Chapter 21
Zara
Dear Sandra,
Do you think that there is life after death? Like, do you believe in reincarnation? I don’t know if I do. I mean, I don’t. But sometimes I like to think it could be true, you know?
Do you think a friend can forgive you for lying?
Do you think you could ever forgive me?
I wonder if Lila will forgive me when she finds out the truth about my situation with Jackson?
Miss you,
Zara
I feel calm,and I don”t know why. Maybe it”s because I”m home alone and can finally relax for a couple of hours. Lila”s taken the kids to a movie, and it”s just me at the apartment. It feels fantastic until I notice my laptop on the dining room table and groan. I don”t want to get off of the couch. I don”t want to move. I don”t want to look at more job postings. I feel like there”s nothing out there for me. I feel like I should go back to the construction company with my tail between my legs and beg for them to give me another chance. Or maybe I”ll tell them I”ll sue because sexual harassment is a thing. But I know that won”t go down very well.
The tub of ice cream on the coffee table is half-melted; my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I took out the entire tub and a spoon. I should have scooped out a couple of servings into a bowl and then gone back for seconds if I wanted it. That”s what I always tell the kids to do. ”But I”m an adult,” I mumble to myself. ”I can spoil and ruin ice cream, even if it”s a waste.” I try not to think about that because, frankly, I do not have any money to waste. At all.
I know Frankie will be back within a few days, telling me that he”s going to kick me out. I know the landlord/tenant laws in New York are such that he can”t get me out right away, but I don”t even want to be served an eviction notice. I don”t want it to get to that point, and I certainly will not do anything with him to stop him from doing it.
Loud knocking on my door stirs me from inner turmoil. ”Fuck,” I grumble. ”Please don”t let it be Frankie.” I get up from the couch, my legs feeling like lead weights, and head toward the door. ”Who is it?” I say, dreading what voice would respond to me.
”It”s me. It”s Jackson, also known as Zeus.” The deep voice of Jackson Pruitt sounds through my door, and my eyes widen in shock. I open the door before I know what I”m doing.
”What are you doing here?” I say, gawking at him. He looks tall and handsome, his aquamarine eyes dazzling as he looks down at me.
”I came to see you, obviously,” he drawls.
”But I never gave you my address. You asked me for my number, and I said no.”
”I did drop you off, remember.”
”Yeah, you dropped me off outside. I didn”t tell you my apartment number.” I glare at him. ”Are you a stalker? Do I have to call the cops?”
He raises a single eyebrow and shakes his head. ”I don”t think so. I”m actually here to help you solve a problem.”
”You”re here to help me solve a problem? What problem is that?” I fold my arms. “Unless you mean you’re here to help me solve the problem that is you being here right now?”
”I”ll tell you if you let me inside,” he says, peering past my shoulder.
”What are you looking for?”
”Just to see if the kids are home.” It”s then that I notice he has two books in his hands.
”What are those?”
”Some kids” books I enjoyed when I was younger. I thought your niece and nephew might like them.”
”Oh,” I say, touched that he”s brought them a gift. ”You didn”t have to do that.”
”I know, but I wanted to.”
”Hmm,” I hum, ”and why is that?”
”Can I please come inside, Zara?”
”Fine.” I step back, and he walks in. His presence makes my apartment feel even smaller than it already is.
”It”s so quiet. Are they sleeping?” He cocks his head to the side and looks at his watch. ”Did you make them go to bed early or something?”
”No. Lila, my best friend, you might remember her from that first night. Well, she”s taken them to the movies, so I can just relax this evening.”
”She sounds like a good best friend.”
”She is,” I say. ”She”s really great.”
”And their mom and dad?”
”Like I told you, their mom, my sister, is out of town because she”s chasing a job lead.” The words are lies coming out of my mouth, but I don”t care what he thinks.
”And their dad?”
”He”s a deadbeat.” I shrug. ”So, why are you here, Jackson?”
”I kind of like it when you call me Zeus, by the way.”
”Yeah, but I know your name is Jackson now,” I say. ”I mean, I know you thought I thought you were Jackson before, but I didn”t have a clue. So, maybe you”re not as famous as you think you are.”
”I never said I thought I was famous. I?—”
”What do you want? My free time is ticking away very quickly, and I don”t want to spend the rest of it just chatting with you.”
