Love Me to Death

by Sharlay

  I get in the taxi and let the driver know where Bobby lives. I sit back and think about my crazy day. I’m still trying to figure out whether or not signing that contract was a good idea, but the look in Ned’s eyes when she talked about her mom just did something to me. It made me think about my mom. I miss her. There was no way I would have ever done anything to let her down, ever, which is why I am in the mess I am right now.

  My phone rings in my pocket and I smile when I see Layla’s name pop up.

  “Hey,” I say at the same time that she says sorry.

  “What? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  “Yes, I do. I didn’t mean to come across cold earlier. I just want you to get your life together. I hate seeing you struggle.”

  “I know, Sis, it’s ok.”

  “Look, I honestly don’t have the money to help you out but if Larry really throws you out, then you know you can come and stay with us for as long as you need to.” I love my sister.

  “That means a lot but I’ve sorted it out now.”

  “What?” She sounds beyond shocked.

  “Yeah, I took your advice, got off my lazy ass and got an actual job.”

  “Doing what?” Yeah, how do I explain that?

  “Just some acting work.”

  “That is fantastic! I’m so proud of you. I knew you could do it.”

  “I know, so thanks for giving me that little talk earlier, I needed it.”

  “Anytime.”

  “Well, I’m off to go and meet Bobby, but how about you and I go out for something to eat next week … my treat.”

  “That’s sweet, Bren, but I don’t want you to spend all of your money.”

  “I won’t be, honestly, and this gig I got pays pretty well. I’m contracted for a whole year.”

  “That’s amazing! Ok, it’s a date then, I look forward to it. See you next week. Love you.”

  “Love you, too. Kiss Alex and Sophie for me.”

  “I will.”

  I hang up with the goofiest smile on my face. I’ve never wanted my sister to have to take care of me, but it’s been that way for much longer than I wanted it to be and now it’s time I returned the favor.

  “Is this the place?” the taxi driver asks.

  I look up from my daze and see Bobby’s apartment building just outside.

  “Perfect, let me just give him a call.”

  I dial Bobby’s number. He picks up after the first ring.

  “Sup?”

  “I’m outside.”

  “Be down in five.”

  “Ok.”

  I’m pretty excited to meet the twins he’s been talking about. Especially since all I’ve thought about is Ned since I left her penthouse four hours ago. She’s been a bit of a distraction, in my brain and my pants. I need a way to get her off my mind. That’s where the twins come in handy. Well, one twin anyway.

  “Hey.” I hear Bobby’s excited voice as he swings open the car door and slides in next to me.

  “What’s up?” I nod in Bobby’s direction and then turn my attention to the driver. “Hey, do you know Eccentric?” He nods. “Great, that’s where we’re going.” I turn back to Bobby. “Why are you smiling so much?”

  “I saw her today.” Oh gosh, not this again.

  “The chick from the clothes store?”

  “Yup,” he says with a sickly smile on his face.

  “You look creepy when you smile like that. And how much longer are you going to stalk her for?”

  “I am not stalking her,” he says seriously.

  “Bobby, you go into her store every day and never buy anything.”

  “Not true, I bought a pair of pants the other day actually.”

  “I know, and then you returned them.”

  “I still bought something.”

  “Yeah, just so you had a reason to see her again.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Why don’t you just ask her out?”

  “She scares the life out of me! I can’t; if she rejects me I’ll be mortified. She’s the first girl I don’t want to take to bed.”

  I look at him with raised brows.

  “Ok, I want to take her to bed but I’d like to see her in the morning too.”

  “That makes more sense.”

  “It does?”

  “Well, not to me, I never want to deal with the morning after, too much drama but if it works for you then great.”

  “Did anyone ever mention that your words of encouragement suck?”

  “Nope, ’cuz I don’t usually give any out.”

  “Nice.”

  “So, where are the twins?”

  “They’re meeting us there later. Lacey’s mine, you can have Tracey.”

  “Rhyming names, their parents run out of imagination?”

  “I know, right.” He laughs.

  “And what’s wrong with Tracey?” I ask suspiciously.

  “Nothing, Lacey’s just more flexible.” He chuckles. Fair enough, I can still work with that. Tracey might not be flexible now …

  “How do you even tell them apart?”

  “I can’t. I just plan to call out Lacey’s name and whichever one answers is mine for the night.” I shake my head at his twisted logic.

  “So, how did your interview go?” I have to remind myself that I signed an NDA.

  “Yeah, good.”

  “Just good? Dude, you haven’t had a job in the past seven months. Aren’t you excited?”

  “Yeah, of course I am. I’m just more excited about tonight.” I lie. I’m definitely more excited about what Ned’s going to be wearing next time I see her. I wonder if she’ll look even hotter than today.

  “What is it? A TV show, theater …” Oh boy.

  I hesitate. “Yeah.”

  “Yeah what?” he asks suspiciously.

  “Yeah, it’s an online TV show.” Good save, Brennan, good save.

  “When will it be aired?”

  “Don’t know yet, the producers are just working on the pilot and script. I’ve got to wait and see how it goes.”

  “Oh, then h—”

  “Ok, we are here.” Saved by the voice of a taxi driver. Thank God!

