Chapter 7 Portal Puke #3
Addie, stepping out from her bedroom dressed in her flannel little-duck pj’s and sparkling unicorn slippers, caught him smirking.
One sexy eyebrow lifted. “What?”
“I didn’t take you for the rainbow bookshelf type. Don’t get me wrong, it’s aesthetically pleasing, but I would’ve guessed you to be more into alphabetized organization. You seem the type to…” His voice trailed off as her eyebrow rose higher.
“The type to what?”
“To want things in a precise spot.”
She drilled him with a hard look that nearly broke him into a sweat before her lips twitched. “Actually, I do usually alphabetize them. I left Bailey and Max unsupervised one afternoon and when I came home, rainbow.”
“And you didn’t change it back?”
“It grew on me.” She shrugged, and after grabbing some plates and napkins from the kitchen, claimed a seat on the far end of the red couch.
“And finding certain books wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.
It turns out I remember cover colors better than I do book titles or author names … unless they’re one of my auto-buys.”
Phoenix plopped a slice of pizza on a plate and handed it to Addie before grabbing one for himself. A few cushions down, her dogs’ snores rumbled through the room, front feet kicking as they chased something in their dreams.
He chuckled. “Looks like they had a good day.”
“They always enjoy their visits to Olympus. They’re spoiled with treats and extra attention, and they also get to see Cerberus and their littermates.”
“And did you have a good day?”
Addie paused with a bite of cheese escaping the corner of her mouth. “Well…”
“Was that a trick question?” Phoenix teased. “Or maybe just a loaded one.”
“Visiting my family is … a lot. Drama mixed in with more drama, and while I love them all, after visits, I always feel like some energy-sucking vampire used me as their walking buffet.”
“Energy-sucking vampires. That definitely sounds like a good time,” Phoenix joked dryly.
Addie burst into laughter and a cute little snort escaped her nose. “Tell me more about the award show. It sounds like a big deal.”
“Truth?”
She nodded.
“I’d rather go anywhere else, and that includes the dentist to undergo a root canal without anesthesia.
” He developed a migraine with each of Marcus’s event reminders.
“But it’s one of those necessary evils of the business.
It’s great exposure for the band, and exposure is practically currency in the music industry. ”
Addie watched him astutely. “I sense a but in there.”
He shrugged. “I loved the scene and everything that came with it when we were teenagers playing in my parents’ garage, but the longer we stay in the business and the more noticed we get, the more things like the award shows lose their luster. I’d much prefer being off center stage.”
“Writing music.”
“Writing the music.”
“So why not do that instead?” Addie asked innocently.
That was the million-dollar question, and one Phoenix had asked himself many times over the last two years. “For one, it’s not reliable. If the creative mojo is on the fritz—like mine is now—then you’ve got problems.”
“True.”
“It also doesn’t feel right to pull back from the Stone Talons just because my dreams have shifted,” Phoenix surprised himself by admitting. “Making a name for the group is still important to people I care about, and by extension, me.”
Addie stared at him, and after a pronounced stretch of silence, he squirmed. “Do I have pizza sauce all over my face or something?”
“No. Sorry.” She shook her head, still looking contemplative.
“It’s just that I know how that feels. I’m proud of what Max, Bailey, and I have accomplished with Happily Ever Forever, but it’s something that I fell into because of my mother.
As her daughters, there’d always been an unspoken expectation that we’d go into the ‘family business.’”
“Damn obligations,” Phoenix joked dryly. “Both a blessing and a curse.”
“Speaking of obligations…” Addie wiped her hands on a napkin before glancing around the room and grabbing a Sharpie and one of the spare napkins. “Let’s talk contract.”
“You were serious about that?”
“Absolutely. That way we can make sure we’re both on the same page and know what’s expected of each other. No surprises.”
“Sometimes surprises are the best thing.”
“We’re talking about a Fauxmance Arrangement and Muse Agreement, not finding an extra chicken nugget in your Happy Meal.”
He set aside his empty plate and shifted closer to her on the couch. “Okay, so FAMA.”
She shot him a look. “Do we really have to call it that?”
“Do you have a better title in mind?” At her silence, he chuckled. “Yeah, didn’t think so. What do you think we should include in this agreement?”
She shrugged. “This is my first foray into both Museship and fake dating, so I have absolutely no idea.”
“Let’s talk about our fauxmance first,” Phoenix suggested. “What do you think you’ll need?”
Her eyes, wide like a doe caught in high-beam headlights, blinked. “Need?”
“How many public appearances do we make a week? And what constitutes public? Paparazzi-followed walks in the park? Quick-pic coffee grabs? Or are we only counting formal events—like the upcoming award ceremony?”
“Walks in the park and coffee?”
Smirking, Phoenix playfully bumped his shoulder into hers. “This would probably work better if you did more than repeat what I say, sparkles.”
Addie cleared her throat, a pretty pink blush forming on her cheeks. “Are people really snapping pics of you walking around the corner to grab a coffee?”
“It’s not always a full-blown paparazzi horde. Sometimes it’s an excited fan or two, but pics are pretty much guaranteed if I go anywhere but from my couch to my bed.”
“That’s…”
“Stifling? Intrusive? Tiring?” He nodded. “Yes to all.”