”What do you want from life?” he asks abruptly. I try to ignore the way his eyes are roving over my body.
”What? If you expect me to say I want you, you”re sadly mistaken.”
”No, I would”ve been slightly taken aback if you said what you wanted from life was me. I mean, what do you want out of life?”
”I don”t understand why you”re asking me this question.”
”Well, you came to my place of employment to take a job as an executive assistant.”
”Yeah, and?”
”And then you took a dancing job at that club the other night.”
”I need to make money. Okay?”
”But I”m sure neither of those jobs is your dream, right?” I’m not sure how he knows all this about me. Does he know my dream job? Is he some sort of mind reader as well as a Greek god?
”No, I wouldn”t say being your executive assistant is a dream for anyone, and I didn”t realize what that club was going to be so…” I pause. ”Seedy is not the word I”m thinking of, but I don”t quite know how to explain it.”
”I get it,” he says, nodding. ”So, if you could be anything you want to be…?”
”I want to be a lawyer,” I say. ”I want to go to law school, practice big law, and help people with pro bono cases.”
”Really? You want to be a lawyer?”
”What? You don”t think I could be a lawyer?”
”No. I think you can be anything you want to be. I wasn’t sure what your answer would be; I just didn’t think a lawyer would be it.” He looks at me. ”So, what”s stopping you?”
”Well, I have to go to law school, which means I have to get a good enough score on the LSATs to get into NYU or Columbia, or Fordham, because they”re the best law schools in the city.”
”Okay. There are other great law schools all over the country. For example, Harvard.”
”I can”t leave New York,” I say, shaking my head, trying not to burst into laughter. There was no way in hell I’d ever get into Harvard.
”And you can”t leave New York because…?”
”Because Lila”s here. Elise, my sister, is here. The kids are here. I take care of all of them. I can’t leave.” He frowns, and my heart races.
”So, let me get this straight. You are spending your life taking care of people. Lila, your best friend”s not working?”
”She is working!” I say, defending her quickly. ”She”s an actress.”
”She”s an actress that needs you to take care of her?” He shakes his head. ”I don”t understand.”
”She”s trying to become a successful actress. She”s in a play right now. Well, she was in a play, but it didn”t get a great review, so I think they”re canceling it. But she”s my best friend, and I want her to go for her dreams.”
”And your sister, what”s this job lead she”s searching for?”
I press my lips together and then say, ”It”s none of your business.”
”I know it”s none of my business, but I”m just curious.”
”She wants to be a reality TV star.”
”Sorry, what?” It sounds even more ridiculous when I say it out loud. ”I think you just told me your sister wants to become a reality TV star, but that can’t be true.”
”Yep. That”s what she wants.”
”So, your best friend wants to be an actress and is not doing so well. Your sister wants to be a reality TV star, and is chasing a lead. Where is she, by the way, and how is she chasing a lead for a reality TV show?”
I huff in exasperation and take a seat on the couch. ”Fine. She”s not chasing a job lead. She”s with some guy she met the other night and…”
”So, she”s a bit of a loser and a user.”
”She”s my sister. You can”t say that. You don”t even know her.”
”I do know that you”re killing yourself trying to get jobs, that it seems like you don”t even want because you”re so desperate to make money, because you are paying for everyone in your life.”
”I”m not paying for everyone in my life. I”m just paying for me, my best friend, my sister, my niece, and my nephew.”
”And how”s that going?” he asks with concern.
”It”s not going that well, but it”s only because I got fired because I wouldn”t sleep with my boss.”
”Your boss wanted you to sleep with him?” He sounds angry. ”Where did you work?”
”Why?”
”Because I”d like to have a chat with him.”
”Are you crazy? I”m not going to tell you where I worked, Jackson. I don”t even understand why you”re here. Why are you here?”
He runs his hands through his dark, silky hair and offers me a flirtatious smile. ”I have a?—”
”Oh my gosh. Don”t tell me you have a proposal for me.”
”How did you know?”
”Really, Jackson. Is this an indecent proposal?” I shake my head. ”Are you going to offer me a million dollars to sleep with you?” I pause and wrinkle my nose. ”Which is weird because I”ve already slept with you.” His eyes are dazed and confused.
”What are you talking about?”
”The movie, Indecent Proposal. That”s where he offers her a?—”
”Ah…” He cuts me off. ”That sort of proposal. No, I”m not going to offer you a million dollars to sleep with me, like you said, we”ve already banged.”
