10. Candice

CHAPTER 10

CANDICE

I wake up alone.

For a second, I'm confused, wondering why my bed has changed shape, why the pillows are so soft and the comforter so downy. Then I remember and my eyes snap open.

Aiden's room is as big as it seemed last night, pastel colors tastefully accenting his drawers, his sheets, his walls. It looks like a professional designer did all of it. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he gets a cleaner in. Everything is so immaculate that it's hard to believe he actually lives here.

A creeping dread starts snaking along my ribs, but I ignore it. If he was going to murder me, he already would have, probably. He's a rich guy. They live in a totally different world from me, the kind with cleaners and cashmere.

I close my eyes again, tempted to snuggle back down in the bed and fall asleep again, but I know we have to be at Fletcher Tech HQ by ten a.m. and it's already almost nine. For one more minute, I languish in the luxury bedding, delighting at the expensive mattress and the leftover smell of Aiden in the pillows.

Last night was too good to have been a dream.

The memory of our bodies makes a warm glow settle over me, the satisfaction of pleasure giving me that cozy postcoital hangover you get from waking in a lover's arms. Not that he's a lover , exactly.

Not yet, anyway.

Through the wall, I hear the sounds of a gas stove bursting to life, a muffled promise that he's still here. I don't want to assume, but cooking breakfast the morning after is maybe the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me.

Reluctantly, I peel myself out of bed and drift into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and comb through my hair with my hands. It doesn't look as bad as it could, but it doesn't look great. Damn it, I didn't think this through at all. I don't even have a toothbrush, let alone fresh clothes or makeup. I'm going to be so embarrassed if I have to get employed wearing yesterday's wrinkled, alcohol-scented shirt.

That's a problem for later, though. Right now, I'm hungry and I want to kiss Aiden's face in gratitude.

I throw on my shirt and underwear and wander into the kitchen. He smiles when he sees me. "Hey."

"Morning. What's cooking?"

"You like pancakes?" he asks, waving around a spatula.

My heart swells. "I sure do."

"Awesome. I made enough to feed about seven people. Hope you're hungry."

I am, and for more than pancakes, but instead of saying anything I walk up behind him and stand on my tiptoes to rest my head on his shoulder. He leans back into me and I wrap my arms around him, squeezing tight like I'm anchoring myself to him.

A job and a boyfriend… by the end of the day I could have both.

"Hey, do you want to see a dumb video?" he says, pulling out his phone. "I saw it earlier."

"Sure," I say with a smile, pressing my lips into the nape of his neck and breathing him in. Did he have a shower while I slept? He smells fresh and heady, the kind of scent I could lose myself in.

I stare down at his phone over his shoulder, watching as he pulls up a video player. Before he can find it, though, his phone chimes with a notification and a text message pops up on the screen.

Congrats, son. The job's yours. You have more than proved—

The preview cuts off there, but before Aiden can swipe it away in a panic, I've already read enough for the dread to rise again, freezing my blood until I could shiver.

I drop my arms and step back, tasting bile in the back of my mouth. "What was that?"

Aiden turns to face me, his mouth wavering as he decides whether or not he wants to lie to me. There's a desperation in his eyes, almost a plea that I'll understand and take pity on him.

"It's… My dad is… It was his idea…"

"You're Aiden Fletcher, aren't you?" I say, each word like a dull knife in my heart. All he can do is nod. "Aiden Fisher never existed… You've been lying this whole time!"

"No!" he says, too fast, flying on the defensive for something he can't excuse. "Well, I mean, yeah. But not like that."

"Like what then?" I snap, my ears ringing with rage. I'm not much of a crier, but tears are pricking my eyes. It's not too unreasonable to cry when your whole life is crumbling around you. When everything you've worked for is being spat back in your face by someone who couldn't respect you enough to tell the truth. "No one else was ever in with a chance, were they? This is nepotism gone mad. Is this some kind of sick game to you?"

"No," he says, his voice weakening with every accusation. "I swear, it's not like you think. There was never a guarantee for me. It's why I got put with you guys, so I could prove to Dad that I actually want to work for this. He said he'd cut me out of everything unless I proved to him I deserved it. All the hard work was real, I swear. Everything I feel for you is real."

He reaches for my hand but I flinch away. "Don't touch me!"

"Candice, please, listen—"

"Why?" I hiss, swallowing hard to stop my eyes watering up, clenching my fists to stop myself hitting him. I've never felt this angry in my life, white-hot, ice-cold fury running through my veins. I'm so mad I could almost laugh. "So you can lie to me some more?"

"Honestly, I didn't lie. My dad really doesn't want to give this to me. You were in with a fair chance, you all were. Really."

I scoff, the taste of bile coating the back of my throat again. He looks so pathetically desperate, like I'm a wild horse he can tame with some soothing words and calming gestures. It won't work. I want to stomp him to death with my hooves.

"Just… fuck off, why don't you?" I spit, turning on my heel to march back to the bedroom to grab my bag and pants. This is so humiliating. I'm never trusting a man like this again.

I am so stupid.

My entire body shakes as I rush to drag my pants on while hunting for my bag and suit jacket at the same time. Why doesn't he own a coatrack like a normal person? It's not like he doesn't have the money. It's not like he doesn't have a good job .

And there was me, thinking it could have been mine.

My jacket had ended up on an armchair by the window, and as I go to grab it, Aiden appears in the doorway, flustered and wet-eyed. Looking at him like this, now, with untidy hair and a loose T-shirt as he begs me to stay… it's pathetic. Even if he really didn't mean for this to happen, even if his father really was testing him, he still lied. He still knew exactly what he was and what he was going to get.

And if he thinks he's still going to get me , he's wrong.

"Please, Candice. Listen to me."

"I'm never listening to you again!" I snap, pulling on my jacket, punching my fists through the sleeves. "I'm never even going to touch a piece of Fletcher Tech again."

If I let myself, I'd notice how genuinely distraught he looks, at the tearful look he's giving me, the wobble in his lips as he tries to figure out what to say. But my fury at his lies clouds all logic, so I storm past him, shoving him aside, ignoring the little grunt of surprise, the heartbreak in his eyes.

He's so used to getting everything he wants. Good for him. He sure as hell isn't getting me .

I tug on my shoes, and he tries one more time to talk me down. "What about the meeting?"

"What about it?"

"What do you mean, what about it ?" He blinks at me like I've said something completely insane.

I draw myself up as tall and imposing as I can be, turn on my heel, stride deliberately up to him and stare right into his eyes. "Why on earth would I still want to come to an event that's going to be a farce? Why the hell would I want to go to a meeting where the outcome was always set? I'm not going to make a fool of myself for you and your father for another second of my life. I worked so hard for this, you know?"

"I know," he says softly, his hand twitching like he's about to take mine.

If he had been braver, there's a chance I would have cracked.

But he isn't. "I'm going to succeed and I'm going to do it on my own. I don't need you, I don't need your father, and I don't need Fletcher Tech. Goodbye, Aiden."

I don't hesitate or look back at him. I march away and slam the door behind me. This is the right thing to do, I know. It hurts for so many reasons, but my career comes first. It always has. And there's nothing left of that here.

But the face I imagine Aiden gives me as I go haunts me, and will for years to come.