How to Fake a Love Story

14: Of Confessions

Ryan paled.

In his mind he had exactly thirty seconds to live depending on how fast he could run and how good of a distraction he could create on the spur of the moment.

The taller blonde girl beside Myra who had called out to Jared brushed past and hugged him tightly before holding him at arms length, looking him over. "Look at you! Such a man!" She turned to look at Ryan and skipped behind him, slipping her arms around his waist. "And look at your beau! Such a hottie!" she gushed.

He jumped slightly, but was used to the invasive touch of women and-

A hand ghosted over his crotch.

"Seems to be well-endowed too."

Jared hissed at her. "Cynthia Johnson..."

Cynthia threw her head back in laughter, pulling away from Ryan-who wasn't sure who he should be taking cover from in this situation. A self-proven pervert, his s*x-offender ex-boyfriend, or the lunatic clearly intent on killing him?

"But really, Jared, where have you been hiding? It's been a while," she chided playfully, hands on her hips. "And, of course, you remember Myra, don't you?" Cynthia winked-like there was a secret joke between them.

Ryan took note that Jared knew Myra as they exchanged greetings and pleasantries.

It seemed like the world was against him.

"She just arrived in Rosewood a little while ago for-what was it again?" Cynthia questioned, turning to Myra.

Myra smiled politely. "Business matters."

Business matters involving the tarring and feathering of one Ryan Grayson.

He shuddered.

Myra then stepped towards Ryan, holding her hand out.

Ryan managed to suppress the urge to cower in fear.

"Myra Richards. Cynthia's told me a lot about you already... even if Jared hasn't," she added good-naturedly with a sideways glance at Jared.

Sweet heaven almighty; Myra was actually being decent.

"It's nice to meet you..."

"Ryan Grayson," Jared supplied, rolling his eyes-seemingly eager to get over with this reunion and continue harassing Ryan if the tapping foot was any indication.

Ryan hesitated, feeling the aura of killing intent positively radiate off Myra's proffered hand. Something told him that hand was laced with acid just for him. His over-active imagination saw several images of his hand shrivelling up on contact.

The red dress she wore-which was much more low-cut than usual for her taste-was sleeveless and, other than her ability to maybe break every bone in his hand, held no possibility of discreetly hiding a knife or other weapon of some sort to cause him bodily harm.

He took her hand warily and shook it once firmly before letting go. "It's... very nice to meet you too... Myra."

The smile on her face reminded him of the days he was dating Myra-when she held little to no homicidal feelings towards him.

It wasn't a scowl.

It wasn't a frown.

It was a smile. And not the evil kind.

It was weird.

And then the thought occurred to him that maybe she was just luring him into a sense of false security. Myra was the type to do that sort of thing-and she was horribly good at it too.

"Anyway," Jared continued. "We'll see you girls inside. Ryan and I... have some things to discuss. We'll chat later."

Cynthia looked from Jared to Ryan and back again. Her lips split into a knowing grin. "Ah, I see. Come, Myra," she bid royally, "let's leave these lovers alone to deal with their... delicate situations."

Myra smiled, taking Cynthia's arm and gave a slight curtsey to them both. "It was nice to see you again, Jared, I hope we can get some time to chat-" She looked his way. "-later."

No, the look of pure unadulterated evil shot his way was not just Ryan's imagination.

He watched them both-well, mostly Myra-warily as they walked up the rest of the red carpet and disappeared into the building and out of sight through the glass doors.

"-listening to me?" He snapped his attention back to Jared who looked desperate and willing to do just about anything to salvage their capsizing relationship.

Folding his arms stubbornly, Ryan looked away. "No is no." he stated bluntly, turning to head inside the hotel, leaving Jared to sigh heavily and follow after him.



"Why him?" Ryan hissed discreetly. Taking a sip from the red wine that was bountiful from server to server in fluted wine glasses, he gauged the length of Jared's speech, where it was at, and guessed he had another good four minutes on his own with Cierra.

The room was decorated expensively but Ryan was too upset to pay attention to it. They stood as far as they could from the stage without looking out of place. Everyone's attention was focused on the stage.

Chen, the CEO of the biggest Chinese business group, was celebrating her birthday. She was merely 15 years old and Ryan spotted the Vice- President, Li Xingke, who was a 35 year old man, standing in the wings.

Aaron too, stood in the wings, prepared to give his congratulations to the youngest CEO in history on behalf of Thomas Hamilton of the Hamilton Group-who was thankfully not here. Again. Once again, thankfully.

"Why him?" He repeated. She could have picked anyone but she picked Aaron.

Cierra giggled. "Because he's cute, available, and, believe it or not, we found each other arguing over the merits of provolone compared to Swiss." She winked.

Ryan deadpanned, "I'm very happy for you. When did this happen and why didn't you tell me?" he questioned in a more urgent tone.

Another drink of wine.

"That's enough for you, young man." Cierra confiscated the only glass of wine he had tonight from his hands, draining the rest of the contents.

Ryan opened his mouth to-

"We don't want any more accidents do we?"

-shut it instantly.

