Famous by Association

by Leddy Harper

  I shook my head, as if that somehow answered his question. But when I noticed the humorous confusion in his gaze, I fought past the haze of stupidity and responded verbally. “It’s just me,” I said before suddenly realizing that I must’ve hit my head because I had no idea who he was. “For now, I mean. Dave should be here soon.”

  I doubted this strange man had any idea who Dave was, but that didn’t matter. Nor did it matter that Dave wouldn’t be here until next week. All he needed to know was that he wouldn’t be able to kill me and get away with it. Technically, he could…especially after he’d immobilized me by breaking my leg.

  “Let me help you inside. I’ll get you all set up on the couch with the remote in your hand, ice on your foot, and something to drink next to you before Dave gets back.” He slid one arm behind my legs and the other around my back before lifting me in the bridal position.

  The amount of strength it took for him to do that was beyond impressive.

  And hot. Really hot.

  By the time we made it to the French doors, the lust running through me had waned and was replaced with the very real fear of being murdered in my own home. Well, technically in my sister’s home. Then I realized that if he killed me, no one would know, because everyone thought I was Tiffany. Which meant she’d have to live my life, and there was no way I’d ever let her pretend to be me. Although, the thought of her attempting to manage video games was hysterical.

  This whole thing had suddenly gotten way worse.

  “You know…I could probably get it from here,” I said, though I didn’t do much to free myself from his ridiculously strong arms.

  “It’s not a problem, really. I’m the reason your ankle hurts, so I feel it’s my duty to tend to you—or, at least, get you comfortable until Dave gets here.” Every time he said Dave’s name, it almost sounded like he used verbal air quotes, as if he didn’t believe he was real.

  “But I don’t even know who you are.”

  He stopped suddenly and craned his head back to look at my face. Something swirled in his emerald eyes, though I couldn’t read what it was. Confusion, possibly. Whatever it was, it didn’t last long. His gaze narrowed just as a small smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth.

  “I’m your neighbor, Jacoby Abbott.” He jerked his head back in a quick nod to gesture behind him. “I live in the pool house next door.”

  I had no way to verify this claim at the moment, so I just had to go with it. I mean, it wasn’t every day I had a hot guy carry me through a threshold. Lately, the most excitement I’d had was listening to other gamers scream profanities at each other while playing online.

  Jacoby must’ve taken my slow nod to mean it was okay to continue, because he toed the door open and entered the house with me in his arms. For a split second, I was able to get lost in the fantasy of it all—bored, rich housewife meets sexually deprived pool boy. I was pretty sure that had already been done because it sounded relatively familiar. Regardless, it proved to be a sexy thought.

  He set me down on the oversized white couch, propped my foot on the matching ottoman, and then left the room. The house—more like a mansion—wasn’t difficult to navigate. It wasn’t a manor by any means; there weren’t any wings to get lost in. So, I didn’t know if he knew his way around, or if he just figured it out as he went. Then again, I wasn’t entirely sure where he was going. I assumed the kitchen, but really, I didn’t know him. He could’ve been ransacking the rooms for all I knew.

  Just before calling out for him, he came around the corner with a bag of frozen Pizza Rolls, a bottle of water, and two pills in his hand that he claimed were ibuprofen. “I found these in the cupboard, but it looks like you’re running low. You might want to have Dave grab some more in case your ankle doesn’t feel better in a day or so.”

  I wasn’t exactly in the position to do a quick Google search to verify that the little orange tablets were, in fact, the anti-inflammatory he said they were. However, based on the number of these I’d taken over the years, I didn’t have much reason to distrust him.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled around the pills on my tongue as I reached for the bottle of water.

  After placing the Pizza Rolls over my sore ankle, he began to shuffle his feet toward the back door. “Is there anything else I can get you? The remote is next to you…what about your phone? Do you need me to get that?”

  As much as I would’ve loved to have my phone to call my best friend and tell him all about my hunky neighbor, I had no idea where I’d left it. And I wasn’t about to send him on a wild goose chase around the house looking for it. “No, that’s okay.”

  “So you don’t need anything else before I leave?”

  Feeling incredibly uncomfortable beneath his stare, I crossed my arms and tilted my head to the side. “What were you doing in the back yard anyway?” I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t accidentally accuse someone of being a stalker while trying to innocently flirt. There was a reason I was twenty-eight and still single.

  Well, there was probably more than one reason for that.

  “A package of yours was delivered to my place, so I brought it over. I was just letting you know that I put it by your front door. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Why didn’t you just bring it to me? Wouldn’t that have been easier than walking all the way around to the front? Especially if you stopped at the gate on your way back.”

  “Umm…” He stared at me with those same five creases lining his brow. Although this time, it didn’t appear to be concern etched on his face—more like bewilderment. “Sorry, I didn’t think you would’ve appreciated me coming into your yard.”

  “Well, you kind of did, though.”

  Jacoby dropped his head forward, laughed beneath his breath, and shook his head. “You’re right. My apologies. Do you want me to get it off your front porch for you?”

  I had no idea what had been delivered, but if it kept him here for a few more minutes, then I certainly wouldn’t decline his offer. “If you don’t mind.”

