Page 34 of Playing Pretend with Love and Billions

My frown is instant as I stare at the cup of coffee in my hand, watching as the steam flows from the top. “I’m worried that he doesn’t feel the same about me. I mean, look at me. I’m just a customer service rep through his company, while he’s bound to be the next CEO of the damn place! He could have someone so much better than me.”

Millie shakes her head before narrowing her eyes at me. “Ryan would be lucky to find love in someone like you. You’re fearless, confident as hell, and you don’t take any bullshit. You hit your fears head on, full of determination. When Alex cheated on you, you handled it better than I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

I open my mouth, ready to disagree with the last part, but she holds a hand up to silence me. “You lifted that beautiful head of yours high and pushed through the pain of what he did to you. Ava, babe, it’s not you who would be lucky to have him. It’s him who would be more than lucky to have you. You’re one in a million, don’t let anyone make you think differently.”

In the span of our short relationship, Millie has never been this affectionate towards me. She’s always complimented my looks, told me how hot I look in something, but never spewed everything that she did just now. Which is why there’s a fresh glistening of tears stinging my eyes, and I swipe at them with an awkward laugh.

A throat clears behind us and I go still at seeing Alex standing there, holding a single rose in his hand that looks much like all the others I’ve received.

Dread fills my entire body, but I manage to hold back emotions as I approach warily. I’m smiling politely at him, not wanting to cause concern in the office right now for his sudden appearance. He’s wearing a nice dress shirt, but it hangs loosely from him as if he’s lost a lot of weight. The bags under his eyes are more prominent than anything else about his face, along with the hollowness of his eyes.

As I stare at him longer, the anger begins to take over and I lean in to seethe, “What the hell are you doing here?”

He glances from the flower in his hand, then over to my desk where the other flowers I’ve received are perched. The smile he gives me is full of hope, but no amount of it encompasses love for me.

Secretly, I’m grateful I caught him with Brenda. Was that even her name? Who knows. Either way, catching him with her helped me realize how terrible we were as a couple.

He was controlling, while I was regretting the move I made into the city. Even when I voiced those concerns, Alex would get angry and claim that I must not love him if I couldn’t see myself being here with him.

And that's the thing, I don’t think he was entirely wrong. Ever since Ryan and I started our scam of a relationship, I’ve realized that I don’t mind being here so much anymore.

I have Millie, and now I have Ryan. That’s good enough for me, even if I can rarely see my parents. They are a phone call away and that’s enough to satisfy my need to see them daily.

Alex holds out a single rose, expecting me to take it, but I only stand with my fists clenched at my side. “You’ve taken all the other ones, please take this one.”

My eyes widen as I glance back at the flowers scattered in vases along my desk. Ryan wasn’t sending them? It was Alex all along, and that only makes me even angrier. How dare he try to worm his way into my heart with something as simple as flowers?

“No,” I say dryly.

He flinches at my tone, but shakes his head with a laugh and pulls his phone from his pocket. “Listen, I know I messed up but please hear me out? I have something I need you to hear, about Ryan.”

That piques my interest and that’s the only reason I don’t shove him on his ass right now. I give him a firm nod, not having a good feeling about where this is going but also not being able to stop it from happening either. If I’m going to be putting myself into a situation like this again, I need to make sure I have all the information I need. Even if that means some of it comes from Alex.

“It’s not real,” Alex says.

Then proceeds to play a voice recording that shatters my heart in front of the entire floor.

Chapter18

Ryan

It’s been mostly radio silent on Ava’s end throughout the morning, not even a single email from her to put my mind at ease. I tried making a call to her workstation but was met with a busy signal. That’s not uncommon, especially with her working in the customer service wing, and it probably only means that she was with customers all day.

Which is why I’m walking into her section of the building with a smile on my face, ready to give her a well-deserved break. I come to a screeching halt when I notice that her desk is empty. Even the flowers are gone from the flat surface and instead discarded into the trash.

Millie rolls her chair back slightly, but instead of a smile, she shoots me a menacing glare that has me standing straighter.

What is that for?

“Where’s she at?” I ask.

“Like I’d tell you,” she says with an eye roll before turning her attention back to the computer screen, effectively dismissing me.

I take it as a hint and walk away from her, only for my mind to roll with different thoughts of Ava and where she’s at right now. My fingers are already pressing the call button next to her contact, but it goes straight to voicemail.

That’s weird.

My neck tingles with awareness when I step back into my wing of the company building, and I stand at higher alert when I catch sight of Alex standing at my window, gazing thoughtfully down at the crowds of people on the sidewalk.

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