Chapter 6
Xander
I love social media. My bandmates weren’t that into it, so we hired people to monitor our accounts and post information about our shows. I still posted and responded to comments. I searched for #RecklessRelease and kept track of when we were trending. Usually, I was the first to know when there was gossip circulating about any of us.
Not surprisingly, I found quite a bit about Cami and me the morning after the Mitch incident. It was nothing new. No one from the band or the label would even call to talk to me about it. Cami also didn’t care. It made sense that there was speculation. Everyone who followed the band knew I thought of Harley as a sister, so there was no chance of us hooking up. Cami was often seen with Reckless Release, and a lot of people had seen me flirt with her. The night before, I’d even convinced her to dance with me. The dancing had been innocent, very little touching involved, but people had still seen us together. Between that and me intervening with Mitch, it was no surprise people were calling Cami my girlfriend.
I looked at the time and grinned, knowing my phone would be ringing soon. As expected, it began buzzing. I let it go to voicemail twice before answering.
“Hello,” I answered in a pleasant voice.
“Didn’t I warn you about sending my calls to voicemail?”
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Very funny,” my sister snapped.
“What’s up, Lacey?”
I always messed with Lacey. I considered it my responsibility as her younger brother. My sister was seven years older than me, and she was great. After my dad got sick when I was twelve, my mom had to work long hours to support us and pay his medical bills. When he died, Lacey moved back home to help my mom take care of me. I’d argued that I didn’t need her help. At fourteen, I’d thought I was grown up enough to take care of myself. I’d been wrong, and I now realized I owed a lot to my sister.
“So, what’s this I hear about a new girlfriend?” she asked.
“Are you trolling me online again?” I was only half-joking. Lacey often followed the gossip about me. It was a little embarrassing since some talk involved things I didn’t want my sister hearing about.
“Don’t even think about changing the subject,” she warned. “Please, tell me it’s true this time. I keep hearing about you and this Cami woman. I did a little digging, and she’s not a bimbo. You need to marry her and have kids. I deserve nieces and nephews.”
“Why is it that you’re the one nagging me about settling down instead of Mom?” I asked.
“Since when do I nag you about settling down?” She didn’t give me a chance to answer. “I never mention that you’re not getting any younger or that Mom would like you to bring a nice girl to Christmas dinner.”
“Mom came to my place for Christmas dinner,” I reminded her. “She also never mentioned anything about wanting more grandkids. It hasn’t been that long since you gave her another grandchild. That’s why you didn’t come for Christmas dinner. Dana was too knocked up. I think Mom is happy with the three grandkids she has. Tony’s grandkids also call her Grandma, so she’s set.”
My step-dad, Tony, did his best to make my mom happy, so I had no complaints.
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you to have children,” Lacey argued. “I’m also worried about you. I keep seeing these stories about you and Cami. Why aren’t you dating her? Why aren’t they more than rumors?”
“Because we’re only friends,” I replied. “Last night, the story got blown totally out of proportion.”
My mom never pushed me the way Lacey did. She accepted my explanation and believed I was just friends with Cami. Lacey had never entirely bought it. She could be a real pain in the ass.
“I know all that,” Lacey told me. “It makes sense that she’d hang out with the band. I might even be able to believe that she’s not interested in being more than friends with you.”
“But you know I’m totally into her,” I finished for my annoyingly nosy sister.
“Why don’t you ask her out?” To Lacey, it was that simple. I’d ask Cami out, she’d say yes, we’d get married, and then we’d have kids. It was the perfect happily-ever-after scenario. “Maybe you’re wrong about her wanting to be just friends with you.”
“Cami told me she doesn’t want to date me,” I admitted. While I hadn’t asked her out, Cami had made it clear from the beginning that we weren’t going to date. Since then, she’d given me reminders whenever I flirted with her. I flirted with her often, so I got a lot of reminders.
“She doesn’t know what she’s missing out on.” I grinned when I heard how angry my sister sounded on my behalf.
“You don’t need to get pissed at her,” I insisted. “She’s my friend, and I’ll be fine if that’s all I ever have with her. Sure, I think she’s hot as fuck. You can’t even imagine what I’d like to do to her.”
As I’ve already mentioned, I love messing with my sister.
“Don’t go into any more details,” she warned.
“All I’m saying is, she’s a sexy little blonde,” I added.
“Now, I see why she won’t date you. Can you please be serious for a minute?”
“No,” was my simple reply. “I’ve been serious enough. I was serious when Dad got sick and then when we lost him. When I was working full-time and trying to succeed in the music business, I was a lot more serious. Fuck being serious. It’s time to have some fun.”
My sister laughed at my rant. “You’re right, Xan. Fuck being serious. You’ve earned some fun time, even if I do know you just said all that stuff to distract me from talking about Cami. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I replied. “When are you coming up to see me?”
“In a few weeks,” she replied. “I have an interview in San Jose.”
“You do?” I asked. “You’re going to move up here?”
“We might,” she replied. “I’ll message you with the details since I already know you’ll forget if I tell you over the phone. I’ll only be up there for the day, but I’d like to meet for dinner.”
