My Rented Boyfriend is a Ruthless CEO

Because of you, everyone thinks I'm taken. How are you going to fix this? Alistair pulled me securely onto his muscular thighs, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips.

I paid him thirty bucks a day just to hold me for an hour, a desperate transaction to soothe my severe touch starvation. Guilt twisted into a tight knot in my gut. I told him we had to terminate our arrangement.

The very next day, Jaxon blocked my path. My ex, the same guy who dumped me for being a stage-five clinger, looked down his nose at me. "Get back together with me, and I'll hold you every single day."

Before I could even react, a pitch-black hypercar roared toward us.

The deafening engine screamed as it slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching to a halt mere inches from his kneecaps.

Jaxon stumbled backward and collapsed onto the concrete in a pathetic heap.

Alistair rested one heavy arm over the steering wheel. His dark, predatory eyes locked onto Jaxon. "Trying to steal what's mine? You must have a death wish."

That was the exact moment I realized Alistair wasn't just some guy I hired off the street.

He was the untouchable heir to the city's most ruthless billionaire empire.

Chapter 1

Just hugging Alistair wasn't enough to numb the agonizing ache of my touch starvation anymore. Deep within the secluded shadows of the park, I sat firmly on his lap.

I tilted my head back, my voice barely a whisper. "Alistair. I'll pay you an extra fifteen dollars. Can I just bury my face in your neck?"

Heat rushed straight to my cheeks the second the words left my mouth. Fifteen bucks was practically nothing, but scraping together forty-five dollars every single day was already bleeding my bank account dry.

He lowered his dark gaze to me. A heavy, calloused hand clamped over the back of my head, pressing my face flush against the hot skin of his neck. His voice rumbled in his chest, dripping with a lazy drawl. "Since you always pay on time, boss, I'll only charge you ten."

I blinked rapidly, the heat in my face burning hotter as I mumbled a shy thank you. But the moment my lips parted, they accidentally brushed against the sensitive pulse point on his neck.

His muscles snapped taut instantly.

His Adam's apple bobbed hard, and the heavy arm wrapped securely around my waist instinctively pulled me flush against him.

I was half-asleep against Alistair's broad shoulder when the frantic crunch of footsteps shattered the silence. Before I could scramble off his lap, a girl's silhouette stepped sharply into my peripheral vision.

I immediately clamped my arms tighter around Alistair's neck and buried my face into his shoulder to hide. Our little transaction was a secret. No one else could know about this.

"Alistair!" The girl practically beamed. "I knew I'd find you. Paying for your schedule was totally worth the money."

Then she noticed me playing dead against his chest, and the bright smile melted right off her face. "Who is she?"

Alistair lifted his eyes, his demeanor entirely unbothered. "Can you think of any other relationship besides a girlfriend?"

The air in the park flatlined. Alistair acted like he couldn't feel the suffocating tension at all. He casually stroked the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair. I kept my face hidden, wishing the ground would swallow me whole.

When the girl spoke again, the fake sweetness in her voice was grating. "Alistair, can your girlfriend turn around so I can see her face?"

She crossed her arms, looking genuinely baffled. "I mean, I was literally voted the prettiest girl in our department, but you rejected me when I asked you out. So I'm dying to know what makes your girlfriend so special."

Alistair calmly pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up, completely shielding my face. "Get your facts straight." His tone was smooth, laced with a mocking edge. "She's the one who picked me."

The girl choked on a breath. She immediately aimed her venom at me.

"Seriously? Are you just going to sit on his lap in public like that?"

The polite mask completely shattered. "Have you got no self-respect?"

I paid for this! What was wrong with a hug? It was completely empty here until she showed up!

My nails dug into the fabric of Alistair's shirt. Taking a step back now wasn't an option.

I couldn't take it anymore and hopped right off his lap. I opened my mouth to snap back, but then a better idea hit me.

Two seconds later, I climbed right back onto his thighs. I stared at this self-proclaimed beauty queen with wide, innocent eyes. "Then call the cops."

"You!" Her face flushed an ugly, blotchy red.

