Chapter 5 The Anti-Aphrodite #2
On the ten-floor elevator ride, Addie’s mind focused on what had happened outside while Phoenix remained quiet at her side, but the second she threw open the door to Happily Ever Forever, the quiet shattered.
Maxi’s and Bailey’s heads snapped toward her.
“You saw.” Maxi instantly read her annoyance.
“An army of grabby reporters was a little hard to miss,” Addie quipped.
“Reporters are outside already?” Bailey’s fingers flew over their phone screen. “Shit.”
“Is someone going to tell me what the hell this is about? This can’t all be because of some angry former bridezilla videos.”
Maxi’s mouth opened before her sister’s gaze shifted toward a silent Phoenix. “You came! Great! Uh … Just have a seat, make a coffee or something, and we’ll be with you in a minute.”
“Maxi…”
Her sister grabbed her hand and dragged her to the back office, Bailey following close on their heels.
“You’ll want to sit down for this,” Maxi instructed.
“And remember that we’re renting this space, and any major damage will not only hurt us in the long run but erase any chance of seeing that security deposit again,” Bailey added, a grimace on their face.
“I really hate it when you guys say things like this.” Addie tossed her bag onto the nearby chair, a headache already throbbing behind her eyes as she flopped onto her desk chair. “Okay. Hit me with it.”
Maxi handed her the tablet and hit play on the latest uploaded Wedding Woes video.
Evelyn Sinclair’s megawatt smile turned from the camera to someone standing out of frame. “I really appreciate you making time to speak with me, Dr. Parisi. And that you’re willing to finally bring the truth to light.”
The camera panned left …
Addie stiffened instantly. Hayden Parisi. Her ex. Talking to the president of Happily Ever Forever’s nemesis club.
He flashed a beaming smile. “It’s my pleasure, Evelyn. Stepping into the spotlight isn’t quite me, but I feel as if it’s my civic duty to speak up.”
Evelyn Sinclair peered dramatically into the camera and paused. “For those just tuning in, I’m joined tonight by Dr. Hayden Parisi, a gifted surgeon who’s saved countless lives.”
“Saved by nose job, huh?” Bailey snorted.
“Dr. Parisi possesses intimate knowledge of the woman behind the notorious event planning agency, Happily Ever For-Never, Adalyn Whitlock.” Evelyn turned to Hayden. “Hayden, tell our listeners about your connection to Miss Whitlock.”
“Addie and I dated seriously for about six months.” Hayden’s face contorted into faux sadness. “I seriously considered making her my forever.”
Addie snorted. “I wonder if he considered making all those other women he was seeing at the same time his forever, too.”
“But you didn’t end up getting that happily ever after, did you? Can you tell me what happened?” Sinclair asked.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what happened—at first,” Hayden replied. “For me, it was love at first sight. That’s why I didn’t see the warning signs before it was too late. I mean, who’d think it necessary to guard your heart against a daughter of Aphrodite?”
Addie’s heartbeat skipped into another, stealing her breath.
Evelyn Sinclair’s eyes gleamed as she pushed her microphone closer to Hayden. “Did you say ‘daughter of Aphrodite’?”
“I did. Adalyn Whitlock, the owner of Happily Ever Forever, is the Goddess of Love’s daughter, and she is staunchly, and will always be, anti-love. To her, it doesn’t exist. It’s a fleeting, temporary fascination that will eventually disappear. She’s the Anti-Aphrodite.”
Addie’s stomach twisted into a boulder-sized knot as Maxi once again froze the screen.
“You know what? It’s not as bad as I first thought.” Bailey shrugged.
Addie looked at her cousin bestie as if they’d joined Cerberus in the land of three heads. “How in the hell do you not think this is bad?”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t bad. I said it wasn’t as bad,” Bailey corrected. Their gaze bounced from Maxi to Addie. “Am I the only one who sees it?”
“Evidently.”
“Don’t leave us in suspense. Please, share.” Because at this point, she’d streak naked through Times Square if it somehow broke the curse.
“You have to fall in love.”
Maxi, mid-swallow, choked on her cold-brew coffee, the liquid spraying.
Addie couldn’t believe her ears. “Oh, just fall in love. Okay. And here I thought your idea would be ridiculous.”
“Hear me out!” Bailey flung a ring-adorned hand toward a coughing Max. “We have our own certified Cupid right here. Maxi can find your perfect match. We’ll make sure the cameras snatch some pics of your heart-shaped pupils and adoring looks, and voilà. No more Anti-Aphrodite.”
Addie thunked her head onto her desk. “This can’t be happening.”
“Let’s not forget that my Cupid mojo is on the fritz,” Maxi pointed out. “I could very seriously end up matching her to a serial killer or something.”
“Does anyone else have a better idea?” Bailey demanded.
“Why don’t I just go full-blown rom-com and hire someone to have a spontaneous, wild fauxmance with me?” Addie muttered under her breath.
Silence wrapped around the room, so heavy Addie lifted her head to catch her sister and cousin exchanging looks.
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Bailey admitted.
“I was kidding!”
