Bryce rolled his eyes when he heard high pitched voices coming from his office.

“Do those chicks ever shut up?” he asked himself.

He carefully balanced his cup of coffee in one hand, put his car keys between his teeth, and put his portfolio’s under his arm while he opened the door with his left hand.

“Dude, my hair is like so much better than yours! I mean seriously, who has brown hair these days?” One of the blondes asked.

“I do dumbass.” a brunette answered.

“Well you don’t count cause you’re stupid anyway.” the blonde answered. The brunette just rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the clock.

“Well, well, how are y’all doin today?” Bryce said making his presence known.

“BRYCE!!!” the five females shouted in unison.

“Hello ladies. I see y’all are having your daily dose of unintelligent conversations.” Bryce said eliciting a giggle from one of the blondes.

“Sweetie, it’s not that funny, especially since you were the one that was being unintelligent.” Said another girl.

Bryce chuckled as he set his items down and took a seat.

“You don’t always have to be such a bitch Dana.” the blonde responded.

“Crystal, I swear if you call me a bitch one more time, I’m gonna bitch slap yo dumb ass.” Dana responded with a point of her slender finger.

“As much as we would love to see a throw down between y’all, why don’t we get down to business. All this sexual tension is making me a little nervous. Bryce?”

“Thanks Desi, you know I love ya. Anyways, ladies the reason I brought everybody in today is because I need some help.” Bryce started.

“Help with what exactly, cause I ain’t got all day.” Erika said.

Bryce was wondering when Erika was gonna open her smart mouth, she was usually the most talkative one of the group.

“I need help with Elizabeth.” He responded simply.

Bryce knew what kind of trouble he could get into by bringing up Elizabeth’s name up to this group because 99% of them were his ex-girlfriends. Some of them were still hoping to get back with him even though he made it abundantly clear that they didn’t have a chance in hell.

“What the hell do need help for, you already have the little bitch wrapped around your finger.”

“Damn Z, you ain’t gotta sound THAT jealous.” Desiree said.

“Zoey, I know we’re having our issues right now but DO NOT talk about Elizabeth like that, at least not in front of me. I asked you to come because I trust you, now if you’re just going to bitch, you can get the hell out.” Bryce said slowly.

Zoey just looked at her finger nails like she wasn’t the least bit fazed by Bryce’s outburst. Having Bryce yell at her was something she had gotten used to over the years, that among other things.

“Calm down dude and tell us what’s going on.” Dana spoke up.

Bryce slowly but surely got his anger under control. Zoey had an interesting way of getting under his skin and making him do things that were out of character for him. He knew she hated him for hitting her but he had apologized over and over but eventually they just called it quits. She obviously still had some resentment left.

“Elizabeth is not who I’m having a problem with, per se. We’re fine by ourselves but she has five over protective friends that will not leave us the hell alone, and that’s where y’all come in. They need a distraction and I believe that if they were in relationships, they wouldn’t be bothering us. As soon as they’re off my back, I can start my plan.” Bryce said while running his hand through his brownish locks.

“And what plan would that be?” Crystal asked. Bryce fought the urge to roll his eyes. Why did he ever date that girl?

“Crys, you’re on a need to know basis right now and THAT is something you don’t need to know.” Bryce explained as he pulled out files of each guy.

“What do you want us to do Bryce? Sleep with them?” Erika asked with disgust written on her face. She had never been a fan of boy bands and being asked to pretend to like someone wasn’t sitting well with her.

“Not unless you want to. This isn’t an assignment ladies. All I’m asking is for you to keep them off my back for three weeks. After that y’all can drop them if you want. When I mean distract them, I just mean take up as much of their time as possible. Make sure they don’t suspect anything and if they start asking questions just let me know. So, what do y’all say?” Bryce asked tentatively. He knew he was asking a lot but he couldn’t do this alone anymore.

“Do we get anything for this good deed or does it have to come from the heart?” Desiree asked with a smirk which caused Bryce to chuckle.

“I was getting to that Desi. I’m offering to give y’all $3,000 each for three weeks worth of… whatever.” Bryce said.

“Shit, I’m in.” Erika said with a laugh.

“Me too.” Dana agreed.

“Me three.” Desiree chimed in.

“Me…uh… what number are we on?” Crystal asked causing everyone to laugh.

“Are you sure yo mama didn’t drop you when you were born?” Desiree asked.

“I’m not with it. I’m not going to parade myself around like a little ho while you screw around with Ms. Perfect. So count me out.” Zoey said. She quickly got her stuff and left the room without so much as a good bye.

Bryce sigh loudly before going after her. “Zoey, Zoe… girl I know you hear me.”

“Bryce just leave me the hell alone ok. I don’t need this shit right now. Can’t you see I’m trying to weed you out of my life? Why do you always feel the need to interrupt it?” Zoey hissed.