  He flashed me a smile that would’ve made my panties fall to the floor had I been standing and then headed out of the room. I couldn’t wait to tell Dave all about this, even though he’d never believe me. Then again, it was possible that pretending to be Tiff had given me a bit of confidence to step out of my shell.

  That was about the only positive thing to come from this entire ordeal.

  “Who’s Tosh?” he asked when he returned to the room with a box in his hands.

  My mouth opened and closed as I frantically tried to come up with something intelligent to say. “Me. I’m Tosh. It’s short for Tosh…iffany. Yeah. People can’t really say it right, so everyone just calls me Tosh. It’s easier.”

  Apparently, coming up with an intelligent response wasn’t a quality I possessed when faced with an unexpected question.

  “Oh, I thought everyone called you Tiffany. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone refer to you as Tosh in the media or online.”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” I’d somehow forgotten that I was supposed to be famous-ish. That was up for debate. If you asked my sister—or my mother—they’d say she was more popular than Jesus. In my opinion, no one would’ve even known her name if it hadn’t been for her engagement to Adam King. “My professional name is Tiffany, but all my friends call me Tosh. Behind the scenes, of course. I certainly wouldn’t want to confuse my brand.”

  Now would’ve been a fantastic time to shut up. Except, I didn’t seem to possess that quality, either. Maybe being Tiff hadn’t given me confidence. If anything, I just proved to myself how dangerous it was to be around others—it was too soon to convince anyone that I was my sister.

  “It helps to keep me grounded—having both of my friends call me Tosh.” Too bad Dave wasn’t here to enjoy the dig I’d made at Tiffany’s expense. “Both friends. That’s laughable. I only have one, and really, the only time I see her is when I look in the mirror.”

  My joke about Tiff’s only friend
being her reflection was lost on this audience.

  I really missed Dave.

  At least it made Jacoby laugh. “Then I guess I’ll continue to call you Tiffany,” he said as he handed me the box.

  Slightly offended by that comment, I patted the cushion to my left and smiled. “How about you stay and keep me company until these pills kick in. We can use the time to get to know one another…as long as you don’t have anywhere else to be.”

  Yup, I’d definitely hit my head. It was the only reason I would’ve invited him to stay.

  “You want me to keep you company?”

  “Sure. I mean, why not? We’re neighbors, aren’t we?”

  “Uh…yeah.” He conceded and came to take a seat on the couch, though he acted a little unsure of the situation. “I guess I can hang out for a few minutes.”

  It wasn’t lost on me that I was treading in shark-infested waters. In two or three months, I’d be gone, and he’d be left with the real Tiffany Lewis. Befriending him was basically setting him up for failure. Although, I was lonely, and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Dave had promised to come and stay with me when he could, but that would only be for a few days at a time—a week at the most. I’d spent my entire life living with someone else, so being here all alone was a little unnerving. Truthfully, there was no way I’d survive without company of some kind.

  “If you are your only friend”—maybe my joke hadn’t been lost on him—“does that mean you sent yourself a package?” He raised his brows and pointed to the box in my lap.

  I checked the name of the sender and smiled. “No, it’s from my best friend, Dave.”

  “Oh, thank God.” When he observed what I could only assume was a perplexed expression on my face, he shook his head and sniggered. “Earlier, you said Dave would be here soon, so I was concerned that you were cheating on your boyfriend. Unless, of course, his name is Davadam, and his close friends call him Dave while the public calls him Adam—to not confuse his fans. Either way, the last thing I need is to be in the headlines for some drama I’m not even involved in.”

  I really needed to remember that I was supposed to be engaged.

  “Nope, nothing like that at all. Dave has been my best friend since high school. Nothing to get mixed up in.” Needing to take my mind off the drama that I now called my life, I attempted to open the box, but unfortunately, I couldn’t cut through the tape without something sharp.

  “Let me do that.” Jacoby took the package from me and pulled out a pocketknife. Once he’d gotten through the tape, he pulled back the flaps, prepared to return it to me. But at the last second, right before swapping it from his lap to mine, he froze, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

  I had no idea what Dave had sent me.

  That was…until I heard the quiet hum coming from inside the box.

  4

  Jacoby

  Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I’d be sitting on a couch next to a supermodel with a box of vibrators in my lap.

  “Lonely?” I asked, trying my best to bite back my laughter while handing her the box.

  Tiffany’s cheeks were bright red, which only made it harder to fight off my smile. After our initial introduction, I felt she deserved a little humility. Unfortunately, I didn’t get what I wanted, because a second after her face flamed crimson, her embarrassment disappeared as quickly as it took her to clear her throat.

  To my surprise, she calmly closed the flaps and set the package on the floor. Ignoring the dildo that continued to vibrate at the bottom of the box, she turned to me with a smile on her face. “Not anymore.”

  Either I was in an alternate universe, or Tiffany Lewis was drunk. Or concussed. Actually, there was a good chance she was both, because the person next to me right now was not the same woman I met a month ago. No, that woman wouldn’t know humor if it had smacked her in the face.

  Which was why none of this made any sense.

