His Hired Girlfriend (34 page)

“
Nice
doing business
with you, Jayden,” Mr. Marcelo says, shaking the young man’s
hand.

“
Same to you, Mr. Marcelo.” Jayden smiles coldly. Suddenly,
he can’t stand the man’s presence any longer, and with the deal
done and everything settled, he and his men head to the
door.

“
What a stupid boy,” Mr.
Marcelo says under his breath.

“
A very stupid boy
indeed,” the attorney agrees, nodding his head. They both start
laughing.

Jayden feels as though a
mountain has just lifted off his shoulders. Now, it’s time to go
and see Alex.

They are near the door
when his Blackberry starts ringing. Jay looks on the screen and
sees that it’s from his mother. “Hello?”

“
Jayden, Alex is leaving.”
There is a hint of panic in his mother’s soft
voice.

“
Wait! What?”

“
Alex is leaving. We’re at
the airport now. She’s going home. What’s going on, Jayden? She’s
terribly upset. She changed the plane tickets this
morning.”

“
Shit!” Jay swears under
his breath.

“
Jayden. H
urry.”

“
I’m coming,” he shouts
into the phone as he starts running to the door.

“
Boss, what’s going on?”
Jeff shouts.

“
I have to go. Alex is
leaving!”

“
What?” David yells,
confused.

Jayden yanks the door open and races to his car. He jumps
in, starts the engine, and then speeds out into traffic.

* * *

T
wenty-
S
ix

Will Miss Alexandra Stewart please make her way to gate nine for
boarding? Will Miss Alexandra Stewart please make her way to gate
nine for boarding?
The voice
on the intercom calls her name, and Alex feels dread rushing up in
the pit of her stomach. She ignores the call and lingers there,
staring at the entrance, hoping to see Jayden hurry in to see her
one last time.

Will
Miss Alexandra
Stewart please make her way to gate nine for boarding? Will Miss
Alexandra Stewart please make her way to gate nine for
boarding?

Knowing that she
can’t hold up the plane any longer, she moves to hug
Gracie.

“
I’m sorry I have to leave
early,” she says, tears in her eyes.

“
Oh, sweetheart
,”
Gracie says, hugging her hard. “I know you’ll be back very
soon.”

“
Yes. Yes.” Beth butts in
and pulls Alex into her arms. “You look after yourself, young
woman.”

Alex has to laugh at that. She simply can’t believe Beth is
so nice to her. Then she wonders what their reactions will be once
they’ve found out the truth, that she isn’t Jayden’s real
girlfriend. She also wonders when Jayden is going to tell
them.

She turns to Tom and gives
him a hug.

“
Look after yourself,” he
says.

Alex steps back. “Yes, I
will.” Then she waves goodbye to them.

At the entrance to the
large plane, she murmurs, “Sorry,” to the air hostess.

“
That’s all right. Your
seat is just to the left,” the pretty young woman informs
her.

Alex takes her seat by the window and puts on her seat
belt. Suddenly, a panicky feeling erupts inside of her when she
realizes she is never going to see Jayden again, the man she’s
fallen in love with and now lost.

* * *

Jayden speeds his BMW through the thick traffic, passing red lights
and changing lanes like a Formula One racer. His hands are tight on
the steering wheel, his mind on Alex.

Alex, why are you leaving
me? Please, let me be on time. Please.

He changes lanes again and
overtakes an enormous truck. The driver pops his head out the
window, beeps his horn continuously, and shouts, “Moron! Drive
properly!”

Jayden ignores the driver,
who is clearly unhappy, and steps his foot on the accelerator,
urging the BMW forward, zooming past cars, vans, and other trucks
heading toward the airport.

He parks the vehicle in the taxi-only parking lot and
rushes out to the terminal. He dodges his way past the throng of
people, heading toward gate nine. He slows down once he sees the
gate number.

“
Excuse me,” he shouts
from the distance, his voice echoing across the entire area so that
everyone turns to look at him curiously. “Has it departed
yet?”

He comes to a sliding stop
at the check-in desk. He takes a deep breath and puffs out, “Has it
departed yet?”

“
The 12:30 to Los Angeles,
sir?” the woman queries calmly.

“
Yes,” Jay manages to puff
out.

“
I’m sorry, sir. It left fifteen
minutes ago.”

Jayden feels sick to his
stomach. He swears under his breath. His head is spinning as he
slowly drags himself toward the exit.

“
Hey, get your car out of
here!” one of the taxi drivers shouts at him.

Jayden is too lost in his
own sorrow to hear. He gets in the car and drives out. When he gets
home an hour later, he finds his family in the drawing room,
waiting for him.

Kelly rushes to him and
says, “We heard Alex left. What happened?”

Jayden glances over his
sister’s head to his other family members. Beth looks as if she’s
about to cry. Sam and Stephanie are sitting on the far side of the
sofa, looking as sad as ever.

“
I have a confession to make,” he says, his heart booming in
his chest, the loud noise echoing in his ears.
He knows he has to tell them the truth.
He takes a deep breath and
continues, “Alexandra is
not
my girlfriend.
I’ve been lying to all of you since I came back from New Zealand. I
hired Alex to pretend to be my girlfriend so, Beth, you’d stop
matchmaking me.”

There is shocked surprise
all around. Gracie starts crying, her hands clutching at her chest
as though she’s heartbroken. “I don’t believe this,” she
sobs.

“
I dated Sarah, but I
found her cheating on me with Kyle. We broke up, so I lied to you
all.”

“
But what about your
engagement?” Beth asks. “And the baby?”

Jayden shakes his head in
confusion. “What engagement? What baby?”

