Okay, so much for whispering.
She throws her hand down on the wooden table hard enough and loud enough to make me nearly jump out of my chair. I wish she would stop doing that.
I glare at her savagely and put a finger to my mouth. Then I indicate that there are currently a lot of tacky weirdos with cameras surrounding us.
“Okay, back up,” Angie whispers. “You’re saying you’re engaged to Chase Covington?”
“Seriously?” Fi jumps in. “You slept with him?”
As I take a deep breath, I realize that Abigail has materialized at the table with more drinks. I look up at her and know that she isn’t going anywhere. And besides, I know I can trust her. “Your turn,” I say to her. “Any questions?”
Abigail shakes her head. “Nah, I’m totally good with the answers to the questions already asked.” There’s a pause.
“Oh wait,” Fi interrupts like she’s on a game show and she’s running out of time. “I have another one. How in the hell did you two even meet?”
“Last night,” I start. “After my love life intervention.”
“I knew it,” Angie blurts out loudly. Everybody within a ten-foot radius turns to stare at her. Her cheeks turn red and she presses her lips together. Then she leans in to whisper. “Sorry, I got excited. But I knew it. I knew that love life intervention would work.”
“Of course you did,” I say. “Okay, moving on to answer your question, Fi. After you guys left the bar, that’s when I met him. You guys were encouraging me to have some fun. I ran into him again after you guys left, and he was kind of cute.”
“What do you mean you ran into him again?” Abigail asks.
“Literally. He was the grumpy tourist. I bumped into him and spilled his drink when I went to get a phone number for the challenge. Then he came to sit next to me at the bar.”
“Oh yeah,” Angie says, “that guy you bumped into was Chase Covington? He looked pissed.”
I wave my hand like it’s no big deal. “That’s not important. The important part is that we hooked up later.”
“That’s a hell of a rebound,” Fi says. “I didn’t think you had it in you to go for the famous guy.”
“I didn’t know who he was then. Or even during. I didn’t find out he was Chase Covington, well, until Ralph’s meeting this morning.”
“How did you not know it was him?” Fi asks.
“She insisted on no names,” Abigail interjects. Fi and Angie look at me and I nod.
“What about your no tourists rule?” Fi asks with a smirk.
“I’m sorry but you did see the pictures of him on the internet, right?” I ask them, raising an eyebrow. “Plus, I was ready to break the streak.”
The girls squeal and pull out their phones to look him up again.
“It was your idea to have the intervention in the first place,” I say, pointing to my friends.
“I think what you’re trying to say is thank you,” Angie says. “Cause that intervention worked better than expected.”
I massage my temples with my fingertips. “Like I said, I didn’t even know who he was until I tried to sneak out the next morning and got caught.”
“Why did you sneak out?” Fi asks. “Did he suck in bed?”
“No,” I snap back, more defensively than I meant to. “He was really, really good in bed. It’s just that it was just supposed to be a fun, one-night stand. To blow off steam and forget what happened with the last guy. A clean start. But his brother and sister were there the next morning and they caught us together, ruining my clean getaway.”
“Oof,” Angie says. “This is like a soap opera. And it’s your life. What did you do next?”
“Well, he’s got some corporate drama going on. A takeover. They don’t think he’s stable enough to run the company or something. His brother’s on the board and gave him a heads up. Apparently, proving that he’s in a real relationship is the only way he can convince them into letting him keep his position.”
“Sounds like he’s well on his way to being a responsible adult,” Angie chimes in, laughing.
“I know, right? Anyway, since the paparazzi here had already gotten pictures of the two of us together the night before, he needed me to pretend to be his fiancé, otherwise it would look even shadier if he just grabbed a girl after his job was threatened.”
“Who’s trying to steal his company?” Fi asks.
“Some guy named Mark. I mean who really cares? How funny is it that the villain of this story is named Mark? Who’s afraid of a guy named Mark? Oh, better look out for Mark, he’s vicious.” We all share a laugh.
Then there is a wonderful pause where nobody is mad at me because I’m telling them the truth and answering their questions. I take advantage of this time by eating more chips and salsa.
All the while, I glance around nervously at the paparazzi. I can’t imagine what will happen if they catch wind of the conversation that we’re having right now.
Angie takes a bite too, but she’s not even done chewing before I can see her face scrunch up with a new question. Luckily, this time, she remembers to lean forward and whisper.
“Wait, so you’re saying you have some sort of verbal agreement to pretend to be his fiancé? What if he changes his mind? What if he skips town? You’re never going to win a verbal he-said, she-said, agreement with a family like the Covingtons.”
“I know,” I sigh. “That’s what I thought too.” I pull out my cell phone and bring up the Paybot app on my phone. I stare at my balance and all of the zeroes. Then I hand the phone over.
There is another round of gasps, only this time they are not sarcastic. “I told you guys to pace yourself. And whatever you do, don’t attract too much attention.”
“Three hundred and forty-five thousand dollars?” Fi squeaks.
