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She sucks in a breath, "Women actually do that?"
"Happened a few times. What do you say, partner? Do we have a deal?" I see the temptation in her eyes. She wants to say yes.
"For how long?"
I give her a shrug. I'm not about to put a time frame on this. "However long it takes."
"What happens if you find someone you really want to be with? We just break up and move on? People will buy that?"
"People will buy what they want to see and they want to see us together. So that is what we will show them." I don't understand why she is so sure I am going to be the one wanting to leave this relationship. "Oh but to really sell the ruse we have to be exclusive. People who know me know I don't like to share. So the only people in this 'relationship' are you and me."
Chapter Five
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Ivy
What Wes is trying to give me is very tempting. Too tempting? In this business, everyone is out for themselves and what you can do for them so why is he offering me this? I mean, he could hire someone to pretend to be his girlfriend or just...ask. He is Wes Marshal after all. It isn't like he wouldn't have a hundred different women want to be with him. So why? Why me?
"What will I have to do if I agree to be your...beard?" Is that even a thing anymore? Is it offensive?
"Show up at a couple of parties like the one last night, hang on me so no one bothers you, maybe go to dinner with me a few times." It sounds pretty good so far. "Oh and live at my house with me."
"What?" he cannot be serious. "That...I can't do that? Won’t everyone think we're..." God, I don't even want to think about the word sex and Wes after what I told him.
"Baby, everyone already does. We'll just be confirming it for everyone. But in reality, you won't have to do anything you don't want to. I'm not going to push you to do anything that isn't one hundred percent what you want to do."
I roll my lips up around my teeth so I don't say something too soon. "Okay. We'll be girlfriend and boyfriend in name only."
"Baby, we'll be more than just girlfriend and boyfriend. If we do this then you will be my lover. I'll expect you to act like it anytime we're in front of people."
"But I don't know how...I'm a...yeah, this isn't going to work."
"It will. I'll guide you through things, lead you. All you have to do is let me...," he wraps his arms around me and rests his chin on my shoulder, the literal devil on my shoulder trying to talk me into doing something I shouldn't; "show you what to do."
My heart is pounding too fast and my palms are sweaty. I might not like what is going on but I'm not unaffected by Wes's closeness. He smells nice and he always seems so warm. I'm not sure if I can pull off being his live-in lover or not but I can definitely sell the fact that I am smitten with him. I just don't want to forget what happened before all of this, back when he thought I was a whore. If I can hang on to my head long enough to think of another way out of this I'll be just fine.
Fifteen minutes later and I am tucked up under Wes's shoulder with some huge guy holding my suitcase and another big guy in front of us. His agent walks a short distance behind us talking on his phone. Inside it seemed pretty stupid that Wes would think I need some sort of security other than a doorman but then I see the crowd outside. As soon as we hit the door flashes start going off like crazy and people start shouting questions at me.
How long have we been dating? What's he like in bed? Am I the reason he seems so moody these past couple of months? Who am I? How did we meet? He pulls me closer to him and I turn my head into his chest, trusting him to guide me to the car parked out front. His arm, which is already wrapped around me, tightens causing more cameras to go off. One of the photogs comes too close, causing Wes to stop.
"Back up, man. Don't get close to her." Wes moves me to the other side of him where the big man without my luggage is. His arm wraps around my shoulders and pulls me to his side again. The camera flashes make me a little dizzy so I lean into him more and let him direct me. When the big man opens the door for us Wes makes sure I am in first and then follows behind me. The two big guys sit up front and Vin goes to a car of his own.
Wes raises the partition so we are left alone. This is one of the first times we have ever been alone. All the other times a whole room full of people were surrounding us. A day ago I would have been ecstatic to be where I am now but things have changed, quickly.
"When we get to the house let me get out first. I have security but that doesn't mean they don't fly drones over now and then. I don't know if they are that worked up to try something like that but I want to make sure you're safe before we get out."
I nod my head. I don’t want to think about this entire situation. I wanted to be an actress but this is a whole new level of crazy I never thought I would have to put up with. The questions are crazy. Who asks someone how their boyfriend is in bed? How is that even okay?
The rest of the car ride is quiet, like deafeningly quiet after all the uproar we just left. When we get to his house, he does exactly what he says he is going to do; he gets out first and takes my hand helping me out of the car. Then he leads me into his house and as soon as the doors close I really start to wonder if I made the right decision.
The next day, my agent wants to 'talk' to me and asks me to meet her on the set of a television series. In one of the dressing rooms given to extras Sarah is power smoking through a whole pack of cigarettes while waiting on me. I didn't even know I was going to be asked to play a part in this show until she turns to me and tosses me a script.
"You little slut. I mean I'm not shaming or anything but why didn't you tell me you were throwing it to Wes Marshal? This is pertinent information, love. Oh, is he the one you ask to take you home? God, you didn't put out on the first date did you? Could he driving you home be considered a date? Give me details, something to quote you on here, love."
Oh my God, I'm swamped with information overload and I'm not sure how to answer all these questions. "Um, it's...we started out as just friends and wanted to keep it quiet."
"Oh!" the way she says it I don't think it is a good thing and I try to go back over the words in my head to see what I did wrong.
