His Hired Girlfriend (35 page)

Later they fell asleep, Jayden
on the sofa with notes on his chest, Jeff on the seat with his head
resting beside the laptop, and David in the armchair near the
window that overlooked the city of New York at night with millions
of dots of tiny lights.

***

THE HOUSE WAS so quiet that
Alex could hear her own raging heart pumping in her chest as she
laid in there in bed, sobbing. She had thought that a good shower
would help clear her head and calm her anger and frustration, but
she was wrong. Now more than ever, she was upset at herself and
what had happened. She simply couldn’t believe Jayden had betrayed
her trust. Everything had been a lie, and yes, she had believed
him.

She punched the pillow a couple
of times before snuggling her face against it, allowing her tears
full rein to flow from her eyes and down her flushed cheeks.

It was an
hour later, when she had felt a bit better that her BlackBerry
rang.
Who could it be? Jayden? Had he
called to say that he was sorry?

She picked up the phone and saw
that it was from New Zealand.

“Hello?”

“
Alex, it’s Dad.”

Alex felt the knot in the pit
of her stomach. She sniffed and wiped her tears. “Hi, Dad. How’s
things? Are you all right?”

A long,
intense pause.
“Alex, I know what’s going
on. I know you’re not in New York for a conference.”

Alex felt like her heart had
dropped down to her shoes and her face paled in concern.
“What?”

“
I...I
know you’re with a man.”
Another
pause.
“I’m very disappointed in you,
Alex.”

“But, Dad,
I...I...” She sniffed again. More tears brew in her eyes. She knew
when her dad said
‘he’s disappointed in
her’
it was very big deal. He had never
said that to her except when she had done something very stupid.
Her throat was tight with emotions that she could not find a way to
express.

“
I want you home, Alex. I
don’t want you with a man who treats you like you’re worth nothing.
You’re better than that. We love you. Come home.”

Alex wiped tears from her
cheeks and sniffed again. Her voice shaking with emotions, she
said, “All right, I’m coming home.”

She hung up, tossed the
BlackBerry to the side of the bed, threw herself onto the soft
pillows and cried her hear out.

***

WHEN MORNING CAME and New York
City was buzzing with life again, Jayden woke up to find Jeff and
David all neatly dressed in their brand new suits, both sitting
behind their prospective laptops furiously typing away.

“Sorry, boss,” Jeff said,
“couldn’t wake you cos you look so tired. Thought you need it. You
know you could have sleep in your bed next door.”

“Yeah,” Jay muttered as he
stretched his body. “Forgot about that.”

Just then a middle age P.A by
the name of Mrs. Smith bustled in with a cup of black, strong
coffee in her hand. “Morning, Mr. McCartney, how was your sleep
last night?”

“Good thanks,” Jayden replied,
taking the cup she handed him and ignoring her smirk. He sipped the
coffee gratefully as he headed toward the room next door, his
private bedroom. He opened the wardrobe, took out new trousers,
shirt and jacket and laid them on the tidy bed. Then he headed for
the shower.

Once he was dressed, looking
fresh and alert as the young and handsome, powerful Jayden
McCartney, he headed back to the office. “How’s the contract
going?”

“Good. Nearly done,” Jeff
responded, still typing away furiously.

“Why don’t you have some
breakfast, Mr. McCartney?” Mrs. Smith suggested, laying a sliver
tray of cereal and another cup of coffee in front of him on the
table.

“Thanks, Mrs. Smith,” Jayden
said, picking up the spoon.

Fifteen minutes later, Jeff
printed out the contract and Jayden finished his breakfast. It was
just time to go to the Marcelo’s Hotel for the meeting.

On their way, Jayden kept
ringing home to speak to Alex, but no one picked up the phone. He
became very frustrated after three tries and cursed fluently.

“Clam down, boss,” Jeff said as
they came to a red light. “You know it’s not like you’re not going
to see her again. You both have your whole life together.”

“Agree on that one,” David
confirmed from behind.

Jayden just shook his head. All
he knew was that he wanted to see Alex. He needed to speak to her.
Only he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he had this done first.

