Page 7 of The Fake Dating Plan

I had to read it twice. Ax Can Fuck Off? Is that what it meant? Did she really name a piece after me while also dissing me? The nerve! The nerve of her breaking my heart, only to name a piece after me as if I broke her icy heart!

I called her. I didn’t even stop to think if it was rational or not. Or what I would say when she picked up.

“Hello?” I hate how her husky, caressing voice still could do a number on me. My cock hardened in response. I was obviously not getting good sex. That’s all that meant. They were latent feelings from our time together. Then I thought of that other image I had seen earlier and got even angrier.

“Did you name a piece of jewelry after me?”

“Were you Googling me?”

“I was researching a potential investment.”

“Potential? Does that mean… I thought we had a deal?” She sounded panicked.

“We do, but nothing is final until we put pen to paper.”

“Yes. Right. So, you were doing research, you said?”

“And I’ll be visiting the premises tomorrow for a tour at ten. I hope you’re ready.”

“Uh…”

I didn’t let her finish before I hung up. Better to leave her in suspense and have her scramble to get things in order before I arrived. That was always better, I found out than having them know you’d be coming in advance. Giving your investee more time gave them time to hide things they didn’t want you to see.

When I finally got to the penthouse, it was evening. I had spent a lot of time in traffic.

As I walked into the living room, I saw long legs dangling over the armrest of the couch. “You’re back.” Makeup items were strewn over the table. Candy wrappers were on the floor. Cushions were askew and a half-full bottle of very expensive and old wine was teetering on the edge of another sofa. I picked it up before it would fall. How one person managed to create such chaos was beyond me.

I turned to Gia. She was on her phone, probably scrolling on Instagram. She was one of the app’s biggest influencers after all.

“What are you doing here?”

“What a silly question.” She said, smiling. “You’re back early. Did you miss me?” I was about to give her a cursory yes. Have sex with her, so I could forget the fiery redhead I had encountered before and break up with her tomorrow. Then I remembered seeing a toothbrush she had left in my bathroom. Yep, it was time to let her go.

“Gia, we need to talk.”

3

“He said ten?” Dylan asked as soon as I got into the office. His official position was the human resources manager, but lately, he had been taking on the role of office manager whenever he could. Since he was very good at wearing both hats, we had given him a promotion and a new title, the community manager. I had sent a message to the office group telling everyone there will be an investor tour tomorrow. Thankfully, everyone came in prepared, and they looked like they had worn their Sunday best.

“Knowing him, he’s probably serious and punctual, so we have to make sure everything is presentable and in shape,” I said as I entered the office. Dylan, Laura, and Kira immediately rushed in behind me.

“Will he want to visit the factory?” Kira asked.

Everyone looked at her like she had said an exceptionally dumb thing, and she kinda had.

“I only ask because there was a new delivery yesterday, and it doesn’t look good.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The last thing I wanted was for us to seem unprofessional and bales of raw material all over the place would make us look like that.

“Can you talk to Matthew and make sure he makes it presentable,” I said to Dylan, “Everyone should be on their best behavior today.”

“On it,” he said, punching numbers on his phone.

“What about you? Are you prepared?” Laura asked.

“He’s trying to ruffle my feathers. They won’t be ruffled.”

Laura nodded, but I still could not wipe the worried look on her face. I could tell that she didn’t like the idea of Ax coming in, but was going along with it.

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