The Wheelchair Boss Wants Only Me

"Good thing I've been using your photos the whole time. Go dump the cripple for me." My roommate catfished a guy with my pictures.

Then she found out he was in a wheelchair, and shoved the breakup onto me. But the comments floating in front of my eyes were screaming a warning.

If I dumped the man in the wheelchair, his brother would have me dumped in the ocean by tomorrow. Feeding the fish. My foot stopped midstep. The rejection died on my tongue.

I put on a bright smile and walked straight up to him. Chapter 1 Tiffany finished talking and left. She left me alone in the coffee shop.

The man in the corner sat in his wheelchair, and the look he gave me had already cooled from warm to nothing. Fair enough.

Tiffany and I had tugged at each other by the door for a while. From any angle, it read like a no. My phone chimed. I opened it. Tiffany had sent me a login and password.

Here's my alt account. If you can't say it to his face, message him and break it off that way. The comments lit up again. [Our girl is so thoughtful, sending the login too.

Bless her, she just doesn't want the extra to feel awkward saying it.] [Won't matter. The male lead gets rejected early either way.

He goes home darker than before, and the brotherobsessed little brother pins the whole thing on the extra.] [So the extra's just collateral, huh. Rough.] [Excuse you?

Love goes both ways. So our girl couldn't handle him being disabled at first, so what?] [And the extra agreed to help fool him. Nobody forced her.] [OMG, you're scaring me.

Can you read with a brain, please?

If our girl hadn't catfished him with the extra's photos, would the extra even have to go reject him?] [Boohoo, so our girl felt insecure and that's a crime now?

If the extra's face weren't so gorgeous, our girl never would've used her pics.

Blame yourself for liking an extra instead of the lead!] … The comments blew up into a brawl, flying past my eyes. The man a few feet away looked even more alone.

His eyes stayed down. His thin back stayed straight. He was holding on to the last scrap of his dignity. As I got closer, his hand tightened on the arm of the chair.

That was when I finally saw his face. My breath caught. Black eyes like crow feathers. A sharp, high nose.

His skin had the pale, sickly cast of someone kept too long out of the sun, and he was still beautiful. Beautiful to the point of sharp. Chapter 2 My eyes slid down on their own.

Under a shirt cut to fit him, his back was straight, his waist lean. Down a little more… Enough, Josie.

I strangled the reel of filthy thoughts in my head and kept reminding myself the man was in a wheelchair. Have a conscience. Then the comments came back to me. Total giver.

I looked at the wheelchair again and pressed my lips flat. God help me, who could keep a straight face through that. Tiffany really should book herself an eye exam.

No wonder she couldn't recognize a good thing when it sat right in front of her. He spoke first. Like he'd already seen how this would go.

He pulled a smile onto his face, aimed at himself. "I'm sorry. My condition must be a letdown.

If you want to say no, that's okay." The comments spilled open again. [Boohoo, my poor male lead. When does he finally reunite with our girl?

Once he has her love, he won't be lonely anymore.] [So does the extra reject him today and then get written off?] [Pretty much.

He goes home, and the brother figures out something's off.] … Somewhere in all that cooing, one line snagged me.

It scared me enough that I took a big step forward and grabbed his cool fingertips. "Hi. I'm Josie.

We've talked this long and I still don't know your name." "Can you tell me your name, baby?" He froze. I thought he was shy.

Then his eyes narrowed, and the air around him dropped cold. His lips parted, and every word landed on me like bad news. "Baby? You told me pet names give you the ick.

You never once called me that." Okay, how was I supposed to know you two never used pet names? What normal couple dates and doesn't call each other baby?

I've been single my whole life and even I know you say baby when you're dating.

I was still holding his hand, so mortified I wanted to dig a hole and vanish. "Doesn't calling you baby just feel more, you know, close?" His brow pulled together. "You said that too.

That closeness gives you the ick. That it crosses a line." Oh my GOD. Tiffany, is everything an ick to you? I had nothing.

The comments detonated. [HAHAHAHA dying, the extra shot herself in the foot. Rejected a hundred times over, he'll still only love our girl. Give it up!] [Right.

Every single thing our girl ever said, he keeps it locked in his heart.] [Okay, it's unfair, but it really is a nightmare opening for the extra.

She doesn't know how they used to talk. One wrong line and the whole thing blows up.] [Wouldn't she die faster if he just caught her lying?] [Probably.

The brother's the obsessive type, and the older one turns into a dark piece of work later—] That was it. I gave up. I felt like a balloon with all the air let out. Fine.

I shut my eyes and braced. If I'm dying, make it quick. I'll go up and finally meet the parents I never got to see. "Julian Frost." I didn't catch it.

My eyes snapped open. "What?" "Nice to meet you, Josie. I'm Julian Frost." The fingertips I was holding curled back around mine. Careful. Like too much pressure might scare me off.

Chapter 3 Like too much force might scare me off. [ber, what is the extra DOING?!

AAAAH, who said she could hold his hand?] [Hands off our girl's male lead, you awful extra!] [Can the extra even date the male lead?

