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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 na?ve 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?"

"Much better than I thought. I didn't think she'd come with me. I was prepared to help her retire if that was what she wanted. I'm sure Ares wouldn't object to me giving her generous compensation for all these years."

"But you would be alone."

"Nope. I have Debra and you."

"And your guardian."

"No. He sees me the same way Mr. Van Lith did."

"But you call him Ares."

"Are you jealous, boyfriend?"

"What difference would it make? I'm rich and handsome, but I don't have his experience, judging by the number of partners he's had."

My mood sours. I don't like hearing about that kind of thing. I never search for Ares on the internet because I'm a believer in the saying “the one who seeks finds.” He's not mine at all, but in a crazy way, I feel possessive and would hate to see him with a woman.

"The pot calling the kettle black, in this case, boyfriend."

"What does that mean?"

I roll up the partition window between me and the driver so he can't hear what I'm going to say. "You can't say anything about Ares possibly being a womanizer, Otis. If we were really dating, I would practically be a frog, I’d be so green with jealousy."

I hope he will laugh, but that's not what happens. Instead, he says, "If you were mine, why would I want another, Serenity?"

I feel embarrassed. His tone seems serious, and I don't want to go down that road. Day by day, he becomes more important in my life. A constant presence.

“You almost got me, Otis. For a moment, I thought you were going to declare eternal love to me."

Finally, his laugh comes, and I breathe a sigh of relief. "Almost a perfect impression, wasn't it? Well, I need to go. One of us has to do some actual work."

"You’re telling me that? I doubt you could survive even one training session with Debra."

"I doubt it, too!" He laughs, and that’s one of the things I love most about my friend: his ability to make fun of himself. "I love you, Serenity."

"Love you too. Try not to betray me too much."

"No more than necessary."

I hang up the phone and close my eyes, then slide my phone into my bag. But the moment my hand enters the bag, I feel a sting on my fingertip.

First, I think I’ve cut myself on some sharp object, but then I start to feel the area throbbing and a tingling sensation. It starts to become difficult to breathe.

I knock on the partition, desperately, and when my eyes start to feel heavy, I finally remember to roll down the window.

"Help me. Something bit me. Please . . ."

And then, I can no longer stay awake. Darkness engulfs me, even though the sun still shines outside.