.”
“I don’t. All these clients prove is how fickle humans are about their romantic interests. And I make way more of my money by testing people in relationships and how faithful they are.”
I almost choke on my cocktail. Almost.
“You what?”
He nods as if he’s proud of it. As if he’s doing a service to humanity. And from what I understand of this guy, he probably thinks he does.
“Yeah. A lot of couples want to test their relationship. To test their guy is really the one and not a lying, cheating bastard. Enter me, with an offer they can’t refuse, and most don’t.”
“Because you’re so hot and sexy?” I snort.
“You said it.” He smirks but then his expression turns serious. “No. Because all humans, no matter how good they pretend to be, are lying, cheating bastards.”
Mark comes to mind.
He might not have cheated, but the lying and bastard parts are wildly accurate.
Maybe this guy reallyisdoing a service to humanity.
“I would hope that’s not true.”
“Oh but it is.”
I sigh and turn to the bartender. I need more fuel. “Are you saying of all the couples you’ve ‘helped’ all of them have succumbed to your…charms?”
“Eighty-five percent have.”
“Wow,” is all I can say.
He nods with more satisfaction than that revelation requires but I don’t like it.
I thought I was a cynic, but this guy has made cynicism his full-time job. And what’s scarier, if his stats are right, is he’s proving himself and his ideology right.
No. This night was a mistake. This is the first and last time I go out with this guy. He’s immature, he’s a horndog and he doesn’t catch feelings. He’s also made it his job to split couples apart. He’s everything I can’t want. Not with two kids at home whose balance has been shaken one too many times already. They don’t need to put their trust in a guy like Hayworth only for him to betray it like their dad.
And I don’t need a guy like Hayworth after everything I’ve been through even though he’d be the ideal guy to be with if I didn’t have kids.
Who better to get over your abusive, toxic ex than a fun guy who takes nothing seriously and has only one thing on his mind?
Snap.
The pain of the elastic band on my skin gives me all the confidence and resolve I need.
I can’t be tempted.
