Page 9 of The Player + The Pact = I Do

“You’re a goddamn billionaire,” Fisher says. “And you’re freakishly good-looking, or so my sister tells me.”

“She told you I was freakishly good-looking?” I ask. “She used the word ‘freakishly’?”

“I’ll bring up the text if you like?” he asks.

I shake my head. “You’re right. I have nothing to prove. So why does it feel like I do?”

Bennett pulls in a breath. “What you need is the right woman on your arm.”

Things slot into place in my head. He’s right. I can’t goto the awards ceremony on my own. I don’t want to. I don’t want there to be any aspect of my life Caroline can point to and think, “I did better than he did.”

I know it’s ridiculous. I was just a pawn in Caroline Hammond’s game. No doubt plenty followed me to the same fate over the years. She probably doesn’t even remember me. But if I’m going to see her again, I need every piece of armor I can gather. From the outside, I need it to look like I have the perfect life. Like I’m entirely grateful that she dropped me like a brick on fire because things are so much better without her.

Fisher pulls out his phone. “I can call Vivian Cross. She owes me a favor.”

“She’s married,” I reply. “The entire world knows she got married last year. Why would I want to take a married woman to an awards ceremony as my date?”

“She’s actually married to Efa’s brother-in-law,” Bennett says about his soon-to-be wife.

The entire group groans at the mention of another one of Efa’s brothers-in-law. She seems to have about three thousand of them.

“Of course she is,” Fisher says. “Someone else famous, then. What about Jada De Lune? I’m just about to sign her. She’s up and coming.”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t want someone flown in to be my girlfriend. That’s just weird.”

“So, you need a date who isn’t famous?” Fisher says. “This is easy.” He squints as he thinks.

“Wait—you want someone to pose as your girlfriend?” Bennett asks.

“I don’t want to go without a date. And I don’t have a girlfriend…” I see a couple of women semi-regularly. As soon as anything feels too familiar, I tend to withdraw. I’m not interested in having a relationship. And I don’t want to ask one of them to come with me to the awards, because it will give them the wrong idea.

“He needs a knockout who can pose as his fiancée,” Worth says. “Girlfriend’s not enough. We’re trying to make sure Caroline Hammond knows that being a dick to Leo was the stupidest thing she ever did, and he hasn’t looked back.”

“Right,” I say. “She was a dick.”

“What about Efa?” Fisher says. “She’s pretty much the perfect woman from what I can see.”

“She’s about to be my wife,” Bennett says. “I’m not lending her to Leo.”

At that moment, Efa comes in with a pile of pizza boxes. “Didn’t you hear the door?” she asks, holding the pizza in the air like she’s a modern-day statue of liberty. “Anyone would think I’m your maid.” She shoots Bennett a look, and they both giggle like adorable teenagers.

“Anything else I can do for anyone?” Efa asks. “Drink top-ups? Shoulder massage?”

“You have any friends who’d want to pose as Leo’s fiancée?” Fisher asks.

“What do you mean ‘pose’?”

“For an evening. He needs someone to be his date. But they need to act like they’re really coupled up.”

“I can do it,” she says without missing a beat.

Bennett growls from the sofa. “Efa.”

She shrugs. “What? I’m not offering to sleep with him. I’ll stick on a dress and go to a party with him.”

“Thanks,” I say. “But your engagement is pretty high profile. After theForbesarticle and everything.”

Efa grins, like remembering the way Bennett sacrificed everything for her is still fresh inher mind.

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