T W E N T Y - T W O

I WAS SHOCKED BEYOND BELIEF.

The "thing" that Elijah was talking about, the one that Ashton needed him to come to was Brielle & Bréze, a fancy restaurant in the Center City, and just the sight of it was intimidating to me. It wasn't like Carrie's which was more laid back, but it was more high-scale. Everyone inside looked like they were either wealthy or they were going to savor every bit of this meal to the last drop of sauce because it would be taking an even bigger bite out of their budgets.

Safe to say, I was part of the latter category.

Taking a glance over all of the faces in the crowd of tables, almost like magnetism, my eyes snapped to find Ashton, looking as handsome as always. I could feel my heart throbbing at the sight of him and this time it was definitely in a good way.

That was until I noticed the woman across the table from him with thick curves that were complimented by her dress, her chestnut skin rich and smooth, with kinky hair tied up in a ponytail behind her head. I had no idea who she was, but she was beautiful and I was sure that I had seen her around before. I didn't consider myself a jealous person, but the thought that she was possibly Ashton's new girlfriend made my heart almost sink to the bottom of my stomach.

"That's our table," Elijah said, pointing towards where Ashton and the unknown woman were seated, slightly nudging me forward.

"Why am I here?" I asked more to myself than to him but he heard it anyway.

"You thought Ashton was trying to seduce me and tried to dig up information about his sexuality on the internet."

I rolled my eyes at him, though it only seemed to give him more satisfaction. "That was a rhetorical question."

He grinned in response. "I feel like you'd have wanted me to answer that anyway."

Instead of satisfying him with a reply, I made my way over to the table. The conversation between Ashton and the woman didn't exactly look flirtatious, but I still felt nervousness in the pit of my stomach. It was ridiculous how mooney I had gone over Ashton and I guess this was the price I had to pay for it.

As we came closer, I saw Ashton's eyes light up at the sight of Elijah only to darken imperceptibly at the sight of me. Great, I knew I has shown up unannounced, but the least he could do was look happy to see me.

"Ms. Leighton," Ashton said to the woman as we sat down at the table. "You remember Elijah, don't you?"

"I do," she said with a voice so velvety that I felt jealous, her hand reaching out to shake his. "And who is this?"

It was a while before I realized that she was talking to me. Looking away from her, I saw Ashton's face grow visibly paler.

"She is..." Ashton trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing nervously in thought. "This is Fiona...who I actually need to talk to for a second."

Everyone's eyes seemed to widen at that, especially mine which belonged to the most confused and concerned person in the room. But before I really had any chance to respond, he grabbed me by the hand and led me away from the table.

"Don't have sex while you're gone," Elijah called out after us, making my face flush. Sure it was ridiculous to assume that Ashton was taking me away to have sex, but then again, I knew enough about his playboy past to know that maybe it wasn't out of the question.

Oh my god, were we going to do it in a fancy restaurant?

He finally stopped us when we made it to an empty hall. It was lined with the doors leading to the bathroom, so I could tell the corridor wouldn't stay empty, but at the moment, the only sound between us was our breathing.

"Fiona," Ashton finally said, an intense look in his eyes. "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

I sighed. "It's actually a funny story. I thought you were gay because it sounded like you wanted to do something... dirty with Elijah, so I asked him and he invited me to dinner with you guys." Ashton's eyes widened in curiosity, so I moved on before he could say anything else on the subject. "Who's the lady in there? Is that your girlfriend?"

Ashton's head swiveled away from me, his gaze focused on the other side of the hall from which we entered through. "Not exactly," he said when he finally turned to face me. "I learned my lesson about mixing business with pleasure from Emilie Standifer."

When he said that, the space between us finally registered and I realized how close his body was to mine, how I could reach out and kiss him in seconds if the moment were right.

