Chapter 1

For five years, my boyfriend has been lending me to his friends as their fake girlfriend.

I thought he was helping them get through family dinners and holiday parties.

Then I overhear the truth.

Every time Adrian sends me away with another man, he brings Vanessa home.

Everyone has seen me on the arms of his friends.

So I’ll be the cheater.

This time, Adrian sends me to Julian Whitmore.

He expects Julian’s family to humiliate me.

Instead, Julian’s mother puts their family heirloom bracelet on my wrist.

This time, I keep it.

-

For five years, my boyfriend has been lending me to his friends as their fake girlfriend.

Whenever one of them needs a respectable date for a family dinner or holiday party, Adrian sends me.

He calls it helping out his friends.

Some families look down on me the second I walk in. One woman threw wine in my face. Another had me escorted out before dessert.

Every time I try to refuse, Adrian gives me the same gentle smile.

“Just one dinner, Claire. After this, we’ll finally get married.”

So for five years, I haven’t spent a single major holiday with my own boyfriend.

Last Thanksgiving, I come home after being slapped by one of his friend’s girlfriends.

My cheek is still burning when I hear voices from the living room.

“You seriously don’t care that we keep taking Claire out?”

I stop outside the door.

Adrian laughs.

“Why would I? Every time one of you takes Claire, I get to bring Vanessa home.”

Someone whistles.

“And if Claire finds out?”

“Everyone already knows she’s been showing up as half the guys in this circle’s girlfriend. If things get ugly, she’ll look like the one who cheated first.”

I can’t move.

A week later, Adrian asks me to go with Julian Whitmore to his parents’ anniversary dinner.

Julian’s family is old money, even more established than the Hawthornes.

I expect another uncomfortable evening.

Instead, his parents are polite.

Before we leave, his mother opens a velvet box and fastens a diamond bracelet around my wrist.

“This has been in our family for three generations,” she says. “The women who marry into the Whitmore family wear it.”

Normally, I would return it in private.

This time, I leave it on.

When I get back to Adrian’s place, he is waiting in the living room with his friends.

One of them laughs.

“Well, she made it back without getting thrown out.”

Another snorts.

“I had fifty bucks on Claire getting kicked out before dinner.”

Vanessa smiles from the couch.

“Looks like I won.”

Adrian looks me over.

“Fine. I was wrong.”

They were betting on whether Julian’s family would humiliate me too.

Adrian doesn’t look guilty. He just looks bored that he lost.

I turn away.

Vanessa suddenly grabs my wrist.

“What is that?”

The room goes quiet.

Someone stares at the bracelet.

“Is that the Whitmore family bracelet?”

“The one Mrs. Whitmore only gives to women marrying into the family?”

Even Adrian’s expression changes.

Vanessa recovers first.

“Did you steal it?”

She raises her voice.

“Or did you trick them into giving it to you?”

Adrian relaxes almost immediately.

“Claire, I told you I’m going to marry you. You don’t need to pull something like this just to prove a point.”

The others catch on.

“Why would the Whitmores want some scholarship girl in their family?”

“They probably let her try it on, and she took it seriously.”

I met Adrian in college through a Hawthorne Foundation scholarship.

After we started dating, the jokes never stopped.

Adrian never calls me poor.

He just never stops anyone else from doing it.

And he keeps sending me out with his friends.

I used to tell myself he couldn’t fight everyone for me.

But tonight, Julian’s father mentioned Adrian had brought Vanessa home earlier that week.

As his fiancée.

“Adrian finally shut everyone up,” Mr. Whitmore said. “Told them Vanessa was the woman he chose.”

That was when I finally understood.

Adrian had never been powerless.

He had simply never chosen me.

“Enough.”

He crushes his cigarette into the ashtray and reaches for my wrist.

“The Whitmores aren’t people you play games with. I’ll return this for you.”

I cover the bracelet with my other hand.

Adrian pauses.

“What?”

“I don’t feel well.”

He studies me, then smiles.

“What, their food too rich for you?”

Adrian removes my hand and unclasps the bracelet himself.

He slips it into his pocket.

“Go get some rest.”