Page 23 of My Rock Star Neighbor
“Hey… A corrupt infrastructure inspector showed up here and gave my dad a hard time,” Iris says.
“Are you serious?”I ask.
“He threatened to cite my dad for a violation but muttered something about how we could find a mutually beneficial solution if my dad would give a slot to some unknown singer for her to perform.‘Give a newbie a chance.’Dad was like, ‘Sorry, I’m not running a charity.And I don’t have any violations.’I backed Dad up and said I’d like to see this ‘violation,’ and I wrangled the inspector’s name.”
“What’s his name?”I ask.
“Demoraux,” Iris says, showing me the ticket.
I’ll google the guy later to find his contact information.
“Dad asked his friend who runs the Chubby Cat down the street, and hedidhave a violation, so he agreed to let her perform,” Iris says.“He gave her Sunday at five, so good luck to anyone showing up at that time.She goes by only one name: Ophelia.”
“Ophelia?”I google her name and do more digging as the conversation flows around me.It’s easy enough to figure out her full name: Ophelia Galliano—the daughter of Deputy Commissioner Galliano.Wow.This is almost too easy.His daughter wants to be a rock star.And it turns out Galliano is in charge of the Eleanor Roosevelt playground celebration—an event where Nick plans to perform.As his date, I’ll have access to them at the celebration.And if Nick really wants to be Batboy to my Batman, he can meet Ophelia and offer to give her advice on her career—and possibly figure out if her father is clearing violations for her benefit.
Fake dating might help my investigation.It’s only going to be three months, so it’s not like my dating “Nick Devlin” at this point in both our careers could make people think less of me as an investigative reporter.
And the relationship was going to be governed by a contract—no emotions.
And the contract was confidential.
And I’d be “dating” Nick.I take a deep breath and put away my phone.
Who can define what dating is?We will be going out on dates, and we are friends.
“Are you done researching her?”Iris asks.
“Sorry.It was too hard to pass up,” I say.
“Understood,” Iris says.She works in cyber-security and understands the thrill of an investigation.
“Did you move all your stuff into Sebastian’s place?”Bella asks Iris.Sebastian is Iris’s fiancé.
Iris nods.
“And here I was, hoping you’d be my roommate,” Bella says to Iris.“Lily is almost always over at Rupert’s.”Lily, a librarian, is another friend of ours, who is not here tonight because she’s out with Rupert at some city function.As a real estate developer, he has quite a busy social calendar.But he only wants to attend events if Lily accompanies him.
“I’m sorry,” Iris says.
“You’resonot sorry,” Bella says.
“You’re right.”Iris smiles, a contented cat smile.“I’m so happy.He is so sweet.He makes me breakfast in the morning, and we laugh so much together.So far, moving in together has worked well.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to move in with me?”Bella asks me.
“I thought you were moving in with your grandma,” Iris says.
“I don’t know.She likes living by herself,” Bella says.“So, if Nick continues to keep you up at night…”
“About that…”
The waiter brings us our dinner as the band starts playing in the back of the bar.Outside it’s dark and cold, but the sparkly tea lights draped above us give a cheerful glow.
Most customers shift to the back to listen to the band, so it’s only a handful of people eating a late dinner up front.
This is perfect.Bella writes romances, so she knows all about fake dating, and whatever authors think should be included in the contract terms.Iris, though, is not going to be happy about this.It’s not that she dislikes Nick himself, but because her rocker ex-boyfriend cheated on her, shedefinitelydoes not recommend dating a lead singer.
“Did Nick agree to be your date for the press panel?”Iris asks.
