A Likely Story (Rent-A-Boyfriend #2)

Chapter 1

one

. . .

Instant celebrity was a freakin’ wild ride.

Sure, it was what Drew Oberlin had always wanted.

At least, the industry opportunities, invitations to parties and awards ceremonies, and ability to pick and choose from projects that excited him were what he had always wanted.

The mass hysteria and rampant speculation about his personal life? Not so much.

“It’s going to be fine,” Abby, his best friend since childhood and current manager, leaned into the airplane’s aisle to reassure him as they made a bumpy descent into London. “Turbulence doesn’t crash planes, it just makes things uncomfortable.” She went back to reading her romance novel.

“What? I’m not worried about the plane,” Drew said with a puzzled look.

Then he realized that he was gripping the arm of his business-class seat so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.

He let go, cleared his throat, and adjusted the way he sat before looking out the window. The vast city of London grew closer and closer as they made their final descent into Heathrow, and Drew’s heart beat faster.

He was stoked about being in London for the next six weeks, excited about the British period drama series he’d scored a leading role in.

Absolutely no one had expected him to take the role as a Victorian amateur detective and Sherlock Holmes fan after he’d flown to overnight fame playing a gay chef involved in a secret love triangle with his competitor and a musician.

He’d gained a reputation as a totally original personality, a breath of fresh air who loved people, fashion, and fast cars.

Dialing it back a thousand notches to play the cerebral, morally ambiguous Edmund Bolton in Sleuth was miles outside of the lane everyone thought he would stay in, now that Hollywood had crowned him their newest golden boy.

But that was the point. Drew hated the idea of doing what everyone expected of him.

He didn’t want to get locked into a certain brand.

His tastes and interests were too eclectic for that.

He knew himself well enough to know he’d get bored of just being an A-list star who only did blockbusters.

Give him niche roles and international arthouse films or shows any day.

He wasn’t sure how thrilled he was about being the Hollywood “It Boy” of the day, to be honest. All the talk of overnight success annoyed him, since he’d been chugging away as an actor and filmmaker since high school, over ten years now.

He’d built his reputation in the industry through hard work, pavement pounding, acting classes, and, he hoped, just generally being a nice guy and pleasant to work with.

The plane hit another bump, and behind Drew there was a loud squeal and a tense whimper. Immediately, Drew twisted as much as he could to look over the partition and into the seat behind him.

“You okay?” he asked, purposely making his voice as calm as possible.

“I thought flying business class was supposed to be fun and make the whole flight easier,” Jessica whined. “This still sucks.”

“Turbulence doesn’t crash planes, it just makes things uncomfortable,” Drew repeated what Abby had just told him.

Abby happened to be listening in and sent Drew a lopsided smile before going back to reading.

“I hate this,” Jessica moaned.

“We’ll be on the ground in less than a minute,” Drew reassured her, then turned to face front again, staring out the window once more.

“I should have stayed in L.A.,” Jessica complained just loud enough for him to hear.

A rush of discomfort that had nothing to do with the bumpy landing knocked Drew off-center.

He hadn’t wanted to say anything over the last few days, but yes, he agreed that Jessica should have stayed in L.A.

instead of accompanying him and Abby to London.

Jessica’s presence with him was only going to cause trouble and light up social media with wicked speculation and even more accusations that were getting harder and harder to dodge.

Queerbaiting. That’s what they were throwing at him from every corner of the internet and beyond. Drew Oberlin rose to fame playing a gay character so convincingly that he must be gay himself. That was the conclusion the world had jumped to.

The speculation had been fueled by the tight friendship he’d developed with one of Cooked’s co-stars, Nikky Smith.

Nikky hadn’t even been his main love interest in the show, although they had done a few carefully choreographed sex scenes together.

It had been enough that viewers were split into Team Charlie, Nikky’s character, and Team Greg, his actual love interest on the show.

It had been enough that as soon as the show had started airing and viewers had watched him and Nikky, and Joe, the guy who had played Greg, interacting on the press tour, half the world had immediately shipped him and Nikky.

There were cute edits of their interviews together all over social media, candid pics had been taken of the two of them hanging out in L.A.

