His Hired Girlfriend (20 page)

Kelly chuckles. “Lawrence,
you’re supposed to be gay.”

Lawrence turns to Kelly
and glares. “Darling, I am gay. I desperately want Alex’s lips
because I want Jayden to notice me. Speaking of which, is he
here?”

“
No, he is not,” Kelly replies. “A lunch appointment with
Mr. Marcelo.”

“
Is that so?” Lawrence comments. “Heard they are having a
cocktail party tonight at the Marcelo’s Hotel. Speaking of which,
better tell Amy to mess up Britney’s makeup. What do you think?
Never liked that woman.”

Alex laughs. She can’t help herself. “Does she come here
often?”

“
Oh, yes, sweetie, all the time,” Lawrence replies. He makes
it sound as though the very thought of Britney coming is exhausting
in itself. “Can’t get enough of us, even when we mess up her hair.”
With his hands clasped together, Lawrence says, “I think I got it
all sorted. Shall we begin, darling?”

And so begins Alex’s
makeover. While she waits for her hair to color, Lawrence makes her
have her manicure and pedicure done. Once her hair is washed off,
Lawrence drags her to a cozy, private room where her legs are
waxed, her whole body exfoliated, massaged, and moisturized. She
feels so good and so relaxed she almost falls asleep if not for the
fact she needs to go to the toilet. At the corridor in one of the
other private rooms, she overhears a conversation that bugs
her.

“
I heard she’s Jayden
McCartney’s girlfriend,” a woman’s voice says. A massage
therapist?

“
Jayden’s girlfriend?”
another voice scoffs.

Alex is sure this one
belongs to Britney.

“
She’s not Jayden’s
girlfriend. Besides, that girl has no backbone. What a total loser.
If she’s his girlfriend, she doesn’t behave like one. By the way,
have you seen her? She’s so plain. Jayden would never date a girl
like her. I mean why would he go for her when he has someone like
me? I’m rich, I’m hot, and I’m fun. What more does he
want?”

The woman says, “That’s
not what I heard.”

Alex grits her teeth in
disgust. She heard enough. That Britney is a bitch, and God how she
wants to slap that woman.

So she doesn’t behave like a girlfriend behaves, does she?
“
Well, we’ll see about
that,”
she mutters under her
breath as she marches down the corridor, her head high.

Alex is exhausted by the
time Lawrence is finished with her. Now, she stands in front of the
mirror and can hardly recognize herself. She is stunned, and by the
looks of it, so is everyone. But not Lawrence because he has a fat,
satisfied smile on his face.

“
Oh, my God,” Kelly says in some kind of awe.

Alex bites her lip. Yes, she still has on her skinny jeans
and T-shirt, but she looks utterly different. Her complexion is
glowing with health, her light brown hair with blond highlights is
glossy and shining, her eyes are sparkling with vitality, and she
feels different, too. She thinks the change on the outside has
changed something inside her as well, her confidence.

Jayden, eat your heart out!

She wonders if he’ll be able to recognize her. The thought
causes her to smile broadly. Yes, it’s about time she takes control
of this whole masquerade. Jayden wants her to pretend to be his
girlfriend, Britney wants her to be Jayden’s perfect girlfriend,
and everyone expects her to be in love with Jayden. Then so be it.
She will be Jayden’s
perfect
girlfriend.

* * *

F
ifteen

For the fifth time,
Jayden wonders how the girls’ shopping trip went. He feels like
such a jerk for leaving Alex, but Britney and Beth were so
insistent, dragging him out before he had the chance to see
Alex.

Lunch with Mr. Marcelo, Britney, and Beth is excellent, and
although there isn’t much discussion about the property he’s
interested in because Beth and Britney pretty much take over the
conversation, he quite enjoys it. When lunch is finished, Jay wants
to leave straight away, but Britney insists he come up to the
office on the top floor to look at the property’s paper. It’s an
invitation he can’t resist. Thus he finds himself in Mr. Marcelo’s
office going through countless papers relating to the property, and
by the end of the afternoon before he leaves, Mr. Marcelo invites
him to join a cocktail party he’s hosting. Jay knows refusing the
powerful Marcelo is simply not done, and he rushes home to change
into something proper, secretly hoping to see Alex.

