How to Be a Rockstar's Girlfriend: a fake dating, small town, rockstar romantic comedy (Cash &

Chapter 20

Pretending – only works when people don’t know you’re faking

Mercy

Good morning, sassy girl

I frown at the message from Gibson. He sends them constantly. Sweet little messages to remind me he’s thinking of me. Or, they would be sweet, if he wasn’t pushing me. Apparently agreeing to give me time doesn’t mean not pushing me. Sneaky man.

How did you sleep?

Are you having a good day?

I groan. Why does he have to be sweet? No one’s ever asked me about my day before. Not even my mom when I was little.

“Hey, Mercy!” Indigo shouts.

My brow wrinkles as I walk out of the garage to discover Indigo standing with Virginia and Leia in the driveway.

“What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to convince you to stay with Gibson,” Leia says.

Indigo slaps her shoulder. “You weren’t supposed to tell her.”

Virginia snorts. “Because this is a secret mission?”

Indigo crosses her arms over her chest. “This is a secret mission.”

“You’ve been hanging around the gossip gals too much,” Leia grumbles.

“And you’re starting to resemble your grumpy man.”

Leia waves her hand in the air. “I think you mean grumpy fiancé.”

“Oh my god!” I squeal and rush to hug her. “Congratulations.”

“What happened? Did he get down on one knee? Or just grunt at you?” I ask when we pull apart.

Indigo pushes her way in between us. “We’ll tell you all about it when you come with us.”

I motion to the garage. “I’m still at work.”

“And you’re the boss now so you can leave whenever you want.”

I frown. “I’m not the boss yet.”

“Go on. Get out of here,” Basil hollers from under the hood of the car we’re currently restoring. “You’re not going to get anymore work done today now anyway.”

“Thanks, boss.”

“Not your boss anymore,” he mutters.

Technically, he’s still my boss until we finish the paperwork but he’s obviously ready to retire.

“Let’s go.” Indigo tries to herd me away, but I plant my feet.

“I’m not going anywhere in this attire.” I motion to my overalls, which are covered in grease and paint. “And I need to get home to Uncle Mercury anyway.”

“Mercury’s handled,” Virginia says. “Gratitude is going to sit with him.”

“Gratitude?” My brow wrinkles. “Your former boss?”

She shrugs. “Apparently, they’re friends.”

Indigo shoos me toward the restroom. “Now get out of the overalls and get ready to go.”

I debate fighting them some more but I could use a night out with my friends. Spending another night pacing around my bedroom trying to figure out what to do about Gibson isn’t appealing. Plus, Mercury threatened to shoot me with birdshot if I didn’t settle down. Yep. A night out is what’s needed.

“Where are we going?” I ask once we’re settled in a golfcart driving away from the garage.

Virginia sighs. “My house.”

My brow wrinkles. “If you don’t want us in your house, we can go somewhere else. Not my place. Obviously. I don’t actually have a place. But somewhere else.”

“No, can do,” Indigo announces. “Cash and the gang are at my house doing whatever it is musicians do when they get together.”

I scowl. I hope Gibson isn’t drinking. If he drinks, I am done with him. I don’t date men who can’t stick to the agreements they make.

Although, we agreed he wouldn’t drink while we’re fake dating. What happens if our relationship isn’t fake anymore? Something to consider.

“And my daughter Isla is at my house with her babysitter,” Leia says.

I pat Virginia’s arm. “Sorry about invading your place.”

“She doesn’t care,” Indigo claims.

Judging by Virginia’s pursed lips she does care but those two have been friends since high school. I’m not getting in between them.

We arrive at Virginia’s house which is a few doors down from Indigo’s and hop out of the golf cart. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and pull it out.

Have fun with your girls tonight.

How does he know what I’m doing? Is he spying on me? I look up to scan the area and nearly bang my head against Leia’s.

“Are you reading my texts?”

“Don’t worry. He’s not spying on you. Indigo told Cash we’re getting together tonight.”

I guess she was reading my text.

“Come on.” She laces her arm through mine. “Time to get the inquisition over.”

“Inquisition?”

She tugs me forward. “It’s fine. They won’t actually torture you.”

Crap. In the excitement about her engagement, I totally forgot their mission was to convince me to stay with Gibson. I drag my feet but Leia’s strong for being tiny. She hauls me into the house and pushes me onto the sofa.

Virginia walks in carrying a tray with champagne glasses. She tries to hand me one but I shake my head.

“I don’t drink, remember? Not even on special occasions.”

“It’s sparkling grape juice.”

“Who’s pregnant?”

She sighs. “No one’s pregnant, silly. I got the grape juice for you. You don’t drink, so we don’t drink.”

