Page 83 of Fake it For Good
“How am I her weakness?”
“If I had to guess, I would say she has seen the error of her ways,” I said. “She realizes she threw away something good. She wants to destroy any chance of happiness you might have. I’m the competition and she plans on taking me out.”
“Damn, it’s like you’ve known her all your life.” He chuckled.
“I just know people like her. I’m not like you or her, so in her eyes, I’m shit,” I said. “I have one very distinct advantage over her.”
“What?” he asked.
“I don’t care,” I answered. “I don’t care what she thinks. I don’t really care what any of those rich people she’s trying to impress think about me. I know me. I know who I am. I don’t need their approval.”
“Damn,” he said with a shake of his head. “You came to play.”
I laughed again. “I’m not worried about her. Unless you don’t want me to go.”
“I want you to go,” he said. “We’ve been working on this event for a long time. I don’t want to walk away. I think that’s another part of her plan. She’s hoping to piss off my fiancée and keep me from going. Then she’ll make a bigger move.”
“We’re in this to win it,” I said. “I don’t back down.”
“My girl’s a fighter.”
Hearing him call me his girl was pretty fucking amazing.
29
CANE
“There’s the man!” Denton exclaimed as he walked into my office.
“What did I do now?”
“That orphanage stunt was golden,” he said.
“It wasn’t a stunt,” I said. “It was something important to Noelle. She took this job because she’s trying to help those kids. The only reason I let my picture get taken was because I wanted my competitors to see what I was doing and hopefully they’ll try to beat me.”
“And the publicity wasn’t bad,” he said, grinning.
“I haven’t paid much attention to it,” I said. “You know I hate reading that stuff.”
“Between our PR team and the media jumping on a feel-good story, it’s gaining a lot of traction,” he said. “It was a good idea.”
“Thanks, but I can’t take credit for it,” I said. “Noelle does this shit all the time, and no one is singing her praises. Mrs. Drummond, the woman that runs the orphanage, she doesn’t get publicity. Isn’t it kind of fucked up that it’s only the rich people that do one good thing who get all the kudos while the people on the ground that do it every day are overlooked?”
“Damn,” he said. “That’s deep. You’ve changed.”
“I’ve had my eyes opened,” I said. “Which reminds me, after the holiday season, we are going to start looking into doing a lot more charity work. We need to do more.”
“Someone’s got the Christmas spirit,” he teased.
“We put up a tree,” I told him.
“A Christmas tree?”
“Yep,” I said. “I bought a tree and a bunch of stuff to throw on it. She came over and we decorated it. The house feels very festive.”
“What’s the deal with the two of you?” he asked. “I’m guessing you didn’t pay her to put up your tree.”
“No,” I said.