“I can’t believe you let me
drive you car, boss. Never have a BMW before.” Jeff said. “Well,
not like this one.”

“Then after this you deserve
one. Both of you, and a big pay rise and a good vacation,” Jayden
said.

Jeff widened his eyes in shock.
“Really, boss?”

“Yeah.”

Jeff and David looked at each
other, grinning from ear to ear.

At 10am sharp Jayden found
himself sitting in front of Mr. Marcelo and his attorney in an
immaculate office overlooking Central Park. David and Jeff stood on
either sides of him, acting as his left and right hand man.

“You’ve done the right thing,
Jayden,” Mr. Marcelo said, handing over the contract in a neat
folder.

“I know I have,” Jayden said
softly, his eyes sharp. “Five million dollars,” he murmured as he
scanned through the clauses. Once he was done, he passed it over
for Jeff to look over. Jeff took it as David handed their contract
to Mr. Marcelo.

“Yes. Five million dollars,”
Mr. Marcelo said, grinning, not bothering to look at the contract
that was handed to him. He passed it to his attorney.

Once the contracts had been
thoroughly read and checked by both sides, they put their
signatures on the dotted line and that was that. Jayden now owned a
barren island with oil that was worth billions of dollars, and Mr.
Marcelo had just lost some billion dollars he didn’t know he
had.

“Nice to make business with
you, Jayden,” Mr. Marcelo said, shaking the younger man’s hand.

“Same to you, Mr. Marcelo.”
Jayden smiled coldly. Like father like daughter, he thought. Greedy
as hell and couldn’t’ care less for other people. Suddenly he found
he couldn’t stand the man’s presence any longer. With the deal done
and everything settled, he and his men headed to the door.

Mr. Marcelo chuckled, “What a
stupid boy.”

“A very stupid boy indeed,” the
attorney agreed, nodding his head. They both started laughing.

Jayden felt as thought a
mountain had just lifted off his shoulders. Now, he thought, time
to go and see Alex.

They were near the door when
his BlackBerry started ringing. Jay looked on the screen and saw
that it was from his mother. “Hello?”

“
Jayden,
Alex is leaving.”
There was a hint of
panic in his mother’s soft voice.

“Wait! What?”

“Alex is leaving. We’re just
about to go to the airport now. She’s going home – back to New
Zealand. What’s going on Jayden? She’s really upset. She changed
the plane tickets this morning.”

“Shit!” Jay swore under his
breath.

“
Jayden. You have to
hurry.”

“I’m coming,” he shouted into
the phone as he ran to the door.

“Boss, what’s going on?” Jeff
asked.

“I have to go. Alex’s
leaving!”

“What?” David yelled,
confused.

Jayden yanked the door open and
raced to his car. He jumped in, started the engine and then sped
out into the traffic.

*****

CHAPTER 26

ALEXANDRA WAS STILL hoping that
she’d see Jayden one last time before she left America for good.
Only her hope died a slow painful death when she realised he was
not going to show up. With her shoulders slump, head bowed and
tears threatening to mist her eyes, she dragged herself to the
limousine that was waiting for her.

She sat in between Gracie and
Beth, and Tom sat opposite them. As the limo manoeuvred out of the
gate, Alex glanced out the window, gazing out one last time at the
place that was home to her for the last week or so. Gracie gently
pulled her face to rest on her shoulder like a mother to her crying
daughter. Beth grabbed for one of her hand and patted it
gently.

The drive was a solemn one.
Once there, Alex gave them a big hugged as they wished her well on
her journey home. Alex couldn’t stopped herself from crying,
thanking them all for their kindness, knowing very well she’d never
meet any family like them again.

She glanced at the entrance of
the airport before heading toward the departure gate, hoping she’d
see Jayden. Only through the thick crowd of people, he was no where
in sight. The voice on the intercom started calling her name,
telling her that she was late for boarding. She ignored the call
and lingered there, staring at the entrance, hoping to see Jayden
rushing in and beg her not to go.

‘
Would Miss Alexandra
Stewart please make her way to gate nine for boarding. Would Miss
Alexandra Stewart please make her way to gate nine for
boarding.’

