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"I know. Let's do it like this: When I get to New Orleans to organize the move to New York, I'll call Ares."
"Don't think I'll forget that promise, Serenity. I complied with your request not to tell security about the flowers and notes, but something tells me that your stalker is becoming increasingly impatient."
"Impatient for what?"
"To meet you face to face."
A shiver of fear raises the hairs on the back of my neck. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm going on stage in a few minutes. I need to concentrate."
"You’re like a younger sister to me, Serenity Clementine. I won't let you get hurt."
Serenity
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Fifteen days later
NEW ORLEANS
"Hey,stranger. Forget to call your boyfriend?"
"I just disembarked. Do you have some kind of radar to find me, Otis?"
After I got home from dinner with Ares that night, to avoid worse embarrassment in the future, I decided to call my boarding roommate's brother. With great shame, I explained the situation. He and I had a special connection the first time we met, and it was like that on other occasions too. We never dated, but we became good friends when he came to visit Matilda, his sister a year younger than me.
I don't even know how I got his phone number in my contact list—I don't remember saving it—but when I found it, I sighed in relief, because I had no doubt that Ares would find out about Otis in a heartbeat.
From what my roommate said, her brother was very naughty and didn't ever have serious relationships, so I was aware that I was asking him for a huge favor.
To this day, I can't understand what possessed me to invent that lie. I wanted to save my dignity, pretend that my first thought when I met my guardian wasn't taboo, and I ended up getting into a lot of trouble.
As it turned out, our relationship as co-conspirators made us real friends. Otis shows up at my performance venues without any warning, and he always takes me out to dinner afterwards. I even allowed him to kiss me on one of those occasions. The press had been portraying us as a couple for a long time.
Who knows, maybe the lie could actually become a real relationship?That's what I thought.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything. While Ares made my body shiver just by holding the back of my neck, Otis couldn't do the same with his tongue inside my mouth.
I see him as a brother, and I wanted to release him from the agreement after a few months, but he told me that he doesn't care, and that having the “taken man” label protects him from a lot of problems.
He must be discreet when going out with women, because everyone believes that I am his official girlfriend. Although, based on the number of partners he tells me he has, they must surely think I'm a naïve fool.
"I’ll be in the States in a few weeks."
"God, am I going to be betrayed here too?" I say dramatically.
"Maybe I'm going to ask you to marry me. So we can share your fortune and live life like there's no tomorrow."
"You already live like there's no tomorrow, dear boyfriend."
"Yeah, well, I forgot I'm rich too," he jokes. In fact, my naughty friend is the new CEO of his father's company, even though he's only twenty-five.
"Seriously, what are you going to do here?
"Maybe help with your move."
I roll my eyes, even though he can't see me. Otis is the type who won't wash a glass, let alone do any manual labor. "Don't worry about it," I say as I get into the car where the driver was waiting for me with the door open. "Ares emailed me the details of everything he organized. JeAnne won't even have to unpack a box."
"How is she taking it all?"