Page 14 of Flawless Foundations

"Admit it, King, he's had complete control over your life since the day you were born. He lost that control the day you told that cheating bitch to go to hell."

I shift my arm to look at him. "It didn't go quite like that, I'm not a dick."

"Details." He flicks his hand as if they don't matter. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, I thought I had more time to show him that I'm the right person, the only person for the job. I have a few things in the pipeline that will push King Cosmetics back into the number one spot, but I need time." I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

"I hate to break it to you, but he doesn't care about that. He cares about the fact that you don't have a little wifey at home. So, I repeat, what's the plan?"

I halt movement, stare at him and see he's completely serious. "What?"

"You need yourself a wife."

I laugh. I can't help it. "Yeah, I'm not into the whole fake relationship thing. It might work for some, but it's not for me." Thoughts of Emmy and Jake fill my head, and I remember that ultimately, it was my father that caused her to go down that fake relationship route. Luckily for her, she fell for the guy and he fell for her too.

"No, I'm not playing his game," I declare firmly.

"Prepare to lose King Cosmetics then," Charlie says.

I push up to the sitting position. "Fuck," I grumble.

"What if all he needs to see is you attempting a committed relationship? Maybe you don't need to marry anyone—hell, you probably don't even have to fake anything else. Just find someone you don't mind spending time with, hang out, bring her around your dad, let him see that you're trying. I bet that's enough."

I chew on his words, maybe he's on to something. I immediately think of Becca. My thoughts must play out on my face because he gets excited.

"You know someone, don't you?" He leans forward. "This is going to work, Levi, I know it. Tell me about her. Do I know her?"

I look over at him and utter two words. "Becca Nicely."

He looks at me for a second, eyes blink slowly, trying to place the name. Recognition flashes in his eyes. "Emmy's friend?" I nod.

"Fuck, she's hot. I saw her a few weeks ago, she's a bartender at Blush, right? She's got money, though, right?" I glare at him because that doesn't fucking matter. He lifts his hands in surrender. "That doesn't matter, but to your dad, that will help for sure. Plus, he already knows her."

"I kissed her last night," I share.

"Shit," he replies.

"I didn't think I was ready to get back into the dating scene, but that kiss changed my mind." I rub the side of my jaw, thinking everything over. Being my best friend, he knows me well.

"It's not using her if you actually dig her and want to start a relationship with her, Levi. It's all just perfect timing," he says honestly.

Shit, he's right on the timing, that's for sure.

Chapter 9

Becca

"This is Marshal Tame, please leave me a message, and I'll get back to you when I can." I hang up before the recording can tell me to leave my message after the beep. I've called him twice and texted him a few more times over the past few days. He's not responding. Which just further illustrates the point of why I'm trying to let him know that I'm not interested in pursuing our relationship anymore. Tossing my phone on my bed, I walk to the vanity in my room, sit down and finish putting my make-up on.

I've got a shift at Blush tonight, and I'm dreading it big time. I'm on day two of four days in a row of the long night shift. I remember back to when I enjoyed working the five to close shift, but it only adds fuel to the fire when it comes to me wanting to get away from this dead-end job, especially with Rick at the helm. I swear he has started giving me the long shifts just to spite me. Since I don't technically need the job, I’ve always opted for three or four shifts a week, but nope, over the past couple of months, I've been seeing five shifts, and I'm sick of it. If I liked the people I worked with, it would be easier, but Rick has somehow managed to run several great coworkers off with his douchebaggery.

I finish my eyeliner and make a mental note of a new tutorial I want to make on how to apply eyeliner when my phone rings. Turning, I snag it and see its Marshal.

"Hello, Marshal."

"Hey, Becca, you've been blowing up my phone," he states. Yeah, ya ass, you've been ignoring me.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something."

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