CHAPTER 10 #2
That he’s willing to do this, to admit to this plan to someone like Nicky Dimitrios, speaks volumes. It would not be an easy thing to admit to. From the outside looking in, it seems a little pathetic.
“No, it’s fine,” I tell him. My heart pinches at the thought of anyone seeing him in that light. “It needs to stay our secret.”
His eyes gleam. “Thanks, Katie.”
“Sure. It wasn’t a hardship spending the evening with those two.”
“And me…” he prompts.
I turn and run my eyes over him. It’s certainly not a hardship to spend any time with this man. “Eh, you’re okay, too.”
“You do keep me humble, Kitty Kat.”
We drive the rest of the way in silence, the warmth in the car and the scent from his skin lulling me into a sense of comfort, one I haven’t felt in…years.
“So, what do you think?” he starts as we sit in the idling car, once again in a spot right outside my building. How does he do that? “Can we do this? Sell to the world that we’re an actual couple?”
Heat fills me, and a big part of me wishes he were asking me to do this for real.
“I mean, your friends were pretty convinced. What’s a few million more?”
He lets out a whoop and pulls me in for a full-body hug. “Thank you, Katie,” he whispers, his breath hot against my ear. “I owe you big time.”
I lean back from him, reluctantly extracting myself from his powerful arms, and nod. “I’m happy to help.”
We gaze at each other in the dim light, and I again remind myself firmly that we’re just friends.
No matter what it looks like on the outside, we are only pretending.
So what if he’s staring at my lips like he longs to kiss me, and my skin tingles every time we touch?
In a few weeks, he’ll go back to his life, and I’ll remain here, and if my heart is going to come out of this unscathed, it’d do well to remember that.
Nathan Jackson is your fake boyfriend, Katie. Nothing more.
?·?·?
“You’re dating Nathan Jackson and you didn’t even tell me?”
It’s barely morning. The sun has just made an appearance, and not only is Jade in my flat, but she is also on my bed.
Bouncing and screeching and scaring Nuke to death.
My furry friend took off in a huff the minute my bedroom door slammed open, but not before she trounced over my face to express her displeasure.
Clearly, all my friends are unhappy with me today.
“Pardon?” I mumble through my curtain of hair. What is she even saying?
“Ka-t-ie,” she says, stretching my name into three syllables, showing just how cross she is. “Get up at once and answer me. Are you and Nathan dating?”
Yikes. How does she know about this?
“Um.” I roll over and sit up, pushing my hair out of my eyes to stare up at her. From this angle, she looks about ten feet tall. Like an angry giant. In a purple jumpsuit.
“Answer me.”
“I mean, kind of?”
She falls face first onto the bed beside me, pushing onto her elbows and into my face. “Explain yourself.”
I scramble my thoughts in order. “I’ll tell you everything, but first I need to know how you found out.”
Jade rolls onto her back and fishes around in the front of her jumpsuit. “This, this is how I found out my bestie is dating the hottest man in the world.” She thrusts her phone at me, and I stare at her screen, my stomach sinking.
Contrary to Nathan’s belief that no one will pay attention to him in the off-season and we’ll be controlling the narrative, there are not one but ten articles outing our relationship. Complete with pictures from last night…and the night before?
“This is unbelievable,” I murmur, skimming through the screenshots Jade had helpfully taken, each more incriminating than the next.
I mean, this is what we wanted when we decided to do this fake dating thing, but not like this.
Not with my photo splashed everywhere and thousands of people speculating whether I’m the woman to help the F1 driver fall in love again.
That’s an actual headline, by the way.
“I have to speak to Nathan.”
My friend clutches my arm in a surprisingly strong grip. “You aren’t going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on. Is this true?” Her brows are furrowed, and she looks hurt; like it pains her that I’ve kept this a secret.
“It’s true, and it’s not.”
“What does that mean?”
I roll onto my side and tuck my arm under my head. She does the same, so we’re a mirror image of each other. “What I’m about to tell you must stay between us. Do you promise?”
She huffs out a breath. “Of course. I’m like a vault.”
I snort. “Nope, more like a sieve. I mean it, Jay, you can’t tell anyone. Not your yoga friends or your tarot card reader. Not even your mum. Promise.”
Her dark eyes sparkle with glee. She knows whatever it is, it’s going to be juicy. “I promise.”
I glare at her for several more seconds, so she can sense the gravity of the situation and then give in. “You know how Nathan’s ex-girlfriend broke up with him and then hooked up with his brother?”
Her lips curl in disgust. “She’s a rat.”
“Yes, well, it gets worse.” I detail the quick engagement, how Nathan’s family wants him to move on, how the press and public have been treating him and how all of this ended in our agreement to pretend to be a couple.
“So, it’s not real?” She pouts, looking crestfallen.
I lie on my back to hide the same expression on my face. “Nope. All just pretend. I’m helping him out of a tough spot, is all.”
The silence lingers between us, and I risk a glance over at her. She’s frowning at her phone, her lips pursed in concentration.
“I don’t know, Katie. This doesn’t seem fake to me.”
She pokes her phone back in front of my face, and I tilt it down to get a better view.
On the screen is a photo of us at the restaurant last night.
Nathan has his arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I’m leaning into him.
My face is turned forward, laughing at something Cherry must have said.
And Nathan? Well, he’s staring at me like he can’t believe I’m real.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I tell her, and my traitorous heart. The organ took one look at that photo and is planning our wedding. “He’s just an excellent actor.”
She snatches the phone from me and squints at it.
“I don’t know. The man is a race car driver, not a Hollywood actor.
And don’t forget, I’ve seen him here in real life.
That morning, here in your flat, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you.
It was like he had to shove his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for you. ”
I scoff. What is she seeing? And why does it belong only in a romance novel?
“Jade, I love you, but you’ve got it all wrong.
We’ve spoken about Victoria, and I’m pretty sure even though he’s hurt and seems to despise what she’s done, he’s not over her.
Not completely.” My best friend looks to argue the point, so I push on.
“And if you’re correct in your assumption that he’s into me, that he’s so desperate to touch me, to be with me, why wouldn’t he have just asked me to be his girlfriend?
Why go down the fake dating path at all? ”
She chews on her lower lip, her eyes still scanning the screen in front of her, before lighting on something. “Maybe because of this?”
Again, her phone is smooshed against my face, and I angle it to see what she’s talking about.
Is Nathan Jackson Racing Towards Another Heartbreak?
I stare at my friend, who’s looking back at me grimly.
“Seriously? What an awful headline.”
She nods, her braids bouncing along in solidarity. “If the media are speculating that you’re going to break his heart, that could be what he fears, too? Maybe he’s using this fake dating nonsense as a way to ease into a relationship with you?”
I need a cup of tea to deal with this.
“I mean, maybe? But it’s a bit of a stretch.
This”—I wave her phone in front of her—“is exactly why we’re doing the fake dating to begin with.
Nathan knows we’re just friends, that we don’t have feelings for each other like that and because of this, I won’t break his heart and shatter his pride all over the internet.
It’s the only way he can see to get through this, to salvage his pride.
And I’m happy to help him in any way I can. ”
Her smile is small, the furrow between her eyes reflecting her doubt. “If you say so. But promise me you’ll be careful. Because if a man who looks like that, looked at me like that, I’d be halfway in love with him by now.”
I swing my legs out of my bed and turn away from her. She’s my best friend and I tell her almost everything. But right now, she doesn’t need to know that I’m fighting this exact thing. That my heart is struggling not to give in and fall all the way in love with Nathan already.