Page 137 of Pretend To Be Mine

“Do you not understand what you’ve done?” I was shaking now, fury replacing the numbness. “How serious this is? You ruined my entire life.”

“Come on, that’s dramatic. There will be other jobs.”

“I don’t care about the job!” The words burst out of me, loud enough that the whole diner could hear. I didn’t care. “I love Adrian, you moron. I know it’s fast and I know it’s crazy, but it’s the truth. And now he’ll think I leaked it, or that I was careless, or he’ll just want to be as far away from me as possible.” My voice cracked. “And now everything is ruined.”

Chris stared at me. “Wait. You’re in love with Adrian? My friend Adrian?”

“Yes, your friend Adrian. The one whose bed I’ve been sharing. The one who’s never going to forgive me for this.”

“You’re sleeping with my friend?” Chris looked genuinely outraged. “I can’t believe you. I introduce you two and this is what happens?”

“You fucked the actual devil, okay?” I pointed at my phone, at Clara’s frozen image. “You don’t ever get to judge me for anything. Ever.”

We sat in hostile silence for a moment, other diners pretending not to watch our drama unfold.

“I’m sorry,” Chris said finally. “I didn’t know who she was. I didn’t know she knew you. How could I know that?”

“Sorry doesn’t fix this.” But the anger was draining away, leaving exhaustion in its wake. “The whole world thinks I’m a gold-digger. My designs got credited to Adrian. And the man I love thinks I’m just some actress who did her job and left.”

“Then tell him. Tell him it’s real, that you love him.”

“I can’t. You don’t understand. This whole thing was supposed to be fake. And now everything’s so complicated and messy.” I put my head in my hands. “I don’t even know if he feels the same way.”

“Have you said anything?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“It’s just different.”

“Just tell him how you feel.”

I sighed. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

“Then at least you’ll know. And you can move on. But what if he does? What if he’s been waiting for you to say it first?”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s Adrian Blackwell. He could have anyone. And oh, good job, you and Adrian have now shared a woman. She dated Adrian. That’s what all this is about.”

Chris grinned, clearly proud as a peacock but the moment he saw my expression, it faded.

“Look, I screwed up. Massively. But don’t let my mistake ruin something good.”

“Too late.”

“I doubt it.”

“Help me figure out how to fix this,” I said. “Please. I don’t know what to do.”

“First, more pancakes. You stress eat. It’s what you do.” He flagged down the waitress. “Then we call Adrian and tell him what happened. That it was me, not you. That I’m the idiot who pillow-talked your secrets to a supermodel.”

“He’s going to hate you.”

“Probably. But he’ll forgive me eventually. And more importantly, he’ll know you didn’t betray him.” Chris smiled weakly. “I ruined your life. Least I can do is help un-ruin it.”

“I don’t think un-ruin is a word.”

“It better be.”