“Sounds good. I really miss you. Talk to you later.”
“Bye,” she said before ending the call.
I grinned because, if my sister moved up north, my mom was likely to follow. It also meant I’d get a lot more time with my nephews. I loved being an uncle.
I decided to take a quick shower and get dressed for the day. When I got back to the social media frenzy, all I could think to say was, “What the fuck?” I continued reading, dismissing the first response as a fluke. It wasn’t.
Someone had hacked Cami’s account. I was about to call her when my doorbell rang. After a brief hesitation, I decided to deal with the person at the door before calling Cami to warn her about what had happened.
Chapter 7
Cami
As I stood on Xander’s front porch, I wondered what had possessed me to race over to his house to tell him what I’d done, rather than calling him.
My morning had started with over a dozen texts from Mitch, all either apologizing for how he’d acted at the club or warning me about how dangerous Xander was. He’d insisted I’d end up being mistaken for one of Xander’s groupie sluts. He’d used the words groupie sluts, not me. I had no problem with women having healthy sexual appetites and experimenting. Men got to do it, so why not women? Why should women be called sluts while men were praised as studs? His choice of words had done more to prove Mitch wasn’t the guy for me.
I’d ignored his texts and gotten ready to head out to the grocery store. I figured that since I was already up early, I might as well beat the lines. Then, I’d decided to procrastinate a little and checked for stories about the Reckless Release show. I’m still a groupie, just a groupie with better connections.
There was a lot of buzz about Xander and me. Usually, I ignored it, and it went away. Xander always responded, but his responses were light without adding to speculation. He was great with social media. All I ne
eded to do was ignore any posts suggesting I was dating him, and they would go away, but I’d suddenly come up with another plan.
Xander was holding his phone when he opened the door, and the first words out of his mouth were, “#XanandCam is trending. Someone must have hacked your account.”
“I kind of started it,” I admitted. “Not kind of. I started it.”
“Yeah, right,” he replied with a laugh. “So, do you want to come in and consummate this relationship now? Should we head to the bedroom? Or should we go for something a little more original?”
“Very funny,” I grumbled, trying to not let the image of Xander naked in his bedroom take root in my mind.
“Sorry,” he began. “I shouldn’t joke about this. I’m sure you’re upset. Have you already changed your password? Wait. Why didn’t you delete the posts?”
He didn’t believe I’d been the one to confirm the latest rumors, not that I blamed him. “It was me. Can I come in to talk about this?”
Xan still looked shocked, but his grin was back in place. “Sure. You never answered my question. Do you want to consummate our new social media romance?”
I smacked his belly as I passed him on the way into the house. “It’s not like that.”
He followed me as he read from his phone. “My ex can’t accept that I’m with Xander now #XanandCam. Did you really post that?”
“That was me,” I replied. “I already told you I started the Hashtag. It’s just not what it seems like.”
“Maybe you should explain,” he suggested. “Should I get naked, or is there definitely going to be no consummation today?”
“Xander,” I warned. “I’m serious. No sex, and definitely no getting naked.” It pained me a little to say the last because I was sure Xander looked fantastic naked.
He put his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what happened before someone from the band sees this?”
“Mitch won’t leave me alone.”
He nodded his understanding. “I noticed last night. I assume that wasn’t the first time you’ve told him you don’t want to see him again. Have you considered getting a restraining order?”
“I don’t have grounds for one,” I admitted. “To be honest, I figured he’d get over it and leave me alone. After we broke up last time, I didn’t see him for months. I’m not sure why he’s so obsessed this time. He says it’s a horrible time to break up and even accused me of ruining everything—whatever that means.”
I collapsed onto the comfortable sofa in Xander’s family room while he took a seat at the opposite end.
“Ruin everything?” he asked. “Did he seriously put it that way?”
I nodded. “Seems a little dramatic, doesn’t it?”
“Crazy was what I was thinking,” he replied.
“I could see him feeling that way if we’d dated a long time and had a future planned together,” I admitted.
“Even then, it seems a little over the top. What is his problem? Has he threatened you?” Xander sounded angry.
“No, he hasn’t threatened me,” I assured him. “He just won’t go away.”
“So, you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” he asked.
“When I made that post, I didn't think that far ahead,” I admitted. “If I’d taken the time to think things through, I would have realized how ridiculous my idea was. Mitch won’t see this. He doesn’t use anything except LinkedIn. He’s not following any celebrity gossip. I’m really sorry, Xan. What a mess!”
He moved closer and slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t stress too much about it. I’ve been known to act impulsively on rare occasions.” When I laughed, he continued. “There’ve been one or two times when I didn’t think before I acted.”
“You don’t say,” I said with a smile.
“It’s true. So, what should we do about this?” he asked. “If you want it to all go away, I can issue a statement saying your account’s been hacked. It happens enough that people will buy it, and this whole thing will be forgotten in a day or two.”
“Or you could pretend to be my boyfriend.” I pulled away to see his reaction to my suggestion. It was a crazy idea, and I would be the first to admit it was even a little juvenile. Normally, I don’t like playing games with people. That’s not my style. In this case, I was out of ideas.
