A Fake: A Pretend Girlfriend Billionaire Romance

by Charlotte Byrd

  Not only would that badly harm Tyler, but it would badly harm me – because I would probably lose my job. The more I thought about it, the more flaws I saw in our plans to make everything work.

  I met the entire board, who might eventually squeal that I was with him. That was a huge strike. Tyler himself might try to exact anger on me and tell my boss. That was another blunder. Then there was Veronica. I could almost guarantee that she would try to fuck me over.

  I closed my eyes and squeezed my eyeballs with my thumb and index finger. I wish there was such a thing as eyeball makeup – because my eyes were bloodshot. For obvious reasons, I had a hard time getting sleep.

  Just when I thought my life was over, Franca ran out and was clapping her hands together. I didn’t know what it was about, but she was very happy and excited about something. That was good. I could at least relax to some extent – because my boss was happy.

  She took several quick steps and ran in place to underscore her excitement. I finally couldn’t hold back, because I wanted to know what was exciting for her. “Franca, you look like you just got really exciting news?”

  She playfully perked out her tongue at me and energetically shook her head. “I just found out that we got the contract from Tyler’s company. If it goes well, I’m going to give you guys a bonus!” she said with a beaming smile.

  I batted my eyelashes around because I just knew there must have been some mistake. I had a nasty exit with him, and even told him that I didn’t want the contract. So, how could this be? “We really got the contract? Wow!”

  Franca revealed a paper that she was holding from Tyler’s corporate office. It had the start date, terms, budget amount, and a list of subcontractors. It was real. We really got the contract. Despite my denial, I knew it to be true.

  So, now what? I couldn’t just cancel the contract. My employer was depending on it, and my boss would have my ass if I tried such a thing. Was Tyler just trying to get back into my pants? What exactly was his motive, and what did he really want to do?

  I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust him. He’s not only a liar, but a corporate con artist who could talk his way into making shit smell like roses. This is a guy that apparently succeeded into convincing an entire board that I was his girlfriend. No easy task.

  Maybe he wanted some quid pro quo. He would give me the contract, if I did something for him. Is that what he wanted? Maybe. That seems to be his M.O., because that’s exactly what he did with me. He promised to give me the contract if I pretended to be his girlfriend.

  I knew one thing – I wasn’t going to spend days or even weeks being confused about what he wanted, and what he was trying to do. I decided to get in contact with him, and ask him what the hell was going on. He might lie to me (because he lies a lot) but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

  I pulled out my iPhone and pushed the bottom, round button to turn it on. I clicked on my contacts – and his was one of the very few contacts on the list. That was another accomplishment he had, I guess. He made me care enough about him to add him to that list.

  I touched the phone icon and held the phone up to my ear. It rang and rang. It rang a total of five times, then his voicemail greeting surfaced. He either wasn’t there, or wasn’t answering his phone. Who knows?

  I wasn’t about to give up on him. Naturally, I looked up his business phone number through Google, and then I called it. This time, I was able to get through to someone – even though it wasn’t him. “Thank you for calling Tyler Taylor’s office, this is Ashley, how may I help you?”

  “Hello. My name is Maya Blake and I was wondering if I could please speak to Tyler?” I communicated politely and hoped that I could get through, and get to the bottom of what he was trying to do.

  “Mr. Taylor is actually in a meeting but I would be happy to take a message. Would you like to leave a message?” she said in a very sweet and pleasant voice.

  I sighed quietly because I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to get in touch with him soon. In fact, he might just not bother to get back in touch with me. It was hard to tell. When I left his penthouse, I made it clear I was mad at him. “Yes, Ashley. Can you just tell him to call Maya Blake back?”

  She continued her very professional pose. “I most certainly will. Can I have your phone number?” she inquired and I heard her click a pen to write it down.

  I made just one click with my mouth and readied to hang up. “That won’t be necessary. He actually has my number. I appreciate your time, though.”

  Maybe, just maybe, Tyler was trying to make things right. Hmm! Sometimes the unexpected and unlikely becomes a reality. I guess that might be the case here. If he was trying to make things right, and was genuinely sorry, should I forgive him for that?

  Maybe. I suppose anything could happen, but I couldn’t think of anything that would make me want to be with him. He gets on my nerves all the time, but the Veronica thing was just the last straw. Every human being – myself included – has a breaking point.

  In the meantime, I would tell him that I wanted nothing to do with him. But, when exactly would I hear from him? I guess I could send him an email, but I think that’s a little cheap – especially when it comes to breaking off a relationship.

  Chapter 20 - Tyler

  What goes around, comes around, right? My father used to say that to me when I was a kid. I know what it means, and I’ve known that for years. Not until this very moment, was I able to fully appreciate it, though.

  Many times in the past (most often when dealing with a problematic employee) I would have a private discussion with management and any employees that were involved. After the discussion, I would announce that a decision was made, and act accordingly.

  This time around, I was the shmuck who was waiting outside the room, while the board was deciding my fate. If I was a religious guy, I would have been praying to God to save me. I wanted something, anything, to save my job.

