Page 6 of The Girlfriend Card (Vegas Sin #4)

Not a Joke

Ottavia

I n the corner of a cozy cafe, I found solace at a table for one, a small and round slab of walnut.

Light filtered through the large window, where green vines climbed and soaked up what was left of the day’s precious sunlight.

The rich aroma of coffee hung heavy in the air, sweetened by the scent of the peppermint tea wafting from my mug.

I could sit and people-watch in here all day long.

Nestled in the heart of the Arts District, the rustic cafe was quietly bustling with creative types: art school kids, moody musicians, the hipsters with their ironic but cool sense of style.

It was the kind of place where I felt like I could truly blend in and get lost.

But seeing all the other students diligently working on their projects reminded me that I’d come here to get some work done, too.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to the laptop that glowed softly in front of me. I’d been applying for jobs all afternoon. Any job. I wasn’t picky about it. I just wanted to get a job based on my own merit, and not be hired because of my last name.

And lemme tell ya—it was rough pickings. There just isn’t much out there right now.

I was cruising Craigslist when, among all the scams and MLM schemes, one strange job listing caught my eye:

URGENT! Seeking Talented Actress for Unique Role TOMORROW.

“This is a joke, right?” I murmured under my breath.

A joke. Or a scam. Or some kind of weird sex thing.

Curious, though, I clicked the link and began to read:

Attention all beautiful and talented actresses in the Las Vegas area! Are you ready to be discovered? Do you have a passion for totally immersing yourself in your roles?

If so, this ad is for YOU!

I am seeking a talented actress for a special event TOMORROW at 7 PM.

I am a young but successful player in my industry, and I need you to play the part of my lovely and committed girlfriend at dinner.

Together, we will need to convincingly portray a GENUINE connection.

This is a chance to showcase your acting skills and be part of a unique experience! Don’t miss out!!!

Requirements:

- Acting experience STRONGLY preferred.

- Intelligent, charismatic, and captivating personality. (Or the ability to portray one.)

- Comfortable with improvisation.

- Age: 20-25.

- Definitely helps if you’re a hottie.

I will pay the right actress $10,000 cash. If you are convincing in your role and the night goes well, there might be a possibility of future work.

If you think you have what it takes, please send me an email with a brief introduction about yourself, a link to your Instagram, and why you think you’d be perfect for this role.

This is NOT a joke!!

I still wasn’t convinced, despite the disclaimer in the very last line, the presence of which only made me more suspicious.

“This has to be a joke,” I murmured.

And it was a joke that hit so close to home, I wondered if it was posted by someone I knew. But who would’ve done it?

Leo? Dad?

But why? I didn’t understand.

On a whim, I emailed the account. “This is a joke though, right?”

I sipped my tea and went back to people-watching for a bit. I didn’t expect to ever hear back. Honestly, I felt dumb that I’d even bothered to reply. Now my email address was probably in some huge scammer database of gullible fools— hell, I should probably change my password before I get hacked …

That’s what I was thinking when my inbox chimed with a new email. The Craigslist guy had already replied.

“It’s not a joke,” he replied. “I’m completely serious. Are you an actress? I’m kind of in a bind here, so if you can’t act or aren’t serious about the job, please don’t waste my time. Thanks.”

I cracked a smile. Whoever this was, it wasn’t Dad. Dad wouldn’t waste his time on a prank like this. Wasn’t his style. Plus, I doubt Dad even knows what Craigslist is. Leo? May be … but then again, I don’t know why he’d want to mess with me like that.

“I still think this is a joke or some kind of scam or weird Craigslist sex thing,” I replied. “But yes, I’m an actress. I’m majoring in theater at my university.”

Mere seconds after I pressed send, his reply hit my inbox.

“No shit? Seriously?” Before I could even reply to that one, he sent me another message with his phone number. “Call or text me ASAP please!!”

I grimaced. Maybe it wasn’t a joke … but the guy seemed far too desperate, and something about the situation was giving me bad vibes. There was no way I was going to text that person from my phone.

It’s probably a scam, anyway, I thought, and closed my laptop lid.

I left the cafe, a fruitless day of job hunting behind me, and headed back to my room at the Grand Royale.

I stepped off the elevator and made my way down the hallway, my flats sinking into the plush carpet.

One silver lining about Dad being in denial about me and Leo’s “relationship” was that I had the Grand Royale’s flagship luxury penthouse suite all to myself for a week.

Not that I needed all the extra room or amenities—I’d be just fine with the standard room—but hey, it was a perfect excuse to delay going home for another week.

I swiped my key card and walked in. As I expected, the suite was just as I’d left it this morning.

When I woke this morning, the bed sheets in the second bedroom were still perfectly made, and there was no sign to suggest Leo had ever stepped foot in the suite.

If he didn’t make use of the suite when he was attending an event hosted in the same building, I had a hard time believing he’d find his way over here any other time.

Which is why, as I made my way through the suite, my surprise grew at the unmistakable hiss of running water coming from the bathroom.

I paused and called out, “Hello? Leo? Is that you in there?”

“Hey, Tavi!” he shouted from the bathroom. “Yeah, it’s me! I’m in the shower!”

Oh. Weird.

He’d left the bathroom door cracked open, just like he always did. I knocked. “Hey, Leo.”

“Hey! Come on in,” he said from behind the shower curtain. “Don’t worry. You won’t see anything scandalous.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, anyway.”

“True, true.”

I pushed the door open, stepped over the clothes he’d left strewn on the floor, and hopped up on the vanity.

