The Charade: A Billionaire/Fake Relationship Romance (Eden Falls Academy)
The Charade: Chapter 16

I WAS JUST ABOUT to head downstairs for the party my siblings were making me throw with them when Nash knocked on my door.

‘Hey.’ He leaned against the door frame. ‘I just wanted to let you know that the first people have arrived for the party.’

‘Okay.’ I slipped my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. ‘Let’s go be social.’

But as I started to move to follow him down to the main floor where the party would be taking place, Nash set a hand on my chest to stop me. ‘Hold on,’ he said. ‘The reason why I actually came up here was to give you a heads up.’

‘A heads up?’ I frowned. Needing a heads up was never a good sign.

‘Yeah, I figured you’d want to know who just arrived so that you’re prepared.’

A feeling of dread filled my chest because I knew who he was talking about.

‘Sofia?’ I asked.

‘Yeah.’ He nodded. ‘And Simon.’

Simon?

What the heck was he doing here?

Didn’t he have some royal duties to take care of across the pond?

‘Well…’ I stepped back and grabbed the edge of my door, making ready to shut it. ‘I hope you enjoy the barbecue.’

I hadn’t really wanted to be social tonight, anyway.

I was about to retreat into the solitude of my room when Nash followed me inside.

‘Don’t let her ruin your night,’ he said, slipping his hands into his pockets.

‘I’m trying not to,’ I said. ‘Hence the reason why I’m going to stay up here.’

‘That’s not what I mean. Just…’ He paused, seeming to think for a moment. ‘She knows you live here. So if you’re not downstairs, she’ll know that you’re avoiding her. And she knows you well enough to understand that the only reason why you wouldn’t attend a party at your own house was if you were avoiding someone.’

‘Just tell her I got a sudden case of food poisoning.’ I shrugged.

‘You really want to pull the sick card?’ Nash shook his head. ‘Why not get a little revenge of your own? Why not show her you’ve moved on, too? With someone more interesting and fun.’

‘Someone more interesting and fun?’ I asked, because there was no one else coming tonight who I found interesting enough to be interested in.

Nash just looked at me like I was dumb. ‘Do I really have to spell this out for you? Didn’t you just set up something with Ava to take care of this very thing?’

‘Oh…’

‘Yeah, oh .’ Nash shook his head. ‘I know I’ll probably regret even encouraging you to keep up that thing you started with her last week since I was hoping to ask her out sometime myself, but she offered to help you out with Sofia. You might as well take her up on it.’

‘I don’t know,’ I said, glancing around my room and liking how much quieter it was than the noise coming from downstairs. ‘I kind of think I’d rather stay up here than fake something with Ava tonight.’

After our little interaction in my room this afternoon, it would probably be wise to put some distance between us so my body could get unconfused about how it should react to her.

‘How could you prefer sitting in here alone to having fun with Ava?’ Nash asked, like he couldn’t understand it at all.

Which made sense. Nash was a natural extrovert. He thrived on other people’s energy, loved being the center of attention.

I was the opposite. Flirting with people drained me. Heck, just being around people for extended periods of time drained me.

When I sat on the loveseat in front of my bed, Nash furrowed his brow and said, ‘This is our last year of high school.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘You have the rest of your life to be all brooding and crap in your room. Don’t miss out on making good memories just because a girl stomped all over your heart.’

‘All over my heart in front of her millions of Instagram followers.’

My brother had forgotten that Sofia had posted all kinds of photos of us when we’d dated, using the hashtag #lovehim at least once a week so all the guys trying to slide into her DMs would know she was spoken for. But when she got tired of me, she’d replaced photos of me with photos of him and continued using the same hashtag.

Which made me wonder what Simon had messaged her to get her to answer his DMs.

I shook my head. I really didn’t need to go down that road again.

We were through. I didn’t need to know which opener from him had solidified my fate.

For all I knew he’d sent a simple selfie with the words, ‘Only ten people have to die for me to be a king. Wanna be my queen?’ and the rest was history.

‘Are you going to come?’ Nash asked, the concern in his blue eyes showing.

I drew in a deep breath, hoping it would calm my nerves as I thought about meeting Simon for the first time. ‘Just give me a few minutes to figure something out and I’ll be down.’