, and conspiracy theories about their relationship abounded.

And then, less than a month ago, the world had discovered Jessica.

His girlfriend.

Sort of.

The plane’s wheels touched down on the tarmac, and the pushing sense of inertia as they rapidly slowed to taxiing speed tugged at Drew’s stomach.

“See? We landed just fine,” Abby raised her voice to tell Jessica.

“I hate flying,” Jessica huffed, already taking off her seatbelt.

“No, you don’t,” Drew said, twisting to look over the partition at Jessica again. “You love the places flying takes you.”

“Well, that’s true,” Jessica admitted, already a thousand times more relaxed. She even managed a smile.

Drew grinned across the aisle at Abby as the arrival announcements were made and the plane taxied to its gate. As soon as the fasten seatbelts sign went off, Drew stood and reached up to the overhead compartment to get his, Jessica’s, and Abby’s carry-ons down.

“Thanks, babe,” Jessica said distractedly, checking her bag as soon as it was in her hands as if someone had tampered with it during the overnight flight.

“Thanks, babe,” Abby echoed her, only with a teasing grin for Drew and a wink, as she tucked her romance novel into her purse.

Drew grinned right back at her, shoving her playfully the way he’d always done since the two of them met in Boy Scouts. A hell of a lot with Abby had changed since then, but their friendship never would.

Business class was first off the plane, so within minutes, Drew, Jessica, and Abby were walking through the terminal toward passport control.

In what Drew had always secretly thought was a bit of a dick move on the part of celebrities, he slipped on his Ray Bans once they were through the passport machines that checked your biometrics and on to the baggage claim area.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like attention.

God knew how much he loved it sometimes.

But not after a ten-plus hours long flight.

People from other flights were already staring at him by the time they loaded their suitcases from the baggage carousel onto a cart.

“Why do we have to do this ourselves again?” Jessica asked as Drew and Abby stacked everything on the cart. “Wasn’t the studio supposed to send people to take us to our apartment?”

“They’re not allowed into this part of the airport,” Abby reminded her. “And besides, you and I are Drew’s entourage. We’re the help.”

Jessica laughed like Abby was joking. “Speak for yourself, Abs,” she said as the three of them started toward the exit. “As soon as I get the call from my agent telling me I booked the Darlish film, I’m going to give Drew a serious run for his money in the celebrity Olympics.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Drew laughed, then veered closer to Jessica, intending to throw his arm around her shoulder and maybe even kiss her cheek.

Jessica dodged him like a bad smell, glaring at him once she’d put a foot or two of distance between the two of them. “Don’t!” she hissed. “You’re gay, remember? We are not dating.”

Drew’s smile dropped hard. In its place, uneasy guilt rushed in, whispering “queerbaiting” as it did.

If he was being honest, the accusations of queerbaiting weren’t entirely unfounded. It was too dramatic to say he’d been living a double life since his star had rocketed into the celebrity stratosphere, but there were days when he felt like he was close to it.

“We can’t be dating,” Jessica continued to whisper, peeking around them as if they were spies about to be caught by the CIA or the FBI, or was it MI6 in the UK?

“The only reason you’re as famous as you are right now is because everyone thinks you’re gay.

You have to stay gay. Your career depends on it. My career depends on it.”

Drew shot a look Abby’s way. Abby raised one eyebrow at him.

Because that’s what it all boiled down to in the end.

Drew had worked for nearly a decade to break into his dream career, but it hadn’t been until the world assumed he was queer that things had really started happening for him.

Things were happening for Jessica because of him, too.

Even Abby was finding more clients for her fledgling management company.

The success of everyone he loved depended on him lying to the world.

He didn’t like it. Drew liked people. He loved conversations with strangers and being an open book.

He wanted to be known for who he was, for his work and his talent, not for rumors and speculation.

Everything from red carpet interviews to his occasional forays into social media groups was fun because he could be his untamed self, despite media training.

That was all going to explode, and maybe his career and hard work with it, once everyone learned the truth. He’d hoped he could remain ambiguous forever, but then the internet had found out about Jessica. And Jessica, in turn, insisted he double down on being gay.