Chapter-34 *The Deal* ✔

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*Jessica's P.O.V*

It was so difficult to spend my time in college. I was waiting desperately to meet Max as soon as it was over. When I met Nina this morning, she was very upset because of her so-called boyfriend. He cancelled their special date at the last moment because of some urgent work. Urgent work, my foot! He must be busy partying or drugging himself.

Dammit! How could he do this to her?

I felt so bad for Nina. Although, it was her mistake, too. He had wrapped her around his little finger and she willingly did everything he wanted her to do. She was so excited for this date as they didn't get any alone time yesterday on her birthday, so they were going out today to celebrate. Then, he cancelled their plans via text message. He didn't even apologize to her over the phone. Just the simple text:

Got some urgent work. Have to cancel the date. Ttyl

She tried calling him, but it went straight to his voicemail. Asshole! It was difficult for me to control my anger, so I decided to leave her alone. I thought about skipping my first class to find Max, and, when I finally showed up, he wasn't there. I tried calling him and sent him several texts, but he didn't reply. He had an irritating tendency to avoid calls and texts, but finally during lunch, my phone vibrated. I sighed and took a breath of relief. It was a text from him:

Don't worry, Date is on ;)

I rolled my eyes reading it, but I didn't reply. I knew it was useless to argue with him about its not being a date. When the final bell rang, I rushed out of the class and ran towards the parking lot. Suddenly, I bumped into a hard chest, but before I could fall backwards, someone grabbed my waist pulling me towards him. My heartbeat accelerated and I was breathing heavily, placing my hand over my chest. Then, I lifted my head and found a pair of grey eyes smiling at me.

He removed one of his hands from my waist and pinched my nose, "Careful, my lady." His other hand remained on my waist, holding us together.

I laughed and playfully punched his chest. "As you say, Sir Travis," I replied and we both burst out in laughter.

He released me and cocked his eyebrow, "Why were you running so fast? You could have gotten hurt."

"But you caught me on time. Thanks." I smiled and avoided his question.

"No worries! It's my pleasure to help a beautiful girl like you." He winked.

Before I could say anything, I felt a hand slipping around my waist. I turned my face and saw Max glaring at Travis. He harshly pulled me towards him and said, "It's getting late. Let's go."

"Yeah, I was just-" I couldn't complete my sentence before he started dragging me with him, towards his car. I turned around and shot an apologetic smile towards Travis. He nodded and waved his hand. I felt bad for leaving him like this, and I would have stopped right here if it wasn't for Nina. I needed Max's help, so I had to tolerate his non-tolerant behaviour.

Jerk!

When we reached the car, he jumped into the driver seat, leaving me behind him. When I didn't move, he rolled down the window and shouted, "What? Get inside the damn car."

I flinched from the anger in his voice. What was wrong with him? Just because I need his help, doesn't mean he could treat me like this. I won't accept his shit, whatever the matter is.

I scoffed and sat in the car. "What was that?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked and started the car.

"Max, don't act innocent. Just tell me what the hell was that?" I hissed.

He turned his face and looked at me. His eyes were burning from the anger. "As if you don't know. Plus, you are the one who is acting, not me." He scoffed.

I furrowed my eyebrows. What he was talking about?

Damn! It's really hard to figure out this guy and people said women are complicated. It's hard to understand us. But in reality, guys are just as confusing and non-predictable asses.

"Max, I'm not getting anything."

"I was waiting for you here, and you were busy chit chatting with that British guy. Listen, it was you," he said, pointing a finger towards me and added, "Who wanted to talk. I didn't invite you, okay? That's why I had to drag you away! I don't have a whole fucking day to waste on you!" he spat out through gritted teeth.

I blinked. Hurt wasn't a strong enough word to describe what I was feeling right now. His words hit like a sharp knife. I shouldn't have asked for his help.

I was so stupid.

"I'm sorry," I muttered and looked away. Although, I didn't know if I was sorry or not. And what was I supposed to be sorry for? Chit chatting with Travis wasn't a crime, so why had I apologized? Maybe I wanted him to calm down, or maybe I didn't want to argue with him, or maybe I was too hurt to say anything. I sighed and looked out the window to distract myself from these thoughts.

After a few minutes, he stopped the car and jumped outside, leaving me again without uttering a word.

This is going to be so hard.

I took a breath and followed him outside. There was a small park, which seemed almost empty.

"Park?" The word slipped from my mouth before I could control it. I didn't expect him to take me out to some fancy restaurant, but the park was unexpected; although, I didn't think about it at the time because things between us were so awkward.

"Yeah, did you actually consider this as an actual date?" He cocked his eyebrow.

I shook my head, "Of course not."

He shrugged and walked inside, gesturing for me to follow him. He sat on one of the benches and turned his face towards me, giving me a questioning look. He didn't even ask me to join him.

