The Billionaire’s Stand-in Bride

~Atlas I stare at my screen long and hard. I usually let my PA reply my mails but for a lack of anything to do as I sit in my office waiting for my girlfriend—Freya, I decided to do it myself. My fingers have just begun to click away a response when my secretary comes to inform me that my friend wants to see me. I glance up at her before asking who it is, only noticing for the first time that she changed her hairstyle. Instead of sitting behind her in a low bun, the hair has been pulled up in a ponytail. “Nice hair,” I comment and she smiles. “Should I let her in?” she asks and I realize I didn’t hear her response to my question while I was staring at her hair. “Sure,” I say concluding it’s Freya. My surprise on seeing a lady with pale skin and prominent cheekbones standing at my door instead is unrivalled. It takes a minute for me to recognise the person underneath the layers of makeup as my college friend, Asher. “Hey!” I say, attempting to sound excited but my voice falls flat. She makes a face before closing the door behind her and sashaying inside. She goes around my curved office desk and settles right on the edge of the desk in front of me. She crosses her legs, causing her black body con gown to ride up her laps. Her face is too white and her blush is blinding. “You’re not happy to see me,” she says. I chuckle a bit, leaning back on my chair. “I just thought it was Freya that came.” She sniggers. “Your secretary informed you I was here, right?” I nod. “She assumed I was your girlfriend?” Asher asks. “No. She told me a friend wanted to see me.” “And you thought it was Freya? Has she dumped you again?” she asks, a sly smile crossing her red coated lips. Her emphasis on ‘again’ rubs me the wrong way. “She hasn’t. My secretary got tired of switching between girlfriend and friend.” “Poor thing,” Asher says, clucking her tongue, “she must have been tired of your dynamics with that witch.” I refrain from saying anything and she continues, “Why do you tolerate her? She has a new guy in her bed every week.” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. I’ve explained this to her so many times. “We agreed to have an open relationship.” “Why would you agree to that!?” “Come on Asher, you keep asking this.” “And you never give me an answer.” She crosses her arms. “I don’t want to get in the way of her acting career.” The lie slips through my lips with so much ease. For the longest time, I’ve had feelings for Freya. We’ve known each other since we were kids and I have always been in love with her. Freya, on the other hand, only considered me a friend so when she gave me a chance to be in a relationship, I jumped at it even with the condition that she was free to be with other guys while we were dating. All I wanted was to have her in any way I could, even if it was just a part of her. “She sleeps with guys outside her work and I’ve never seen you with any other person.” I exhale. “Asher—” “Am I lying?” “You don’t need to worry about this,” I say with a smile. She huffs before uncrossing her arms. She leans forward. The action causes her cleavage, spilling out of her dress, to be on the same level with my face. “Why don’t you sleep with other people?” I blink before my brain forms a response. “I don’t see the point.” “Really? I thought you weren’t interested in sleeping with just anyone.” As she speaks, she slides off the table. I stare at her, trying to understand what she’s doing. “I bet I can give you a much better time than she can,” she says, wriggling out of her dress. I can hear my heartbeat ringing through my ears. “We’re in my office. Anyone can walk—” “Don’t worry. I already asked your secretary not to let anyone in.” My jaw drops. “Are you insane!? Freya’s on her way.” She chuckles. “I know. I saw that hideous neon pink of her Ferrari on my way here.” “And you’re—” This time she places her pointer on my lips, shutting me up. “Relax; I’m not going to do anything. I just want Princess Freya to get a taste of her own medicine.” Her words do everything but make me relax. My heart is almost beating out of my chest by the time she lowers herself onto my laps. She pulls our faces so close to each other, our noses are touching. But just as she said, she doesn’t do anything else. Her breath tickles my skin as she starts counting down. “3.” I can hear Freya shouting outside. I assume the secretary told her she couldn’t come in. “2.” I begin to hear footsteps approaching at an alarming speed. “1.” The door bursts open and Freya barges in with my secretary hot on her heels. The sound makes me jump a little but Asher remains calm, her red coated lips twitching up at the corners. “Oh!” Is the first thing Freya says. Asher hasn’t moved so I can barely see Freya’s face. “This is what you were busy with?” I tilt my head and see Freya marching towards us but I’m not quick enough to warn Asher before she reaches and grabs a chunk of Asher’s rouge curls. Asher winces and tries to wriggle away but she tightens her hold, forcing Asher’s head backwards. “I should have known something was wrong when I saw that ugly car of yours in the parking lot. But I didn’t think you’d be bold enough to do this.” Asher claws at Freya’s hands, digging her acrylic nails into her light brown skin but Freya doesn’t budge. Instead she tugs harder at her hair and Asher yelps. I don’t know I’m already on my feet and heading toward them until Freya puts out a hand to stop me. “Freya, calm down.” She ignores me and returns her attention to Asher who is drawing blood from Freya’s skin with her nails. “Listen closely muchacha, Las is my boyfriend.” Asher grits her teeth as the tears slowly start rolling down her face. “I see you got veneers,” Freya says, pulling Asher’s head towards herself and squinting, “It must have cost a fortune. God knows how many STDs you got to make the money. It’d be a real shame if all that were to go to waste.” Freya finally lets go of Asher’s hair. She stumbles and I rush forward to steady her. “Don’t make me waste all your hardwork.” Freya’s eyes are on my hands, which are wrapped around Asher’s waist, as she speaks now. Asher moves away from me and puts on her dress before leaving. Freya glares at the door after Asher’s gone before her chestnut eyes dart back to me. “You have two minutes to convince me not to break up with you,” she says, settling on my chair. I take in a deep breath. With what I’m about to say next, I might need an entire hour to convince her.