“Current member?” Chase asks. For the first time, his face turns serious. “Are they threatening you?”
“Not in so many words.”
I lean back on the wall as the conversation unfolds, taking in a deep breath and letting it out again. I want to say more, but I bite my tongue. There’s no need to yell at him, he’s just doing his job. And it sounds like he’s doing his best to help Chase.
I need time to think. And apparently, I’m not the only one.
“Okay, Liam. I hear you. Thanks for the heads up. And I’m sorry about all the tension. Give me some time to figure this out, okay? I’ll let you know what we figure out.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kaylee
Chase palms his chin for a moment. He looks lost in thought. Then he crosses the room back to the couch and sits down. “Leave it to siblings to kill the mood. Am I right?”
My inner thought is he should take the card key away from his brother and sister. We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes.
“What do we do?” he asks, turning to me. “How can we convince them we’re a real couple?”
From the looks of it, he seriously expects me to answer. I guess we’re going to drop everything else and brainstorm this thing right now.
“Um,” I clear my throat and start to speak like it’s the easiest question to answer in the world. But it’s not.
It should not be this hard, in theory. In truth I’ve never thought about what is considered verifiable proof of being in a real, grown-up relationship before. I’ve also never faked one before.
I guess I expected that an interview, or the publicity photos, or maybe a document certifying that we are in fact engaged to be enough. And who would be able to argue?
I have the ring, and we have an agreement. It’s just not the exact kind of agreement we’re pretending to have. Oh shit, that makes me a liar. And I’m really bad at lying. I start to worry.
If I do sign something, can I get charged for this? It’s never the rich people that go to jail. How crazy would it be for me to be in jail for something like this while my ex gets to be free after robbing me of every cent? Life sure as hell isn’t fair.
“Kaylee?” His eyebrows are knotted together in concern.
I have to wonder, is it concern over me losing it and panicking about our agreement, or concern for me as a person? Suddenly I’m very confused.
“I’m thinking.” That’s the only answer I have for him right now. And it’s true.
Then my phone buzzes. I look down at it. “Fuck.” All this shit with Chase has me so distracted that I missed a ton of texts. And calls. It was all fun and games when Chase was ignoring his messages, but these are from my mom. She heard about the engagement. From the tabloids. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“What’s up?” he asks. “Because it doesn’t look like you’re working on a plan to convince the board we’re a couple.”
I stand and shoot daggers into his beautiful eyes. “No, I most certainly am not working on your stupid issues right now, Chase. I missed like, a billion texts. From my mom. She knows we’re engaged. She found out from the tabloids.” It hits me that this whole plan is riskier than I thought. If my mom found out, what about my friends? Or even worse, my work?
“So? Just text her back,” he replies.
I look around for something to throw at him. All I find is a soft pillow, but it’ll do.
“Hey!” he objects.
“Just text her back? Like it’s that easy? Your Covington family didn’t have to hear about it through the tabloids.”
“What are you talking about?” he asks, dodging the pillow. “My family finds out most of our secrets and skeletons from the tabloids, eventually. You get used to it.”
“I’m not getting used to it,” I tell him.
My friends. I open my eyes and before I do anything else, I text them begging to meet me tonight at the Tiki. I’m going to come clean and hope they haven’t already figured it out. No matter what else happens this weekend, I’m going to do my best not to count my family and friends as wreckage from this one really weird agreement.
I shoot him an angry look and then turn my attention back to the phone. Oh boy, it’s not good. In addition to the texts, I have also missed a dozen calls.
The phone starts buzzing in my hand. It’s not making any noise. It’s on silent mode? I never put my phone on silent. I try to think back to when I would have done that and come up blank.
Chase gives me a quizzical look.
The phone is buzzing and lighting up and the name on the caller id is Mom. I look from the phone to Chase and then back again. “It’s my mom.”
“Don’t answer it!” he says, standing up and starting to pace.
“I have to pick it up, it’s my mother. I’ve missed a million calls. She’s going to think I’m dead in a ditch or something instead of just engaged if I don’t pick up.”
“Oh yeah, then you definitely have to pick it up.”
It’s on the third ring, and I’m starting to panic. It doesn’t help that his pacing is freaking me out. “Hey, your whole family knows, why can’t mine?”
I turn my attention from Chase to my phone to answer it. Oh wait, I already answered it a minute ago and didn’t realize it. Mom’s already talking and I’m missing it.
“Hello? Mom?” I interrupt.
“I thought I heard shouting. Is there shouting? Is everything okay?”
I narrow my eyes at Chase. He stands frozen, eavesdropping. “No, mom. I’m fine. Nobody’s shouting, it’s just the television.”
I point to the mounted television across the room and jump up and