‘Good.’ He smiled, his whole face brightening. ‘See you down there.’

I SAT in my room for the next five minutes, listening to the doorbell ring followed by laughter and all kinds of happy sounds as more and more people came to enjoy the party.

And as I sat there with my ears perked, I could make out Sofia’s alto voice as she introduced Simon to person after person.

Hi, this is my hot new boyfriend, Simon. Did you know he’s a viscount?

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t saying that, but it was probably what she was thinking.

Did I really want to do this? I wondered as I continued to listen to the sounds below. Could I really face Sofia and her boyfriend, and put on a face that told them I couldn’t care in the least that they were together now?

I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. I could do this. I might not have ever taken a theater class like my brother and sister, but I had perfected the detached and bored look as good as any guy my age. Surely I could manage to appear unfazed for a few hours.

It wasn’t like I had to be downstairs the whole time, anyway. I could make a showing, make Cambrielle and Nash feel I was part of the back-to-school celebration, and then I could sneak back up to my room when everyone was otherwise engaged, and no one would miss me.

‘Tonight’s going to be amazing,’ Cambrielle’s muffled voice sounded from just up the hall. I assumed she was talking to the Cohen twins since they’d been getting ready for tonight’s festivities in her room for the past hour or so.

When I realized they were probably almost to the staircase to head downstairs, I knew I needed to act quick if I was going to have a chance to do what Nash had suggested earlier.

So I dashed forward, threw the door open, and peeked my head out into the hall and called out, ‘Hey, Ava. Do you have a minute?’

All three girls stopped in their tracks and turned to look at me with curious expressions.

‘Did you just say something to me?’ A twin wearing skinny jeans and a red top put a hand to her chest.

I assumed it was Ava since I’d addressed her, but I couldn’t really be sure since I wasn’t close enough to look for the gold necklaces she and Elyse had worn earlier with their names in delicate cursive letters.

‘I need to talk to Ava,’ I said, just in case I was looking at the wrong twin. ‘It’ll just be for a moment.’ The twin in the red top pouted her lips for a second as if trying to decide whether my request was worth listening to. So I added, ‘Please,’ with as much sincerity in my eyes as I could muster.

The please must have done the trick because the twin in the red top glanced back at her sister and Cambrielle. With a shrug, she said, ‘I guess I’ll see you down there.’

Once Ava reached me, I gestured for her to come into my room, but she stopped just at the threshold. With an eyebrow arched, she asked, ‘You’re not trying to finish what you started earlier, are you?’

And the memory of standing in this very spot with her back pressed against the wall, with only a few inches between us, jumped to the forefront of my mind.

I still couldn’t believe I’d flirted with her like that. I never did that kind of thing. Especially not with girls I barely knew.

So to put Ava at ease, I said, ‘Sorry to get your hopes up, but I just need to talk this time.’

‘Good answer.’ She shot me a half-smile before stepping inside my room.

I shut the door behind her and gestured for her to sit on the loveseat while I pulled over the chair at my desk for myself.

‘Do you remember that little scheme you came up with earlier this week? You know, the one where you help me make Sofia think I’ve moved on and no one knows we’re just doing math homework.’

‘I remember,’ she said.

‘Okay, so I’m going to have to ask you a huge favor.’

She crossed her arms and leaned back against the cushion. ‘I’m listening.’

‘So…’ I licked my lips, feeling jittery with nerves for some reason. ‘Nash came up here a few minutes ago to tell me that Sofia came to the party with Simon.’

‘Simon Bailey?’ Ava asked, her mouth falling open. ‘As in, the ‘Simon Bailey who has his afternoon tea with the queen’ Simon Bailey?’

‘That would be the guy. He’s here with Sofia.’

‘Wow, Simon Bailey is downstairs right now.’ Ava stood up quickly as if ready to head down this very minute to check him out. ‘My friends in Ridgewater are never going to believe this. They adore him.’ She patted her back pocket as if checking to make sure her phone was there. ‘Do you think he’ll let me take a selfie with him?’