When she kept walking away Bryce grabbed her hand and pulled her into a corner.

“What is your problem Zoey? You’re acting like you’re in love with me or something?” Bryce said with a chuckle.

Zoey narrowed her eyes and tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear. Her green eyes flared in anger as she stared at the man that held her heart.

“And what if I am Bryce? What if I’ve been in love with you since the day we met? What if the last three months have been amazing for me? What if what we did wasn’t just sex to me? WHAT IF I DO LOVE YOU?” Zoey shouted.

Bryce didn’t know what to say. His deer in headlights look probably said it all though. He had no idea Zoey felt that way about him, especially after what he had done to her. He thought they were just messing around and after he had hit her, she ended the relationship.

“No, no, no… you can’t love me Zoe, not after what I did. You made it clear that you hated me.” He explained.

Zoey sighed and fought to keep her tears at bay. “I know… but I was just pissed cause I promised myself I would never let another man put his hands on me. I told you about my dad and what you did brought back memories. The thing is it wasn’t completely your fault. I was purposely trying to provoke you so that I could end the relationship. I knew you didn’t need my shit that night but I was starting to fall in love and I thought if I got you to hit me, I could have an excuse for ending our relationship.”

Bryce took a step back, stunned by her confession. “You did what?”

“I know and I’m sorry. I was just scared of letting you get too close. I also knew you didn’t feel the same way about me so that gave me a bigger incentive to end it.” Zoey answered.

“You know you could’ve just done it the old fashion way… I really felt like shit about hitting you man. I still do.” Bryce said as he softly touched the area where her bruise used to be.

“I know… you’re a good guy Bryce and I want you for myself. That’s why I can’t do this. I can’t help you get together with another woman knowing that I’ll be leading you right into her arms.” She confessed. When an awkward silence fell over them, Zoey took that as her cue to leave.

“Zoe, wait. Alright… I haven’t been completely honest with you about this whole situation… about Elizabeth.” Bryce started. He couldn’t believe he was doing this but Zoey was a crucial part of his plan.

“What do you mean?” Zoey asked turning around.

Bryce started to explain his situation from the beginning and finished with telling her about his plan.

“Are you serious? You’re gonna go through all that just to get revenge?” Zoey asked in disbelief.

“Yes… I‘ve been waiting to get that sun of a bitch back for a long time. He’s going to lose what’s most precious to him, just like I did. You see I don’t really have feelings for Elizabeth anymore. I’m just using her to get to Justin. That’s why I need your help. I need you to keep Justin off my back for a while.” Bryce explained.

“That’s low man. You’re gonna use his best friend so you can hurt him? What about me? What am I supposed to get out of this? And don’t say money cause you know damn well that I don’t need it.” Zoey said. Bryce’s blue eyes stared into Zoey’s green ones and tried to figure out what she wanted more than anything.

“If you do this, I’ll give us another go.” Bryce smiled when he saw her eyes light up and a small smile appeared on her face.

“You’re serious? No bullshit?” she asked.

“No bullshit.”

“Alright, I’ll do it, but if I become uncomfortable, I’m pulling out.” Zoey responded before turning on her heels and walking away from him.

Bryce sighed a sigh of relief and headed back to his office.

“You can’t have Lance cause I want him. He so cute and LOOK, he has blonde hair.” Crystal said excitedly.

“Crystal, do you always have something stupid to say?” Dana asked with a chuckle.

“Crystal you can’t have Lance because I’ve given him to Dana. He likes brunettes anyway.” Bryce chimed in.

“Ew.” Crystal wrinkled her nose and threw Lance’s picture at Dana.

Bryce laughed at the face she made before handing her a picture of Trace. “Maybe you can convince him to go blonde.” He said causing everyone, but Crystal, to laugh.

“I got that JC kid.” Desiree said holding up JC’s file.

“I guess I’ll take Chris even though he’s kinda old.” Erika said.

“Babe, no offense but you’re kinda old too.” Bryce told her with a wink. “I guess that takes care of everyone. Thank you so much ladies. We’ll meet this time on Friday alright?”

“Aight man, see you later.” Desiree said.

“Bye sweetie.” Crystal followed. Erika and Dana muttered their goodbyes before following the two girls out the door.

Bryce watched them go and smiled to himself. He didn’t know what he was going to do about his “Zoey problem” but he would figure it out. He didn’t have any intention of getting back together with her but he had to make her believe that they would get back together. She was the glue that was holding his plan together and he couldn’t afford to piss her off and lose her. In a way he was doing her a favor. Zoey hated Liz with a passion and now she’s going to get a chance to torture her. Bryce knew about Liz’s feelings for Justin, you’d have to be blind not to know. The two were so in love with each other that they couldn’t see straight. But he was going to use their denial to his advantage. Getting rid of Liz was going to be a lot easier than he thought.

“Justin’s not going to know what hit him.”