After hours of cleaning and pinching my fingers while setting old-school traps with small cubes of protein bar, I finally allowed myself to sink down onto my lumpy couch/bed and take a break.
My phone offered zero respite, crowded as it was with even more messages from Pru, the last of which sounded downright menacing.
Let me not find a message from you before the evening performances, I will show up where you live and make you tell me what the hell is going on.
I had no doubt she'd follow up on that threat, which meant I had until 6:30 or so to come up with some kind of reasonable explanation that didn't reveal Nora's terminal diagnosis or make Pru yell at me for not accepting Cole Benton's offer to pay off my debt with an allowance on top.
Pru was my best friend, and I loved her. But she hadn't grown up like I did. She wouldn't understand why I couldn't let my pride down. Not even for a second. Especially with somebody like Cole Benton.
So, laptop it was. Tossing my phone back on the table, I opened up my ancient UNLV laptop to indulge in my favorite comfort food. Old episodes ofMello Medicine. At this point, the show was several years old and had ended after Nitra and Woods Mello decided to step out of the reality show spotlight.
But it remained a classic in my eyes, and it gave me strange comfort to watch Nitra Mello emerge on the other side of her little sister's death with a successful career in medicine, a husband who adored her, and a sweet family that didn't remotely resemble the outrageous one she grew up with as one of the kids onRap Star Wives: LA.
Unwrapping one of the protein bars for an early dinner, I watched Nitra announce to her husband, Woods, that she was pregnant again. Herrealhusband. And I tried not to feel even more sorry for myself that the closest I'd come to getting proposed to was to fulfill a dying woman's wish.
What would it be like to have someone propose to you for real? To want to be with you for real? And maybe even start a family.
An insistent knock sounded on the front door before I could even begin to ponder an answer to any of those questions.
And that was when I remembered I had forgotten to cash a check at Cal-Mart to pay for the rest of the rent.
Crap! Crap! Crap!
I rushed to the door to assure Vinny I'd get him his money ASAP, even though I wasn't sure if my last paycheck had gone through, considering the circumstances under which I'd been fired.
But it wasn't Vinny who'd knocked. I jolted when I saw the man standing on the other side of the door.
Not my landlord.
But my fake fiancé.
"Your confidentiality agreement," Cole Benton bit out before I could ask what he was doing there. Or say hello.He held up a black file folder with an annoyed look, even though he was the one who had shown up at my front door unannounced.
I blinked, trying to catch up. "You want me to sign a contract?"
"This is where you live?" Instead of answering my question, he pushed past me and barged into my apartment without invitation.
"Yes, please, come right on in," I said, closing the door behind him.
Cole either didn't pick up on my sarcastic tone or didn't care.
He just cast his eyes around the apartment with a heavy frown. Then turned back around to demand, "Are you on drugs?"
"What? No!" I exclaimed.
"Then what the hell did you do with that six figures you stole? It sure as hell wasn't paying rent on this dump."
A little bit of the offended self-righteousness deflated out of me.
Excellent, valid question.
So, I cleared my throat and changed the subject back to the file folder in his hand. "You brought something you want me to sign?"
"Yeah..." To my relief, he took the new-subject bait. "We'll be making our first official appearance as an engaged couple tomorrow night at this CEO of the Year event my grandmother will be attending, so you'll need to sign a non-disclosure agreement."
He placed the black file folder on top of the half wall separating the rest of the studio from a teeny-tiny kitchen area.
"It's pretty straightforward." He opened the file folder to reveal a sheaf of papers dense with legalese. "You'll act your part, and you won't say anything about our agreement to anyone, including Nora."