‘What?’ I asked, rushing to the door before she could disappear and take my chances of saving face with her. She was just reaching for the knob when I slid into the small space between her and the door. ‘You said you were going to help me.’

‘But I need to get a photo with the prince before he leaves,’ she said.

‘He’s a viscount. Not a prince.’

‘Same difference,’ she said. ‘Can I go now? I just want to see if he’s as hot in person as he is in photos.’

Seriously?

Was this really how all girls reacted to Simon Bailey?

I folded my arms across my chest. ‘I’ll let you go down in a minute. But first we need to talk about our little arrangement.’

‘Okay, yeah.’ She took a step back, as if only now remembering what I’d been talking about before she’d gotten sidetracked by Simon’s name. ‘So, what were you saying before?’

‘I was asking if you’d be fine playing into the little arrangement of ours a little more tonight. Instead of just flirting, I was wondering if you could pretend you’re actually my girlfriend,’ I said. But then, since my ego seemed to require that while I didn’t have an English title to my name, I wasn’t exactly Freddy Krueger either, I added, ‘I mean, I just wanted to give you first dibs on being my arm candy for tonight.’

‘Ohhh.’ She drew the word out as she gave me an understanding nod. ‘So let me get this straight. Pretending to be your actual girlfriend and making Sofia think I’m hopelessly infatuated with you would actually be your way of doing me a favor?’ She gave me an unimpressed look. ‘Is that what you’re trying to say?’

I tilted my head to the side. ‘Yes?’

‘Well, if that’s the case, then I think I’ll pass.’ She shrugged. ‘I mean, I’m sure you have dozens of girls dying to play the part for real downstairs, so who am I to steal such an amazing opportunity from them?’

She made a move to open the door again, and I knew I was about to lose my ticket to an easy night.

‘Okay, fine.’ I grabbed her forearm. ‘So maybe you’d be doing me the huge favor.’

‘And?’ She looked up at me with her liquid-gold eyes, as if waiting for me to grovel a little more.

She was going to make me beg for this, wasn’t she?

I sighed. ‘And I would be the one who would be lucky to spend the evening in the company of a goddess like yourself.’

A slow smile lifted her lips. ‘Keep going…’

What? She wanted even more groveling?

I shook my head, not believing that this was actually happening to me.

Since when did I ever have to beg a girl to give me the time of day?

Since never, that’s when.

Well, until I met Ava Cohen, apparently.

But I really didn’t want to go downstairs alone and spend more energy flirting with some random girl only to have to tell her afterwards that it meant nothing. ‘You like shopping, right?’

All girls liked shopping, didn’t they? At least Dawn and Cambrielle certainly ran up huge bills on their credit cards whenever they went out for a girls’ weekend in New York.

‘If I’m the one doing the shopping, then yes, I enjoy it,’ she said.

‘Okay, so how about if you help me put on a show so good that Sofia believes we’re actually boyfriend and girlfriend, then I’ll take you to any boutique you want in Eden Falls tomorrow and buy you whatever you want for a hundred dollars or less?’

She studied me for a moment, pursing her pink lips like she was thinking things over. After the longest ten seconds of my life, she shrugged and said, ‘Add in lunch at the nicest restaurant in town and it’s a deal.’

‘Seriously?’ I asked. Spending the next two hours by my side was that big of a chore?

‘Cambrielle said there would be a lot of cute guys here tonight. And according to our non-exclusive arrangement, I should still be able to go on dates with other guys. So if I’m going to miss out on flirting with them tonight and pretend that we’re actually dating, I think I deserve some sort of reward.’ She folded her arms across her chest and shifted most of her weight to one foot to tell me that was her final offer.

This girl was the one to come up with the whole fake-dating plan in the first place, but now she was expecting a real day date?

But since I didn’t want her to add any other requests into the mix, I sighed and said, ‘Okay, fine. A shopping date and lunch.’

‘Great. It’s a date .’ A satisfied smile lifted her lips before she slid her arm through mine. ‘I can’t wait to see you show everyone what a huge crush you have on me tonight.’

The crush I had on her ?

I considered telling her that it should be the other way around—that Ava would be showing Sofia how amazing she thought I was—but decided it was pointless. Ava did things her way and only a fool would mess around with this girl.