I rolled my eyes and sat beside him. "Do you have a personality disorder?" I asked, getting irritated by his jerky behavior.

"What?"

"Nothing, let's get to the point. I want your help. It's about Nina. I just can't see her suffering like this. Actually it's about her-"

Max interrupted me, "her asshole boyfriend."

"You know?" My eyes widened.

He rolled his eyes, "Everyone except your stupid friend knows about him. I'm surprised, you found out pretty quickly."

"She is not stupid." I tried to defend her, but then Max looked at me and lifted his eyebrow.

"She's just blindly in love with him," I said softly.

He stared at me for a few seconds, then asked, "What you want from me?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Can you help me to show her Jake's real face?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Max, she needs our help. We need to do something!" I said, my voice rising towards the end.

"Correction, you need to do something because she's your friend, not mine," he shrugged casually.

I stared at him. I couldn't believe this. How could he become so insensitive? And why was he giving me the cold shoulder? Everything was great, till last night. What changed today?

'This guy has some major mental problems', I thought furiously.

"Fine, she is my friend, not yours. Just tell me, will you help me or not?" I asked, getting up from the bench to stand in front of him.

He must have picked up on the hint of anger in my voice because he grabbed my hand and stood beside me, "I will, but what would I get in return? You know nothing is free in this precious world."

I flinched from his words. I felt like I was talking to a stranger. This wasn't the same Max whom I spent the night with at the beach. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. It was unexpected for him to act this way, but it was my fault. I shouldn't have any expectations from a bad boy.

I'd heard the saying "Expectations Always Hurt," and now life was proving that fact.

I looked in his blue eyes as they stared back at me. "What you want in return?" I whispered.

"What will you give me?" He asked and winked.

My blood started boiling, but I didn't show any sign of it. I had to know what he wanted. Then suddenly, I started feeling nervous. What if he asked for something that was out of my limits? He won't ask me to do it with him. No, he wouldn't dare. At least, not if he wanted to protect his balls, because I wouldn't hesitate to kick him there if he uttered anything about it.

"What do you want Max? Just spit it out!"

"You." The words rolled down from his mouth, so smoothly.

"What?" I shouted from the shock. My mouth hung open.

"I want you to be my girlfriend," he said looking directly in my eyes.

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" he asked seriously and crossed his arms.

I waited for few seconds thinking he would burst out laughing saying it was all a joke, but he didn't. Nothing happened. Five minutes passed, and we were still in the same position staring at each other.

"Are we done staring?" Max said, breaking the silence.

"What's the catch?" I asked bluntly, which caught him off guard. It was clear in his eyes that he wasn't expecting this from me. Obviously, he was expecting a bit more drama, but I know him better. There must be something he was trying to hide from me, and I would find out very soon.

"Um, what you mean?" he stuttered avoiding my gaze.

"Why do you want me to be your girlfriend? I want to know the truth."

"There is nothing else."

"Cut the crap, Max. You are clearly hiding something. Why would you want this when you don't even like me in that way?" I stated, throwing my hands in the air.

He gulped down and I noticed rare emotion seep into his deep blue eyes. He turned around, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I have an offer for you, Jessica Kapoor. I will help you in any way you want, but in return, you have to become my girlfriend. A fake girlfriend, I should say, as we both don't like each other in that way, so 'fake' would be the correct way to define it," he said in a business-like manner.

I blinked twice, processing everything he said. A fake girlfriend? But why? And what does that even mean?

"Fake girlfriend means you have to pretend that you are deeply in love with me in front of the whole world. Of course, in private you don't need to," he explained, reading my thoughts.

"And why?" I questioned, still in state of shock.

"You will get to know about it very soon. I am giving you 24 hours to think it over. We will discuss more about it tomorrow, same time, same place. Don't be late." He smirked confidently.

"No, I'm giving you my answer right now. And it's no." I said through gritted teeth.

He gave me a half-hearted chuckle. "You don't have any choice, Jazz. See you tomorrow. I know you will come." He winked and walked away, leaving me completely shocked.

Then I realized something, he called me Jazz. Not just today, he always called me Jazz, and I never felt the need to stop him.

But how did he know about my nick name?

I shook my head. I couldn't accept his offer. It would make my life more complicated, but against my will, his words start ringing in my head.

Do I have any choice?

*****

I kept tossing in my bed, but couldn't sleep. I checked the time on the nightstand: 2 am. I groaned and cursed Max for my lack of sleep. I turned around and grabbed my phone only to find a text he had sent almost an hour ago:

Stop thinking about me, I am getting hiccups. See you at the park. ;)

What the hell?

Shaking my head in disbelief, I pushed my thoughts away and started reading one of my favorite books, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari." Soon, my eyelids started getting heavy, and I dozed off to sleep.