Alistair let out a low, dark chuckle. The air around him went instantly cold as he cut off her tantrum. "Hey. Say one more word to upset her, and I guarantee I'll throw you the hell out of here."

After she stormed off, I sat frozen on Alistair's lap. I mentally replayed the confrontation to make sure I hadn't lost that battle.

He hooked a strand of my hair around his long finger, idly playing with it. His tone was way too casual to be a real complaint. "Because of you, it looks like it's going to be even harder for me to find a girlfriend now."

Chapter 2

Snapping back to reality, I scrambled off his lap and retreated to a safe distance. An apology sat heavy on my tongue, but I forced it down. I wasn't about to let him gaslight me.

"But I paid for it," I muttered, my defense sounding pathetically weak.

He let out a low, breathy scoff. "Did you." He lounged back against the bench, radiating an infuriating amount of casual grace. "Because the more I think about it, the more I realize I'm getting ripped off."

Crap. He was going to jack up his prices. I shifted my weight, staring down at my worn sneakers.

"Alistair If your rate is going up, you might need to find someone else with touch starvation to do business with. My budget is completely tapped out."

He leaned forward, resting his heavy forearms on his thighs. The lazy, mocking aura vanished instantly.

His dark eyes locked onto mine, unblinking. "I don't want your money. How about you compensate me with a girlfriend instead?"

Oh. He wanted me to set him up. I frantically flipped through my mental contact list, but not a single girl I knew matched Alistair's intense vibe.

After a few seconds of heavy deliberation, I accepted the monumental task. I looked him dead in the eye. "Can you give me some time to figure it out?"

The rigid tension in his broad shoulders seemed to melt away, and he gave a curt nod. The suffocating atmosphere around him softened completely.

I couldn't afford his rising hugging fees, and I definitely couldn't find him a girlfriend. I was just dragging him down.

After staring at my ceiling for an hour, I drafted a final text to Alistair.

[Sorry, no luck with the matchmaking. Also, my touch starvation isn't acting up as much lately, so I won't be needing your services anymore.]

[I heard the coffee shop off-campus is hiring, and they pay way better than I do. I sent you the manager's number so you can check it out.]

[No need to stay in touch. Deleting this number now. Bye!]

I hit send and immediately blocked his contact. Maybe blocking him was overkill. But I knew my own weakness. If I left the door open even a crack, a bad flare-up would send me crawling right back to him, ruining his chances of finding a real girlfriend.

An inexplicable weight settled in my chest. I yanked the duvet over my head, trying to suffocate the dark cloud looming over me.

The next day was Saturday. No classes. I dragged myself out of bed late in the afternoon and splashed cold water on my face.

The second I stepped out of my dorm building, my skin started to crawl. The familiar, agonizing itch of a flare-up was starting. And then, as if my luck couldn't get any worse, I ran straight into Jaxon. My ex.

His eyes immediately locked onto my trembling hands. He stepped right into my personal space, his voice dripping with that fake, condescending warmth.

"Having an episode again? Come here. I'll hold you."

Was he out of his mind? I wasn't some feral animal ready to pounce on the first guy I saw just because of a flare-up. I kept my face completely blank. Without a single word, I sidestepped him and kept walking.

Jaxon's hand shot out.

His fingers dug like iron claws into my wrist, yanking me back with a bone-jarring force.

"What? You won't even speak to me now?"

I gave a curt nod. I pressed my lips into a thin line and shot him a lethal glare. "Let go of me right now, or I'm calling the cops."

He jutted his chin out in a blatant challenge. "Call them."

Chapter 3

Jaxon let out a bitter, mocking laugh. "I was the one who dumped you, but you think you're completely innocent?"

"Holding you every day felt like a damn chore, and I was sick of it."

His iron grip clamped down on both my wrists. His fingers dug into my skin harder with every desperate struggle.

"Let go of me, Jaxon."

"Well, you don't have to do that chore anymore, do you?" He yanked me hard against his chest, a self-deprecating smirk twisting his lips.