“I’m surprised, Leo.”

“About what?”

“I didn’t think you’d come by here. I thought I’d have this extravagant suite all to myself for a week.”

He laughed. “Well. I had to show up here at some point, didn’t I? Don’t want to break your old man’s heart, now.”

“Yeah. Gee. Wouldn’t that be awful.”

“But don’t worry, hon, I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care what you do. We’ve got two bedrooms, and the place is big enough for us both without us stepping on each other’s toes. And it’s as much yours as it is mine.”

“Sure, I get that, but I just wanted to swing by and say hi.” He changed the subject. “Oh, and I also wanted to say thank you so very much for last night.”

“No need to thank me. I didn’t have a choice.”

He chuckled. “No?”

“As soon as I got home from Stanford, Dad told me I was going. I wasn’t exactly happy about it.”

“Well, either way, I’m thankful you came.

I’d say you left quite an impression. Did you see the way those dirty old men were drooling over you?

Those pitiful, lustful beasts!” He howled.

“And then, Tavi, after you excused yourself for the night, they simply could not believe it that I didn’t immediately go chasing after you. Oh, and they let me know it, too.”

“Did you tell them why you didn’t chase after me?” I asked playfully.

He hesitated a beat, then sang, “Not fun~ny.”

“What’d you do after I left, anyway?”

“Oh, hell,” he huffed, a tinge of exasperation in his voice. “You mean, besides shake a million more hands and laugh uproariously at all their corny jokes? Not much.”

I glanced down at the floor, my gaze fixated on Leo’s discarded clothes. Something seemed off. Then it dawned on me, and I let out a squeal of a laugh. “Leo!”

“What? What are you laughing at?”

“You were out all night, weren’t you? You just now got home!”

“Huh? What makes you say that?!” He protested, but I knew my childhood friend well enough to know when he was feigning ignorance. “What are you talking about?”

“Your clothes, Leo.” Gently, I turned over the pile of clothes on the floor with my feet. “This is the same outfit you were wearing last night.”

He groaned, guilty.

“Soooo?” I asked in a gossipy tone. “What’d you do? Where’d you stay last night?”

“Tavi.” Slowly, he poked his head out from behind the shower curtain, his face long and stern. “If this is going to work, you know it’s better if we don’t ask each other those kinds of questions.”

What if I don’t want it to work?

“Since when is, ‘where did you sleep last night’ such a dangerous question?” I teased.

“If you really want to play that game, I could ask you a million questions about what you’re up to at Stanford.”

“That’s easy. I’m studying theater.”

“Oh, ha ha. You know what I mean, Tavi.”

“I do know what you mean, and that’s still my answer.”

“Really?” He puffed with disbelief. “So you’re telling me, in your three years at Stanford, you haven’t been swept off your feet by that tortured soul painting major who is far too pretty for his own good?

You haven’t had an incredibly cute but dumb-as-a-rock jock make you weak in the knees?

You haven’t found yourself getting into trouble with a bad boy who has so many red flags, he could start a flag football team?

” By this point, we were both struggling to hold back laughter.

“You never whisked that tall, quiet, skinny guy into the library stack to see if the rumors about his massive cock are true?”

“I’ve had a couple flings, sure,” I said, still giggling at his list of irresistible college boy archetypes. “But nothing serious.”

“Well, there you go. Same story with me,” he said. “We can, and will, each have our dalliances. Everyone does it. Just be smart about it. And remember the two rules.”

The two rules: keep it secret, and keep it away from home.

We stopped talking, and the only sound was the rushing water while Leo showered. My stomach churned. I had to say something, even if he didn’t like it.

I took a deep breath and blurted it out before I could think better of it.

“But don’t you get sick of it, Leo?”

Again, he hesitated.

“Sick of what?” His tone held a hint of caution.

Tread carefully.

“Pretending to be something we’re not? I mean … ” I trailed off. “Wouldn’t you rather people know ?”

“Ottavia.” The way he spoke my name told me this was the most dangerous question I’d asked yet. “Don’t talk like that. You know what’s been planned for us. Both of us. And we’d be fools to throw it all away.”

Sigh.

“Yeah. You’re right,” I said.

He shut the water off, and I knew our conversation had come to an end.

“Here.” I passed him a towel around the curtain and made for the door. But before I left, I turned back. “Hey, super random question. But you didn’t post anything an ad about a fake girlfriend on Craigslist today, did you?”

“Craigslist? Me? ” He laughed. “Why would I ever go on Craigslist? Better yet, what were you doing on Craiglist, Tavi?”

“Nothing. Nevermind.”

I retreated to my bedroom and shut the door.

I laid still in bed, my ears attuned to the faint sounds of Leo’s movements in the suite. I didn’t care to see him, especially after our talk. I knew he wouldn’t be sticking around here for long, anyhow.

Thirty or so minutes later, footsteps pattered down the hall. Leo approached and softly knocked, his voice muffled through the closed door. “Tavi?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna head out now, okay?”

“Okay. Do you think you’ll be back here at some point?”

“I wouldn’t count on it. I’ve got a lot going on with Dad’s campaign.”

“No biggie.”

“We should definitely hang out and catch up soon, though,” he said, his voice growing distant as he walked away. “Now that you’re back from school.”

“Sounds good. Bye.”

“Have a good night,” he called out as he left the suite.

The instant I heard the door click shut, I suddenly felt free. I popped off the bed and emerged from my room with a skip in my step.

Whew.

Alone time.