“Are you fucking with me?” Xander asked.
Chapter 8
Xander
Cami’s suggestion shocked me. It was like something out of a sitcom or a romantic comedy.
“This is a stupid idea.” Cami began to stand, but I caught her hand. She turned to me with a smile. “Sorry for all the drama this morning.”
“Drama?” I asked with a laugh. “People have been speculating about us for months, so they don’t even seem surprised. Now, if you’d said you were dating Harley, that might have created some drama since everyone thinks she’s a dominatrix with a harem of young men. For a short time, they thought she was having a baby with Delaney, so I guess people might buy that you’re dating her and allowing her to keep her harem.”
Cami giggled at my description. “A harem? No one thinks she has a whole harem of young men.”
“I guess harem is the wrong word,” I mused. “What do you call a bunch of guys chained up in a sex dungeon?”
“How would I know?” she asked.
“I’ll look it up later,” I told her, making a mental note to do so. “If I pretend to be your boyfriend, you’ll get a lot more attention. I know you already think you get a lot of attention, but it will be worse if people think we’re a couple. You’ll also have to be seen with me more often.”
“Are you saying you’ll play along with this?” she asked.
I was an idiot for even considering agreeing. Playing Cami’s boyfriend would put me closer to temptation. It was hard being around her some days because I had to pretend my flirting was only a game.
“This is a bad idea,” Cami muttered when I took too long to respond.
“It’s not,” I assured her. “What’s in it for me if I agree to be your guy?”
“Pretend to be my guy,” she corrected.
I waved off her words. “Whatever. I still want to know what’s in it for me.”
“I’ll make you waffles,” she offered.
Not going to lie, I almost moaned at the thought. The only times I’d had good waffles since moving to the Bay Area were when I’d been back in Los Angeles and the one time I’d had one of Cami’s waffles. She made phenomenal waffles. I’d had a reheated waffle, so I could only imagine how good one fresh from the waffle maker would taste.
“I’m not sure that’s enough,” I replied thoughtfully. “That’s a vague offer. What if you only make me waffles once? I’m going to need more than that.”
“Waffles twice a week for a year,” was her response.
I pretended to consider her offer. Six months back, I’d have jumped on that offer, but I wanted more than Cami’s waffles. Pretending to be her boyfriend might be just what I needed to convince her I really should be her boyfriend, but I could only pull that off if we spent more time together without our friends around. “I want you to teach me how to make waffles,” I told her. “Not just one lesson. I want you to work with me until I’m as good a cook as you are.”
“You don’t know how to cook anything, do you?” she asked.
“I can make a few things,” I insisted.
“Such as?” she asked.
“Spaghetti,” I replied. “I can also bake those cookies you buy in the refrigerated section.”
She laughed at my response. “The last doesn’t count. If all you have to do is remove it from a package and put it in the oven, it’s not cooking.”
I shrugged. “Since I didn’t burn the cookies, I deserve credit. I don’t know how to cook much. My sister tried to teach me, but I was an asshole as a teen, so I didn’t listen well. Here’s the deal I’m willing to make. I’ll pretend to be your snugglekins if you teach me
to make waffles.”
Cami groaned. “Do not ever refer to yourself as my snugglekins again. That sounds terrible.”
“We’ll have to come up with some cutesy pet names. I’ve got it! I’ll call you my Cami-cakes.”
“No,” she replied with a laugh.
“Cami boo bear?” I asked with a grin.
She reached over to smack my arm lightly. “Please, tell me you don’t think those are good pet names.”
“Nah,” I admitted. “I figured you needed a laugh. You seem stressed out. So, do we have a deal?”
“You won’t ask me to wear a thong while I teach you to cook?” She was referring to a suggestion I’d made the first time I’d asked her to teach me to make waffles.
“I can’t make that kind of promise,” I replied with a shake of my head.
“Fine,” she relented. “You can mention the thong, and I’ll try to resist the temptation to smack you with a whisk.”
“I’m not into being smacked with kitchen utensils,” I told her. “I’d be willing to spank you with a kitchen utensil if you beg me. Normally, I prefer to use my hand, but I’ll make an exception if you say pretty please.”
Cami’s lips parted, and her tongue darted out to moisten them. Much like the other times I’d suggested something wildly inappropriate, Cami looked intrigued, but she quickly masked that reaction. “Behave,” she warned.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I asked. “In all seriousness, this is a good deal for both of us. You know I’m not going be a dick. If you think I’m acting like one, tell me.”
She nodded. “Okay. It’s a deal.”
I had to bite back my grin. Cami didn’t know it yet, but I had her right where I wanted her.
Chapter 9
Cami
I’d just made a deal with the devil. Before things went too far, I needed to let my friends know what was going on. Eventually, one of them would hear about the XanandCam Hashtag. We should have talked about how to tell our friends before I left Xander’s place. There was a lot we still hadn’t discussed. A thought occurred to me. I needed to clarify that it wasn’t okay for him to fool around. Fake relationship or not, I didn’t want to be cheated on.
Rocking Perfection (Reckless Release Book 3) Page 3
