Chapter 1 #3
“—and they’ll all know you’re definitely gay if you’ve found yourself some amazing, London boyfriend,” she continued, avoiding Drew’s question.
“You don’t have to do much with your rented boyfriend.
Just go out a few times, have your picture taken together, maybe kissing.
That’s it. You can break up with him before—how can you read in a moving car? ”
Drew flinched at Jessica’s abrupt change in conversation as she glanced past him to Abby.
“What? It’s Lee Cresswell’s latest book,” Abby defended herself. “He’s my favorite author. Who wouldn’t be riveted by reading about fucking dragons.”
Drew laughed out loud.
“Whatever.” Jessica rolled her eyes, then turned back to Drew. “Just give this place a call and see what they can do for you.”
Drew stared at the flier as they drove on.
Jessica and Abby got into a pseudo-fight about reading in the car and the value of reading dragon-fucking romance novels to begin with.
Abby defended her habit fiercely, and Jessica, who only ever read scripts and gossip magazines, insisted reading was a waste of time.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the apartments where the cast and crew of Sleuth would be living during filming. Drew liked the two-bedroom flat he’d been assigned well enough, but Jessica complained it was too small and not fancy enough.
“It doesn’t really matter,” she decided at last, once they’d unpacked.
Although his version of unpacking meant putting everything away neatly and hers meant spreading it all over the room they would be sharing.
Although if things kept going the way they’d started, he’d be more comfortable sharing a bed with Abby than Jessica.
“I’ll be heading back to L.A. to start shooting as soon as my agent calls. ”
“Sure you will,” Abby teased her.
Drew smirked, but that only earned him a tight frown from Jessica.
“Call this Rent-A-Boyfriend place,” Jessica insisted, shoving the flier, which had been abandoned on the kitchen counter, back at him. “Let them set you up with someone while you’re in London. The press would love it. Your career will be safeguarded. We’ll all be happy.”
“I’m still not a hundred percent certain about this,” Drew sighed, rummaging around the kitchen for a way to make coffee. He desperately needed either coffee or a long nap after the epic flight.
“I think you should do it,” Abby said, finding pods for the coffee machine in one of the cupboards and taking the container down to set it on the counter.
Drew’s eyes widened as he stared at his friend. “Excuse me?”
Abby grinned mischievously back at him.
“See?” Jessica threw out her hand at her. “Even Abby agrees this would be a brilliant move.”
Jessica didn’t stick around to defend her point. She gestured to Abby again, then turned and marched out of the room, hopefully heading to the bedroom to clean up her luggage explosion.
Drew picked up the flier from the counter and studied it again as Abby set to work figuring out how to operate the coffee machine. “This feels like a recipe for disaster,” he sighed.
“Babe, the recipe for disaster started when you played along with the speculation you’re gay,” Abby told him frankly.
Drew winced. “Was that a bad move? I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone. I just, you know, didn’t feel it was appropriate to talk about my sexuality in public, and I’m not downplaying my friendship with Nikky just because people see more in it than is there.”
“Mmm hmm,” Abby told the coffee maker, a sly grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.
“What?” Drew blurted with a half laugh.
Abby figured out the machine, then turned to Drew as it started, making a god-awful grinding noise. “I know why you didn’t deny the rumors as soon as they started,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Right?” Drew gestured uselessly, face heating. “It was the best move all around. Nikky hasn’t talked about his sexuality either.”
“Well, Nikky is gay and out to his friends, so he doesn’t have to worry about it,” Abby said.
“Whereas me, on the other hand,” Drew started, but didn’t finish the sentence.
Abby stared at him for a long, long time. She then sighed and dropped her arms, taking a few steps closer to Drew. “I think you should call this Rent-A-Boyfriend service,” she said.
The way she spoke was so confident and so wise that Drew took every syllable to heart. “You do?” he asked.
“Yes,” Abby said, looking like she was fighting a smile. “I think it would be good for you.”
Drew arched one eyebrow. “Good for me or my career?”
The coffee finished brewing with a sputtery, steamy hiss. Abby moved back to the machine without directly answering Drew’s question. “Give them a call, ask some questions, and see what they say,” she said. “It might actually be the solution to the problem of that little ax hanging over your head.”
“Who would have thought that Jessica might be the one to save my career after all?” Drew laughed uncertainly.
He glanced at Abby for reassurance. Abby just winked at him. It wasn’t reassuring at all.