  Not knowing how else to handle this situation, I quickly shook my head and ran my palm over my face to clear away the surprise she could surely see. “I guess I better let you have at it then, huh?”

  I pushed off the couch and stood in front of her for a moment. Part of me wanted to stay and figure out this mystery, but the other part worried that she was on something and this would all come back to bite me in the butt later.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you.” She almost sounded sad, as if she didn’t want me to leave. Again, this didn’t at all match up to the woman I’d met several weeks ago. It was too much to wrap my brain around.

  “Uh, yeah. Nice meeting you, too.” I retreated a few steps toward the patio doors, and when she started to shift in her seat, I held my hand out and said, “Don’t get up. I’ll let myself out. I guess I’ll see you around.”

  Her brow furrowed as confusion painted her expression.

  There was something seriously off about this whole thing.

  Instead of heading back to the main house—where my sister lived with her husband—I went straight to the pool house where I’d lived for the past eight months. It was small, but it had everything I needed. I wasn’t interested in anything bigger. After all, it was just me.

  I’d gotten less than halfway into a movie when several harsh knocks resounded from the front door. Jessa never knocked—even though I’d told her many times that if she didn’t want to get an eyeful of something she’d never be able to forget, she probably shouldn’t walk in. And her husband, Marcus, always texted before showing up. Other than those two, no one ever stopped by, which was why it shocked me to hear someone at the door.

  What was even more of a surprise was finding Tiffany on my front step. She held out a tray covered in foil, a smile stretching across her face. “I brought you some Pizza Rolls.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. She’d cooked the very thing I’d given her to ice her ankle and brought it over for me to eat. “Um, thanks…I guess. Any particular reason for your, uh, very generous offer?”

  “I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s a particular reason, more like a few. They needed to be cooked, and I’m not hungry enough to eat the whole bag, so I thought you might want some. Also, because we’re neighbors, and I wanted to properly introduce myself. Not to mention, I want to thank you for helping me earlier.”

  I glanced down at her feet, noticing she didn’t appear to be babying her injured ankle. It was only meant to be a brief glance, but for some reason, the sight of the teal polish on her toenails made me take notice of more than just her stance. It also didn’t get past me that she was in flip-flops, not the heels she’d worn an hour or so ago.

  Leaning against the doorframe, I crossed my arms and held her in place with my stare. It wasn’t that I wanted to be rude or anything, I just wasn’t sure if I could trust her. “Do you honestly not remember meeting me already?”

  “Like, earlier this morning?”

  “No,” I said, trying to bite back my laughter. “Before then.”

  Her eyes narrowed, but only for a split second before widening like she’d seen a ghost. “We’ve met before today? When?”

  “Right after you moved in.”

  She hummed to herself for a moment, pulling her lips to one side. “I didn’t think I’d met any of my neighbors.”

  As if this couldn’t get any weirder…

  “Well, you did. You met me—if that’s what you want to call it.”

  “Let me guess…I was a total chib to you, wasn’t I?”

  “A what?” I could assume what it meant, but I wasn’t sure.

  “Chib—bitch pronounced backward.” She paused for a moment, appearing confident that she’d used a word most people had heard before. Then she added, “And you probably didn’t deserve it, did you? Listen, I’m really sorry about that. I can’t give you an explanation for my actions back then, because I don’t have one, but I do want to apologize for treating you that way.”

  I had no idea what to say. At first, I expected her to resume the same nasty attit
ude she was widely known for—I’d looked her up after meeting her and discovered that I wasn’t the only one who’d been on the receiving end of her entitlement. But now, I had no idea what to expect. It was like this person wasn’t Tiffany Lewis but a really nice and extremely hot impersonator.

  Maybe she suffered from multiple personalities.

  If so, I hoped this one stuck around for a while.

  “I guess that means there’s another purpose for these,” she said while lifting the covered tray that I’d almost forgotten about. “A peace offering.”

  Still, I wasn’t entirely sure of her, so I decided to invite her in to share them with me rather than just accept the offered Pizza Rolls. If she didn’t eat any, then I’d know she had poisoned them. It was a foolproof plan.

  That was until she ate one. Then another.

  “I take it your ankle is better.” I pointed to her foot before grabbing a soda from the fridge and holding it out in a silent offer.

  “Yeah. I can still feel it a little when I walk, but it’s not bad,” she said while taking the cold can from me. “Thank you again for all your help. I really do appreciate it.”

  I moved from the small corner kitchen into the slightly larger living room and took a seat on the sofa. If Tiffany wanted to follow, that was her choice. To be honest, it was more or less a test. My couch was obviously much smaller and older than hers—and not nearly as comfortable. So I sat and watched her expression as she moved into the open room, waiting for the moment she sat down to read her thoughts as they came to life on her face.

  However, she didn’t come straight to the couch. Instead, she moved to the giant vivarium displayed in the corner next to the TV. With genuine interest, she crouched down to look inside, then over her shoulder at me. “Is this a baby iguana or something?”

  “Bearded dragon. His name is Terry, but you may call him Sir Terry.”

  She smiled and turned back to the vivarium, admiring my scaly friend with her fingertip lightly pressed against the glass. “Where’d you get that name from? Does it have personal meaning to you?”