AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One rule. Don’t get caught up. Remember the last time you let yourself get caught up in Jensen?
Chapter6
ALEX
“You agreed to do what?”
I shifted under the scrutiny of my assistant, Cassie. "I said that I would pretend to be his girlfriend for a couple of days. It's no big deal." I busied myself with getting the gallery show ready, fiddling with bubble wrap on the corner of a canvas.
Cassie put her hands on her hips. "Look, I know I'm just the assistant here, but I’d like to think we’re friends too. After all, we survived working for Peter together. He was a miserable old goat, but he put us together. Now I'm about to way overstep my boundaries here."
I shifted on my bare feet. If Jensen saw me, he’d roll his eyes. But I preferred to work without the restriction of shoes. It was more comfortable, and something about it made me feel free. "Okay, let's have it."
"How long have you been in love with him?"
The heat hit me first. Then embarrassment that my deep, dark secret I'd been holding back from everyone for years was plain for someone to see. Cassie and I had known each other since I moved to San Diego. At the time, Cassie worked for the artist that I apprenticed for. When he moved to Europe, Cassie had stayed on to work with me.
"I — What — I don't know what you mean."
Cassie wrapped the next canvas like a pro. The medium sized painting featuring streaks of reds, blues, purples, and golds, titled simplyCloset, was one of my favorites. The closet was the metaphor for my life and the jumbled mess that it was.
And now you’re putting it on display to be judged by everybody.
“Okay look, I'm totally overstepping here, but I like you. And I know you're not one for oversharing or getting really close and whatnot, but I'm worried about you. If you think you can go to Catalina and be a stand-in girlfriend, you're nuts. I see the way you look at him. I've looked at one too many guys like that. Like they walk on water."
I winced. "Is it really that obvious?" I whispered.
Cassie shook her head. "No, no, don't worry about that. It's just I spend a lot of time with you. And Jensen is always here, so I spend a lot of time with thetwoof you together. I just see these things. What I know is that with proximity stuff is harder to hide. So what is your plan? Because I'm not letting my boss lady go to Catalina with a piece of toilet paper stuck to her shoe."
The metaphor gave me a great idea for a painting.
Focus on what the girl is asking you.
"Look, I get what you're saying, but what was I supposed to do? He is my best friend. And he is as close to family as I've got."
"So you can just pretend to be his girlfriend and hope he doesn't notice that hey, you're in love with him?"
"I'm not in love with him. I just—"
"Sometimes you hold on just a second too long when he gives you a hug. When you think he's not watching, you inhale deeply just to get a contact high from his cologne. Every time he holds your hand and pulls you close, you imagine being with him and what it would be like if he finally one day turned to you and said 'Let's do this. Let’s give it a go.’ Because I've been that girl. A lot. I don't want to see you get hurt."
My heart thundered against my chest. If Cassie had seen it, I had no hope being locked in on the island with Jensen and all his relatives.
He'll find out. And then our friendship will be over.
I flushed. "Oh no, this is a disaster. What was I thinking?"
Cassie busied herself. She set another canvas aside then marked it off her checklist before placing it in its location in the cart. She had a system. When it came to the creative side, that was all me, but the organization, getting pieces to where they needed to be, the customer service, that was all Cassie. She ran everything behind the scenes, and I would be lost without her.
"I am not in love with him. We are best friends. And he is like my family. And I wanted to help him out." Damn, that sounded lame even to my own ears. I was so totally screwed. "Oh my God. What have I done? How do I get out of it?"
"Well, honey, I'm not sure you can get out of it. He said his grandma's really sick, right? You must've had a plan when you said yes."
"I don't know. I was sort of gonna do what I've always done. You know, pretend it's not there, bury the feelings deep under years of dirty laundry where no one should ever go. That was my whole plan. That's it."
Cassie shook her head. "I swear, for someone so bright and intuitive, I’m surprised you really don't want to do anything about your feelings."
"You don't understand. I've only ever had Jensen." And now, I could see the problem with that. I never really had many close girlfriends. I never let anyone get close. But Cassie was trying to be a friend right now.
