Woah.
This place is huge. Huge, and really nice. Everything in here practically screams rich.
What have I gotten myself into?
It's so open in here, so airy. Tons of windows all over the place. Right when you walk in, there's a big living room to your left, with a big black sectional couch, chairs to match it, a glass table in the middle, and a giant flat screen on the wall. Past that are rooms and hallways.
To the right is a huge kitchen with a big black marble island in the middle and white barstools. Everything in the kitchen looks new. Like it has never even been used before.
And through a big doorway is a beautifully elegant dining room with a long table in the middle and a fancy light fixture above it. In front of me is an incredible staircase.
A crystal chandelier hangs over us and there's a big black rug lying over the hardwood floors. I have never felt more out of place in my life. I feel like I can't even breathe in here.
"Pick your jaw off the floor, love, you look like you're having an orgasm and I haven't even touched you," Asher's hot breath hits my neck as he whispers into my ear.
"I hate you," I say back, still distracted by his house. He lets out a low chuckle from behind me.
Out of nowhere, a man talking into a phone walks out of one of the long hallways in this place. He's tall, with short brown hair, and he's wearing purple slacks and a white button-up shirt tucked into it.
"I don't care just do i-" he stops as he sees us. "Whatever, listen I'm going to have to call you back. Just get it done," he growls into the phone.
Asher takes a step forward and slightly in front of me as the man hangs up his phone.
"Where have you been? And who's this?" He looks me up and down and I instinctively step a little further behind Asher.
"This is her," Asher grits his teeth. Asher looks really tense, angry even.
"This is her?" The man says in a shocked tone as his finger points at me. Asher nods.
The man's eyes meet mine. They look to be a dark and menacing shade of blue. A shiver shoots down my spine.
"Let's talk in my office." He turns and starts walking. I look up at Asher but he doesn't look back, he just follows. So, I do too.
We pass a couple of rooms until we're led into one in particular. It's a large room, like everything else in this house. It has a color scheme of dark green.
There are two bookshelves lining the walls and a brown desk in the middle of the room, one chair behind it and two chairs in front of it.
I slowly walk in, nerves lining my stomach, as the man closes the door behind me.
"Alright," he says, standing behind the desk and putting his hands on it. "What did she say?"
Asher's jaw ticks as he lowers his head a little. "Matt, we need to discuss the payment. I mean, it's just not that simple," he chuckles saltily. Matt sighs, rolling his sleeves up. "Fine, fine."
"Wait, shouldn't we introduce ourselves first," Asher suggests, crossing his arms.
The man looks at Asher through hooded eyes. "Fine. Hello, my name is Matthew Hale. I'm Asher's manager." He holds his hand out and I slowly take it. He smells like cigarettes.
"Hey, I'm Allie," I say uncomfortably. Asher smiles praisingly over at me a little, just barely enough for me to see.
"Great, now," he takes a seat, "shall we discuss?" He gestures for us to take a seat and only after Asher does, do I. "I'm sure Asher's already discussed the issue at hand," Matt says.
After a second, he looks at me like he's waiting for me to say something. "Oh, yes. Yes, he did," I say awkwardly, my cheeks heating up.
He smiles tightly. "Great, and have you made a decision?"
I open and close my mouth, hoping something will eventually come out as I look to Asher for help, but nothing does. I barely even know what's happening, to be honest. "She's not sure yet, Matt," he answers for me.
Matt puts his eyes back on me. "Oh, okay, so you want to know how much we're willing to offer."
"That's not-"
He shakes his hand like he's trying to shoo away whatever I'm about to say. "Don't worry, it's fine. I expected this."
Matt takes a piece of paper out of the drawer, writes something on it, folds it up, and then hands it to me. "If that's not enough just say the word and we'll go up."
I look up at him like he's crazy. All of this is crazy.
Matt gestures to the piece of paper and I realize he's been waiting for me to open it. I flip it open slowly and nearly faint when I do. My jaw drops as my eyes scan over the numbers.