*****

The next day, I was walking towards my class when I heard a weird sound. I stopped and turned around. I realized the noise was coming from the empty class next to me. I followed the voices and was about to open the door, when suddenly someone grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him.

"What the hell-" I was cut off as Max put his hand over my mouth to stop me saying anything further.

"Are you mad? What were you trying to do?" Max questioned in a hushed tone.

"Mmhhh." I tried to explain with my mouth still covered. Then I got a brilliant idea, and I licked his hand. He immediately jerked away and removed his hand.

"Ew, what the hell!" he said making a face and wiping his hand on his shirt.

"Well, you asked for it," I shrugged. "Why did you stop me from going inside?"

"Why did you want to go inside?" he questioned.

"I heard some strange noises."

He stared at me for a few seconds then started laughing quietly. "Weird noises? Seriously? Listen properly, those aren't weird noises." He smirked.

I gave him a confused look and stared at the classroom. Then I listened carefully and realized. "Uh oh," I muttered getting embarrassed. Some horny couple must be making out inside.

He chuckled and pinched my cheeks, "You look cute when embarrassed. Like a tomato."

"Tomato?" I scoffed.

"Yeah, and I love tomato." He winked and my mouth hung open. "Close your mouth dear, you'll catch flies," he said and gave me a last smile before walking away.

I stood there speechless for few more minutes, and, when I heard the footsteps coming closer from the classroom, I turned towards my class, but heard some laughter and a girl saying, "That was awesome babe. I'll see you tonight."

I rolled my eyes, and continued to class, only to stop dead in my tracks. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was pissed . . . and I was hurt too. I immediately made my decision about Max's offer. I knew what I had to do.

*****

I had been waiting for him from half an hour and there was still no sign of him. I was getting impatient. He was the one who told me to be here now, and God knows where he was. I was about to leave when I heard his voice from behind me.

"I didn't know you would be that impatient to accept my offer." Max came into view and smirked.

"You have wasted half an hour of my time. Now, you only have ten minutes to finish convincing me. Tell me everything about the offer. I am interested."

He cocked his eyebrow and stared at me, "I always knew you were interested in me, but you just realized it now." He smirked again.

I glared at him, and wanted to wipe the stupid smirk from his face. I took a deep breath and said, "I am already pissed, Max. So please, get straight to the point."

His expression softened. "What happened?"

I blinked twice and stared at him. I didn't know how, but whenever I was in bad mood, Max knew about it by himself. We had a weird type of connection.

"Jazz?" Max's deep voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

My heart melted, and I suddenly felt better realizing how much he cared for me. I sighed, "When you stopped me from going in that classroom," I paused and bit my lip to see if he was following. When he gave me a nod, I continued, "It was Jake and some bimbo in that room . . ." I trailed off, swallowing hard. I couldn't complete my statement because I was so upset for Nina. She was in love with a bastard, and I need to show his real face to her.

I needed to save her.

Max took a step forward and gave me a tight hug. I was surprised by his sudden concern. I was confused whether I should hug him back or not, and, when I was about to lift my hands, he broke the embrace. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and said, "Don't worry, we will show her his real face."

He said we? He was only agreeing to help her because I had accepted his offer. Jerk!

I wanted to scream at him, but I controlled myself and asked the reason behind his offer. "Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you want me to pose as your fake girlfriend?"

He stared at me for few minutes, then said, "I have my own reasons, and I'll share them with you soon." He looked away.

"Okay, but why me? You can get any girl. I mean I know all about your one-night stands. Why didn't you just choose someone from that list?" I asked making a disgusted face, remembering the moment when I saw him sulking face of a random girl.

"You know I don't date. If I asked one of those girls, I would only be raising their expectations in the future. I don't want to give them a false hope. I never did. Everyone knows my rules, so if they still want to entertain me it's completely their choice."

I flinched from the bitterness in his voice, but, in some twisted way, he was right. It wasn't completely his fault if some girl wanted to throw herself upon him. Being a boy, he would obviously take advantage of such a situation.

"And about you," I heard him continue. "You are different. I know you won't fall for me, so this plan is safe with you," he shrugged and gave me a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

I processed his words and nodded, dumbfounded. Of course, it was the perfect plan, since I wouldn't fall for him, right? But then why I was getting this anxious feeling that I shouldn't accept this offer? There was something wrong, but there was no backing out now. I had to do this for Nina. For the girl who had helped me so much. Now was the time to repay her.

Yes! That's it.

Please, God help me!

******

Sooooooooo, the major twist is here....and the turning point of the story!!!!!!!!

Now, things will be totally different after all they are couple now, oops I mean fake couple but who cares, right?

Did you expected this twist?

Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Please vote and comment.

Precap:- Dinner date :P

Happy Reading!!!!

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