  We pay half of the fare each and leave a little tip for the driver before jumping out in front of Eccentric. I love this place. We walk straight to the front of the line. Bobby says our names to a gigantic bouncer and before I know it, I’m in the comfort of my favorite bar.

  Bobby goes straight over to talk to his cousin, Jonathon, who also happens to be the co-owner of Eccentric. I nod my head at him before heading to the bar and leaving them to talk.

  “What can I get you, handsome?”

  She’s a brunette and she’s hot, just not the hottest brunette I’ve met today. I push thoughts of Ned away so I can flirt.

  “What do you like to drink?” I flash her my panty-dropping smile.

  “Malibu and Coke works for me,” she answers in a sultry voice.

  “Then I guess that’s what I’m having.” I wink.

  “Single or double?”

  “Make it a double.”

  “Good choice.”

  “I make excellent choices, babe, trust me.” She blushes before spinning around and going to make my drink. I take a seat on one of the stools at the bar and face the crowd. This place is pretty swanky, and that’s what I like about it. It’s not wild like some bars, it’s almost exclusive. Leather chairs, booths, quiet music, and a good atmosphere. It’s exactly what I need after whatever I got up to last night. Don’t get me wrong, I intend to take someone home tonight but this time, I intend to remember so that I can make sure they leave before tomorrow morning. And before you judge me, let me remind you that nobody knows about me and Ned yet so it won’t do any harm to our little arrangement.

  “Here you go,” the bartender says, sliding my drink toward me. I turn and face her. I stop the glass with my left hand and grab her wrist with my right.

  “I haven’t seen you here before.” I lower the tone of my voice.r />
  “I started on Friday.”

  “What days do you work?”

  “Just on Friday and Saturday.” I can feel her pulse speeding up under my fingertips.

  “Good, now I know exactly when my favorite time to come here is.” I slowly remove my hand from her wrist and watch her blush. I smirk. I take out my wallet, pay her and then pull out my phone. “Keep the change.”

  I log on to my online banking app and wait while it scrolls. After we signed the contracts earlier, Ned instructed me to leave my contact details with Misty. That included my number, address, and bank details.

  When the screen pops up, I stop breathing for a moment as I look at my balance: $5261.23.

  I close my eyes and then check one more time. She wasn’t kidding! She paid me. I have to push away the urge to break out into my happy dance. This Ned chick really is rich and she’s taking my role as the “lover” seriously. Well, if I keep seeing five thousand dollars being deposited into my account every month, I’ll be the best damn fake lover she has ever had.

  “What’s with that crazy look on your face?”

  I turn and find Bobby staring at me.

  “What look?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been acting weird since you picked me up earlier.”

  “Sorry, I guess I am more excited about this new job than I thought. I was just checking an email saying that the job’s definitely mine,” I lie. I hate lying but I don’t have much of a choice.

  “That’s good, I’m happy for you. Does this mean drinks are on you tonight?”

  “Hell yes!”I laugh before he orders three drinks. One for me and the other two for himself. Typical.

  We’ve been here for two hours now. The twins arrived about an hour ago, and I may be a little drunk. I start laughing at the thought of Ned finding out I’ve been drinking, which she won’t. And why am I even thinking about her?

  “What’s funny?” Lacey asks.

  “Just a joke someone told me earlier. So, tell me, Lacey, what do I have to do to get you to come home with me tonight?” I whisper as I snake my arm around her waist and pull her so close that my lips are against her ear. I feel her shudder against me. Nice. I’m definitely getting some tonight.

  “Well, you could start by getting my name right.”

  I pull back. “Huh?”

  “My name is not Lacey.”

  I must be drunk.

  “Then who in the hell are you?”

  “Tracey,” she says in annoyance. “That’s Lacey, my twin sister,” she says pointing toward the girl talking to Bobby, behind us.

  “There are two of you? Wow, I just thought I was seeing double.” I chuckle to myself. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, stroking the back of my fingers across her face. Well, I think it’s her face; things are a little blurry to be honest.

  “It’s ok, you’ve had a bit to drink; I’ll let you off.” She laughs.

  “That’s good to know. So, how do I get you to come home with me?”

  “You don’t.” A stern voice interrupts. Both Lacey or Tracey — I’m still not sure yet — and I turn toward the owner of the voice.

  “Ned?” I breathe as she stands there with her arms folded across her chest. Gosh she looks so freaking hot right now, well I think she does … from what I can make out. I imagine she does anyway. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “Do you know this girl?” Lacey or Tracey asks.

  “Err…sort of,” I mumble.

  “Sort of? How?”

  “Oh, do tell, Cole,” Ned says.

  “Cole? I thought your name was Brennan?”

  “It is,” I say in confusion. “She just calls me Cole.”

  “And who is she?”

  “Well, she’s sort of my girlfriend.”

  “What?” That word leaves several mouths: Lacey’s, Tracey’s, and Bobby’s.

  “Since when did you get a girlfriend? And a very hot one too, might I add,” Bobby asks, looking Ned up and down.

  “Since this morning,” I grumble. “I kind of forgot and stop checking out my girl. So not cool, Bobby.”

