Page 40 of Fake It For Him

It had been just after Freya had made me promise that everything between Ella and me was on the up-and-up, and I hadn’t wanted to give her a reason to doubt me. Now, however, I was wondering if I should’ve said no.

I could’ve just told her that my relationship with Ella was too new and that I hadn’t wanted it getting messed up. I even could’ve told Freya that I hadn’t wanted her to get ahead of herself. Anything that would’ve gotten Ella out of spending this time with my sister.

It was too late to take it back, but I was definitely distracted by thoughts of what the women were talking about. What they were doing. Where they were.

Thankfully, the bar wasn’t busy this afternoon and Joe and I were working on schedules and inventory. I used this particular bar as my office because it was centrally located between the others and it was easy to arrange for staff and transportation of our stock.

The boring, tedious work of administration wasn’t keeping my brain busy enough to stop me from wondering about the women, and I kept finding my mind wandering back to them. Having a hard time focusing on doing my job, I let out yet another sigh and Joe finally caved.

“Okay, what’s going on with you?” He lifted his head away from the inventory spreadsheet and gave me a perplexed look. “You’ve been sighing at least once a minute. Something is bothering you.”

I was about to blow him off when suddenly, I surprised myself by talking about it instead. “Ella and Freya are spending the afternoon together.”

“What?” His gaze sharpened and chin snapped up as he stared at me incredulously. “Why? How did that happen? You better hope this girl of yours is a good actress, or else you’re in trouble.”

“I know.” I dragged in a deep breath through my nostrils. “I set it up. Freya asked and I thought it would help convince her that it was real if it didn’t look like I was trying to keep Ella from her, but now, I’m starting to realize it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.”

He snorted. “Ya think? The sister spending time with the girlfriend is a big step in any relationship, bro. I know you’re nervous about them finding out that it’s fake. Has it occurred to you that pushing them together might just do that for you?”

“Yeah, Ella pointed it out to me yesterday when I told her she had to go. She also pointed out that if Freya gets attached to her as my girlfriend, I may end up getting my sister hurt in the crossfire.”

Joe nodded his agreement slowly. “That’s true. It could happen. If Freya bonds with her and Ella is suddenly gone from your lives, she might very well miss her new friend.”

I tried to repeat the argument I’d made to Ella yesterday in my brain, but when I made it now, it fell flat. Even to my own ears. “When Freya finds out we’re broken up, she’ll be a happy newlywed. I doubt her brand new bond with Ella will be something she’ll mourn then.”

He arched an eyebrow, just looking at me for a long beat. “I don’t know, man. Some friendships forged quickly are set in stone. If people hit it off, they hit it off. It might be difficult for Freya to simply accept that you’re broken up and that you won’t be getting back together. She may even reach out to Ella or try to stay in touch, and then what?”

I shrugged, even though I didn’t feel the nonchalance indicated by the action at all. “Then I guess they’ll stay in touch for a while. Ella and I will just have to come up with a good cover story about why it didn’t work out and I’ll ask her to make it clear to Freya that we won’t be getting back together.”

“And if they stay friends?” he asked pointedly. “What makes you think Freya will never find out the truth about you two?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead just yet. Let’s just hope they don’t get along really well.”

He kept looking at me like he knew not even I believed what I was saying. His chin was tucked low and his eyebrows were a bit higher than usual. “We can hope, but you saw them together at dinner at your parents’ place. Did their conversation seem strained? Did it look like they might get along?”

“Fuck.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “They’re too alike. They definitely got along well at dinner.”

“Then I think ‘fuck’ is the right sentiment here.” He chuckled and shook his head at me. “Good luck, brother. You’re going to need it. If I was you, I’d also start coming up with that cover story right around now. Both of you are going to have to know it well enough that even you believe that you broke up for real by the time January arrives.”

“You might be right about that.”

He gave me a sympathetic grin. “Don’t get too twisted up over it. In less than two months, this will all be a thing of the past. You have no real skin in the game. Just come up with a good story and stick to it. Freya will be alright as long as you don’t give her any false hope about a possible reconciliation. And even if they do stay friends, things will fizz out over time if you and Ella don’t show any interest in each other.”

“What happened to some friendships forged fast being set in stone?”

He lifted one of his shoulders. “Hope that doesn’t happen? Hope that Freya is too busy with the wedding planning to really get attached and that Ella retains her perspective about Freya not being a real friend to her.”

I brought my hands up to massage my temples. “Yeah, I guess I can hope. In the meantime, I won’t tell Ella to spend any more time alone with Freya and I’ll turn Freya down if she asks again.”

“You know, that’s the second time you’ve used the word tell instead of ask. Did you really tell her to go shopping with your sister, or did you ask?”

“I don’t know. Does it matter?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?” he teased. “Of course, it fucking matters. This woman is supposed to be your girlfriend. You treat her well and she’ll be more inclined to play her part properly, whereas if you simply tell her to do stuff, she might get over the act a whole hell of a lot faster.”

“She won’t get over the act.” I huffed out a breath and shook my head. “I’m paying her half a million dollars to play her part properly. She’ll do whatever I tell her to do.”

“Wow. You really never have been in a relationship with a woman, huh? I don’t even just mean romantic. I mean any kind of nonfamilial relationship where the woman actually wants to hang around rather than being forced by blood to do so.”