  Being a successful and wealthy CEO is not something that comes along easily. I spent years working hard and strategizing to get this job. If the board let me go, it would also greatly stain my resume. A CEO that gets fired (especially for sexually-charged issues) usually has a tough time securing another great job.

  What was the board discussing or thinking? I wondered if they knew the truth about Maya and I? If they didn’t, what exactly did they know? Did they know anything that would incriminate me?

  I drove myself crazy asking those kind of questions. Sometimes when a person is nervous, those kind of questions and thoughts race. It is very hard to disconnect that panic – especially when something is going on and it isn’t known what will become of it.

  I stood up from the padded chair I was sitting in, because I just couldn’t sit anymore. I glanced down at my freshly-pressed suit. I found a piece of lint and picked and removed it. I was so nervous that even the lint was visible.

  I lifted my arms up to stretch, and I noticed I had sweat stains on my armpits. I was overly critical of myself and complained that it would make me look less professional. Naturally, I wasn’t able to reason that there were probably board members who had the same issue.

  I thought about Maya, too. Even though we ended on a bad note, I still had lingering feelings of romance for her. She really was a special girl, who had won my heart. I’ll be the first to concede that my heart has a lot of dark and yucky chambers, but not all of it is bad.

  Yeah, and that’s what I had to convince Maya about. Naturally, Maya would have to at least be open to having a conversation with me. I had my doubts about that. She was pretty mad when she left. Did she just need a little time to think and cool off?

  In my opinion, I didn’t think giving her much time was a good idea. Once she met a new man and moved on, I would be left panting in the dust. I would become nothing more than a shameful memory. I would be a small footnote in the history of her life.

  “Hey Tyler, we’re ready for you” said Herb as he opened the door widely for me to fit throug
h it. The first red flag that I noticed is that he wasn’t smiling. He is usually the kind of guy who is jolly and smiles a lot.

  I desperately clung onto hope that Herb wasn’t smiling for another reason. Maybe he was just having a bad day. That happens with everyone, right? I could only hope. Hope was all that I had left.

  The members of the board were looking over at me. Their eyes weren’t good. I can read a person’s eyes and know if they are happy. Theirs weren’t. There was sadness, fatigue, and shock in their eyes. I think the worst was the negative energy in the room. I felt it, and I could tell they did, too.

  “Please, be seated” said Herb as he waved an open hand to a wooden chair that was directly in front of the members of the board. I gulped and tried to brace myself. Deep down, I knew what was coming – no matter how bad I wanted to deny it.

  I slowly sat on the chair and fumbled my hands around in a variety of positions. I had my hands crossed, then had them off to the side. After that, I twiddled my thumbs and wringed them about. Just my hand motions signaled that I was nervous. My vulnerability was great.

  Herb went to a seat that was directly in front of me. It was so quiet in the room, that I heard a creak right after he sat down. That was the only sound. I wondered if I would eventually hear a pin drop. “Tyler, we’ve talked a lot about some of our concerns, and your behavior. Quite frankly, we are very stunned and disappointed.”

  I raised my hand and tried to stop him from continuing. “If this is about my sex life, I can explain” I said before I was rudely cut off.

  The whole time that Herb was lecturing me, Veronica was just staring at me with her Satanic smile. The little sadist was having a field day – at my expense. I wouldn’t submit and be her boyfriend again, so she struck back by threatening my job.

  “The fact of the matter is, Tyler, that you’ve got some real challenges about the image you’re giving to our company. Therefore, it is with deep regret, that we have to terminate you. You may take a few moments and go to your office to pack up your bags” muttered Herb as he sighed and closed his eyes for just a moment.

  “And, we can’t give the décor business that hotel contract that we had previously discussed. It has been brought to our attention, that it is that girl, Maya’s company, and therefore, have no choice but to cancel it. That would amount to another injurious harm for our company image” said Herb as he raised his voice with just a little anger.

  And just like that, my employment with them ended. Years of hard work and raking in lots of money really didn’t satisfy these people. I would soon join the unemployment line and become an average nobody.

  My maneuvering and crafting of a good image had failed. Beyond the damage that I had done to my now-ex-employer, I had done a lot of damage to myself. I doubted a company would want a CEO who is a notorious scammer who had been hiring hookers.

  In the law, a person is innocent until proven guilty. When it comes to applying for a job in a professional world, I didn’t have to be guilty. All that was needed was a strong accusation, and a termination from my last employer, and I was done.

  My reaction to them was pretty simple. I didn’t say anything, and I just got out and walked out of the room. The only other thing I did was clean out my desk. I think I remember taking just some Advil, pictures, and gum.

  Right after that, I exited the building, and threw my keys at the entrance as I was walking out. That was the last time I had ever been in that place. Come hell or high water, I’ll never go there again. After all these years of delivering success, they kicked me to the curb. The real icing on the cake was that they kicked me to the curb before it was even determined if I did anything wrong.

  Ironically enough, I wasn’t thinking with my dick when I had promised Maya’s company the contract. I almost always think with my dick, and the one time that I didn’t, I got axed for it. Sometimes the irony isn’t fair. Sometimes, life isn’t fair.