But it wasn't right, for he was talking about his ex-girlfriend, the one who I had pretty much brought in and out of his life in what was a rollercoaster romance if I had ever seen one. It was definitely a relief that the girl at the table wasn't romantically involved with Ashton, but with everything that happened, I knew I had to wait for Ashton to come around - if and when that ever happened.

"But here's the catch," Ashton said, bracing himself as if I were going to hit him. "She likes me and yeah, I like her, but I'm terrified of her parents who definitely don't like me. So since you decided to come, could you help me out with something, just for tonight?"

I gulped, knowing that went Ashton needed help with something outside of work, that meant trouble. I already had to buy him condoms to use on Emilie and help his bodyguard babysit his delinquent sister in order to keep the word of her arrest from getting out. What else could he possibly have in store for me?

"I know this is inappropriate, but do you think you could pretend to be my girlfriend for the night?"

-

I WAS DEFINITELY THE WORST FAKE GIRLFRIEND IN THE HISTORY OF FAKE GIRLFRIENDS.

Amanda Leighton - Ashton's friend from the table - didn't seem like she was overly suspicious of me, but it didn't help that I barely knew anything about Ashton. She had asked me the usual girlfriend questions like how we met - "work" - and other things which the answer was simply just work. Ashton thankfully decided to take over before I dug myself an even deeper grave. Amanda was nice with a lovely personality, so I wasn't as afraid of her as I was of Emilie, but something about how rich and powerful she was made me intimidated.

Ashton and Amanda were talking about business so I pulled my phone out under the table and quickly texted Elijah.

Why is Ashton meeting with this woman? Just curious.

By the way Elijah reached for his pocket, I could tell he had gotten my message so it was only a matter of time before he sent me back a reply.

I don't know, it's boring business stuff. He brings me along to cock block so her parents don't get the wrong idea. Especially after he did what he did with her sister.

I stifled a gasp to keep from drawing attention to myself. I already knew that I was pretending to be his girlfriend for the same reason, but the fact that he needed Elijah for this too made everything feel strange. He must've had it bad for this girl. I began to feel even more out of place than I already had.

Thankfully, the food was great so dinner went on without a hitch. I was able to fade out of focus among the three of them who all knew each other very well and they carried on with their conversations without even noticing. It felt good to be in the background, because I wasn't sure what I would do if Amanda asked me the questions she was asking Ashton. I was amazed that Elijah knew all of this flashy business stuff, but then again, I didn't know how long he had been at Baldwin Industries.

" - Fiona, where do you work," Amanda asked me out of the blue. Speak of the devil - who was more like an angel in this case. "I think you mentioned it, but my memory is rather poor. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to be enlightened again."

I smiled at her before saying, "Baldwin Industries."

That, of course, must've not been the right move to make because Ashton's face had suddenly gone pale. His eyes held an intense glare in them, like if he was contemplating dragging me away again except that would look very suspicious in the middle of dinner.

"Of course," I added with a wink in an attempt to save face, "I mainly work from home - if you know what I mean."

It was a dark place to go to at such a professional dinner, which I could tell by the way Amanda's cheeks flushed and Elijah looked like he nearly wanted to fall out of the chair he was sitting in beside her. But Ashton being a man-whore in the past wasn't exactly classified information, so if they were friends then she was most likely familiar with his sexual life. Despite the fact, I didn't dare turn to face Ashton, the embarrassment right now was bad enough for me.

"Oh," Amanda said, reaching for her champagne glass and taking a few quick sips. "That's... lovely. Well, Ashton, I actually have to hit the road, need a good night's sleep if I want to survive tomorrow, but it was nice settling all of that business with you and meeting Fiona. I'll see you all later."

At that, she got up and left, dropping three twenty dollar bills on the table to pay for her share, making me wonder how much had we all racked up for dinner tonight. The food was definitely not worth that much although it was good.

Ashton sighed and reached to grab the money from off of the table and pocket it. "It's really late outside and I don't want you two catching the bus, do you want me to drop you guys off?"