Horrible suppressed images fluttered back through his mind.

Folding his arms frustratedly, Ryan turned his eyes back on the stage where Aaron was now present. "At any rate, I don't like you being so involved this time. Especially not with him."

Cierra glared at him, pulling off another glass of wine from a wandering server and draining half with a displeased scowl on her face. "And why is that? You're not my father."

While Cierra didn't adhere to anyone's wishes-least of all his-she would acquiesce them every once in a while if he made a good enough argument.

Or if she just couldn't stand the whining any more.

"Because..." He paused.

Cierra folded her arms expectantly.

Ryan looked away from her. "Because he's not good enough for you."

He was sure that she wouldn't fall for his petty tricks but he didn't want her anywhere near Aaron.

He didn't have a problem initially but after Cierra informed him who Aaron was representing, he changed his mind.

It would be best for everyone involved if he stayed far, far away from anything related to Thomas Hamilton.

Cierra's eyebrows shot up in surprise before lowering. A warm smile replaced her scowl of disapproval. Snaking an arm up his chest and around his neck, Cierra kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Alright then, I'll listen, Nancy." She winked.

Before Ryan could even think about what bought upon the sudden change in attitude, arms seized his middle possessively and pulled him up against a broad frame and away from Cierra.

Cierra laughed and her shoulders shook. Flipping her hair casually, she placed the unfinished glass of wine back in Ryan's hand.

"Looks like I'm being hated. I'll see you later, Ryan." Cierra winked again, more suggestively, and slipped away.

A kiss was placed against Ryan's cheek, right where Cierra had kissed him earlier. Ryan shuddered slightly and his mind blanched. It was creepy how familiar his touch was getting to be-still disgusting, but recognisable enough for him to recognise who it was.

It didn't stop his chastity-preservation instincts from kicking in as he struggled.

Jared tightened his grip. "Don't leave me. Not for her. Don't think I didn't see you two from the front-hiding all the way in the back here."

The anxious tone in his voice made Ryan feel a type of guilt he wasn't really accustomed to. Part of it was that this would be the first time he left a job halfway done. The other part of it was that he was accused of leaving the job for completely unrelated reasons.

A third part was all the money he was leaving behind.

He was a con-man afterall.

Usually, Cierra went unnoticed. The girls never knew who she was and he never enlightened them of her presence. So Jared catching her and assuming that she was the other 'person,' since he was gay, thinking Ryan was gay-which he wasn't-never crossed his mind as a red flag to avoid.

But maybe Jared thinking this wasn't such a bad thing. Technically, he was leaving the country with her to head back home.

"Have... you two met?"

Of course, he knew that Cierra met Jared.

Jared nodded-Ryan could feel it on his shoulder. "I've been to your house twice and she was there both times. Speaking of which..." Jared reached for the wine glass and drained it. "None of that for you."

Ryan scowled but made no protest.

Clearly, he wasn't allowed wine.

"Jared, we aren't-"

"I love you," Jared whispered hotly into his ear.

A trump card.

Get Out of Breaking Relationship Free Card.

"That..." Ryan looked around for an escape. Cierra was a little ways over, watching quietly before sliding her gaze back up on the stage where Aaron was still delivering a speech on behalf of certain individuals with less social inhibitors than the average person. Everyone else had their attentions also transfixed up on the stage.

He had to escape. "...doesn't-"

Jared spun him around in his arms and held his eyes. "Don't say my love doesn't matter, Ryan!"

Ryan's eyes widened. He had heard that before-from someone else; from someone very important to him; from someone just before he le-

Don't say my love doesn't matter, Ryan!

Unshed tears filled his eyes. "I-"

The memories he had long suppressed came rushing out. It filled him with a kind of longing. He never realised how much he missed it. Despite whatever happened, he still missed-

"Ryan, are you-"

"I'm fine," he stated, cutting Jared off. "I just..." He shut the Pandora Box that had burst open with Jared's words. "It's nothing."

It was funny how much this particular mission was taking its toll on him. On the other ones, he had barely been fazed. He smiled and charmed his way through everything but this particular con was turning out to be his worst one yet.

It was making him reconsider everything.

And Ryan didn't want to think deeply about what he was doing. Because he knew that she would never approve of it.

Then he saw the handkerchief Jared was holding dab at his face.

Ryan blinked and realized something.

"You're crying," Jared stated simply. "Tell me why you want to break up, Ryan. 'Just because' isn't a good enough reason for me."

Ryan sighed. "I just-"

"Hey, Jared."

Liquid fear filled Ryan's veins.

Jared tore away from him reluctantly to see Myra. "What's up, Myra?"

Turning to look at her, Ryan recognized the sharp glint of mal-intent sparkling in her eyes.

"Can I talk to you?"

Ryan turned away. "In that case, I'll-"

"Both of you?"

A red timer in Ryan's head turned on like the countdown for those bombs in movies; it flashed 'You have exactly fifteen minutes to live' in a red, threatening glow. Just like in the movies he was also given a choice: Red or blue?

Unlike in the movies, though, both options would probably detonate the bomb anyway.