”I don”t like to use the word ”bang,”” I say to him, and he laughs as he shifts closer to me. ”What are you doing?”
”What do you think I”m doing?” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I take a couple of deep breaths, but I can”t stop my body from trembling. ”I”m not about to sleep with you again.”
”But the first time was so much fun.”
”It was okay. Tell me, why are you here?”
”What if I told you I could get you the best letters of recommendation? I could put in a good word for you at NYU and Columbia and basically guarantee your admission to either law school.”
”Really? What are you, like, a mafia boss?”
”No, but I work for Rosser International. My father runs Pruitt Holdings. I can write a check for millions of dollars as a donation. Admissions looks kindly upon those things.”
”I”m not going to end up in jail because you paid my way into law school.”
”You still have to apply. Do you have a good GPA?”
”It was not bad. A three point five.”
”That”s great. You just do well on the LSAT,” he shrugs, ”and we”ll get you in.”
”Okay. I still have to think about?—”
”I will cover all tuition and housing for the three years you”re in law school. I”ll help you get into any big law firm you want as an associate for the summers.”
Something is up with this offer of his. ”What? Why?”
”I”ll even give you a stipend on top of that. And…” he says, running his finger down my cheek, ”I”ll set up scholarship accounts for Luke and Charlotte.” He pauses. ”I”ll put in a hundred thousand dollars each in mutual funds. By the time they”re ready for college, that should be a nice chunk of change.”
”Why would you do all of this for me? Why are you here? What do you want?” I shudder. ”Oh my gosh. You”re not going to ask me to do something disgusting, are you?”
”What do you mean by ‘disgusting’?”
”I don”t know. Like drinking your urine or something. I know there are freaky guys out there that like women to do those sorts of things.” Oh my God, I hope he’s not a freak or has some strange fetish that he wants to pay me for.
”Who do you think I am? No, I don”t want you to drink my urine. That”s disgusting.”
”I think it”s disgusting, as well.”
”Would you have done it if I said that”s what you needed to do?”
”Of course not! Not at all!”
”Good, because that”s not what I want you to do.”
”Then what do you want me to do? I don”t understand why you”re going to offer me all this.”
”I need you to pretend you”re my fiancée.”
”What?” I shout. ”You want me to pretend to be your fiancée? Are you crazy?” I stare at him in shock.
”I”m beginning to think that maybe I am,” he says, shaking his head. He grabs my hands and looks into my eyes. ”I”m asking you to do me this small favor.”
”This is not a small favor, Jackson. I don”t even know you. Up until a couple of days ago, I didn”t even know your freaking name.”
”One. You know my name now. Two. We know each other as intimately as two people could know each other,” he says before pressing his lips to mine. I melt into the kiss. I”ve been waiting for it ever since he arrived at my door. I kiss him back passionately as his right hand creeps up the front of my shirt and squeezes my breast. I run my fingers down the back of his neck toward his shoulders, and he grunts when he pulls back. ”See, we still have chemistry.”
”Just because we have sexual chemistry doesn”t mean that?—”
”Look, my name is Jackson Pruitt. I”m a very rich man. My father, my grandfather, and my entire family are very rich.”
”Okay, and what do I care about that?” I roll my eyes.
”My grandmother is determined to matchmake me.”
”Okay, and that”s a problem because…?”
”Because I”m not looking to get married, and I”m not looking to spend my summer going on random dates with random women that she thinks are appropriate.”
”Okay, so just tell her to back off.”
”You don”t know my grandmother,” he says, shaking his head.
”I think I might kind of know her,” I say, laughing slightly.
”Oh, you do?” He questions.
”Well, I mean not your grandmother, but someone like her. My mom is always going on about me finding a boyfriend and having grandkids, and we don”t even have money to pass down, so I get it. It”s annoying. That doesn”t mean I”m going to do this though. There”s no way in hell I can pretend to be your fiancée. No one”s going to believe that we’re together.”
”I”ve already told them we are.”
”You what?!” I shout again.
”I”ve already told my grandma I have a fiancée named Zara Hathaway, and she wants to meet you.”
”Are you crazy?” I can’t believe this is happening.
”Not only does she want to meet you,” he says, ”but she also wants you to spend a couple of weeks with us in the Hamptons.”
