Aaron was both surprised and grateful that Keeley actually agreed to have him take her home. Any extra time with her was a blessing.

He had noticed she didn't want to be there from the very beginning. Once she had her fill of cake, she was more than ready to leave but he would have thought her hatred toward him would have trumped her desire to escape. It was better than nothing.

The inside of the car was so silent that you could hear all of the other cars on the freeway with perfect clarity. It was obvious she didn't want to talk but he had to try. He had missed her too much to deal with silence now.

"While I have you here, is there anything in specific you'd like to have for dinner this upcoming week?" he asked.

He had been rotating through different types of restaurants as best he could and tried to keep from being repet.i.tive but there were only so many places that offered delivery services in the area.

Keeley finally stopped gazing out the window and turned her attention to him. "Buffalo wings would be nice. Or sus.h.i.+. I could also go for a calzone…"

Aaron stifled a laugh. Someone was feeling indecisive. It was fine; he could do all three throughout the week.

"Good to know. If you ever want something specifically feel free to text me. I've been doing my best to mix things up but everyone runs out of ideas eventually."

"Alright. Thanks."

Silence resumed inside the car and he tried not to be disappointed by it. It was better not to push her while she was still angry.

As they got closer to New York, she spoke up again. "Hey, I forgot to mention this. I need to go to my dad's house today so go ahead and drop me there."

It was a good thing she let him know when she did because he was about two miles away from turning onto the wrong freeway exit to make it into Brooklyn. Although going the wrong way for a while would have prolonged his time with her…

Keeley didn't speak again for the rest of the ride. When she got out she thanked him for taking her and then hesitated for a moment.

"Um…thanks for letting me have most of the cake samples. I don't know how you knew I wanted them but I appreciate it. That's all I wanted to say. Bye."

She hurried toward the door of the apartment building and he had the ghost of a smile on his face. So she'd noticed. That was something anyway.

===

The following day at work Aaron was annoyed because his father was threatening him to go to a formal event he would rather die than attend. Lacy Knighton's 25th birthday party. What was the point of celebrating that woman's birth when he wished she was dead?

If he showed up it would give Lacy the wrong idea, which was exactly why Alistair wanted him to go. He was still dead set on having her as his daughter-in-law. Unless he had a secret second son out there, that would never happen.

The party wasn't for a few weeks but Alistair had started bothering Aaron about it early to impress the importance of going on him. Unfortunately, with how slowly things were working on his end, he had to listen to the insufferable fool for the time being. He had to go.

Lacy would use this as an opportunity to try and get close to him, he just knew it. After all, birthday parties were a big deal in their circle. More than a few engagements had been announced at them before.

All of this could be avoided if Aaron had a rumored girlfriend but where could he find one on such short notice who wouldn't get any bright ideas about clinging to him afterwards?

Aiden popped into his office to give an updated report on a Brann Knighton sighting just then. "Boss man, I found something you might find interesting about our favorite inside trading suspect."

He eyed the hacker appraisingly. Aiden was practically a twig and had a bit of a baby face. With the right stylist he could pa.s.s as a girl.

"In a minute. I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything for you!" he declared boldly.

Aaron's face twisted into a devious expression and Aiden actually looked nervous. "I'm glad you said that because I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend."

"Whaaaat?! No way! If Cameron found out he'd never let me live it down. Even worse…Nova…Sorry man, I can't. Anything but that."

"I'll give you a month off to visit your girlfriend if you do."

Interest sparked in his eyes, clas.h.i.+ng with his clearly horrified expression. "You can't tempt me like that, Aaron!"

He shrugged. "It's your choice. I would even throw in a fully paid for mini vacation to Stockholm for the two of you where you could do whatever you want on my tab but if you're not interested…"

Aiden admitted defeat. "You got me. But I swear, if anyone ever finds out about this I'll tell Keeley you've been stalking her since her freshman year of college."

"Deal."

"What do you need it for anyway?"

Aaron laced his fingers together on top of his desk and muttered darkly, "Lacy Knighton's birthday party. I have a hunch she's going to try and trick me into getting engaged with her somehow. I need a strong deterrent but there are only so many people I trust."

The only reason he even used Jennica as a fake date before was because he trusted Aiden's judgment of her character that she would remain professional and wouldn't try to use it as an opportunity to establish a relations.h.i.+p with him.

Using another actress was out; he was too visible in this city. There were so many wannabe Cinderellas out there who would happily latch onto him and try to become the next Mrs. Hale. That was the last thing he needed right now.

"Speaking of Lacy Knighton…I haven't seen any strange movements of other men around her. I know you wanted me to look out for that but all I've seen so far is that guy Max," Aiden said. "If you hate her so much, why do you care who she gets involved with?"

"Let's just say that I'm pretty sure someone will try to use her to get to me at some point. Better safe than sorry."

It was impossible to explain the role of Lacy's eventual baby daddy in Aaron's downfall. He hadn't made his presence known until 2018, five years from now.

Aaron had never even figured out who he was let alone why he held a grudge against him. It made even less sense that he disappeared after Keeley died and never came after Aaron again. Had he really only appeared on the scene around the time Lacy got pregnant or had he been lurking in the shadows for longer?

There were so many unanswered questions surrounding this man. Aaron wasn't even sure if he was going to be a player in the game during this life since things had turned out so differently already but he had to be prepared.

Aiden was confused. "Why would anyone use her to get to you? Wouldn't Keeley make more sense?"

"Lacy is obsessed with me beyond the point of reason. She would be easy to manipulate if the other person said they would help her be with me."

"Ah. That's pretty messed up, dude."

"I know. My world in general is pretty messed up," he said dryly.

If he hadn't been Aaron Hale…if he had been a normal man…would he and Keeley have been happy together? He couldn't even imagine what it would be like having a normal childhood and choosing his own career path. Would he and Keeley even have met?