Stand-in Novels & Stories

IT IS, IN THE STRICTEST DEFINITIONAL SENSE, AN UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY. "Can it file claims against us?" THE SUPERNATURAL LEDGER PROCESSES TRANSACTIONS FROM ALL RECOGNIZED ENTITIES. IF A MIRROR ENTITY CAN DEMONSTRATE STANDING, IT CAN FILE A CLAIM. "And who determines standing?" The Auditor's spectacles focused on Jack with the specific intensity of a being that was about to deliver procedurally devastating news. I DO. STANDING IS DETERMINED BY THE AUDITOR OF RECORD. AND I AM THE ONLY AUDITOR IN EXISTENCE.

We finally arrived at the venue. Mike parked, and we moved toward the grounds. The crowd was few, barely fifty people, and no one looked like a military officer, which was good because some of them were our people. A man that looked like Regan was already standing in the centre shirtless. He had no mark on his neck. I searched the back of his shoulder and found none. He had indeed forced Stacy into a union because he was supposed to carry her mark too. My father took off his shirt and stood in the middle.

It was fifee when it was onl he and his son but then he wouldn't want her to feel uncomfortable at the least by chastity's presence. He walked to one of the chairs and sat heavily on it, running his hand through his hair. Aria stood in front of him and refused to move an inch away from where she was standing. Jacob didn't notice it at first because he was lost in his thoughts but then he rose his head and was shocked to still see her standing there like she was some statue. "Is anything the problem? Why are you Standing there like you were asked to remain there?" He wondered aloud with his eyes glued on her.

A place to stay? "Yes," He said, his intense unwavering gaze fixed on mine. There is a condition though. You will stay by my side. You'll be my stand-in wife…. substitute wife as they put it" As my brain struggled to comprehend the words, I blinked. " Substitute wife?" The idea was startling like a foreign tongue. As I gazed at him, unable to process the gravity of his words, my heart skipped a beat. " Substitute wife?" I repeated my voice a little shaky. "What do you mean by that?"

Just as I had finished checking in and turned to walk up the stairs, Nathan rushed in suddenly. He was panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead, and his face was flushed from running. "Did someone just check into a room here? Did a woman named Yvonne Liesel check in? Tell me, quick!" he demanded.

Zayne I adjusted the cuffs of my black suit and leaned against the banister at the top of the staircase, forcing myself to stay still. The tie felt a little too tight around my neck, but maybe that was just nerves. I hadn’t felt this kind of anticipation in years. Everything about tonight had to be right. I stood there, straightening my posture, trying to look the part—a gentleman waiting for his wife. My wife. And then I heard it. The faint sound of heels against polished wood.

Burney threw ours on top, gave my waist a squeeze then let me go. I looked up at him, surprised to see his face void of the stupid grin he'd been wearing half a minute earlier. I dropped my gaze to the waiting group and understood. Stan was staring at us, radiating authority as he stood legs spread, arms folded in jeans and a dark blue shirt. "Get your rears over here!" Our eyes darted to each other as we stepped forward. Stan was a scary bugger, made more so by the fact that I was still convinced he would rather me dead than in his nest.

One day, CEO Cecilia Bennett brings her "one true love", Elliot Lawson, home. I'm in the kitchen, spatula in hand, wondering if I need to make a few extra dishes for her guest. But before I can ask, Elliot points at me, looking utterly betrayed. "I knew it! Everything those romance novels said was true! The second I left the country, you found yourself a replacement and brought him home!" What? A replacement? That's news to me. No one has ever told me I was supposed to be one.

After Poppy Steele, the heiress of the Steele family, loses her sight, my brother, Trevor Nott, breaks off their engagement and moves abroad. Left with no other choice, my parents ask me—their adopted son—to replace Trevor as a form of compensation. I take meticulous care of her for five years until she regains her sight. Just as she is about to marry me, Trevor appears at the wedding holding a bouquet of flowers, gets down on one knee, and confesses his love to her. The usually aloof Poppy bursts into tears. She throws away her wedding ring and runs to him, asking why he has only shown up now. I instantly become the laughingstock. I don't make a fuss, though. I change out of my suit a

His lips were moving but I couldn’t make out a single word that was coming out of his mouth. I stared blankly at him, trying to make out what he was saying or what he was trying to say to me. But all I could do was stare at his face. The face of the man I was supposed to spend a year with. His eyes brimmed with anger and his sharp jaw clenched tightly as he spoke through his gritted teeth. I could tell he was angry, but that was it.