I had gone from his fake girlfriend to one of "you guys", but I guess that tonight, it was for the best. After all, I had embarrassed both of us in front of someone who was probably a client just like old times when we were trying for a fresh start. Thankfully he was even considering giving me a ride home.

"Yeah," I said, barely even able to meet his eyes, "I'd like that."

-

IT WAS A COLD NIGHT, EVEN FOR APRIL, SO I WAS GLAD TO CRAM IN THE BACK SEAT OF ASHTON'S CAR, EVEN IF WALLACE WAS DRIVING IT.

He still hated me, it seemed, because he said greetings to Elijah and not me, but I brushed it off. The people who rode the bus at night weren't technically scary people, but in a big city like Philly, things got a bit spooky at this time of the day. Instead, I was rolling through the streets in Ashton's luxurious town car, past houses and stores and other cars on our way to Elijah's place. He told me it was closer than mine which made sense because I was still staying out at Bretton's. He was going to move out soon because his plan had fallen apart a while ago, but he missed the simple life so much that he didn't tell me so he could stay at my cheap apartment for two extra weeks.

I chuckled at the thought of him, probably asleep after his heavy workout and training schedule. Maybe I should call him tomorrow and see if he wants to do something, I thought to myself.

Ashton was up in the front seat of the car, softly conversing with his driver, leaving me to talk to Elijah since I didn't want to interrupt them. He, of course, was texting somebody with a devilish look on his face. I could bet all the money in the world that he was telling Eric or Dana every incriminating detail of what happened tonight, especially the part about working from home.

I groaned, snatching the phone from his hands and checking the screen to prove myself right - it was a group chat with both Eric and Dana who were both desperate for details on when and how Ashton and I managed to get it on in the short time we were away from the table - before locking it and sliding it into my pocket.

"That's enough teasing me for tonight," I said with a huff of finality.

Elijah, who I expected to grovel for his phone, only rolled his eyes and held his hand out. "Well we're going to be rolling up to my house in a few minutes, so you might as well give it back to me."

Damn it, he was right about that. I didn't want to be carrying around his phone with me, but at the same time, I didn't need him embarrassing me any further.

"No," I decided in the spur of the moment. "You'll just have to use your computer and wait until tomorrow."

We finally stopped in front of Elijah's place; a small, cozy-looking apartment that I could tell didn't cost him much at all. It didn't look too shabby but it didn't look like the best place to live either. Seeing it reminded me of my old place and made me want badly to move back there.

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Mr. Woodrow" Ashton said from the front seat.

Elijah only nodded in response to Ashton before giving me a long and hard stare as if that would break my will and make me give him back his phone.

I just shook my head before waving him goodbye, making him silently get out and shut the door.

We took off again, Ashton getting on the phone with someone who I could assume was Vivian or Nolan by the way he was speaking to them. Wallace - like always - wanted nothing to do with me, so it was pretty lonely now in the backseat and I felt bad for pissing off Elijah the way I did.

Finally, after hours, we were in front of Bretton's house. Ashton waved me goodbye just as kindly and curtly as he did to Elijah, making my heart slightly sink into my chest. But I shrugged it off, getting myself inside because it was the middle of Spring, so it was a typically cold New England night.

I had closed the door for about a minute now, so I was sure Ashton had long since pulled off. I kicked off my shoes at the door and set my purse down, ready to call it a night when I felt something buzzing on me. It was a short alert, meaning that it was probably just a text message from my phone. But when I pulled it out of my pocket - sadly enough - there were no notifications. So it had to have come from Elijah's phone.

I fished it out of my other pocket and clicked the wake button, the screen coming alive to a plethora of chat notifications, a testament to his popularity that I didn't need to be reminded of. Some of them were from people I knew around the office, like Dana and Eric. He was even chatting with the "Sales Hotties" which made me let out a chuckle.

But the one that made his phone go off, the most recent one that didn't exactly stand out to me because of its lack of emojis made my heart nearly stop.

Especially because it was from Luke.