Page 16 of Under My Skin

But I wasn’t about to let Vicki fucking Preston set me up with someoneshedeemed worthy. Especially when her number one choice was…herself.

“Don’t do that. I’ll find someone on my own,” I told her.

She blew out a long breath. “I’d really prefer it if you’d let me find someone for you. We need someone who knows how this game is played.”

“My lifeisn’t a fucking game, Vicki!” I exclaimed. “I’ll do what you want. I’ll find someone to pretend to date. But I’m going to do it onmyterms, not yours.”

“Whatever,” she grumbled. “If you’re determined to find someone on your own, you need to make sure this girl signs a non-disclosure agreement, and you need to make sure you put in a clause that allows you to sue her if she violates it. As you pointed out, we can’t let the press get wind that this isn’t real, so she needs to have an incentive to keep your arrangement to herself.”

I rolled my eyes. “I knowthat.I’m not a complete idiot. I’ll call and let you know where we’re going on our first date so you can make sure a few photographers are there to take pictures.”

“Fine,” she huffed out.

“Anything else?” I stood up, ready to be done with this bizarre meeting.

She shook her head. “I think that covers it. I’ll email you the contact info for the charities by the end of the day.”

Vicki walked out from behind her desk, hugging me again. Once again, I jerked out of her embrace, and then I walked out of her office without so much as a goodbye. Heading for the back door of the office, I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up to cover my face and ducked my head down for good measure. As I speed-walked to my Escalade, I couldn’t help but noticethe bright red Tesla parked a few spaces down. Tacky, just like everything else about my publicist’s personality.

“Siri, call Malachi,” I told my phone.

“Calling Malachi,” the robotic voice announced.

The line rang a couple of times before Malachi answered.

“Hey, man. How’d it go with Vicki?” came his voice over the Bluetooth speaker in my car.

“You’re not gonna fucking believe this shit,” I muttered. “You up for a workout?”

“Your place?”

“Yep. I’ll be home in half an hour.”

“Sounds good. I’m on my way,” he told me.

“So, let me get this straight,” Malachi laughed, trying to catch his breath as we took a water break. “Vicki wants you to find a fake girlfriend to take to public functions for the charities you want to support…and she actually volunteered herself for the job?”

“Yep,” I muttered, then guzzled half my bottle of water in one gulp. “I sort of get where she’s coming from, but seriously, I wouldn’t date that woman – real or not – even if she and I were the last two people on the planet.”

He snorted. “No fucking joke, man.”

“Is she like this with everyone she represents?” I wondered. “Because…I don’t know, man. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.”

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but she’s never behaved like that with me,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe she was just trying to show you that she thought she could play the part?”

“Maybe,” I sighed. “I don’t know. Anyway, when I kept telling her no, her next suggestion was getting in touch with anotherfriend of hers who represents a bunch of young actresses and working with him to find someone for me to pretend to date. I told her I’d find someone on my own. I honestly don’t mind finding someone to take on a few dates in public places and let the vultures take some pictures, but I want to do it on my terms. Maybe find a college student who needs some help with tuition or something.”

Malachi went silent as he stared off into space, like he was lost in thought. When he didn’t say anything for about thirty seconds, I broke the awkward silence.

“What is it, man?”

He took a deep breath. “I know someone who needs help in a bad way. Morgan’s best friend, Dani. I just don’t know how she’d feel about this.”

“What’s her story?” I wondered.

“Her older sister died from a postpartum infection about a month ago, so she ended up with sole custody of her newborn nephew. She’s pre-med, and she’s having a hard time finding people to take care of Isaac while she’s in school. Her friends and neighbors have been…unreliable at best. Not to mention, her student loans are barely enough forherto live on, let alone support a newborn baby with.”

Fuck me. That poor girl. I’d never even met her, and my heart was breaking for her. I couldn’t imagine how hard it had been having the responsibility of a newborn baby just thrust on her like that, and juggling pre-medical school on top of it? She had to be barely hanging on.

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