Playboy billionaire Aiden Grayson is being blackmailed and when he meets his handsome new bodyguard, Julian, he's slowly overcome by feelings he can't deny.
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Aiden Grayson is a child of privi...
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26. HOTLINE BLING
Friday Night
4 Hours Before The Charity Event
Ever since the small blowout that happened the other day in his kitchen, Aiden and Julian have mostly been keeping to themselves.
And it's not because Aiden was trying to give Julian space, rather, Julian preferred to be left alone with his thoughts. It was getting harder and harder for him to play the role of Aiden's dirty little secret. Everything was starting to become too much to bear because Julian's feelings towards Aiden continued to evolve at an alarmingly fast rate.
For Julian, it was incredibly frustrating to be date someone like Aiden, someone who he could only have behind closed doors. If his patience hadn't been tested before, it was definitely being tested now.
"We leave in four hours, Cassie. Are you seriously trying to back out on me right now?" Aiden sighed in annoyance as Cassie went on yet another rant about how she never signed up to play Aiden's fake girlfriend. "After the charity event, our 'relationship' is over. No more faking it for the media. We've gone over this plan a million times."
Cassie paced the floor of her room, nearly tripping over the red mermaid style ball gown dress that Kyle had delivered for her to wear tonight. She was trying it on when her emotions got the best of her.
"What I did at the restaurant the other night was me having acted out on impulse," Cassie said. "I was just trying to help you two fumbling idiots out! I never thought I'd be put in this type of position. Besides, you never even formally asked me if I wanted to do this. You had to two days to tell me about this stupid event, but no! You tell me the day of. You just assumed that I—"
"Do you honestly think that I want to participate in all this fake bullshit tonight? Do you think I want to walk down that red carpet with you on my arm? Because I don't," Aiden whispered angrily. "I don't want to be a part of any of this no more than you do, but what's done is done."
"But Julian..." Cassie started. "I can't do this to him. It's not right. Even though he says that he doesn't care about us going together, you and I both know it's bullshit. He should be your date tonight. Not me. Don't you care at all about how he's feeling right now? Don't you care how this will affect him?"
"Of course!" Aiden walked towards her, grabbing her gently by the shoulders as he looked at her remorsefully. Both their hearts were breaking tonight. Julian's, as he listened outside the door, included. "It's my fault that we're in this mess and it's me who's hurting him the most. I hate myself for it, and he has the right to despise me but I can't back out now."
"Why not?" Cassie asked. "Why would it be such a big deal if you showed up alone? Or with another woman? Why do I have to be your date?"
"Because we were unfortunately seen together, the entire world knows about us and until we split publicly there's no turning back," Aiden sighed. "Look, I'm doing this is for my mother, okay? She is the most important person to me and for the past twenty-six years I've done nothing but raise hell for her. I figured I'd give my mother this one night to see her dream come true. She was so excited when she found out about you and me, even though this is fake as hell. She's never seen me be serious about a girl and probably will never see something like this again... whenever I decide to finally come out."