I snatch a glass from the tray. “Thanks, but you can drink in front of me. I don’t mind.”

“Except you do mind when it’s Gibson who drinks,” Indigo says.

Leia chuckles. “Way to be subtle.”

“Oh, please. This one is wily. We can’t be subtle with her if we want to get our way.”

I lift my glass. “To Leia and Fender. May they live happily ever after.”

“Told you she’s wily,” Indigo mumbles as we clink glasses.

I finish my grape juice, which is just as disgusting as it’s always been, and set my glass on the coffee table. I motion to Indigo. “Out with it.”

She doesn’t hesitate. “You should give Gibson a chance.”

“Give Gibson a chance?” I furrow my brow. “I’ve given him a chance. We’ve been dating for a while now.”

Leia snorts. “You don’t honestly think anyone believes this fake dating stuff, do you?”

My pulse races. They know it’s fake. Shit. Who else knows? Does Uncle Mercury? No wonder he can’t pick a nursing home to move into.

No. I refuse to believe it. Gibson and I played the part well. They can’t possibly know it was all fake.

“What do you mean fake?”

“I figured it out when we told you a naked woman had come on to Gibson after one of the concerts,” Virginia says. “You had no idea what we were talking about.”

“Ha!” Indigo shouts. “I figured it out before you. At the brewery to be precise. The way he kissed you it was obvious it was the first kiss. If you had really been dating Gibson, there’s no way he could have kept his lips off yours for very long.”

I touch my lips with my hand. “What’s wrong with my lips?”

She snorts. “Are you kidding? I’m straight and in love with Cash and I still want to kiss you to find out how those plump, red lips feel.”

I feel my cheeks warm but I ignore it. “Sorry. I don’t do women. Been there. Done that. Didn’t get off.”

“I knew before all of you,” Leia declares. “When we met you at the party and you didn’t bat an eyelash after I explained about the bet between Gibson and Jett, I knew. No way would you have dated Gibson any longer if you knew he and Jett were betting about who could bed the most women.”

Crap on a stale cracker. I totally forgot about the bet. How the hell could I possibly forget the man I’m considering dating is a complete and total man whore?

“Leia!” Indigo shouts. “You’re scaring her. She’s never going to give Gibson a chance now.”

I narrow my eyes on her. “Maybe Gibson doesn’t want a chance. This is fake after all. According to you three, at least.”

“Oh, it’s fake all right. It also stopped being fake when the two of you had sex the other day.”

I gasp. “How do you know we had sex?”

“A woman knows,” Indigo sings.

Leia elbows her. “Gibson’s house is next to mine. I saw you leave the next morning with sex hair.”

“And you had to tell her?” I point at Indigo.

She shrugs. “Apparently, it’s a sisterhood and there are no secrets.”

Indigo leans forward. “You had sex so why don’t you want to give Gibson a chance at something real?”

I debate jumping to my feet and running out of the house. I don’t owe them any explanations.

Virginia places her hand on my thigh. “You don’t have to tell her anything.”

“Yes, she does. She’s our new best friend. Besties share everything,” Indigo claims.

Virginia squeezes my thigh. “I can escort you out the back door while Leia holds Indigo off.” Leia nods to indicate her agreement with the plan. “But,” she continues. “We are your friends and we’re here for you if you want to discuss anything. I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at the chance to love a rockstar.”

“Same.” Leia nods. “I didn’t want to fall for a rockstar either.”

Indigo crosses her arms over her chest. “I didn’t fall in love with a rockstar. I fell in love with Cash who became a rockstar.”

“Here’s the thing,” Leia begins. “Gibson is different with you.”

“Different how?”

“Before you, Gibson didn’t have girlfriends.” Her cheeks darken. “He had conquests. He didn’t know their names. Didn’t care about them. He mostly asked Fender to kick them out while he hid in the bathroom.”

“Man whore,” I mutter.

“But with you he’s different. Before you, he would have jumped on the naked woman in the shower.”

My stomach sours at the idea of a woman throwing herself at my man.

“But he didn’t,” Leia reminds me. “Because of you.”

“And he isn’t drinking,” Virginia adds.

“Because I made him stop.”

Virginia shakes her head. “Honey, you know better than anyone here you can’t make a person stop drinking.”

I have to admit it. They make some good points.

“I have a super bad record with men.”

“Who doesn’t?” Leia asks. “Isla’s father left when she was a baby.”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Indigo says. “We’ve all been there. Love is scary.”

I realize she’s right. I am scared. Why am I scared? I’ve never been scared to start a relationship before.

Because those men didn’t mean to me what Gibson does. Shit on a stick shift. I’m falling for Gibson.