"Just call me a glutton for punishment. I dated a few girls after we split, but I realized you're the only one I want."

"Thea, just swallow your pride. Get back together with me, and I'll hold you every single day."

Before the words fully left his mouth, the deafening roar of a hypercar engine completely swallowed his sentence. Jaxon and I snapped our heads toward the noise at the exact same time.

A pitch-black, obscenely expensive hypercar screeched to a halt mere inches from Jaxon's legs, the smell of burnt rubber filling the air.

He couldn't react fast enough.

He stumbled back several steps until his spine slammed hard against the brick wall.

The tinted window rolled down smoothly. Alistair rested one heavy hand on the steering wheel, his dark, predatory eyes locking onto Jaxon with absolute apathy.

"Where did this piece of trash come from? You think you can put your hands on her? You must have a damn death wish."

Jaxon let out a pained grunt and slowly straightened his posture. He narrowed his eyes, sizing Alistair up with a hostile glare.

But he directed his question at me. "Who the hell is this?"

"I've seen the untouchable heir to the city's biggest empire driving this exact ride. Don't tell me this is him."

I snapped out of my paralyzing shock. I looked at the hypercar, then back at Jaxon. "No. They just happen to share the same name."

Alistair was bold, but even he wouldn't dare impersonate the heir to a billionaire syndicate. I jogged over to the driver's side window and leaned in to whisper a warning.

"Where did you rent this? You need to drive carefully."

"I swear I just saw a tiny scratch on the paint, and the rental company is going to bleed you dry for that."

He didn't appreciate my concern at all. He let out a cold, biting scoff.

"So you rejected my offer for this piece of garbage?"

Alistair's dark gaze dropped to the angry red marks on my wrists. "Are you hurt? What the hell do you even see in him?"

My brain was spinning in circles. While I was struggling to process this derailed conversation, a chorus of rowdy cheers broke the tension.

"Yo! Looks like Alistair is done playing it low-key today. Damn right, only the untouchable heir would take a twenty-million-dollar ride out for a joyride."

Wait a second. My shock quickly morphed into total numbness. I stared blankly at Alistair. "If I'm guessing right, you're the untouchable heir they're talking about."

"Am I?" His dark eyes locked onto mine.

His knuckles turned stark white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.

After a tense second, his lips parted slightly. "No. I rented this car."

The group of guys froze in their tracks. They immediately pivoted in the opposite direction, letting out stiff, awkward laughs.

"Oh, my bad, wrong guy."

"No way that's our boss's car."

"It's obviously a cheap knockoff modification!"

I bought the excuse completely and let out a massive sigh of relief. I tugged anxiously on Alistair's sleeve, my face dead serious. "Why on earth would you rent something this expensive? I've heard people say that even a tiny scratch on a luxury car will put you in massive debt with the rental company."

Chapter 4

Alistair gave a half-hearted smirk and leaned back lazily against the driver's seat. He tapped his long fingers rhythmically against the steering wheel.

"Probably because I felt so damn inferior after finding out your ex is a trust fund baby."

He shot me a sideways glance. His expression was so infuriatingly calm you'd never guess he just got busted for renting the car.

"I got rejected and blocked after my very first confession, so I cried myself to sleep last night."

"Since the hypercar didn't work, I figured I'd save up for plastic surgery to make my face look exactly like his."

He jutted his chin toward Jaxon standing a few feet away. His tone dripped with mock seriousness. "And then I'll come back and ask you out again."

My jaw practically unhinged. I sat there in stunned silence for several seconds before my brain could string a coherent thought together. I grabbed a fistful of his sleeve and leaned in closer. I silently prayed he could see the absolute sincerity burning in my eyes.

"You are way better looking than him! Alistair, you're literally the most attractive guy I've ever seen on this entire campus."

He didn't even flinch. His heavy eyelids drooped in that lazy, indifferent way of his.

My nervous hands treated his expensive sleeve like a stress ball. I grabbed the fabric, let it go, and grabbed it again.

After mangling his shirt a few more times, the words finally tumbled out of my mouth.

"I didn't reject you."

