Damian makes me promise to tell no one (not yet anyway) and hands me over signed contracts stating I will be the sole author to his tell-all book. All the royalties go to me, he just wants the roller coaster of the story out, with all the sordid details. He wants to become the most notorious bad boy rock star that ever lived who then just walked away from it all.Magically. He’s still on the fence about how he wants his ending to go. I say cliffhanger, because seriously? You can’t just have people thinking you’re dead and then one day pop up back to life when you’re bored of being a regular Joe.
Right now, he just wants to go back to being Simon Lowes, a simple farm boy from Iowa. He’s colored his hair, slapped on a pair of glasses and instantly looks like a brand-new person. He’s amped up and excited the entire flight, and I can’t shut him up or stop him from trying to nail down a New York accent. He’s pretty impressive. I always assumed he was from somewhere in Europe. He’s good at fooling the world.
The minute we land at JFK in New York, he’s hailing a cab like he was born here. When we get to my apartment, he takes a small spin around and narrows his eyes at me. “This is the size of one of my closets, Jane Nash.”
“Good, glad you think that way, then the faster you’ll get your own place,” I say, dragging my bag into my room. I heft it up and shove it in the corner. It’s too late to even think about unpacking. I haven’t even unpacked the situation I’m in.
“Oh, sorry. Do you need help with that?” he asks, staring vaguely toward my bag.
“You just watched me lug this thing through two airports and across an ocean, and now inches from where it’s going to stay for a good long stretch, you want to carry it for me?”
He smiles tiredly. “Sorry, I just ended my entire life and career. Wasn’t thinking about you or your luggage.”
“You are a great big, giant bag of dicks. You should suck on yourself and choke.”
He laughs and spirals into a yawn. “Thank you,” he says.
I meet his eyes.
“You saved me and I don’t think you’ll ever realize it.”
I nod, and purse up my lips. “I think just saying you’re retiring would have been good enough, you know? But, it’s your life.”
“Damian Miles is too out there for that. Someone like Damian doesn’t retire like he had a regular job. He was a rock god.”
“Okay, well, I can’t listen to you talk about yourself in third person. It’s creepy. The whole situation is creepy, and in a few days, you’re going to creep out of here and find a new life. Away from me.”
“Creepy is horse-head guy. You’re used to creepy.”
“No. Creepy is a man who uses humans as furniture and dip dicks everyone’s drink.”
“Don’t knock it until you tried it. I’m told my dick is delicious. Besides, that was the Damian persona, not me.”
“See?” I point to him. “There. Right there.Thatwas creepy. Pretending everything Damian did wasn’t you.Creeeeeeeepy.”
He smiles tiredly, then throws himself onto my couch, where he instantly falls asleep and snores like he’s still hooked up to a microphone.
I tiptoe into my bedroom, close the door, and immediately call Dex.
“Hey, Jane. Are you okay? I heard what happened, it’s all over the news.” Just the sound of his voice makes my shoulders relax.
“Don’t believe everything you hear.” I quietly change into a long sleep shirt. I’m exhausted and it’s half past two in the morning.
“Wait, what’s going on?” he asks.
“Well, I’m back in New York and I’ve brought something extra home with me.” I climb into my bed and slide my body between the cool sheets, cuddling the phone to my ear.
“You got me a gift?” he teases.
“No, it’s more like a living thing I have to take care of for a few days.”
“You lost me.”
“He’s faking it. Ending his career. Faking his death or disappearance or whatever they’re saying. He’s perfectly fine, asleep on my couch.”
“I thought he collapsed at the stadium.”
“Oh, he did. The jackass had to get his stomach pumped, but then he was climbing out of a hospital window with his robe flapping in the wind. He tried to run away in that plane crash a few months ago, which was staged by the way, but the paparazzi found him and the idiots dubbed it a miracle.”
