Like she’d just remembered I was in the room, she awkwardly added, “Your movies are good too.”
Zane didn’t laugh often, but when he did it was impossible not to laugh along. Sarah wiped her tears and headed back to work.
When she shut the door behind her, he kicked me under the table. “You hear that, big brother? Your movies are good too.”
“I should’ve beat you up more often when you were a kid. Taught you to respect your elders.”
He grinned. “So…I hear you have a new girlfriend.”
I should’ve known that was coming. “Does mom know yet?”
She probably would’ve called me if she’d found out. When I made the agreement with Elena, I’d dismissed a passing thought about what I would tell my family. It didn’t seem pressing in the moment when we had so many other things to worry about.
Now that I was here with them, I didn’t want to lie and tell them I was in a real relationship. But my mom would be horrified I was in a fake relationship, so I didn’t really want to tell her that either, especially when she was hurt. It was important to her that Zane and I stayed grounded in spite of our fame and she’d be disappointed to know I was misleading people.
She’d been madly in love with my dad since she was sixteen. She would find the idea of a contract relationship distasteful, upsetting, and worst of all, a waste of time I could be using to find a match of my own.
I wasn’t surprised to find it was Elena’s face that popped into my head when I considered the idea of a match. There was a connection between us that went beyond our agreement, but because of how complicated our situation was, I didn’t know if we’d ever get to explore it.
Zane pulled me out of my thoughts. “Nope. She would’ve called me if she knew. But you won’t get away with that for long. Just because she doesn’t hang out on the interwebs much and has celebrity news blocked doesn’t mean someone isn’t going to bring it up with her eventually.”
I groaned, needing to unburden myself with my brother. “I didn’t think that part through when I signed up for a contract relationship.”
He slapped the table. “I fuckingknewit.”
“How?” Had we not been as convincing as I thought we had?
Zane paused like he was finding the right words. “I mean this lovingly, but you always play it safe. There’s nothing safe about your fake girlfriend, so I wondered if there was a PR stunt afoot. But then that didn’t seem like you either, so I talked myself out of it. I thought you didn’t pull shenanigans like that. What’s the deal?”
I let out a deep sigh. “I don’t even know, man. I got in over my head with thatCrown of Swordspart and didn’t want to blow it. I saw the video of her with the VP and thought if some minuscule fraction of her presence could rub off on me, then I might be able to pull it off. I wasn’t allowed to hire her, so I thought I could pretend to date her to give us cover and she could teach me how to be Lucas Steel.”
“Is it working?”
How could I communicate how amazing she was? “Yeah. It’s unreal how smart she is and how well she can explain that stuff. Sometimes it feels more like therapy than a lesson, like she’s opening up what’s already in there instead of teaching me how to pretend. It’s wild.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds like somebody might be catching some feelings for the hot dominatrix…”
I blew out a breath. “It’s strictly a business relationship.”
He barked a laugh. “So I can ask her out when your contract is up?”
I shot him the big brother look.
His grin was smug. “Uh huh. That’s what I thought.”
I put my head down on the table. “I’m so fucked.”
Zane laughed. “My advice? Don’t tell mom it’s fake unless you’re sure it’s going to stay that way. And if you’re going to tell her that, wait until she’s feeling better. She’ll get herself all worked up.”
I groaned, still facedown on the table.
Zane patted me on the shoulder. “Why don’t I bring her back out to LA with me as soon as she can fly? I’ve got time before the tour starts, so she and Ryan can come stay at my place for a bit. Maybe we’ll finally convince her to move out there with us. That buys you some time to get your shit straight.”
Would more time make things with Elena any less complicated? It at least meant I didn't have to drop anything on my mom while she was recovering.
“Thank you. Can you solve my acting problems too?” I asked.
“Only if you can solve my music problems.”