Knowing that she couldn’t hold
up the plan any longer, she waved good bye to the McCartneys and
headed toward the gate, handing in her tickets.

At the entrance to the large
plane, she murmured, “Sorry,” to the airhostess.

“That’s all right, miss. Your
seat is just to the left,” the pretty young woman replied.

Alex took her seat by the
window and put on her seat belt. Suddenly a panicky realisation
erupted inside of her when she realised she was never going to see
Jayden again – the man she loved and now lost.

***

JAYDEN SPED HIS BMW through the
thick traffic, passing red lights and changing lane like a formula
one racers. His hands were tight on the steering wheel, his mind on
Alex.

‘
Alex, why are you leaving
me? Please let me be on time. Please...’

He change lane again and over
took a big truck. The driver popped his head out the window, beeped
his horn continuously, and shouted, “Moron! Drive properly!”

Jayden ignored the driver who
was clearly very unhappy and stepped his foot on the accelerator,
urging the MBW forward, zooming past cars, van, and other trucks
heading toward the airport.

He parked the MBW on the taxi
only parking lot and rushed out to the terminal. He dodged his way
pass the throng of people, heading toward gate nine. He slowed down
once he had seen the gate number. “Excuse me,” he shouted from the
distance, his voice echoing across the entire area that everyone
turned to look at him curiously. “Has it departed yet?”

He came to a sliding stop at
the checking desk. He took a deep breath and puffed out, “Has it
departed yet?”

“The 12:30 to Lost Angeles,
sir?” the woman queried calmly.

“Yes,” Jay managed to puff
out.

“I’m sorry, sir. It left
fifteen minutes ago.”

Jayden felt sick to the
stomach. He felt his world had fallen apart. He felt like half of
his body had died. He swore under his breath and slowly, like a
zombie, dragged himself toward the exit. His head was spinning as
he headed back to the car.

“Hey, get your car out of
here!” one of the taxi driver shouted at him. Jayden was too lost
in his own sorrow to hear.

He got in the car and drove
out, slowly and painfully. When he had gotten home an hour later,
he saw his family in the drawing him, obviously waiting for
him.

Kelly rushed to him and said,
“We heard Alex left. What happen?”

Jayden glanced over his
sister’s head to his other family members. Beth looked like she was
about to cry. Sam and Stephanie were sitting on the far side of the
sofa, looking as sad as ever.

“I have a
confession to make,” he said, his heart booming in his chest, the
loud nose echoing in his ears.
He knew he
had to tell them the truth.
He took a deep
breath and continued, “Alexandra is
not
my girlfriend. I’ve been lying
to all of you since I’ve came back from New Zealand. I hired Alex
to pretend to be my girlfriend so, Beth, you’d stop match-making
me.”

There was shock surprise all
round. Gracie started crying, her hands clutching at her chest as
though she was heart broken. “I don’t believe this,” she
sobbed.

“I dated Sarah, but she was
cheating on me with Kyle. We broke up, so I lied to you all.”

“But what about your
engagement?” Beth asked. “And the baby?”

Jayden shook his head in
confusion. “What engagement? What baby?”

“Didn’t you propose to Alex?
Isn’t Alex pregnant with your baby?” Beth queried.

Jayden did a sad chuckle. “No,
Beth, I didn’t propose to Alex. And we are not having a baby
together either.”

Beth elegantly stood and strode
up to him. “What have you done? What have you done?” She hit him on
the chest.

Jayden caught her frail wrist
gently. “I’m sorry, Beth.” He turned to his parents. “I’m sorry I
lied to you. Please don’t blame Alex. She only agreed to do it
because she needed the money for her dad’s surgery.” He turned back
to Beth. “I’m sorry.”

“How could you, Jay? You hurt
her and now she’s gone. You have to bring her back. I want Alex
back, you hear?” Beth muttered incoherently, sniffing at the same
time.

“What?” Jayden was confused. He
had thought that Beth was upset because he had lied to them, not
because Alex had left. “I can’t bring her back, Beth. She’s gone.
She doesn’t want me.”