This is enough to get me out. Out of that shithole I live in, out of this life. Into college, into a house. Fuck, this is a lot of money.
"That would be monthly, of course," Matt says. I look up at him, still in disbelief. "And we will obviously help you with the expenses going towards outfits for the events you'll attend with Asher."
I glance between them, trying to comprehend all of this. All the words he just said, did he just say monthly?
Breathe Allie, breathe.
"Allie?" Asher's voice snaps me back to the room I'm sitting in. He takes one look at my face and turns back to Matt. "She needs some time to think it through," he quips.
Matt looks coldly at Asher. "Right, well, that's fine. But, it needs to be decided by tonight. You two could go upstairs, talk it over, and then come down and give me your answer. Sound alright?" He looks at me and smiles but it doesn't fully reach his eyes.
Asher nods and stands up, so I mimic him. "Fine," Asher mutters.
"Great, have fun," Matt ushers us out and closes the door behind us, leaving us in the hallway in silence.
"C'mon, follow me," Asher mumbles, turning to start walking. I follow close behind him but look in all directions as we walk through his house. He walks up the stairs where there's another living room at the top.
Fucking rich kid.
Then, he leads us down another hallway, until he comes to a room at the end of the hallway. His room, I presume.
He pushes the door open and strolls right in. I, however, gawk in amazement as I stand and look around his room. It's really big, there's tons of space.
There is a big bed with black sheets that are undone. They look so soft. And against the wall is a desk with barely anything on top of it.
There are records hanging up on his wall along with guitars too. A black leather couch is against the wall and beside it a walk-in closet. And on the other side of the room, there's a bathroom. A huge TV hung against the wall, also.
Lord, I hate him.
It's simple. And it's basic. And I don't care. I love it. It's such a contrast to my small room with a slanted ceiling, my light blue walls and colorful string lights hung up.
But, I love it. I absolutely adore it.
I look over to see Asher opening a window. I pause before walking in a little more. "Okay," he mumbles, "we can talk out here."
I look at him for a second before I start chuckling nervously. "Out there? As in, on your roof?"
A smirk appears on his lips. "What? Are you scared of heights or something?"
"Well, no, but I-"
"Then come on," he grins.
I look around. Is this even real, or am I having a totally weird, off-brand nightmare. I'm standing here, in Asher Loving's room, and I'm considering climbing onto a roof with him. Yep, I've gone crazy.
I look into his eyes from across the room and something tells me to go with him. Something's pulling me towards going with him and I don't know what.
"I don't have all night for you to stand there and check me out, you know."
I snap my head up and furrow my eyebrows. "I was not checking you out," I grit out.
He holds his hands up in surrender and snickers. "Geez, sorry. You coming or what?"
"Depends, are you going to get me out there and push me off or something?"
He chuckles, looking off and running his tongue over his bottom lip. "Yep. You got me. I'm going to kill you," he says sarcastically and smiles slyly.
I look down for a second, thinking how far gone my mind must be. I sigh and begin walking towards the window. He grins and holds his hand out to help me. I take it and pull myself up. His hands are really warm.
I almost feel like I'm about to slip, and I let out a scream. But, almost immediately, I feel Asher's arm slip around my waist, holding me tightly in place.
He lets out a laugh that I feel in his chest pressed against me. "You're fine," he gets out between laughter. "You are so dramatic, my word."
I glare at him and pull away from his grasp. My eyes shift to the scene in front of me instead and, woah.
We are so high up and the air is so crisp from up here. I feel like I can't catch my breath. He takes a couple of steps before sitting down on a flat-ish spot. I sit beside him, my hands clammy from the nerves in my veins.
It's quiet for a minute. He's laying back with his hands behind his head and I'm sitting up, looking at the sunset.
"So," he breaks the silence. "What are you gonna do?"
The breeze in the air sends a chill down my spine as his words linger in the air. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" I chuckle, but inside I know I'm completely and utterly screwed.
He looks up at the sky. "That's bullshit. You always have a choice."