“I’m not. We’re in New York City. There’s literally hundreds of acting hopefuls on any given square block.”
“I am not hiring someone to play my boyfriend,” Addie stated adamantly. “There’s got to be another way out of this.”
Phoenix
The Anti-Aphrodite. An ex. A fauxmance.
It sounded like the start of an interesting book, and yet Phoenix heard it all with his own ears thanks to the amazing acoustics inside the Happily Ever Forever office space.
The information whipped through his head like a bullet train, slowing only to form a half-assed idea and then scurrying away again.
But each time his thoughts raced, they swung back to one repetitive thought.
A fauxmance.
Hell if he knew what it was or how one worked, but he was known as a master at improvisation. You couldn’t be in a band with Gavin Hastings and not be because you never knew what the hell the singer would do from one second to the next onstage.
Before he dwelled on any one thought too much longer, Phoenix doctored up a fresh cup of coffee from the waiting room machine, and headed toward the back office.
He knocked on the doorframe and was greeted with three head turns.
“Oh.” Addie looked a little startled, as if she’d forgotten his presence. “Phoenix. Something came up out of the blue. We’ll have to reschedule our meeting.”
“Actually, I think I can help you with that out-of-the-blue thing.” He held up the fresh cup of coffee. “Why don’t we discuss it over some fresh caffeine? Sorry, but you didn’t have ice cubes in your fridge out here, or I would’ve put one in for you.”
Her plush pink lips twitched. “First you try and help your sister out of a bind, and now you’re offering to help me? Don’t tell me that Naughty Nix has a hero complex.”
Did he? Maybe.
Outside, Phoenix had been a split second from leaning into his Naughty Nix reputation and shoving that photographer’s precious camera up his nasal cavity.
The image of Addie, quiet and pale, so unlike the snarky firecracker that banged on his door while wearing a bath towel and unicorn slippers, set him on edge.
“Look,” Addie said, “I appreciate the offer, but—”
“It’s not a hero complex if I get something in return, right?” His gaze flickered toward a curiously listening Bailey and Max. “But it is something I’d like to discuss in private … if we could.”
Addie shared a glance with her sister and cousin, and then Bailey dragged Max out the door, closing it behind them.
Being in close confines, with Addie’s gorgeous green eyes studying him warily, had him second-guessing his brilliant idea.
“You said something about fresh caffeine?” Addie’s gaze dropped to the mug in his hand.
He slid the cup toward her before sitting down in one of the vacant seats. “Voices really travel in this office in case you weren’t aware.”
Addie grimaced as she took a sip of her coffee. “Look, I don’t know what you think you heard bu—”
“All of it,” he admitted. “The interview. The asshole ex—who sounded like a complete fuckwit by the way. And I learned that my gorgeous new neighbor is the daughter of Aphro—”
“Don’t say her name aloud,” Addie hissed, glancing around the empty office. “What is it with everyone always wanting to say her name aloud?”
“So you’re really the Anti-Aphro—her?”
Addie groaned. “Please do not let that name become a thing.”
“Sorry, but I’m pretty sure that boat has already sailed.” Phoenix smirked. “Look, I know a thing or two about bad press. Gavin is always saying or doing something that gives our PR person a migraine. The truth will eventually come out and then people will get bored and move on.”
“And therein lies my problem,” Addie stated with a sigh. “Because the truth already came out—at least partially—and it’s a shark fest outside.”
“What do you mean by ‘partially’?” Her admission piqued his interest, and watching her carefully, he slowly put two and two together.
“My mother is Aphro—her. And thinking everyone is meant to have one great, all-consuming love is to live in a fictional land called make-believe. It’s a phase of heightened attraction, albeit for some, a happy one for however long it lasts.
But that happiness doesn’t last forever.
It stales … until it eventually disintegrates. ”
“Whoa.” Phoenix leaned back in his seat, letting her words sink in. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
Addie tugged a bottle of pink Pepto from her desk drawer and took a deep swig. “You said something about needing to speak with me in private. Or maybe that’s why you wanted to talk alone. You don’t want the Anti-her to be the one planning your sister’s big day.”
“Actually, that’s not it at all,” Phoenix admitted, finalizing the last bits of his plan in his head.
A fauxmance.
A fake relationship meant time together, and more time meant not only the potential unlocking of musical genius, but helping his gorgeous neighbor out of a social media nightmare. If he ended up changing her views on love—and proved its very real existence, it was a big-ass bonus.
“You don’t need to place any fake boyfriend ads or hire any wannabe actors,” Phoenix heard himself say. “Fake date me.”
Addie, about to dump some Pepto into her coffee, spilled the pink liquid on her desk. “I’m sorry … what?”
“You heard me.” He became more determined with each word out of his mouth. “Fake date me and I’ll give you a fauxmance that will not only make that fuckwit ex of yours sound like a fool, but will have people begging to have Happily Ever Forever plan their vow exchanges.”
Addie’s mouth opened and closed before her pretty eyes narrowed knowingly. “And what exactly would you want in return?”
He smirked. “Be my Muse.”