Pretending To Be His

Made It On The Front Page

Nicole blinked. Then she blinked again before she narrowed her eyes at him. “I am waiting for you to be serious.” She looked at him with an expectant gaze. This had to be a joke, she thought to herself. 

“I am very serious,” Marko replied as he took a sip from his glass.

Nicole’s lips broke into a smile, then a giggle escaped before laughter took over. “Oh, my ribs!” She held her side as she continued laughing. “Wait-why aren’t you laughing?” She wiped the laughter tears from her eyes, a giggle escaping.

“Because it wasn’t a joke,” Marko pinned her with a serious look. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”

Nicole took in a deep breath and shook her head. “How many of those have you had? Because if you aren’t drunk then you must be high on something!” Nicole turned to Clint. “Yo, TT, your boss is losing his marbles.”

“I am not nearly as drunk nor am I mad,” Marko replied calmly as he studied the emotions running through her eyes.

Nicole stood up quickly and moved away from him, “is this a joke? Do you have some cameras up in here to record this? Are you trying to get back at me for coming to your office and throwing the money at you? Is that it?” Nicole fired up question after question to him. "Ok, I admit I might have come across a little rude and all, but you did not seem to want to take your money back! What was I to do?"

“You ask a lot of irrelevant questions,” Marko finished his drink and placed the glass on the small stool next to him. He proceeded to cross his legs and lean back on the sofa. "And it has nothing to do with the money." Marko seemed to contemplate his answer. "Well, maybe a little bit. If it wasn't for the money I wouldn't have met you."

“The questions I am asking are very relevant to me!” Nicole exclaimed. "And cuss that money!"

“You know any other woman would have jumped at the chance of being called my girlfriend.” Marko drawled, his gaze taking in the woman standing in front of him.

Nicole shrugged and placed her hands on her hips, “well sorry to disappoint you, I am not any other woman. Why don’t you ask the woman you had in here earlier. She seemed desperate enough. Or better yet ask one of the many that would jump at the chance to be cammed your girlfriend.” She returned his earlier statement back to him. 

Marko narrowed his gaze on her, all of a sudden his eyes becoming dark, “do you think that I am desperate for a woman?”

Nicole rolled her eyes, not at all scared of his dark look, “her, not you. Listen, this has been a great chat but I am not who you are looking for. I don’t want a boyfriend, certainly not the likes of you. No offense.”

“Offense is taken,” Marko stood up and approached her. “What do you mean by that?”

Nicole bit her lip and tilted her head to the side. “You are too domineering. You need a submissive woman and I am way too independent to kiss and worship the ground you walk on.”

“You did not let me finish,” Marko stated. “I want you to be my pretend girlfriend.”

“Even worse.” Nicole shook her head. “I can’t act to save my life. I am not your type. When I see s**t, I call it out. When someone talks crap, I dish the same to them. You have the money. Hire an actress! There are so many young wanna-be actresses who would jump at the opportunity to perfect their craft. Now, for the last time, I am going to ask nicely that you tell TT over there to move his ass so I can get back to my friends.” 

Marko sighed and nodded at Clint who moved aside. 

Nicole turned on her feet and walked out, all the while muttering about crazy white rich men and their jokes. When she finally made it to their table she found her friends all there, including Juan. “You traitor!” she glared at Juan.

“Babes!” Fey exclaimed as she shot off Fernando’s lap and took Nicole into her arms. “Juan came back here saying you were being carried off the dancefloor by a huge man!”

“Yeah, and he left me alone!” 

Juan shook his head, “no I didn’t. Once I saw that I went to look for the security guys. Once I described the guy they all assured me you would be safe. By then, I had lost sight of you.”

Nicole sighed as Fey finally released her and she sat down. “I think I need a drink or ten after all the crazy I went through.”

“That bad?” Fey frowned. “Should we call the cops or something?”

Nicole shook her head, “nothing that Tequila can’t fix!” 

For the next few hours, the group of four continued having fun. Nicole put the incident with Marko ut of her head, well that was until it was time to head home.

They were entering their car when Marko appeared and started calling Nicole’s name. “Whaaaatttt?” Nicole groaned as she turned to face him. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Marko held his hands up in surrender. “All I want to do is apologize. Nothing more. Let me take you home.”

Nicole narrowed her eyes on him, “I already have a ride with my friends.”

“Your friends are already gone, Nicole,” Marko drawled.

