Chapter 229: How To Play

Holly’s POV

David doesn’t look like he’s giving in anytime soon. I’m tired of throwing myself at him, begging for scraps. Maybe…maybe this would force him to see me. Really see me. Faster.

So, I’ll gladly make a deal with the devil if that’s all it would take.

But Tyler… This wasn’t fair to him.

Just as I thought it, he spoke again, like he could read my mind.

“Don’t worry about how I’ll feel,” he said quietly. “The fact that you’re letting me do this for you? That means something to me. You helped me with my office. Allow me to do something for you too. You’re not allowed to say no.”

So be it. It’s not like I have another option. I exhaled slowly as I looked at his hand. Then reached out and shook it.

“Deal,” I said.

He grinned, big and bright, squeezing my hand.

“You won’t regret this, girlfriend,” he said excitedly,

“I hope so,” I said to myself quietly.

Tyler paid for our dinner and then we headed down in the elevator. The whole ride, he was quiet, but the good kind…smiling to himself, like he’d already won something.

But me? My stomach was doing flips. Part excitement, part guilt, part what-the-hell-am-I-doing.

Outside, the valet brought his Audi around. Tyler opened the passenger door for me again, but this time he let his hand linger on the small of my back as I slid in. A tiny touch, but deliberate.

He got in, started the engine, and glanced over. “So, girlfriend,” he said, dragging the word out with a grin. “We should probably set some ground rules. Make this believable.”

I laughed nervously, buckling my seatbelt. “Ground rules. Okay. Shoot.”

“First,” he said, pulling into traffic, “we’re exclusive. Publicly, at least. No flirting with other people when anyone’s watching. Especially not David.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t flirt with other people anyway.”

“Good. Second, we get seen. A lot. Work events, lunches, weekends if we can swing it. I’ve got a charity gala this Saturday…black tie, the whole city’s elite will be there. David will not miss it for anything. Perfect place to debut us.”

A gala. With David there. My heart did a stupid little jump just by imagining how I’ll make him eat his words. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Third,” he continued, voice dropping a little, “physical stuff. We have to sell it. Hand-holding, arm around you, kisses on the cheek. Maybe more if the moment calls for it. I’ll follow your lead…no pushing boundaries you don’t want crossed.”

He seemed particularly excited about the physical stuff, but I didn’t point that out.

I just went along with it. “Hand-holding and arm stuff is fine. Cheek kisses…okay. But nothing more. Not yet, anyway. I don’t want to lie that much.”

He nodded, eyes on the road. “Fair. We’ll play carefully.

He reached over, squeezed my knee softly with a little pat. “Don’t look so terrified, Holly. I’ve got you. This is going to be fun. And it’s going to work.”

I forced a smile. “You sound pretty confident.”

“I am. David’s already halfway insane watching you leave with me tonight. I saw his face in the parking lot…he looked like he wanted to punch my car.”

I bit my lip, remembering that moment. David grabbing my wrist, voice sharp, asking where I was going. The way his eyes had darkened when I didn’t give him much attention and walked away. Yeah…he’d looked pissed. But was it jealousy? Or just his usual controlling bullshit about being a big brother?

Tyler kept talking, laying out the plan like a general.

“Tomorrow, I will pick you up at 7:30. We grab coffee on the way to work…there’s a spot near your office everyone goes to. We walk in together looking like we can’t get our hands off each other. People will notice.”

I groaned. “People are going to talk so much at work.”

“Let them,” he said, shrugging. “That’s the point. Gossip travels fast. By lunch, half the building will know. By the end of day, David will know…if not earlier.”

He pulled up outside my building…our building now, apparently…and parked. Turned to face me fully.

“One more thing,” he said softly. “If at any point this feels wrong, or you want out, you tell me. No hard feelings. Deal?”

I looked at him. Really looked. Tyler was cocky, yeah. Privileged, definitely. But underneath it, he was being…decent and kind. He knew I would be  using him. He was letting me anyway.

I nodded. “Deal.”

He smiled, leaned over, and…true to the rules…pressed a quick, soft kiss to my cheek. “Night, girlfriend. See you bright and early.”

I got out, legs a little shaky, and watched him drive off to the underground parking.

I stood a little longer, rethinking everything that had happened. What am I even doing? What am I getting myself into?

Fake dating Tyler to make David jealous. It sounded like a bad rom-com. But the alternative was to keep throwing myself at David and getting rejected over and over. Watching him look at me like I’m twelve years old and broken.

No. I was done with that.

My phone buzzed before I could move from towards the door. A notification on Instagram. It was a new follower request.

I opened it.

David Hunt.

Requesting to follow me. I stared at the notification for a full minute. Why is he requesting to follow me all of a sudden? How did he find my account? What is he aiming for? Didn’t he just reject me?

I stared at it a little longer. Then I canceled the request.

I’m not going to make this any easy for him!