”The Hamptons? I”ve never been to the Hamptons in my life.”
”Well, it looks like you”re about to change that.” He grins at me.
”Why would you even do this? I don”t understand. You could choose anyone. I”m sure there are plenty of women who would love to be your fake fiancée. Why should I do it?”
”Because I trust you.” He looks serious. “I know you like taking care of people. I”ve seen you take care of your niece and your nephew. You”re taking care of your best friend. I need someone with a good heart like you to play this role for me.”
”You don”t know if I have a good heart,” I say, but his words please me.
”I need your help, Zara. I know that”s hard to believe.”
“But you thought I was a journalist, not even a week ago. You thought I was tricking you. You thought I was devious and duplicitous. You thought I slept with you for a story.” He touches my lips with his index finger to get me to stop my rant.
“I was wrong,” he says. ”I made an assumption, and I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
”Fine, you were wrong. I don’t know if I accept your apology, but I know I can”t make this decision right now. I”m going to have to sleep on it.”
”You want to sleep on me?” he asks, his lips twitching as he grabs me around the waist, lifts me, and carries me to the couch. He plops me down and then sits next to me. He pulls me toward me and then lifts me onto his lap.
”No,” I say, but I can”t stop the noises from my mouth as he presses his lips against my neck. I close my eyes and allow him to kiss and touch me. It feels nice—really, really nice.
”You can sleep on me tonight if you want,” he says.
”You wish.”
”I kind of do.” He nods his head and kisses me again, his hands cupping my breasts.
”Jackson,” I moan. We both freeze when Lila walks in with the kids. I expect Jackson to be nervous, but he just lifts a hand and waves. ”Hey, Lila. Hi, Luke. Hi, Charlotte. It”s me, Jackson.”
”Hi,” Luke says, and Lila”s eyes are wide as she steps toward us after closing the door.
”What”s going on?” Lila asks.
”You”re not going to believe this,” he says before I can say anything, ”but your best friend, Zara, has just agreed to marry me.”
”She what?” Lila”s screech is louder than a train, and I’m dumbfounded that he just said that to her and the kids like it’s not major life-changing news.
”No one can know the truth,” he whispers in my ear, and I’m still stock-still unable to move or utter anything that would make sense.
”But there”s no way…” I”m about to tell him there”s no way that Lila”s will believe this. But she starts jumping up and down with the kids.
”Oh my gosh, this is so cool! I always believed in love at first sight, and I always believed that if anyone were going to meet a man that would want to marry them right away, it would be Zara, because she”s so gorgeous and she”s so great, and oh my God, Zara, I”m so happy for you. Not only was he the best sex of your life, but now he”s going to be your husband!” I can feel my entire body burning up in shame. I cannot believe that she said out loud in front of Jackson and the kids the words I told her. I can see Jackson smirking.
”The best sex of your life, huh?” He winks, and I try not to glare at him.
”Lila, it”s not—” I start, but he gives me a huge kiss to shut me up.
”I”ll add a million dollars, as well,” he whispers against my lips, and my eyes widen at his offer as he smiles.
”I am as shocked as you are, Lila,” I say, turning to her. ”Maybe even more so.” I’m not turning down a million dollars.
”This is amazing. Luke, Charlotte, isn”t it amazing that your aunty Zara”s going to be married?”
”It”s okay,” Luke says, but Charlotte comes running over to me.
”I”m so excited, yay!” She jumps up and down, and I smile at her as she claps her hands. I’m already starting to feel guilty.
”Oh, and by the way…” Jackson says, looking at me for a brief moment.
”Yeah?” I wonder what he”ll say now. What new bombshell will he drop?
”You should get the New York Times tomorrow morning.”
”Why?” I ask him.
”Because there”s going to be an announcement.”
”An announcement?” Can this day get any crazier? “About what?”
”Yeah. The announcement of our engagement, Jackson Pruitt to Zara Hathaway.” He smirks. “I wanted to make sure that the world knew right away.” Yup, it obviously can get crazier.
”But what would you have done if I”d said no?” My heart is racing, and I’m in shock.
”That was never a possibility.” I want to slap him. ”You and I both know that you were never going to say no.” He wraps his arms around my waist and whispers in my ear, “You’re the best sex I’ve ever had as well, Zara. We owe ourselves a summer of fun, don’t you think?”