Alistair finally lifted his dark gaze. He waited silently for me to finish the thought. Our eyes locked.

I suddenly realized we were breathing each other's air. I immediately jerked back and released his violently wrinkled sleeve.

"It's just" I blinked rapidly, forcing myself to confess the embarrassing truth. "I honestly thought you wanted me to set you up with someone else."

I stared hard at the toes of my sneakers and awkwardly explained the massive misunderstanding from last night. Alistair didn't say a word at first. He seemed to be processing the utter stupidity of the situation. After a long pause, a low, drawn-out rumble vibrated from his chest.

"So" A lazy, magnetic smirk danced in his dark eyes. "You're saying yes to me?"

What? No? How the hell did his brain make that leap? I shook my head frantically. "No"

I barely got the denial out before Jaxon's obnoxious voice cut through the air. "Bro, have some damn shame."

He sneered, a fake, ugly smile plastered on his face. "Thea would have to be out of her mind to settle for a broke, pathetic loser like you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alistair lower his gaze. He looked utterly defeated and pitiful.

His lips parted like he wanted to defend himself. But he just swallowed the words and hung his head in silence.

His pride was completely shattered.

I snapped my head back toward Jaxon. A white-hot fury exploded in my chest. "Are you actually psychotic? This is none of your business, so keep your toxic opinions to yourself!"

Jaxon let out a cold laugh. His tone dripped with absolute condescension.

"I'm your ex and your first love, so I'm just doing you a favor by screening the trash."

"You're really going to date a guy so vain he has to rent a hypercar? You'll be paying for his dinner every time you go out."

His arrogant, holier-than-thou lecture made Alistair drop his head even lower. His broad shoulders actually started to tremble. I honestly thought he was crying from the humiliation.

Pure, unadulterated rage hijacked my nervous system, flooding my veins with adrenaline.

The filter on my mouth completely snapped.

"Yeah, so what? I want to spend my money on him. I like him, and I'm completely obsessed with him. I'm going to take him out and spoil him right now, so kindly screw off."

That finally wiped the smirk off Jaxon's face. He stormed off in a furious huff. My competitive streak and a sudden surge of protectiveness totally unlocked my inner savage. Total victory!

Chapter 5

After getting into the car, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Alistair wasn't crying.

I immediately started grumbling. "I seriously hate trust fund babies."

Alistair's hand froze over the ignition. A second later, he smoothly disengaged the parking brake. His voice was a slow, deliberate drawl. "Me too."

I whipped my head to look at him, my brow furrowing. "You too what?"

A faint, unreadable smirk played on Alistair's lips. He effortlessly reversed the hypercar, steering us away from the campus. "I said, I hate rich people too."

Um I didn't exactly mean to nuke every wealthy person on the planet. But I totally got why Alistair was radiating 'eat the rich' energy right now.

Jaxon had just publicly humiliated him. And now Alistair was sitting here, desperately trying to act like his pride hadn't just been put through a meat grinder.

While my brain was busy replaying my epic, trash-talking victory, reality suddenly crashed down on me. The unhinged crap I had yelled without thinking. My fingers clamped in a death grip around the seatbelt. I turned to Alistair, desperate to do damage control.

"About what I said back there I just thought"

He cut me off. He kept his eyes locked on the road, casually steering the beast of a car with one hand.

"Since you dated a trust fund baby, I figured you'd look down on me." His voice dropped into this soft, gravelly tone.

It totally gave off this tragic, 'you just saved my life' vibe. "I've felt so damn inferior about my background for years. Your public confession was the first time I actually felt confident."

He shifted his gaze to meet mine. Those dark, striking eyes of his were practically swimming with a magnetic, teasing warmth that made my stomach do an aggressive flip. "Girlfriend." The word rolled off his tongue slow and heavy, dripping with so much intoxicating intimacy that for one wild, breathless second, I thought he was going to lean over the center console and kiss me.

I stared at him, completely paralyzed. Every single excuse I had prepared evaporated, choking me on the way up.