“Well, I don’t know if there’s a magic number for joint appearances, or a grandeur scale. Maybe we should start with a number and adjust it as we go? If we plan smart, we can get double use from each appearance. It can both help feed into our fauxmance storyline and fuel your musical inspiration.”
“Efficiency. I love it.” She shot him an annoyed look, and he laughed. “I’m not teasing. It not only makes sense, but sounds totally doable.”
“Should we say one public outing a week?”
Phoenix lifted a brow. “That’s not exactly a big splash in the deep end. That’s more like someone dripping on you when they climb out of the pool. How quickly do you want your business back on track?”
“Months ago,” Addie joked.
“So let’s start with three appearances a week, and like you said, we can always reevaluate and adjust.”
“Won’t that be too big a commitment for you with everything you need to do with the Stone Talons?”
“Typically, yes. But considering Marcus and the label want music out of me sooner rather than later, they can’t jump down my throat too much. Plus, we can use some TST events as Adix sightings.”
Her brow furrowed in an adorably confused expression. “Adix?”
“Adalyn. Phoenix.” He smirked. “It can be our ship name.”
“We’re not calling ourselves Adix.”
“Why not? It’s cute and catchy.”
“It sounds like a heartburn medication.”
His shoulders shook from barely withheld laughter. “Fine. No cute ship name.”
On the napkin, Addie jotted down everything they’d agreed to in her small, neat print.
“We should probably discuss physical expectations and limitations, too,” Phoenix added.
Addie’s marker slipped across the napkin, a black line streaking over her pajama pants as her head snapped up. “Physical expectations?”
“There you go repeating me again. Public displays of affection. On a scale of one pearl to an entire string, how many pearls do we want people clutching when they see us?” He grinned wickedly, grin broadening as she registered his meaning.
“Put your mind at ease, sparkles. I don’t think public sex will be necessary for people to believe we’re falling head over heels in love. ”
Addie snorted. “I would hope not … but don’t they call you Naughty Nix? Wouldn’t it look odd for the Stone Talons’s bad boy to suddenly not participate in at least a few public pearl-clutching activities?”
“That’s a them problem, not an us problem.” Phoenix shrugged. “We’ll do what you’re comfortable doing. Not a pearl more. You just need to decide how many pearls that is.”
“What the hell is one pearl versus a half- or full-strand?”
“Full-strand should be obvious, but we’ve already agreed that public sex is probably a bit overkill. One pearl would be equal to public handholding. Two pearls, some arms around waists and adoring looks. Three, a no-licking peck on the cheek. A half-strand is when things get … spicy.”
“Spicy.” Addie nibbled on the marker cap. “Basically more handsy, and more mouth action.”
“Precisely.” In an attempt to hide a smirk, Phoenix took a sip of water.
“I’d be okay with half-strand spicy action if the situation called for it, but it shouldn’t be the default.”
Phoenix choked, water occluding his airway. “Sorry, but what?”
With a severe eye roll, she wrote half-strand PDA on their napkin contract. “You talked about what I’m okay with—which is a half-strand of pearls, but what’s your comfort limit?”
Brain temporarily misfiring, he replayed her casual statement about more hands and mouth action. “I’m good with a half-strand.”
He’d be good with a hell of a lot more.
“Maybe we should have some kind of code word,” Phoenix suggested.
“Like a safe word, to signal to the other that we’re okay with taking things one pearl further.
” Because the last thing he wanted was to ever cross a line Addie wasn’t comfortable crossing.
“What about sparkles? Obviously, I’ll have to give you another nickname. ”
“Sparkles? You can’t be serious.”
“I take consent very seriously.” He grinned mischievously. “So? Do we have our safe word? Sparkles for the all-clear?”
“Fine. Sparkles.” She jotted it on the napkin and caught him smirking. “But you can forget about that Adix thing. I won’t be caving on that, Mr. Rock Star.”
“We’ll see. I bet it’ll grow on you.”
“Like a fungus,” Addie muttered under her breath.
“What’s your middle name?” Phoenix couldn’t help asking.
Addie paled, a pizza slice halfway to her mouth. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Just figured I’d ask since you’re in the market for a new nickname.”
“Yeah, you’re not using that.”
That piqued his curiosity. “And why not?”
“You’re just not and leave it at that.” Realizing he wasn’t about to give up, she sighed. “Fine. But it stays in this room, do you understand?”
“Cross my heart.”
“My full name is Adalyn … Love … Whitlock.”
Phoenix waited for the punch line, and when it didn’t come, he laughed anyway, tears springing to his eyes. Addie sat across from him looking less than amused, which only made him laugh harder.
“The Anti-Aphrodite’s middle name is Love? Shit. This stuff is too good.”
“Get it all out of your system now, music man, because you’re never mentioning it to anyone ever again.”
He waved off her warning, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Not a peep … but you did just get a new nickname so I hope you weren’t too attached to sparkles.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, we’re meant to be falling in love, right?” He grinned mischievously. “I may have to adopt a little British terminology.”
“No.”
“Oh, yes … and it can be a sweet little inside joke between just the two of us … love.”
Phoenix wasn’t sure which of the gods he’d made happy in a previous life, but whoever it was, he hoped that he kept doing it. This day just went from shitastic to fan-fucking-tastic in the blink of an eye.
With a smile on his face, he helped himself to another slice of pizza. He didn’t know if any of this would help him regain his musical magic, but at least he’d be entertained while he figured it out.