No one is home except for
Beth, who happily informs him everyone has an emergency meeting
with the wedding planner. Feeling deflated, he goes upstairs and
changes.

Not long afterward, Jay
finds himself in one of the restaurants of the Marcelo’s Hotel with
Britney once again, who is even sexier now dressed in her sleek
beige, strapless gown.

“
Sweetie, you simply must
meet Mr. Weatherson,” Britney says near his ear, giggling. “He’s
such a darling.”

Jayden knows Britney has
had a bit too much to drink, and she has been giggling, clinging
onto him, and touching him inappropriately.

“
Perhaps another day,
Britney,” he says, scanning across the room at the elegantly
dressed guests. Most of them are powerful businessmen from around
the States, and with them their wives. Oddly enough, he finds it
all boring and dry.

He’s talking to Mr.
Weatherson and his wife about his trip to New Zealand and the
things he has done there when he sees the two people he most wants
to avoid. His heart misses a beat then thumps fast as he lapses
into a sudden silence.

“
And?” Mr. Weatherson
prompts, waiting for him to continue.

“
Ah, you young men simply
love danger,” Mrs. Weatherson says, shaking her head. “I couldn’t
do it, you know. Heights—”

“
I never want to go to New
Zealand. Don’t even know where it is,” Britney slurs and starts
laughing loudly. When she stops, she takes another sip of her
champagne. Then she glances at Jay. “Darling? Is everything all
right?”

Jayden nods, clearly still
gazing at the couple on the other side of the room. Britney
curiously looks in that direction and sees Sarah and
Kyle.

“
I had no idea Daddy
invited them.” Turning back to the Weathersons. “Excuse
us.”

They nod politely, and she
leads Jayden toward the couple.

Sarah is clearly
uncomfortable when she sees them coming. She straightens up and
folds her arms across her chest in a defensive manner.

“
Sarah darling,” Britney
greets, her hands tighten about Jayden’s arm
possessively.

“
Kyle,” Jay says, his
voice a polite mask.

“
Jayden,” Kyle replies,
nodding his head stiffly.

Jay turns to Sarah. “How
have you been?”

“
Good, thank you,” she
replies coldly.

“
Who invited you?” Britney
asks Sarah.

“
Why, your father of
course, dear Britney.”

“
Daddy should never invite
the likes of you, darling,” Britney replies politely, her tone
suggesting otherwise.

The tension among the four
people is thick, and Jayden feels sick just being there. He wants
to leave immediately. “You two have a good evening,” he manages to
say and then turns away.

Britney staggers. “Jay,”
she moans and then toddles after him.

“
What a stupid woman,”
Sarah grits out, glaring after them.

“
And very sexy,” Kyle
murmurs, smiling to himself.

“
Disgusting,” Sarah says,
shaking her head.

Kyle turns to look at her.
“You want him back, don’t you?”

Sarah glares at him,
clearly telling him it’s none of his business.

“
I saw the way you looked at him.”

“
So? Yes, I want him back.
I’m only playing hard to get. He’ll come back.”

“
What if he
doesn’t?”

“
He’ll come back. He loves
me,” Sarah says confidently.

“
How do you
know?”

“
He’s still hurting when
he sees us together. I can see it in his eyes,” she replies,
staring off at Jayden, who is now standing on the other side of the
room.

“
Are we still together?”
Kyle asks curiously.

“
Yes and no.”

“
Do you ever love a man
for who he is, Sarah? Or you love a man only because he’s bloody
rich?”

“
I believe that is none of
your business,” she snaps.