Alistair let out another lazy, drawn-out hum, acting exactly like a guy who just realized he interrupted someone. "Right." A perfectly polite, devastatingly handsome smile curved his lips. "What were you going to say?"

I shook my head like a malfunctioning robot. "Nothing I wasn't going to say anything"

This was entirely my fault for letting my anger override my filter. If I confessed that my whole 'I'm obsessed with him' speech was just a petty way to piss off my ex, I wouldn't just look like a total player. I would absolutely destroy Alistair. His fragile self-esteem would be nuked from orbit.

Alistair drove us all the way out to a secluded beach on the edge of the city. I leaned against the weathered wooden railing, letting the crash of the waves and the bleeding colors of the sunset wash over me. For a solid ten minutes, I forgot I had just accidentally acquired a boyfriend.

Until Alistair stepped up right behind me.

His broad chest pressed against my back, and two heavy, muscular arms wrapped securely around my waist, pulling me flush against him.

It was terrifyingly natural.

"Thea." He rested his sharp jaw heavily on my shoulder. His low, vibrating voice rumbled directly against my ear, the hot breath making the shell of my ear burn like it was on fire.

"Hmm?"

"I think I forgot to tell you something."

I melted into his solid frame out of pure, dangerous habit. The agonizing, bone-deep itch of my touch starvation evaporated the second he held me. A wave of intense relief flooded my system, and my voice instantly lightened into an airy, relaxed hum. "Tell me what?"

"I like you," he murmured.

The absolute zero-warning confession sent me into pure fight-or-flight mode.

My brain short-circuited.

I choked out some garbage excuse, tore myself out of his arms, and practically sprinted across the street to a lit-up boba shop.

The barista behind the counter gave me a look of deep, genuine concern. "Are you okay? Your face is super red."

"Did you get a sunburn? But it's literally freezing outside."

When dealing with strangers, my emotional shields were made of titanium. I kept my face deadpan as I brutally stabbed my straw through the plastic seal. I took a massive drag of the iced milk tea. I chewed aggressively on a mouthful of boba before giving my flat explanation.

"I'm just flustered."

The barista stared at me in total silence.

Chapter 6

Walking back, I spotted a girl standing with her back to me a few yards away. She was holding up her phone right in front of Alistair's face. He leaned back against the hood of the hypercar, a lit cigarette pinched casually between his long fingers. He radiated this untouchable, bad-boy energy that made it impossible to look away.

As I got closer, their voices became clear.

"So what if you have a girlfriend? I can wait for you guys to break up." The girl wasn't backing down at all. "Let me add your number now. That way, I'm first in line when you're single. I swear I won't even text you while you're still dating her. Deal?"

Alistair flicked the ash off his cigarette, a mocking smirk playing on his lips. "Except I'm never breaking up with her."

The closer I got, the more familiar that girl's silhouette looked.

She flashed him a sickeningly sweet smile. "You're the most magnetic guy I've ever met." She placed a hand on the hood right next to his hip and leaned in close.

Alistair's eyes went dead cold.

Without a second of hesitation, he viciously crushed the burning cigarette into the hood of the car, less than an inch from her fingers.

Sparks flew, and she let out a piercing shriek, violently jumping back.

The mocking smirk never left Alistair's face, but his gaze was absolute ice. "Don't make me say something ugly."

I stepped off the curb and walked right up to them. When I finally saw her face, my stomach dropped. It was my roommate, Fallon.

"Thea?" Her eyes went wide as they landed on me. "This is your boyfriend?"

I gave a curt nod. I didn't bother with fake pleasantries. She was barely ever in our dorm, and we basically never spoke.

Fallon's eyes blatantly raked up and down Alistair's body, completely ignoring my presence. She let out a catty laugh. "How do you always manage to bag the rich guys? It's like you took a masterclass in gold-digging."

Alistair finally decided to acknowledge her existence again. "I rented this car."

He completely ignored the blatant disgust that instantly warped Fallon's face. He raised a dark eyebrow and shamelessly introduced himself as a total deadbeat. "Thea pays for all my meals. She knows I'm broke."

He shot Fallon a deadly, mocking look. "Any other questions?"

