Page 41 of Fake Crown

“Brent has to go to practice,” Posey says, saving my ass from this continued discomfort. “But I just wanted to let you both know that he’ll be around delivering lattes and—”

“Orgasms,” Destiny says with a shake of her head. “Heard that part, thanks.”

In the doorway, I lean toward Posey and give her a quick peck on the lips. “I don’t think they like me.”

“They don’t like any guy I bring home. They’ll come around. Maybe. By the time the two weeks is done, probably. You know what? You should bring them lattes too.”

“Tomorrow? I don’t know your schedule,” I say when she tries to shut the door on me.

“Oh right. Yeah. I wrote in all the places I need a latte delivered on my calendar during the flight. In the car on the way here, I synched our schedules. Easy peasy.” She winks at me. “See you tomorrow.”

Then she shuts the door in my face.

I stand there stunned at the entire encounter. Our schedules are synced? I take my phone out, and sure enough, tomorrow morning at nine is a latte icon and the location of her class.

This girl, man. This girl.

Posey

As soon as the door closes on Brent, Destiny starts laughing. I pray to god Brent hustled his ass out of here after they gave him such a hard time.

“You can’t be a little bit supportive of my fake relationship?” I say with a huff.

“Are you trapped in a romantic comedy? Are we being pranked? Are there cameras hidden in here?” Destiny checks our plastic plants and peers behind picture frames.

“I had heard Valentina wasn’t very nice, but there is no way you need to be involved in this,” Nadiya says.

“It’ll be fine. The sex is great. He’s easy on the eyes. What’s the worst that can happen?” I grab a cup from the cupboard and get myself a glass of water.

“STDs, pregnancy, heartbreak,” Nadiya rattles off. “Those are just off the top of my head.”

“We pinky swore to no feelings,” I say. “We’re hanging out for a couple weeks until Val catches on that he’s not coming back.”

“Oh,” Destiny says. “Well, if you pinky swore on it, it must be true.”

I hurl a dishrag at her, and it makes a satisfying thwack when it hits her back.

“I don’t understand what you get out of this,” Nadiya says. “You can get your own coffee, and I know you can get your own orgasms too.”

Valid question. Those are nice perks, and if I hadn’t run into Val at the spa, I might have backed out of our deal. His comments about trying to restore my faith in boyfriends made me wary. “He needs help, and I decided I wanted to give it.”

“Isn’t it a little concerning he’s so sure he can’t resist her without you as backup?” Nadiya digs in.

“Any habit is hard to break.” I put my glass in the dishwasher. “I’m here to break his Val addiction.”

“Why?” Destiny purses her lips.

While Nadiya is good at picking away at all the things I should be thinking about, Destiny always drives into the middle of my muddled thoughts. It’s annoying and also why I love her.

“She treats him like a license to print money, and I hate that she’s using him like that. He’s actually a really nice guy.”

“Oh,” Destiny says, realization dawning on her face. “That makes a lot more sense. You’ve got that protective thing from being so close to the royals. Val is the leech, and you’re the salt.” She waves me off and heads for her room. “Problem solved.”

Once Destiny is gone, Nadiya comes to the island and leans across it. “Is that really all this is? You being the salt? Because I know how long you’ve been staring longingly at his photos.”

“You should see him naked in real life.” I fan myself.

“You’re really guarded with guys,” Nadiya says. “And this doesn’t seem like a situation you’d normally involve yourself in. Maybe over the weekend you decided you like him? I just—there’s a chance he could end up back with Val—and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”