I look down and fidget with my fingers. "I don't know about that. If I don't do this then you'll lose your reputation and I'll lose mine, worse than I've already lost it," I say quietly.
He sits up beside me. "No one's making you do anything you don't want to do." He looks over to me, his messy hair softly blowing and his eyes look golden in the light. He looks so pure. So honest.
"Yeah, well I'm kinda too deep in now to back out." It's quiet for a moment, with only the sound of my heart beating to be heard.
"Okay and, just so I'm clear, what's going on with you and Jones? You know, so I know how to handle the situation," he says abruptly, completely catching me off guard.
"He.. cheated on me. Didn't end well, that's all." It is in fact, not all. But that's all he needs to know.
"I don't believe that that's all, but I'll take it for now. You can tell me the rest when we're a couple." He smirks.
I look over at him through hooded eyes, but all he does is grin at me. I want to wipe that stupid grin right off his face. His pretty, charming face.
He's good at reading people, I'll give him that. But I don't like people who can read others well. It's too powerful a skill to have.
"Decisions, decisions," he hums from beside me, leaning back down. I look away from him.
You're going to regret this big time, Allie.
Yeah, I know, I know. But, I never take risks.
"Okay," I say, but it comes out in more of an unsure whisper.
"What?" He sits up hopefully. I meet his eyes. Shit.
"Okay, let's do it."
His eyes light up. "Really?" He smiles brightly. His dimples are shown and his eyes crinkle.
"Yes," I say. No backing out now. "But," I stop him from getting too excited. "We need to set some ground rules. You know, talk about how this is going to work. How our little "relationship" is going to work."
He nods and turns completely towards me, running his long fingers through his thick hair. "Alright, that's fair. What are your requirements?"
I turn towards him and pull down my hair, readjusting my ponytail. I feel like his eyes are on me, but I can't focus on that. Shake it away, Allie.
"Okay, well first of all, just because this isn't real doesn't mean you can go off with other girls. And that goes for me too with guys. So, no cheating."
He nods in agreement. "Yeah, that makes sense."
Good, he agreed easily. I was worried this would be a bit of an issue for him.
"Okay, your turn," I say.
He thinks for a second before he starts smirking. "Well, we're probably going to have to kiss in public and stuff, so people don't get suspicious."
I feel my stomach lurch with nerves. But, and I really hate to admit this, he's probably right. Real couples kiss. And this needs to look real, doesn't it?
I tilt my head at him. "That's.. true," I say grumpily. He smiles annoyingly, almost triumphantly, at me.
"And, it probably won't look real if we only kiss in public. It'll look awkward and unnatural. We might need to... practice."
"Okay, now you're pushing it," I laugh nervously.
He laughs softly. "I know it sounds crazy, but just think about it for a minute. It's not totally insane," he says.
The thought alone makes me almost want to jump and end it all right now. But, again, he's right. We'll look unnatural if our first kiss ever is in front of people.
I cross my arms across my chest. "Fine, but we're not going to just do this right off the bat. Give me a while to get to know you. You can kiss me on the cheek or something until then."
He smiles to himself and looks down. "Okay, fair." I see a hint of blush on his cheeks. Am I crazy? How the fuck is he blushing? He's literally a world-famous singer.
It's quiet for a minute. "You'll also need to come with me to events and stuff like Matt mentioned," he says quietly.
"Right, that's fine."
"And we tell no one about this. Not our parents, not our friends, no one."
"Agreed," I reply. "And no matter what, we don't fall for each other. This is purely fake," I say.
"Yeah, definitely," he says quietly.
I look over in his direction. "Alright, it's all settled then. We're really doing this," I say unsurely, finding it a bit hard to meet his amber eyes.
"Yep." He holds out his hand. "Deal?" I look at it for a second.
I could back out now. No one would know. I could just get out of this and everything would go back to normal.
But, I'm not going to. Of course, I'm not going to. I take his hand before I can talk myself out of it and I shake it.
"Deal."