“
You only want him back
because he’s a billionaire,” he snaps back.

“
Better than you who’s going bankrupt, right? And you’d
better not gamble away all my money, too. I won’t let you, you
swine!” she hisses near his ear.

“
Shut up,” Kyle
growls.

“
You know where you belong right now without me and Daddy?
That’s right, on the streets. And your bed partner is that cleaning
girl at Buon Appetito.”

“
You’ve gone too far,
Sarah,” he swears, his eyes dark and dangerous.

“
Have I?”

Kyle grits his teeth and stalks away. Sarah sips her wine,
half smiling and half sneering. She knows he’s going to see that
bitch Britney again. But what the hell can she do?

At first she was jealous and angry after she had found out
Kyle had been sleeping with other women, Britney included. After a
while, however, she turned cold toward him and couldn’t care less
what he’s doing. In fact, she broke up with him many times, but he
kept crawling back. The fact is he’d be homeless without her. At
least after the hot sex he has with Britney, he’d ask that woman
for money to tide him over instead of coming to beg from her. She
only gives him the bare minimum for his survival, of course. In
their broken relationship, she’s the one wearing the pants. To her,
he’s just an item, an accessory.
And he’s going to be useful for once for the plan she has
to get Jayden back.

Oh gosh! How she wants Jayden back, and she can’t believe
she was so wrong about Kyle. She thought he was such a good catch,
making billions of dollars with his companies. Only it was all a
lie. Those weren’t his companies but somebody else’s. In fact, he
was only an employee and had stolen money to solve his gambling
debt. How she wants Jayden back. Jayden was the perfect boyfriend.
He could have been the perfect husband if only Kyle didn’t tempt
her with his smooth words and good looks. And yes, she admits to
herself, if not for the fact she cheated on him. But now, she vows,
she’d get him back,
no matter
the obstacles or consequences.

* * *

“Come on,” Britney says, dragging the reluctant Jayden along the
hotel corridor. “You’re dragging your feet.” She laughs.

Jayden smiles politely as
he follows her. Up on the top floor of the hotel, Britney unlocks
the door of the penthouse with a swipe card. She leans back against
the slightly ajar door and wraps her arms around his
neck.

“
Come on in. What would
you like for a drink?” she asks huskily, her lips near his as she
moves her body ever so close to his, an invitation no man ever
resists.

Jayden says, “It’s late,
Britney,” and unwraps her arms from his neck.

“
But don’t you want to
come in?” she asks, pouting her lips to full effect so he’d want to
kiss her.

“
No. You need your rest. Good night,” he says and turns to
go. He walks into the lift, and a few moments later, he’s
gone.

Britney growls and stomps
her feet. Once she thinks she has gotten her frustration out of her
system, she turns on her heels, shoves the door open, and slams it
shut.

“
You’re not going very far
with him, Britney,” a male voice says.

Britney throws her clutch
on the sofa and tiredly drops herself there. She props her feet up.
“Why does it have to be him, Daddy?”

“
Now, you know very well
why it has to be him. He has made more than a killing in these past
years.”

“
He’s so damn slow and
tedious. I offered myself to him many times, but he hasn’t even yet
taken the hint. He wouldn’t even kiss me just now.” She sits up
straight as a thought suddenly strikes her. “Do you think he’s gay,
Daddy? Maybe that’s why he’s not interested in having sex with
me.”

Mr. Marcelo raises a brow
at his daughter. “He’s not gay, Britney. A man knows when another
man is gay.”

“
Oh! Daddy, how much
longer must we do this?”

“
Until we can get all the
money we can,” Mr. Marcelo replies. He sits down beside Britney and
wraps his arm around her shoulder. “Sweetheart, we need his money
to tide us over. We need his money if we are going to survive in
this world. You know very well we are about to go
bankrupt.”

“
I know, Daddy,” Britney
mutters. “But it’s just so boring. Jayden doesn’t want me. He’s not
interested in me.”