  “Priceless,” Ned says with an exasperated laugh.

  “You forgot you had a girlfriend? You were just begging me to come home with you!” Twiny says angrily.

  “Technically I wasn’t begging. You didn’t make me work that hard.” I hear Ned start laughing. I love that sound.

  “I never said yes and how can you laugh at the idea of your boyfriend taking another girl home?”

  “Ah, worse things could happen, some people in the world are actually dying believe it or not,” Ned says and I smile at her for that comeback. Well, the blurry figure that I’m pretty sure is her.

  “Have I told you how hot you are?” I ask Ned.

  “No, you haven’t.”

  “Well, you are.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Very hot.”

  “I second that,” Bobby says. I think I see one of the twins slap him.

  “Not cool, Bobby, not cool,” I mumble.

  “Cole,” Ned says softly, instantly commanding my attention. I look up at the beautiful blur.

  “Yes, baby?”

  “Get up, we’re going.”

  “And you’re bossy too; did anyone ever tell you that you’re bossy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good because you need to know. Bobby, do you see how bossy my girlfriend is?”

  “Err … yeah,” he says in shock.

  “Good. I’ll call you in the morning, enjoy the twins. I’m going to enjoy Ned … I hope.” I hear her scoff.

  “I will.” He sounds perplexed and his voice is distant. That’s when I realize that Ned is currently dragging me out of the club. I try to focus and can just about make out my arm draped across her. My head falls onto her shoulder and I take in the smell of her hair.

  “Damn, your hair smells good.”

  “Thanks.” I’m sure she just laughed but I’m not certain since my eyes are closed.

  “Like strawberries and cream.”

  “Yup.”

  “I love strawberries and cream.”

  “Good.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To my penthouse.”

  “Am I sleeping there?”

  “Yup.”

  “Oh, you dirty, dirty girl. You’re taking advantage of the point in the contract about me staying at the penthouse. I’m so shocked.”

  “Oh, you’re not shocked yet but in the morning, you will be.”

  That sounds a lot like a threat, but I’m not sure because as soon as the sentence leaves her mouth I fall into complete darkness.

  I am woken up by a bucket of ice cold water being thrown over me. “What the hell!” I scream.

  “Morning,” Ned says, holding the empty bucket in one hand and placing the other hand on her hip. I’m mad because I hate being woken up, but she’s wearing a pair of short shorts and a tank top … I’m a little distracted.

  Wait … Ned? Why is she here? I look around … this isn’t my apartment. I’m in Ned’s penthouse. What the hell am I doing here? Then an image of last night flashes through my mind. Oh boy … I’m in trouble.

  I clear my throat and force my eyes up to her face. “Why would you do that?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

  “You really want me to answer that right now?” No, because I already know the answer but I’ll keep that to myself.

  “On a scale of one to ten how mad are you?”

  “Eleven.”

  “Oh boy,” I whisper.

  “Yes, oh boy. You broke the terms of our agreement last night.”

  “Give me a break; we haven’t even officially started fake-dating yet. What terms could I possibly break?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, let’s see: you drank alcohol and you more than likely divulged the private details of our contract to your friends, too!” Good point, I did drink and I have no idea what hap
pened last night, let alone what I may or may not have said. “And you were going to take that little floozy home with you.” I smile because I recognize the little twinkle in Ned’s eyes. “Why on earth are you smiling?”

  “No reason.”

  “Don’t do that crap. You start it; you man up and finish it.” Ned is hot when she’s mad, but again I’ll keep that thought to myself.

  “Well, the drinking bit I get, and I am sorry. I wasn’t in control very much last night, and I could have slipped up about our agreement.”

  “Thank you,” she says with a little huff. So adorable.

  “However, the truth is we haven’t even begun fake dating yet so whether I took Lacey—”

  “Tracey.” She corrects me. Wow, even my fake girlfriend knows the name of my “almost” one-night stand.

  “Yes, Tracey, sorry, even if I took her home it wouldn’t have really affected our agreement. So, I’m left wondering if maybe there’s another reason you’re so mad.”

  “Really, and what reason might that be?” she asks sarcastically.

  “I don’t know, maybe you’re jealous.” I smirk. She laughs. Loud. “What?”

  “You’re cute. Now, get this room sorted out and then go and take a shower. I want to start our first training session in an hour.” Then she leaves while I am left sitting in a puddle of water. And why the hell was she laughing when I said she was jealous?

  I jump out of the bed and realize that I’ve only got on my underwear. That dirty girl stripped me last night. I turn and see my clothes from last night hanging over the back of the chair. They are washed, ironed, and a fresh pair of boxers is on top of them. Intriguing.

  When I step out of the bathroom that is linked directly to my room — well, Ned’s guest room — I notice two things. The first, being a glass of orange juice, sitting next to two pills on the nightstand. The second, is that there are fresh sheets on the bed. Either Ned has a secret house maid or she actually did it herself. I’ll go with the first option although this girl is full of surprises. I pick up the glass, throw the pills in my mouth and chase them down with the orange juice. Let’s hope Ned wasn’t trying to drug me because I just made it way too easy if she was.