Theo…
The only thing standing between me and everything I needed was through the doors in front of me. All I had to do was follow a few simple rules.
Rule 1: First rule of billionaire fight club was that one did not speak about doubling the billionaire to anyone.
Rule 2: Draw no attention to yourself.
Rule 3: For the next thirty days, be Derrick Arlington.
Rule 4: At no point could I ever reveal who I was.
Rule 5: See the Inline Tech acquisition through to the end.
Rule 6: Follow the script. Do not deviate.
Rule 7: Only call the SOS number in case of dire emergency.
Rule 8: Stay the hell away from the royal family.
If I could manage those few simple rules, I'd have everything I needed for my family. I'd risked so much to be here. Now was not the time to get cold feet. Everything was within my grasp.
I just had to be someone else for thirty days.
"Why did I let you talk me into this again?"
"Because I'm damned persuasive," my best friend, Kyle Winters, chuckled. He was the exemption to rules one and four. He'd been there when the whole thing started, so there was no real concealment from him. Besides, he was my right—hand guy and the only person, besides my mother, whom I trusted implicitly.
This is a bad idea. Everyone will see. Everyone will know you're an impostor.
"Your pretty—boy face got you into this trouble, so you're just going to keep doing what you're doing. Be the billionaire. Feel the billionaire. Besides, you need this. We need this. You pull this off and all our troubles are over. You can take care of your mom. And PhilanthroApp will have the funding it needs. It's just 30 days. Be the billionaire, man."
I hated that he had a point. I had a damn good reason for being there, for taking this job. "I swear to God, if you say billionaire one more time, I'll kick you in the nuts."
"Dude, I'm just saying, Derrick Arlington is literally made of fucking gold, and he's hired you as his double to do bullshit events like this. It's all about being him. Because if you don't believe it, no one else will."
Kyle had a point.
"I know. But I'm pretty sure this guy is a grade—A dick. Did you see the workout schedule he left me? Not to mention the list of shit he won't eat. It was nu—" My brain was suddenly robbed of the processing power it needed to finish my sentence. Damn thing stutter—started when my gaze landed on the woman by the bar...
She was tiny. She might have been five—two, maybe, with hair the color of midnight. And when she turned to smile at whoever it was she was talking to, I couldn't fucking breathe. It was like her mere presence alone sucked all the air out of my lungs and held them captive. All the blood in my brain headed south, and I couldn't fucking think.
Kyle snapped his fingers. "Earth to Theo. Let's grab some champagne. Mingle," he muttered as he ogled one of the bridesmaids.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. "Low profile, remember? We need to be seen but not stand out."
He rolled his eyes and headed for the bar. I didn't follow. I couldn't seem to find any brain cells to force my legs to follow him. Who the hell was she?
Like you really have time for this shit?
Somehow, it didn't matter. I mentally willed her to lift her gaze to meet mine.
Oh yeah, genius, what are you going to say? 'Nice to meet you. I'm Theo?'
Fuck.
For tonight and the rest of the month, I was Derrick Arlington, billionaire extraordinaire and one of People magazine's sexiest bachelors. For all I knew, she hated Derrick Arlington, which meant she might hate me. So any attempts to talk to her would be futile, especially if she knew him already.
Over the last several weeks, Derrick had schooled me in all things related to him. I'd learned his preferences for food, music, sports, all of it. All so I could take over as him for a few weeks.
It felt like a life sentence, but a few weeks and I'd be free. And then I could go back to my life, my family, and the things I needed to get done.
Kyle came back with champagne. "Okay, who has put that look on your face? Tell me it's the hot blonde, because if she turns you down, maybe I'd get spill over."
I swallowed hard. "No, not her."
Kyle groaned. "Dude, I don't think you understand how this double thing is supposed to work. You're supposed to enjoy it. Have fun while you work if you get what I'm saying…"
I had to chuckle as I sipped my champagne. "Yeah, I get it. And I don't think you understand who I am. I'm going to user my doppelgänger powers for good. This is a job, not an excuse to go stupid buck wild and get some ass. Besides, rule two of billionaire fight club is don't draw attention."
"I know. But I mean, if we're here anyway, you might as well get some ass and have some fun in the process."
Ever since Derrick had approached me back in New York, Kyle had been like a kid in a damn candy store, completely all—in on this my best friend is a double thing.
The whole idea was ridiculous to me. The idea that there were people so rich in the world that they could hire other people to be them for an indefinite amount of time...
Right now, you are one of them.
Six months ago, the real Derrick Arlington had walked into my office with a proposition. He'd found me because of my work with Kyle on the PhilanthroApp, our platform for charitable giving. I first thought it was a joke Kyle had cooked up. He looked exactly like me, minus the beard and attitude. If I was being honest, I'd thought he was someone crazy until Kyle looked him up. He wasn't crazy.
He'd had an offer for me. Just not the one I expected.
One month of being him.
To pull that off, I'd had to learn everything about him. I'd get all—expense—paid travel to the Winston Isles, an expense account, and two million dollars just to be him for thirty fucking days.
I had said no, of course. Because that shit had seemed insane. Who the fuck said yes to a proposition like that? Give up my life for his?
But then Kyle had reminded me that the stakes were too high to say no.
I had an offer I really couldn't afford to refuse. So there I was at a wedding for an earl and a princess, like I fucking belonged there.
"Listen, Theo, you just need to relax. Try and have some fun."
"Yeah, I hear you." My gaze drifted back to the brunette and stayed. Again, I willed her to look at me, but instead, her gaze skittered to the right. Then she saw something in the crowd. Something that made her turn around. Something that scared her, or maybe she wanted to avoid someone, because she turned quickly, her hair flying over her shoulder as she shoved her way through the revelers.
My chest squeezed. Was she leaving? Something primal in me wanted to find her and drag her back. I found her through the crowd again, and luckily, she wasn't leaving. Instead, she was hiding behind— Wait, seriously? Was she hiding behind the pillar?
Next to me, Kyle laughed. "Oh, I see her. Oh yeah, she's cute. Definitely way out of your league."
"Shut up." I muttered.
"She may be out of Theo Coleman's reach, but she's definitely in Derrick Arlington's league."
"How many times do I have to tell you we're going to get through this making as few ripples as possible? Hooking up with someone random equals a giant ripple. Besides, what? I'm going to stand by and let her call somebody else's name during sex? That's not going to work out."
Kyle was silent for a moment. "Yeah, you have a point there. But I mean, you could go seriously method with this whole acting thing."
I shook my head, because with Kyle, that's usually what I did. But I also wanted to shake the image of the brunette stepping between the pillars.
As long as I was pretending to be Derrick Arlington, my life wasn't mine. So I might as well not even go there. Besides, it was only thirty days. Thirty days to do the job and get out. Thirty days to get my soul back.
