A TEMPTING ARRANGEMENT

Chapter 1 9 p.m. one alluring night, Andrea wanted to surprise her fiancé with a surprise visit, he was in Irland with one of her best friends for a shoot, she travelled all day so she could surprise him for their fourth anniversary. She’d even gotten his room number and key by bribing the lady at the front desk, it took nearly an hour to convince the woman to give her the keys. As soon as she opened the door to his hotel room, at first, she had no idea what was going on, but when it finally registered, she just stood there watching the two. As she watches the two figures in the dim light passionately kissing as if their lives depended on it. It took her a few seconds to realize she didn’t walk into the wrong room. The two didn’t even hear or see her come into the room. The two who were kissing oh so passionately were her so called best friend and fiancé. Like being struck by lightning, Andrea looked at the two as if they were strangers she’s never met before. She disassociated herself from the situation, from the betrayal. She felt more hurt by the betrayal than she cared to admit... Many emotions went through her being. The final emotion that passed through her was anger. The more she looked at the two the angrier she became. Just standing there watching the two people she trusted with everything in her, two people she believed loved and was loyal to her, people she hasn’t been hurt like this deep within her soul before. "Lacy, God, I love you…” Tate pulled Lacy closer to him pulling her body against his. He pulls Andrea out of her trance. Tears run down her face as she hears his confession. "I love you too, who do you love more Andrea or me?" Lacy asks flirtatiously, before Tate could answer she added in an annoyed tone, "You are getting married in two months, yet you tell me you love me all the time… Why don’t you just marry me instead?” "Not this again, I told you I need Andrea. We both do. Come on let’s finish what we started…" Tate smiles seductively. Lacy smiles, seemly happy with Tate answer, unbuttoning Tate’s shirt. The two moved to the bedroom while Andrea stood there frozen, she was amazed by how she didn’t attack the two, how she didn’t murder them. She aggressively wiped her tears. They didn’t deserve her tears. Gathering herself, holding back the tears of the betrayal she felt. She couldn’t understand her own feelings, she so badly wanted to attack the two of them and call it a day. It took everything in her to stop herself. They weren’t worth spending the rest of her life in jail. Even though they did deserve so much worse. Composing herself Andrea takes out her phone, following the two to the bedroom. She couldn’t let them get away with this. She took a couple of pictures and videos of the two being intimate. Even though every second she was there she wanted more than to throw up. Once she was out of the room, she didn’t forget to pay the woman at the front desk to forget she was even there before she made her way to a bar nearby, she tried to gather herself. She was marrying the man in just two months; their wedding has been in the making for at two years. They’ve been putting it off because he was trying to grow his company. At least they weren’t married, she could call off the wedding… But the news getting out, or the way the public may view her after her breakup with him scared her. She wanted to call off the wedding, she wanted to call off the wedding right now. ‘But then the bastard wouldn’t pay for what he had done. He needed to pay for what he did to me.’ She thought to herself. Andrea tightened her left hand around her glass. She began to plan a way to get back at the bastard and the slut who thought they could play her. How was she going to break the news to her parents? How she stayed in a relationship with a man who clearly didn’t respect her or even care for her. Sleeping with her best friend. A woman she thought was her friend. Lacy played her like a fiddle. She was going to make the woman pay for what she did. Nobody played Andrea Beckett and got away with it. Lacy was going to be begging for her life. Andrea felt like her world was falling apart but she felt thankful for Tate and Lacy, she would have married him and been none the wiser. She would have married him while he and her best friend were… she took a deep breath not trying to think about what would have happened. How was she going to get everything the two took from her? Breaking up with Tate wasn’t going to put out the fire in her heart. She wanted to humiliate them, bring them to ruin. Lacy and Andrea met modelling for the same agency three years ago, they became friends quickly, she’s invited Lacy into their home, she’s slept over multiple times in their home. The more Andrea thought about it the angrier she became. She wanted to burn the whole house down at the mere thought of what they might have done in the house. It almost felt like the events of tonight was all