Faking It To Survive
Chapter 10

Ryan

“Argh!” I g***n in pain as my back slams into the floor. Then I jump to my feet, only to take a wicked punch to the gut. Luckily, I dodge the next blow before it hits me.

I push my fingers against my palm to form a T. “Time out!” I buckle over and rest my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

I wait just long enough for my breathing to slow down before I straighten up and face off against the ball of fury in front of me. I can tell by the look on her face that she’s deliberately punishing me for yesterday. She’s showing me no mercy and, like always, she doesn’t look the least bit exhausted while I’m still struggling to catch my breath.

“Come on,” Rose growls through gritted teeth. “We’re going again.”

“No. Absolutely not.” I shake my head and start to walk away.

“Are you scared? You’re supposed to be an MMA fighter.”

I roll my eyes at her taunts. “We both know that isn’t what this is. You are being intentionally brutal today. This isn’t training. It’s punishment.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She widens her stance and raises her fists before cocking her fingers to beckon me toward her. “Come on. We’ve got work to do.”

I stare at her for a second, and then, without warning, I drop down and sit right in the middle of the ring. “I’m not starting another round until we talk about what’s bothering you.”

Rose growls, but she doesn’t stop bobbing back and forth with her fists raised. I watch her until she finally throws up both hands, grunts in annoyance, and sits down in front of me with her legs crossed.

“Fine, you want to know what’s bothering me? It’s the fact that my picture is still out there on the internet, and anyone can find me. That’s unacceptable. And then there’s your ridiculous proposal about us getting into a fake relationship. What happened to Travis never fails to find solutions to problems? This is no solution at all.”

“Travis and the PR team are working on the first problem. Your picture should be gone by the end of today. I can promise you that.” I’m not happy about our picture being plastered everywhere, either, especially not when it makes Rose this anxious.

“That isn’t good enough. It’s already out there. The whole world has already seen it.”

I shrug. “I can’t do anything about that. And as for the second problem, I know it sounds insane, but it’s the only reasonable solution we could think of.”

“Reasonable? You call that reasonable?”

I can only shrug again in answer. My heart flips just from sitting here talking to her. I get a secret thrill that I won’t have to pick a woman who isn’t Rose.

This idea of fake-dating Rose, everything suddenly seems easier and better when I think about it. I just have to convince her.

She keeps glaring at me until she finally hops up and walks off. “Fine. If that’s the most reasonable solution you can come up with, then pick someone else. I don’t care what you do as long as it isn’t me.”

“Wait a minute!” I jump up and hurry after her. “You heard Travis. Picking someone else won’t work, not after everyone has seen us together. If I choose someone else now, the scandal will only get worse. I’ll still be the rapist playboy and even more fake rumors will come up just from that.” I dodge around in front of her to stop her from walking away from me. I have to convince her right now. “I know this is a lot to ask, but I wouldn’t ask at all it if it wasn’t important. My career is on the line over this. I could get pulled from my upcoming fight.”

“What?” she snaps. “They can’t do that!”

“Yes, they can, and they’re already doing it. Sponsors are pulling out, and if this goes on any longer, I’ll be left to hang dry. If I’m no longer a fighter, you won’t have a job to come back to, either.” I reach out to take her hand, but she instantly pulls away and walks off in another direction.

“Don’t do that. That’s not fair,” Rose whispers.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just desperate right now, and you’re the only one who can help me out of this mess.”

I feel like I should drop to my knees and beg. I need her. That’s the truth. I need her for a lot more than this.

She takes a step back and shakes her head. “I … I need to think about this, okay? I just … I need a minute.” She ducks out of the ring then dashes out of the gym.

I watch her until she turns in the corridor outside on her way to the locker room.

“Shit,” I whisper. Now I’m alone and still didn’t get an answer.

Having no more reason to stick around here, I step out of the ring, heading for the weight rack. I pick up the dumbbell and start lifting. The effort clears my mind and stops me from dwelling on everything else so I don’t go into a complete meltdown. That’s the last thing Travis and I need right now.

I keep thinking about how to convince Rose to do this. Money won’t cut it. I can just picture her reaction if I dared to offer her money in exchange for her help.

I can only get Rose to help me if she does it willingly. If she doesn’t, I’ll have to find an alternative because I would never force Rose to do something she doesn’t want to do.

