5. Cassidy
Cassidy
“There’s no way in hell that I’m going to this reunion. I mean, right? Why would I go? I hated high school. Plus, Sheldon will be there. I don’t need him annoying me all night.”
Candy pecks at her food dish.
“I’m a successful author though. I’ve done well for myself. It would be nice to rub it in everyone’s faces. Isn’t that what a high school reunion is really for?”
Candy chirps.
“Yeah, you’re right. Fuck them all.”
I toss the invitation on top of the pile of mail on my desk and kick off the floor to spin in my chair.
“It’s going to be a great day today. I wrote so much last night and I think I even smoothed everything over with Neighbor Man. Oh, let’s check the video I posted.”
But when I unlock my phone, I see five missed calls from Aarya. My stomach drops. I click on her name and she answers on the first ring.
“Girl, where have you been? I’ve been calling you for the last hour.”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
She coughs out an incredulous laugh. “Am I okay? Hmm, let’s see. My best friend is dating a famous hockey player and she didn’t tell me. How do you think I’m doing right now?”
My eyebrows pinch together. “What? Who? I thought I was your best friend.”
“I’m talking about you, numbnuts. How could you not tell me about Neighbor Man?”
My eyes dart around the room, not focusing on anything in particular as I try to piece together Aarya’s frantic words. “I am so confused. What are you talking about?”
“Click on the link I texted you and see for yourself.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and click on the link in her message. The page opens to a BuzzFeed article, but I couldn’t tell you what the headline reads because right underneath the bold words is a picture of Neighbor Man.
And me.
In my parking garage.
“What the hell?” I scroll down to find more snapshots taken from the altercation with Sheldon last night. One shows my neighbor with Sheldon’s shirt in his fists, and several others are of the two of us after Sheldon left.
“Aarya, who would’ve taken these pictures?”
“It looks like paparazzi.”
“Since when do I have paparazzi?”
“Read the article, babe.”
I scan the first paragraph and choke on my own spit. “Neighbor Man is in the NHL?”
“He’s not just in the NHL. He’s one of the best goalies of all-time. You didn’t know?”
“No! How would I know? I don’t even know his name, let alone his profession.”
She pauses. “So, you’re not secretly dating him and keeping it from me?”
“Of course not. This article is taken completely out of context.” I continue scanning the page, and let out an incredulous laugh.
“They referred to me as the smut writer girlfriend. That’s all they can ever focus on—the fact that I write sex scenes in my books.
What about character development? What about the rest of the whole damn storyline? ”
“This is kind of cool.”
I scoff. “Hardly.”
“You were photographed by the paparazzi.”
“Only by association. They were looking for Neighbor Man, not me. Besides, I don’t—” Three hard knocks on my door stop me mid-sentence. “Shit. Someone’s at my door.”
I tiptoe across the room and peer into the peephole.
“It’s Neighbor Man,” I whisper.
“Open the door,” Aarya whispers back. “He probably wants to talk about the article.”
“Why are you whispering too?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you think he wants?”
The deep voice on the other side of the door speaks. “I can hear you whispering, you know.”
My cheeks burn. “I’ll call you back, Aarya.”
“You fucking better.”
I end the call and swing open my door, and a tall red-headed woman pushes past me.
“Excuse me. Who are you?” My head whips to my neighbor. “Who is she?”
“The question is: Who are you?” The woman now standing in my living room smiles as she holds out her hand. “I’m Celeste. I’m Trent’s PR agent.”
I shake her hand because it’s the polite thing to do, but I keep my gaze on my neighbor. “You have a PR agent?”
He heaves a sigh as he enters my apartment and locks the door behind him. “Have you seen the news at all today?”
“I know. It’s terrible what happened to that little boy in Newark. I don’t know how those parents are going to live with themselves after that. Hopefully they stop smoking.”
The both of them blink at me like I’m an alien speaking Korean.
“Oh, you mean the article where the whole world thinks we’re dating? Yeah, I saw that one.”
Celeste barks out a laugh and Trenton pinches the bridge of his nose.