Nicole turned sharply to where their car was meant to have been, only to find an empty space. “Why those-!”

“Come,” Marko offered his arm. “My ride is being brought just now. I promise I will just be taking you home and nothing else.”

Nicole stared at the offered hand for a few more seconds before begrudgingly accepting his offer. “You better not try something. I know a move or two I can use to defend myself.”

“And I believe you, Nicole You may have mentioned that your dad was a cop and your boss was an ex-army.” Marko replied with a smile. He looked down at her, his gaze unwavering. 

Nicole became conscious of the gaze, and she looked up at him. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Marko laughed and shook his head. “No. I am just wondering where you pack all your fire. You are so tiny!”

Nicole raised her eyebrows at him, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Marko shook his head. He took the key from the valet and settled Nicole in before moving to the driver seat. 

The drive to her apartment was uneventful. Marko, true to his word, did not try anything nor did he bring up their earlier conversation. When finally he pulled to a stop in front of her apartment, Nicole turned to him. 

“Thank you for the ride,” she said as she opened the door and got out. 

Marko also got out and walked to her side. “I won’t be a gentleman if I don’t at least walk you to your door.”

Nicole could not stop the laugh that bubbled out, “now you want to be a gentleman?”

“It’s never too late.” Marko offered his arm and together they walked up the few steps to the front door of her apartment. 

“Thank you for walking me to my door,” Nicole said as she fished for her keys. “I am seriously going to damage some body parts of my friends.”

Marko shook his head and reached up to push away a curl that had escaped captivity on Nicole’s head. “It’s my fault. Clint was the one driving them.”

Nicole’s eyes widened. She moved away from his fingers and glared at him. “Just when I thought you wouldn’t do anything crazier.”

“No. I did it so I could have this opportunity to apologize,” he reached for her arms and held her so that she couldn’t move away. “I am sorry for the way I handled you tonight. I should have done things differently. Will you forgive me?”

“You are not pulling my leg, are you?”

Marko held up three fingers, “scout’s honor.”

“Were you ever a scout? Nevermind, I don’t want to know!” Nicole sighed. “I forgive you. And I wish you all the best on whatever scheme you wanted me to be a part of.”

Marko smiled and leaned forward. He placed a kiss on her cheek before walking away without a backward glance. Once he was in his car, he watched as Nicole got into her apartment complex before reaching for his phone.

“You got everything?” He asked once he was connected. “I want it on the front page of every magazine and tabloid tomorrow! Make it good!” He disconnected the call and turned to the now empty doorway, a smile playing on his lips, before he started his car and drove away.

The persistent buzzing woke Nicole up. She blindly reached for her phone and picked it up. “Hello?” she mumbled, her face still plastered onto the pillow.

“You b***h!” Fey exclaimed from the other side. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me instead of letting me find out through some bloody gossip crap?”

“Lower your voice, why don’t you?” Nicole groaned as she turned on her back and placed her arm over her eyes, trying to keep the early morning light off her sensitive eyes. “What are you blabbering about so early in the morning? Why are you up so early in the morning?”

“Not important,” Fey dismissed. “I am talking about you making the front page of nearly all the tabloids in the city looking all cozy with Mr. Sauntino.”

Nicole frowned, “what are you talking about?”

“I am sending you a photo right now,” there was a click indicating Fey taking a photo and a ping indicating that it had been delivered to Nicole’s phone.

Nicole removed her phone from her ears and opened the photo. It was taken at the club as they were waiting for the valet to show up. “Well, this was innocent. We were waiting for his car since a few people I call my friends decided to drive off without me!”

“We were kidnapped by this huge man! Juan said he was the same one who carried you over his shoulder. And that wasn’t the only picture of the two of you. There are about three others. The headlines are what caught my eye. Marko’s New Squeeze. Marko Gets the Girl. Wedding Bells Anyone?”

Nicole sat up abruptly, groaning as her head reminded her of the number of Tequila shots she had had the previous night. “What the hell? Are you being serious?”

“Yep!” Fey popped the ‘p’. “You do make a cute couple if you ask me!”

“Don’t even think about it! I am going to get to the bottom of this!” Nicole pushed the covers away and started getting off the bed.

“I suggest you wait a few hours, Nic. It’s  six in the morning!”

Nicole glanced at the clock by her bedside and groaned. “You are right. I will head out later.”

.