When a shadow falls across the gym entrance, I raise my head, thinking it’s Rose. I brace myself for World War III when Tammy struts into the gym.

“Didn’t I make it clear last time when I told you I never wanted to see you here again? How did you even get in here?”

She sashays right up to me and completely ignores me glaring at her. She leans down and smiles in my face. “Travis let me in. He thought we could talk things over and come to an agreement.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Oh, come on, Ryan,” she purrs. “Don’t be dramatic.”

“I’m being dramatic? After spewing a bunch of lies to the press about something I didn’t do, you’re calling me dramatic? I should sue you for defamation. Then you’ll see how dramatic I can be.”

“Try it, Ryan. I dare you. Then you can watch me add every juicy detail about how you used to be a violent and manipulative boyfriend. Trust me; I can fabricate as much evidence as the authorities need. The only reason they aren’t bearing down on you right now is because I’m still being coy about the whole thing. If you provoke me, I promise all of this will stop being a rumor and it will become the truth.”

I wrestle my temper under control. She really is evil. I’d like to strangle her right now, but that would only make my situation worse.

“Why exactly are you doing this? Our relationship ended months ago, and you moved on. We both moved on. You never really wanted me, anyway.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I never moved on. I couldn’t. I still held onto the hope that we would get back together. I thought if I gave you a little space, things would go back to the way they were. That’s what I thought until you slept with my best friend and humiliated me in front of everyone. And who said I never really wanted you?” She steps forward and reaches toward my cheek, but her hand never makes contact. “I loved you with all my heart, Ryan Baker. I still do.”

“This isn’t love,” I spit. “It’s obsession.”

“Think whatever you want, but I know you loved me. Don’t even try to deny it. You were going to propose, Ryan. I know because Ben saw you picking out a ring. I just wanted to do something wild one last time before settling down. It was all too overwhelming.”

“So, the solution was to cheat on me with Ben in the back of my car? How long were you sleeping with him while we were together?”

Tammy looks away. “It doesn’t matter anymore. He never mattered. Only you did. I’m sorry you saw that. I never meant for it to happen, and I swear to you that it was going to be the last time.”

“I don’t care about any of that. I can’t even look at you. All I want is for you to fix the mess you’ve created, or things won’t be pleasant for you. Do you understand me? If it’s money you want, tell me and my lawyers will write you a nice check.” I start to turn away, but her next words stop me in my tracks.

“Is it because of her? The woman in the picture yesterday? Are you rejecting me because of her?”

Laughter bubbles out of my mouth. “Unbelievable! This has nothing to do with her! I’m rejecting you because everything about you sickens me. If I knew then that this is the kind of person you are, I never would have bought that ring.”

Her expression transforms into a mask of murderous hatred, and she swells up with fury. “I’ll make you regret this,” she snarls. “Trust me; you haven’t seen anything yet.”

I smirk and lean closer to bring my face level with hers. “Do your worst.”

Tammy turns on her heel and storms out, but at the gym entrance, she almost collides with Rose, who stands there, staring at us with wide eyes. She must have heard every single word.

Tammy slams her shoulder into Rose and shoots her a venomous glance as she stalks away. I’m just glad she’s gone.

I can’t look at Rose, so I go over to the weight rack and put the dumbbells away, but she follows me over there.

“You have really terrible taste in women, you know that?”

I sigh in exhaustion. “So I’ve been told. Maybe that’s why I think faking it with you is such a great idea.”

Neither of us says a word for a minute. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I’m at the end of my rope with this whole stinking situation.

“I’ll do it,” she blurts out.

I spin around, my eyes popping out of their sockets. Did she just say what I think she said?

She makes a face when she sees my reaction. “Don’t look so delighted. I’ll be your fake girlfriend, okay? Are you happy now?”

I can’t stop grinning. “You have no idea!” I rush toward her, lift her off the floor in a huge hug, and twirl her around. I can’t stop laughing, and I even hear her giggling. “Thank you so much, Rose! I can’t thank you enough.”

“Put me down!” She wrestles herself out of my grasp. “I need to lay some ground rules if we’re really going to do this.”

I put her down, rubbing my hands together with glee. Now things are going to get interesting.