Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 90598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I look a lot better than my house does. When I bought the place, I was more focused on buying things I liked than turning it into anything coherent. None of my furniture matches, the walls are still the same white as when I moved in, and there are few personal touches throughout the entire four-bedroom home. Leila will have a field day with this place. I wonder what kinds of things she’ll want to do. I feel my furniture will become more uniform, and the walls will get a good paint job.
When trying to find my mystery woman, I ended up on the site for her design business, Frills, and her portfolio looks amazing. I have no doubt she will do a great job for me, no matter what her weird threats were yesterday. She was actually kind of adorable, eating pizza and keeping an eye on Shiloh as we sat on that bench and talked. I’m just glad she lives in a quiet complex so no one was around to hear our plan.
It looks like we both will really get something out of this deal. If Leila does as good with my house as she has with the ones on the website, I’ll have no problem spreading the word. I’ve directed some people to the site already. I haven’t seen her work for myself to promote her, but her portfolio speaks for itself, and if people are interested, they can reach out based on that alone. The least I can do is try to get her some business. I think I got the easy part of this deal. Leila has to pretend to date me. I just have to let her give my house a makeover and pay for it, which is no problem for me.
It’s quarter to eight, so I leave my boring bedroom and grab my keys from the hook by the door. I have three cars, but today I’m going to take out the BMW. It’s one of my favorites.
Being a child star pays off, and I didn’t waste all my money away early. The only things I’ve bought are the house and the cars. No expensive vacations, no thousand-dollar bottles of champagne. Some may say I’m good with my money, but it’s more that I’m afraid I won’t get another big job, and I need to save as much as I can. In fact, paying Leila to redecorate my house will probably be the most expensive thing I’ve done in years. Worth it, though. Hopefully, it’ll help get me this next movie deal, and I won’t have to worry about money ever again.
I text Leila when I get to her apartment. She steps out of the front door wearing a sexy, tight black dress that hugs all her perfect curves. I bite my knuckle. Damn, I picked a good person to be my fake girlfriend. I don’t mind looking at her one bit.
She opens the passenger side door and gets in.
“You look great,” I say.
Leila looks down at her dress. “I went out and bought it when you told me where you were going. I don’t exactly have any club clothes.”
“It’s perfect. You ready?”
“I guess.” She stares out the window as we drive, wiping her sweaty palms on the high hem of her dress.
“Is everything okay?” I ask when we’re just a few blocks from the club.
“I’m not good at lying. I don’t know if I can do this …”
I put my hand on her leg and squeeze, careful to keep a safe distance from anything private, though I wouldn’t mind sliding up her tan skin.
“Don’t think of it as lying. We can pretend to be friends, hanging out and going places together. You don’t have to actually tell anyone we’re dating. The media will make that assumption like they already did.”
“It still feels wrong. How can you be so okay with it?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess I’m an actor. I live a life of deceit.”
Leila laughs. “You definitely have the drama down.”
“I try. Seriously, try to have some fun. Remember: just two friends out enjoying life.”
“I’ll try,” she says, still skeptical.
We pull up to the club and get out, handing the keys to the valet. I put my arm around Leila’s shoulder and pull her close to me. She laughs and whispers in my ear, “I thought we were just friends?”
“This is a friendly gesture. Don’t want you to get lost.”
She rolls her eyes, but she has a tentative smile.
We get up to the front door, and the bouncer smiles and shakes my hand. “Spencer, man, long time no see!”
He moves the velvet rope and lets me in, causing swears to come at us from the long line of people waiting. Even the lowest of celebrities in Hollywood get special treatment, especially when they bring publicity to the clubs. My cover photos from Dorsay, even those where I get into fights (that definitely weren’t my fault), bring them enough business that they let me in for free, and most of my drinks are comped, too.