Page 85 of My Rock Star Neighbor
“Should I make more?”She scrapes off the blackened edges.“I’m used to my toaster that barely works.”
“No.I like my toast crispy,” I say.
“You’ll forget it when you have my magical smoothie.”She hands me a spoon to try her pink concoction.
I sip the frothy mixture.“Mm.This is really good.I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me all this time.”
“It seems like we were both holding out on each other,” she says.
“I definitely didn’t think you liked me,” I say.
She opens her mouth and then shuts it, as if to reconsider what she was going to say.“I didn’t think you’d be interested inme.”
“Because I’m Nick Devlin?”I ask.
“I was going to say that,” she says.“But also because your last girlfriend worked forVogueand looked like she could be a model there.And I work the city beat and can blend in with a crowd.”
“You don’t blend in with a crowd for me, Maddie,” I say.“I’ve found your face every time you’ve been at a concert—when the lights aren’t blinding me.”
She pulls me in for a kiss.“You’re just Nick to me—this guy who is creative and passionate about music and other endeavors.”She blushes.
I can’t wait to make her blush again.
“Hold that thought, or our eggs are going to burn too.”I quickly turn off the burner and divide my scrambled eggs between the two plates and set them out on the table.Then I pick her up and stick her on the counter, sliding between her thighs to very much resume that thought.
But eventually we pull away so that we can eat our now-cold eggs and toast.
“I woke up last night, and you’d disappeared.Did you write?”she asks.
“You’re good for my songwriting career, but don’t worry.It’s about the emotion I feel.I want to keep our day-to-day moments as private as possible.I want to hide away with you and protect us from the world.”
“It’s okay, Nick,” she says.“I’ll be careful with my investigation, and it’s good for us to show the world that we work together.”
“Let’s hope that they accept our explanation for why we were fake dating,” I say.
“This is not a conversation I’m looking forward to,” she says.“But I’m excited to come home to you tonight.”
Our MusEn producer can’t be too mad about our fake dating, right?Isn’t it common practice in the music industry?
Nonetheless, the entire band is waiting with me in this conference room lined with framed band posters.They insisted on coming to “have my back.”And of course, this affects their big break.Again.Why is this such a roller coaster?But I feel a wave of gratitude towards them that we’re sticking together.
Our producer breezes through the door and rushes up to me, putting both hands on my face.“We’re so relieved you’re safe from last night’s attack.Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” I say.“My security camera alerted us, but it was scary.And now we’ve moved into my friend’s place, which has more security.”
“You’re sure it’s enough?”she asks.
“As sure as I can be,” I say.“But that’s not actually why we asked to meet with you.”
“Oh?”She sits down.“You all look serious.”
“Maddie’s apartment was ransacked.”I take a big breath—that shattered monitor still shakes me.“One of the things stolen was our dating contract.We were fake dating, but now we’re dating for real.”I then hand over a printout of my photo of our contract.
She blinks and stares at the piece of paper.
“We thought we should warn you and any PR people,” I say.“And also, I wanted to say I’m sorry I wasn’t upfront about this arrangement.But now we are truly dating.”
“You lied to us?”Ashley asks.