“I love you already.” Celeste makes herself comfortable on my couch and pats the cushion beside her. “Let’s chat about what we’re going to do.”
I lower myself beside her. “What is there to do exactly? It’s a silly little article. We weren’t doing anything scandalous. It’ll blow over.”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Celeste crosses her long legs. “We want to run with this story.”
My chin jerks back and my eyes dart to Trenton, who’s frozen by my door as if he’s afraid to step one more foot inside my apartment.
“Would you come sit down so we can discuss this like grown adults?” Celeste waves him over.
Before he can answer, Candy flutters out of her cage and makes a beeline for Trenton’s head. She gets curious whenever guests are over, and she likes to hover in front of their faces to check them out.
The two-hundred-and-something-pound man drops to the ground like he’s under attack. “Jesus Christ, what is that thing?”
Celeste cackles. “Oh my god, it’s a bird.”
“Sorry about that.” I jump up and lock the cage door once Candy is back inside. “She’s just saying hello.”
“She tried to take my eye out.” He peeks over the back of the couch. “You let her fly around your apartment?”
I hike a shoulder and drop back down on the couch beside Celeste. “Why not?”
“Uh, because it could peck you to death? Or shit on the floor. Birds are dirty creatures.”
I glance over my shoulder. “Don’t listen to him, Candy. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
“That’s her name?” Celeste asks. “Candy?”
I offer her a proud smile. “Candy Montgomery.”
Trenton’s eyes double in size.
I snort. “It’s okay, big guy. She’s in her cage now.”
He says something under his breath as he slumps onto the loveseat with a huff.
“Here’s what’s going on.” Celeste turns to face me. “Last year, Trent had a rough breakup. His fiancé was cheating on him with one of his teammates, who was also his best friend. As you can imagine, things turned ugly.”
I frown as I steal a glance at my neighbor. He stares down at his hands while Celeste continues.
“There was a bit of animosity on the team, so the GM traded Trent to the New Jersey Goldfinches, which is why he ended up here as your neighbor.”
Anger flashes in my eyes as I lean forward. “Why would they trade you? You weren’t the one who messed up the team’s dynamic.”
Trenton lifts his eyes to mine. “Because I’m older than the other guys on the team and they had a younger goalie waiting in the wings to take my spot.”
Damn. His ex left him for a younger man, and his coach dumped him for a younger goalie. The guy might irritate me, but no one deserves to feel like they’re not good enough—especially not because of their age.
I scrunch my nose. “That’s fucked up. I can see why you’ve been so grumpy. I’d be slamming doors too if my fiancé got with my best friend.”
He grunts. “Right, and my attitude had nothing to do with the musical going on next door to me.”
I lift my chin. “You’re just lucky I have such good taste in music.”
Celeste holds up her hand before he can respond. “So now, Trent has a lot of negative press surrounding him. They’re spinning the story to make it sound like Trent was kicked off the team because he couldn’t let it go that his friend took his fiancé from him.”
I shake my head. “The media sucks.”
I’m no stranger to bad reviews, the kind where they go for the jugular instead of stating what they didn’t like about the book.
“I’d like to spruce up his image. Show the world that he’s not ready for retirement, and that the past is in Seattle because he has a new girlfriend now.” A slow smile blooms on her face. “If the world thinks you’re dating, then why not let them think that for a while?”
I’ve read enough fake dating books to know what she’s suggesting. “You want us to pretend to date?”
Celeste gives me an eager nod. “I think a few months will suffice. Just enough time for the season to start and for the team to get a few wins under their belt.”
I lean back and set my arm on the armrest. “What would I have to do?”
Trenton’s mouth falls open. “You’re seriously considering this?”
“Why not?”
He shakes his head. “I told Celeste you’d never go for it.”
I’m a little shocked myself, but I know that look reflecting in his eyes. If he’s feeling anything close to what I’ve been feeling since I haven’t been able to write these last several months, then I’m going to help him get his spark back...and maybe mine in the process.