Isn't this the plot breaking?] [Ladies, hit the report button!] The comments were losing it. But I saw a crack of daylight. He hadn't figured out I was the fake.

So why not keep faking? Their whole chat history was sitting in my hand anyway. Every extra day alive was a shot at saving myself. Worst case, I saved up some cash and ran.

Still better than getting dumped in the ocean to feed the fish. I slipped my hand out of Julian's. Before he could react, I traced my fingers down and laced them through his.

The AC in the shop was weak, and his palm and fingers were cool. It felt nice. Julian looked at me like he couldn't believe it. Then down at our tangled hands.

A little light started to bleed into those dull, gray eyes. "You… don't mind? I didn't tell you about my condition. That counts as lying to you—" Guilt pinched at me.

He hadn't really lied to me. I was the one lying to him. "It's a bit of a shock, sure. But if you're a good person, I can live with it." My voice got smaller. My head dipped down.

The comments strobed faster. I couldn't read most of it. Just a screen full of go blow your mom and rows of blockedout stars. Not gonna lie. This was a little satisfying.

My stomach growled. Tiffany had sweettalked me to this coffee shop at noon, and I hadn't eaten a bite. It wouldn't stop rumbling. I couldn't do anything about it.

Julian laughed under his breath. I snuck a look up at him and just shortcircuited. He was even better looking when he smiled. Like ice melting. "Hi.

Can we get one of your signature Black Forest cakes?" The signature cake? My eyes lit up.

Then I heard he only ordered one. "You're not eating?" Julian scanned the QR code on the table onehanded. The other hand still held mine tight. "I am. Look at what else you want.

The signature one and whatever you're craving, you can have both." Why did my eyes suddenly sting? Julian. He was a genuinely good person.

Both little cakes were premade, so they came out fast. But there were still ice shards in the cream that hadn't melted, and the first bite tasted like nothing.

I've got a stomach that wants real food. I love a sweet treat as much as anyone, but when it's mealtime, I need a meal. Something salty. Something with substance. A real meal.

Julian ate like it mattered, bite after bite, quiet the whole time. A few times I wanted to ask if we could go somewhere else.

He was eating so calmly that I couldn't bring myself to say it. The third time I looked up, he caught it. "Still want something else?" I nodded right away.

His chauffeur had been waiting outside the whole time, next to a luxury car I'd never seen before. I climbed in and froze at the ceiling. Stars, spread across the whole roof.

My hand reached up on its own. Under a starlight headliner, the comments came through even clearer. Chapter 4 [An extra's an extra. It's a starlight headliner.

Never seen the world, huh.] [Can the extra stop touching it? So embarrassing.] My hand stopped. I pulled it back, sheepish.

Someone caught my hand from behind and guided it up to the stars.

Most of it was soft, velvet under my fingers, with a slight bump where each star sat. "Pretty ordinary to the touch.

But it looks beautiful." I asked carefully. "This is expensive, right? I don't want to smudge it." "It's fine. You like it? If you do, we'll go pick one out." Pick out — a car?

The comments streaking across the ceiling got filthier, just strings of encrypted stars. I pressed my lips together. "I don't have my license yet.

On breaks it's either too cold or too hot, so I keep slacking on it." "That's fine. We'll get you a private instructor." There were private instructors for driving?

Guess I really hadn't seen the world. I figured everybody just crammed five people into one junker that reeked. Julian took me to a restaurant, a striking landmark of a building.

I lit up. "I know this place. My favorite designer built it. Winter." Something in Julian's eyes went unreadable. "You even know who designed it?" "Of course. I study architecture.

He's my idol. I just haven't seen anything new from him this past year. Kind of a shame." Once I got going on Winter, I could list it all off.

I didn't even notice the comments vanish. Julian listened, quiet, putting food on my plate the whole time, making sure I ate.

When I hit something I really loved, he could even keep up, add a line or two. He was basically my soulmate. I talked so long I got embarrassed.

He just smiled and nodded me on, like I should keep going.

By the end of the meal, I was full, and I'd talked myself happy. "I'm planning to send in my portfolio and intern there when they post openings. I heard it's a fourday workweek.

Total dream company." Julian encouraged me. "You clearly know your stuff. You should try." "You could even tell that!" He laughed softly. "You've told me all of this.

I don't just let it go in one ear and out the other." "Ha. From your lips to God's ears." When he dropped me back at school, Julian pulled a small box from the car.

Inside was a sunflower brooch, gemstones, beautifully made. He pinned it to my collar, and it sat there like it belonged. On the back was a tiny signature.

Small, but I knew it instantly. [Winter] Shock and joy hit at once. "He's designing women's jewelry now? That's unreal.

I love it, Julian!" "It was meant to be a gift for you anyway. I… happen to know him.

If you like it, I'll get you more." Julian's eyes on me were brighter than the stone. "Really…" Then it landed on me.

This kindness of his — it was never meant for me in the first place. The joy from a second ago dropped straight through the floor. "Never mind.

Just this one is enough." Only a slow, layered ache, rising and rising in my chest