But I had agreed to meet Amber here, and I was a man of my word. Even if certain people didn’t think that I was.
I parked and got out, feeling like I was that old story they read to us in kindergarten, the one about the sparrow dressing up with peacock feathers. Trying to be something I wasn’t in my collared polo shirt and my khakis. Amber had insisted that I buy them and had given me cash to pay for them, despite my protests. I was a jeans kind of guy, t-shirts, that sort of thing. I’d never worn a polo in my whole damn life.
Thank God when I entered the lobby Amber was there. I was nervous as all hell that someone would kick me out before I’d even had a chance to explain myself. It looked like that kind of place. I wondered if I knew anyone who was working here or if they’d all be too young for me, after my time.
“You came!” She walked over and hugged me.
“Of course I did, you asked me to.” I hugged her back.
“And I appreciate you showing up,” she told me seriously. “Okay, so, I have the schedule of the day’s festivities, I figure that if we just strategically show up at some of them, make a bit of a scene—could you act drunk?”
“Yeah, I can do that, no problem.” It wasn’t like it was going to do anything bad to my reputation. Everyone probably expected me to do something like that and was surprised I hadn’t already.
“Thank you.” Amber sounded more sincere than I’d possibly ever heard her be before. “I really do appreciate this, Pike. You know how my parents are.”
“Yeah, I remember. Vividly.” Amber’s parents had hated me with a passion usually reserved for things like cockroaches. They’d never approved of her dating me and the only reason they hadn’t out-and-out banned her from doing it was because they’d been smart enough to figure out that if they did that, Amber would still see me, just behind their backs and probably getting into even more trouble.
That was why I was here right now. Amber didn’t want me to be her real boyfriend. She wasn’t interested in dating me again. I had been relieved as all hell to hear that when she’d told me. I had no interest in her. When we’d broken up four years ago I’d been done for good, and thank fuck she felt the same.
What Amber wanted was to me to pretend to be her boyfriend to her parents at this fancy country club party. She had a real boyfriend, one that she wanted to marry, one that was serious about marrying her as well—some rich successful frat boy type. He had money and a family name, which was a good thing for Amber’s snobby parents, but he had a bit of a reputation, which they didn’t like. He’d raised a little hell at the country club once and her parents had put their feet down.
Amber figured that compared to me and the reputation I had, her boyfriend would look like a saint in comparison. So, my job was to show up with Amber, cause a bit of a scandal, and then Amber could ‘break up’ with me and ‘get back’ with her real boyfriend and her parents would be relieved and give their blessing when he proposed.
Easy-peasy.
I would’ve said no if I’d thought I had any chance with Billie, because I didn’t want her thinking I was going back to Amber, or anyone, in fact. But she had made it clear twice now that she didn’t want a relationship with me and despite my confusion over her behavior, I had to listen to her. Trust what she said.
So, Billie didn’t want anything with me, which made me a free man, and I was willing to do Amber this solid. She was a good person, honestly, which was why I’d fucking dated her for so long even with all of the ups and downs. Besides, it wasn’t like it was going to hurt me or my reputation to show up and cause a little scandal. I’d done way worse in my time.
“You and me will just insult a few people, and then maybe you can damage a golf cart or something, and then I figure we could canoodle over by the pool. Just inappropriate enough to scandalize the old ladies.”
“Uh… what kind of canoodling were you planning on?” I asked, wanting to back peddle a little.
Amber just laughed. “When did you become such a prude?” she asked. “Nothing indecent, we don’t want to get arrested, or kicked out. I just want my parents to remember just what trouble you were and how much better off I am with someone who has family and money.”