Fallon's expression twisted into pure, unadulterated revulsion. "You're just an unreasonable, psychotic broke loser!" She spun on her heel and stormed off, completely furious.

But the truth was, Alistair was nothing like the deadbeat he claimed to be. He stayed up all night coding, and every single dime he made went straight to buying me things. Since we started dating, I hadn't spent a single penny on him. In fact, he treated me a million times better than Jaxon ever did. He was throwing his entire heart into this relationship.

He gave me this absolute, unshakable sense of security, to the point where my touch starvation was practically cured. Because as much as I needed to be held, he seemed to need to hold me even more.

So one afternoon, while I was staring at the sharp line of his jaw, the realization hit me.

I was falling for him, and it didn't surprise me at all.

A week before Valentine's Day, Alistair's schedule suddenly went into hyperdrive. We barely saw each other. One afternoon, I assumed he was locked in his dorm coding. Then my phone buzzed with a call from Jaxon.

"Thea, your boyfriend didn't rent that hypercar."

My thumb hovered over the end call button. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean the car actually belongs to him." Jaxon's voice dripped with a sickeningly triumphant edge. "Do you want to know where I just saw your little boyfriend? And exactly what he's doing right now?"

Chapter 7

Because I blocked his number on everything, Jaxon ended up emailing me the video. It featured the exact same hypercar Alistair claimed he rented. It was parked outside a massive estate. Alistair leaned casually against the passenger door, wearing a crisp white dress shirt that looked like it cost more than my tuition.

A few seconds later, an older, sophisticated woman walked out the front door. Alistair didn't move an inch, his dark eyes tracking her every step. Jaxon recorded this from a weird, obscured angle. From that distance, it looked exactly like something else.

The woman stepped right up to Alistair, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. Alistair's hands hovered lightly near her waist as a distant, polite smile touched his lips. His mouth moved, but the audio didn't catch what he said. But I was absolutely certain of one thing. He didn't make a single effort to dodge her kiss.

When Jaxon's name flashed across my phone screen again, I immediately declined the call and blocked his number. He retaliated by ambushing me right outside my dorm building that evening.

"Move." Jaxon planted his feet, his tone infuriatingly calm. "Let's make a bet, Thea. Let's bet on whether your shiny new boyfriend is someone's kept man. When you lose, you dump him and get back together with me."

I finally raised my eyes to look at him, letting out a dry, humorless laugh. "Even if he is, I would never get back together with you."

Jaxon completely blocked my path, his brows pulling together as his voice dropped into a low, reprimanding register. "Don't be so biased. At least I was completely clean when we were together."

My patience totally snapped, and I shoved both hands hard against his chest. "Back the hell off, Jaxon."

"Thea." His hand reached out to grab me, but it froze violently mid-air.

A massive, intimidating shadow dropped over both of us. It was the strangest thing. The very first thing my brain processed was that Alistair had stripped off that obscenely expensive dress shirt from the video. He was back in his worn-out, gray-and-white stitched hoodie.

Alistair slowly and deliberately twisted Jaxon's arm backward, his voice a lethal, lazy drawl. "I am only going to warn you once. Stay the hell away from my girlfriend, do you understand?"

Jaxon let out a pained hiss, his body violently contorting to follow the sickening twist of his arm.

Alistair's dark eyes were completely dead and devoid of any emotion. A tense second passed before he finally released his iron grip.

Jaxon stumbled back, clutching his throbbing arm and gasping for air. "Stop pretending. Do you have the guts to tell Thea exactly where you were at half-past five today?"

Jaxon artificially raised his voice, overflowing with obnoxious confidence. "I dare you to look her in the eye and say that hypercar is a rental."

Alistair's broad shoulders snapped rigidly taut. The tiny, desperate spark of hope in my chest was violently snuffed out, leaving an icy knot in my stomach.

A sickeningly triumphant smirk spread across Jaxon's face. "You play the part of the perfect, devoted boyfriend on campus so well. But behind her back, you're just some rich sugar mommy's toy. That's disgusting