a figment of her imagination, when she wakes up tomorrow morning everything will go back to how it was, and this would have all been a terrible nightmare… But she knew she was lying to herself. This wasn’t a nightmare this was reality and everything her father told her about Tate was true. When she first brought Tate home her father told them straight out told her he didn’t like Tate. He told her Tate was bad news, but as always, she didn’t listen to her father. She told him Tate treated her like a princess, like she mattered. Blinded by love she blindly followed Tate and all the s**t he fed her. Now she had to crawl back to her father to beg for forgiveness. Her father was going to gloat in her face and throw it in her face. He was going to hold over her head for many years to come. When she’s married with children, he’ll bring up how she never listened to him when he warned her about Tate Andrews. She may have dodged a bullet, but she was going to pay for it either way. She took her phone out of her purse and phoned the only person she could trust. The only person who never judged her. She knew he was in Galway right now as well. “Andy…” he answers. “Arch I need you. Where are you right now?” she asks him. “I’m in Galway, you know this. what’s going on?” he asks. “Meet me at the bar near Leonardo.” He sighs. “Why are you in Ireland? I thought you had to be in London for a shoot in two days.” She hung up on him. Chucking down her drink, before ordering another. Archer Reed has been her best friend since they were kids. He’s always been there for her, even when he grew up on the other side of the world. Being from Galway, he grew up here, their families were close, they’d send each other letters growing up, before they called each other, they’d spend every family vacation together. When they were dumb kids, they even came up with a pact, they’d marry if they were both single by 30. They weren’t as close as they used to be anymore, Tate Hated Archer with everything in him. The reason being, Archer and Tate started their entertainment companies around the same time, but Archer’s was ten times more successful than Tate’s he’s always been jealous of Archer, not just because of the business but because he believed Archer was in love with her. Andrea’s plan for the night was to get shitfaced drunk and deal with her problems after her hungover was gone. She didn’t want to remember her cheating fiancé or her backstabbing best friend. Andrea had a plan for her future, her and Tate were going to get married in two months, she was going to work for another four years before she retired, and they’d start a family. “On scale of one to ten, how drunk are you exactly?” she heard Archer ask. She turns and smiles at him. “Oh, my hero has arrived. Come. Come drink with me. We’re drowning our sorrows.” Archer shakes his head at Andrea. Her blonde hair tied in a tight bun and her green eyes dull and lifeless. He sighs sitting beside the woman he has loved since they were kids. “What did he do?” he asks. Andrea looks at Archer. “Let’s get married…” she says suddenly. Archer looks at her before flagging down the bartender. He needed a drink before dealing with Andrea. ========== When Andrea woke up the next morning, her head was pounding. She decided she didn’t want to sit in her room sulking all day. The first thing she remembered was asking Archer to marry her. she sits up. She seems him sleeping on the sofa. She looked around the room, she knew it was in his room. He’d always been such a gentleman to her. He gave up his bed for her. She got up and got herself ready for the day. Dressed in pair of jeans, a white shirt, and a pair of white sneakers. She was ready for the day. When Archer woke up, Andrea had just stepped out of the bathroom. “Bloody hell what was in those drinks?” Archer asks holding his head. Andrea took a seat beside him. “You did catch up to me at the end. I’m surprised we even made it back to your room in one piece.” Andrea smiles. Archer looks at her but doesn’t say anything… “Can you not speak so loudly?” Archer asks softly. Andrea laughs softly. “You need to get ready we have a big day ahead of us.” Archer looks up at her. Not liking the look in her eyes. “What did you do?” I ask. She smiles. “Not what I did, more like what you agreed to…” she smiles sweetly. Archer has known Andrea her whole life, he held her hand when her dog died, he was there when she cried on his shoulder for her first break up, though it was at age four and she was throwing a little fit. He still listened to her. He knew it wasn’t good, that smile or how sweet she was acting. He was in trouble. He had trouble saying no to Andrea. She was his own soft spot. She could talk him into just about anything with her sweet smile. She looked so much better than she did when he found her alone in the bar last night. “What did I agree to?” he asks. She smiled brightly. “You agreed to marry me…” Archer’s jaw dropped. “What?”