Page 38 of The Deal with the Playboy

Tears trail down my cheeks, and he wipes them away but I shake my head. I don’t want him touching me and I don’t want him pretending he cares, because I know he doesn’t. Link has always been about himself.

I do love Link, even now, but I have to move on with my life. He cheated on me many times and called me names when he didn’t get his way or when I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do, and he says that every time we break up, and I always believe him. But not this time.

No, this time I’m stronger. This time I don’t have the desire to be around him, let alone be his girlfriend. He’s done too much damage to our relationship, and my self-esteem.

“No, I’m in a relationship with Jasper and I made a commitment to him.”

Fat drops of rain sprinkle my forehead, but the sun is still shining so I step inside the building. Link follows behind me, grabbing my arm, his touch like a furnace.

Slowly, I peel his fingers from my forearm.

“Of all the men in New York City, you had to choose the sluttiest one? He’s going to treat you like shit eventually. Manwhores always do.”

I shake my head. “I guess you would know, huh? From what I remember, you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants either.” I sigh. “Don’t ever contact me again. You and I are over. I moved on with someone else and you should too.”

He flashes me a wicked smile and grips my arm again, digging his nails into my flesh. “Last warning, Poppy, leave him,” he threatens.

I snatch my arm away, leaving a scratch burning my skin. “No.”

“You’re going to regret it.” His words are icy and send chills down my spine. Without a word, I head to the private elevators. Once inside, I sag against the wall as the A/C cools off my heated skin.

An ominous feeling grips me tightly as I shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen.

“Did Jasper agree to be your fake fiancé?” Lake asks.

She invited me to Petco to look for dog toys, because she bought a small puppy named Robert, and she wants a companion when Atlas is off in a foreign country to open their next store.

Today was a shitshow. Jasper’sfriendwas still in his office when I returned from seeing Link and he didn’t bother to introduce her to me. I watched through the glass door as the two of them laughed and talked.

What could have been so possibly funny that they were laughing so hard?

I didn’t tell Jasper about Link. It’s none of his business. He wants to keep secrets, then so can I. What exactly did Link mean about me regretting it? I checked his social media when I went back to my desk, and he posted about how brokenhearted he is, quoting love songs and quotes about a lost love on his status. To be petty, I hearted it. He acts like I’m the one who cheated on him, who emotionally abused him. And don’t get me started on the way he gaslighted me all the damn time. He caused me so much trauma I had to go to therapy for it.

A small brown dog barks at us as the owner pulls on its leash. I don’t know why I agreed to go to the pet store with Lake. This place smells like shit and piss and animals keep barking or meowing. I’ve never been an animal person. I didn’t like my mom’s cat, Fluffy. She ate her own shit and got fur all over my clothing and bedding.

“Not exactly,” I tell her. “We’re getting married.”

She picks up a small dog bowl and places it in the buggy as her mouth drops and she slaps a palm across her forehead. “I thought you needed a fake fiancé.” She crinkles her nose. “How did you get him to agree to marry you?”

I shake my head. “It was his idea. He wants to marry me because that’s the only way he can inherit his uncle’s business.”

But I don’t think we will last long, because he’s possibly already sticking his dick inside another woman, and I already have trust issues, and I’m pissed off. Pissed off is the wrong term—I’m more annoyed that he didn’t introduce me to the woman in his office, and it makes me suspicious of him. I’ll never trust Jasper, because men like him keep women on the side. Even my stepfather did it to my mother one time, and he loves my mother like Gomez loves Morticia from the Addams family.

“It’s a marriage of convenience,” I elaborate as she picks up a blue leash and places it in the cart. “We’re having a real wedding, and you’re going to be my maid of honor.” She hugs me, squealing. I’ve never seen her this excited about anyone’s wedding.

Two teenagers stop what they are doing and glance at us.

“I just knew you two would be together.”

I lift my eyebrow. “It’s crazy how falling in love made you more chipper.” She giggles at this.

“Ever since you broke up with Link, you turned your back on love.”

“Because it doesn’t exist in the way I thought. Especially how we were brought up. Marriage is nothing more than a business contract.”

She frowns. “You don’t mean that.”

I nod. “I do. You got lucky. And you should be happy, you found someone to love you unconditionally.”

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