“Contrary to your opinion, Neighbor Man, I’m a very kind and generous person. I don’t mind helping you out, as long as there’s something in it for me too.”
Celeste squeezes my knee. “Don’t worry about that. You’ll be generously compensated for your time.”
“What? No, I don’t want money.”
Trenton leans his elbows onto his knees. “You don’t?”
“Look around. I’m living in the same apartment as you. I’m a strong independent woman who don’t need no man. And if I was that hard up for money, I’d just sell feet pics on the internet like everyone else.”
Trenton shoots me a half-glare, half-disgusted look.
Celeste clicks open her pen. “Then what do you want?”
“Three things, and they’re nonnegotiable.” My mind races as I scoot to the edge of my seat. “One: I get to use parts of this for my next book.”
Celeste scribbles it onto her notepad. “Done.”
“Hold on a second.” Trenton pierces me with an unwavering stare. “You want to write a book about me?”
I wave a dismissive hand. “It’s not really about you, per se. It’s about two characters who live next door to each other and get into a little neighborly dispute.”
“That sounds exactly like it’s about me.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s loosely based on you.”
“I love it.” Celeste beams. “As long as the names are changed, and nothing incriminating goes into the story, then we’re all good. What is your second condition?”
“Trenton accompanies me to my high school reunion in February.”
He grunts. “You want me to be your dog and pony show?”
I brush off his comment and nod. “Sheldon will be there and since he’s part of the reason we’re in this mess to begin with, I think it’ll be fitting to end it there too.”
Celeste’s pen flies across the page. “And your third?”
“I get to tell my best friend, Aarya. She’s all I have in this world and I’m not lying to her about this.”
Celeste slides a paper across the coffee table. “You’ll both have to sign an NDA, of course.”
Before I take the pen from her, I clear my throat. “Uh, there’s actually one more thing I should tell you.” I squirm in my seat, my stomach tying itself into knots. “I... I’ve kind of already been talking about you on TikTok.”
Trenton’s eyes double in size. “You what?”
“I didn’t say your name or anything, because I didn’t know your name until today, but I’ve been telling my followers about my rude new neighbor.”
I pull up the initial video on my phone (which now has over one million views) and thrust it into his hand. “Just watch.”
It’s beyond uncomfortable when someone watches your video right in front of you, forcing you to hear yourself and how ridiculous you sound, but it’s an entirely different feeling altogether when the person you’re talking about in the video is the person watching it.
I can’t read Neighbor Man’s stoic expression, but Celeste is enthralled.
“This. Is. Perfect.” She squeals. “We can totally use this.”
“Really? Because I was going to delete it after—”
“No!” She grasps my hand. “Don’t delete it. It’ll help people get invested in your relationship. It’s so authentic.”
“It’s something all right,” Trenton mutters under his breath.
“I’ll draw up the papers and have them to you by tonight.” Celeste stands and turns to Trenton. “Get her contact information and send it to me.”
I arch a brow at Trenton. “You ready for this, Neighbor Man?”
“Are you going to keep calling me that?”
“I’ll call you whatever I want. You’re my boyfriend now, shnookums.”
If looks could kill, I’m pretty sure Trenton’s eyes would strike me dead right here on my couch.
At least Celeste thinks I’m funny. Her laughter floats behind her as she scurries out of my apartment, leaving me with my grumpy neighbor.
“We need to start over.” I rise from the couch and stick out my hand. “Since we never formally introduced ourselves, no thanks to you, I’m Cassidy Quinn.”
He stares at my hand like it’s a pesky gnat, but he stands and puts his hand in mine. “Trenton Ward.”
I give his mammoth-sized hand a firm shake. “Welcome to the building. There’s a gym, a sauna, and the people here are lovely. But be careful, because the doors are really heavy and slam easily.”
He squeezes my hand and his nostrils flare. “How thin are the walls? My last neighbor used to blast 80’s power ballads before the sun came up.”
“I’ve never had a single complaint.” I squeeze his hand right back. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
He can act as irritated as he wants, but I catch the amusement dancing in his eyes when he says, “The pleasure is all mine.”