  Chapter 21 - Tyler

  It didn’t seem like that long ago when I was boarding a plane in this very airport. In fact, it was less than a week ago. A lot has changed since then. It doesn’t take long for life to change, especially when the changes are bad.

  Mother Theresa once said that months can be spent building something, and it could be torn down in a day. She’s obviously right. I spent so much time and effort building up this company and making great things happen. In just a few days, it unraveled and became about as useful as a rejected pap-smear test.

  God, how the hell did this happen? I slid my airline ticket into a scanning machine, and got the clear to board the aircraft. As I pulled my wheeled luggage behind me, I had to make sense of it. I had to think.

  The problem with thinking is that it’s never easy to do when emotional or upset. Thoughts that result from anger are often wrong or badly judged. Rationality requires the elimination of anger. So, I had to first do that – get rid of my anger.

  Once I could dispel the anger, I could then rationalize a plan to take care of the problem. I knew one thing – this was far from over. I wasn’t just going to let them kick me in the ribs without biting back. Actions have consequences.

  If I learned only one thing from this entire experience, it’s that there are consequences. My lying and erotic behavior laid waste to my life. I knew that. I just had to get past that, and make a plan to recover my damn life.

  I did something that sounds a little silly, if not juvenile. When I got to my cramped airline seat, I plugged earphones into my iPhone and tuned into Spotify. I found some relaxing, easygoing classical music.

  To make it a little better, I closed my eyes to disconnect any visual stimuli and imagined myself being on a tropical beach, just lying in the sand without a care in the world. It helped some. I still realized I had some major problems, but it helped.

  After thirty minutes of doing that (thank God for the takeoff delay), I was able to assuage a lot of my anger. Anger reduced. Check! Now, I had to think about what to do, and how to do it.

  The first was a question of priorities. I knew I had a lot of things to do, but could only do one thing at a time. So, what should come first? What was the highest priority?

  I surprised myself a little bit when I determined that Maya was the most important part to me. For so many years of my life, I had prioritized money and business success. In fact, I would guess that is the case of what most CEOs want – money and business success. How can a competent CEO exist without those priorities?

  So, would Maya still be pissed off? Probably. If what I did wasn’t so aggravating and offense, she probably wouldn’t have left in the first place. I didn’t (and still don’t) see her as a person that has an irrational, anger problem. She was mad, and to some extent, I can understand why.

  Step one would be to hunt down Maya and have a talk with her. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I don’t know her terribly well, and I think it would be easiest to just go to her office. Besides, she’s a reliable person and would probably be there if I dropped in.

  After speaking to her, I might be able convince her to meet with me (God willing), and then we could have a chat about us. At some point, I would have to apologize for the fact that her business had lost the contract.

  I figured I could alleviate a little of that pain – just a little. I could make clear to her that the decision to not award the contract to her company was one that the board had forced upon me. Indeed, it was not my call. Maybe I could draw a little sympathy by letting her know that they fired me.

  I didn’t know if I could get any sympathy, though. The last time I tried that (when I plotted to convince the board that Maya engaged in cheating), it blew up in my face before I was able to even launch that plan. Would the same happen here?

  I mentally shrugged my shoulders and came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter. Maya would probably find out I was fired within a short amount of time anyway. In fact, she might even know before I could show up and tell her.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder
from the flight attendant. She was bright and smiley, and gave a little warmth to my emotions. “Sir, can you turn off your iPhone since we’re in the air?”

  I smiled back at her and quickly hit a few buttons to disconnect the signal. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a sleep. I needed a nice nap. It was a long flight back to Seattle, and I needed my brain to be in top function. I had a long road ahead of me.

  “Hi. Is Ms. Maya Blake here? I’m one of her business partners and would like to speak to her, if I could” I politely said to this lady who looked like she had a rough day. She had some bruises and a brace on her arm. It wasn’t a full cast, but it was obviously meant to stabilize her arm. She looked rough. I felt bad for her.

  She grinned over at me right after I asked that. Sometimes with women, they do that when they are checking out a man. I think that might have been the case with me, but I wasn’t sure. I think it might have been the case when this other lady walked in and greeted me with the same, stupid grin. “Hello. My name is Franca. Is there something we can help you with?”

  I chuckled a few times and waved my hand dismissively at her. “No, no. I just talked to this nice lady here, and told her that I wanted to speak to Maya.”

  She finally released her grin and turned it into a nice smile. “Oh, I see. Maya actually just went to the store to get some new inkjets. She’ll be back in about ten minutes if you want to wait.”

  Ten minutes of waiting? Bah! It’s just funny sometimes how we (as people) hurry up to get something done, then find out that we have to wait. Right after I got off the plane, I rented a car and drove here without even stopping at home. I did that for the purpose of getting things done quickly. And now? I would have to wait.

  “Okay” I said with a nod as I reached over to sit on a laminate chair with steel legs. Right after I sat down, I discovered that the foot of the chair was broken. I surprisingly jolted out to the side. Then Franca, aka ‘Princess Obvious’ had something to say. “Be careful with that chair. The foot is broken.”