“
Didn’t you propose to
Alex? Isn’t Alex pregnant with your baby?” Beth asks
desperately.

Jayden chuckles brokenly.
“No, Beth, I didn’t propose to Alex, and we are not having a baby
together, either.”

Beth elegantly stands and
strides up to him. “What have you done? What have you done?” She
hits him on the chest.

Jayden catches her frail
wrist gently. “I’m sorry, Beth.” He turns to his parents. “I’m
sorry I lied to you. Please don’t blame Alex. She only agreed to do
it because she needed the money for her dad’s surgery.” He turns
back to Beth. “I’m sorry.”

“
How could you, Jay? You
hurt her, and now she’s gone. You have to bring her back. I want
Alex back, you hear?” Beth mutters incoherently.

“
What?” Jayden is confused. He thought Beth was upset
because he lied to them, not because Alex left.

“
I can’t bring her back,
Beth. She’s gone. She doesn’t want me.”

“
Don’t you be a fool,”
Beth mutters.

“
You have to get her back, Jay,” Gracie said. “She’s like a
daughter to me.”

“
You have to bring her
back, and the baby, too,” Beth murmurs, patting his arm. “Be a good
boy and bring Alex back, won’t you?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Jayden,” Tom chimes in,
“do you love her?”

Jay glances from Gracie to
Kelly and then back to his father. He nods his head. “Yes, I
do.”

“
Do you want to lose her?”
Gracie asks.

“
No, I don’t,” Jayden says, shaking his head. “I never want
to lose her.
Never!”

* * *

T
wenty-
S
even

There’s only one thing
Alex is sure of in her life once the plane lands in Dunedin
Airport, and it’s that she’s not the same person she was two weeks
ago. She wonders what her family will think of her once they have
seen the changes in her, not only in her physical appearance but in
her character, too.

Her whole family meets her at the airport. Her mom,
brother, and sister rush to hug her. Her dad, however, stands back.
She can sense the stiffness in his posture as though he’s holding
back and doesn’t know who she is anymore. She feels her heart
constrict. It hurt to know that her father assumes her to be the
type of person she’s not. She spent twenty-five years living with
him. Does he not know her better?

“
Sweetheart, so glad
you’re back,” Mali murmurs, hugging her tight.

“
Me, too,” Alex
replies.

“
I miss you, sis. I admit
I missed you teasing me,” Emma chimes in.

“
Me too, Emma.” Alex
chuckles. “I miss teasing you too.”

Her father refuses to hug her. In fact, he refuses to say a
word to her, not even a “welcome back” or “hello.” It’s as though
he refuses to acknowledge her presence.

The drive home is a solemn
one for Alex, sitting there between her brother and sister, her mom
driving the car, and her dad in the front seat. Home feels cold and
empty even though her family is as warm as ever to her.

As days go by, she falls back to her old routine, and her
dad soon begins talking to her again. Only she wishes she didn’t
miss Jayden so much.

Every lunch break at the hospital cafeteria, her mind
flashes back to that fateful day when she first met him. She
remembers their time together in New York. Oh, how happy he made
her feel. And of course that glorious morning he made love to her.
The thought brings an unbearable pain within her heart, and she’s
angry at herself for stupidly believing his lies. But why does she
miss him so dearly? Why is it that every night before she drifts
off to sleep and every morning when she wakes up, she thinks about
him? And every spare second she has, she thinks about him, thinks
about his kiss, his touch, and his smile?
Is she going crazy?

He
will never come
for her—that much she knows. By now he and Sarah will probably have
gotten married.

It’s not long before Alex realizes that there’s a person
standing right in front of her. She glances up from her book and
sees Mary there, arms folded across her chest, a smirk about her
lips.

“
Well, well,” the woman begins, unfolding her arms and
leaning forward across the table.

Alex closes her book,
preparing for the bitchy onslaught that’s about to come her
way.

“
Back from your conference already, are you? Actually, was
it really a conference, Alexandra? In New York City? Surely
not?”

Alex grits her teeth.
“What do you want, Mary?”

Mary shrugs her shoulders.
“Thought I’d ask just to be polite. After all, we used to be
classmates.”

Alex stands up to her full height. “Oh, really, Mary? Since
I’ve known you, you’ve never been nice to me. Let me tell you this
now, Mary. I don’t like the way you treat me or my friends. Yes,
I’m a geek. No, my family is not rich, but that doesn’t mean you
have the right to treat me the way you do. I think I’ve put up with
your nonsense long enough, don’t you?” She narrows her eyes at the
pretty woman. Alex knows she’s standing on dangerous territory, but
she couldn’t care less. She’s tired. She’s frustrated. And bloody
hell! She just doesn’t have time for this stupid thing
anymore.

“
You know what, Alexandra? You’re a slut. That’s right,
Alexandra, you are a slut. You think you’re so great? Running off
after a billionaire like Jayden? You think he’d really marry you?
You think he’s really into you? Forget it, Alex, he’s a bloody
billionaire. He can have any woman he wants, a woman who’s a
hundred times better-looking than you.”

“
Mary? I hate you. I hope one day you get what you really
deserve,” Alex grits out and walks away.

“
What’s that supposed to
mean, Alex?”

Alex ignores Mary’s
outraged question and heads toward the exit. She passes Peter, who
stops and looks at her with concern.

“
Alex, what’s
wrong?”

“
Nothing,” she replies and
rushes away.

Peter glances over at
Mary. The woman sees him and shrugs her shoulders. Peter heads back
to catch up with Alex. “Alex, wait!”

Alex stops in her stride
and turns to look at her friend.

“
Alex, I know it hasn’t been easy for you, but—”