Famous by Association

by Leddy Harper

  “Ty?” I was shocked to see him in the house. “What in the world are you doing here?”

  “The real question should be…where in the world were you?”

  Unable to speak for a moment while my brain tried to formulate a believable lie, I decided to distract him with all the attitude I could muster. I cocked one hip to the side and crossed my arms over my chest, staring daggers into him. All the while, the only thing I could come up with was, “You scared the crap out of me. You’re lucky I didn’t hurt you.”

  He chuckled, apparently finding the idea of being hurt by me funny. But unfortunately, he didn’t seem thrown off by my assertive stance. Once again, he asked, “Where were you, Tasha?”

  “Next door.” I figured short, unclear answers would prolong this interrogation long enough to come up with something he’d believe without getting me in any trouble. After all, I did just walk in holding the dress I’d worn last night.

  “What were you doing over there?”

  “Talking to Jessa.”

  “Who’s Jessa?”

  “The woman who lives next door.” There was an understood duh at the end of that.

  “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you were there.”

  “I just told you…to talk to Jessa.” He really had no idea who he was messing with. I could do this all day and not get tired.

  He huffed and scratched his forehead, as if exhausted by me already. “That’s not what I mean, Tasha, and you know it. Why were you next door talking to Jessa—and don’t say because it’s where she lives. What did you need to talk to her about, and why did you come home carrying a dress?”

  I glanced at the pile of yellow fabric on the floor, and suddenly, it came to me. “I spilled something on it last night, so I went over there to see if she had any of that stain stuff for the laundry.”

  “What did you get on it?” he asked before picking up the gown to examine it.

  “I dropped something in my lap while I was eating. You won’t find it, because Jessa took care of it for me. It’s all gone.”

  “It took you that long to spot-treat a stain?”

  “I wasn’t gone that long. Stop being dramatic.” I waved him off and tried to walk away, hoping that if I left the room, he’d drop it. Sticking around to answer more questions would surely open up room for error on my part, and I wasn’t in the mood to get caught in a lie. Especially after my night with Jacoby.

  Unfortunately, he followed after me. “I’ve been here for over an hour. Your phone was going straight to voicemail, and you were nowhere to be found. Did you really expect me not to worry?”

  I stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to face him. “I guess I lost track of time. I’m sorry to make you worry, but as you can see now, I’m fine.”

  “Why is your phone off?”

  I had to think about that for a moment, though I didn’t want it to be obvious. The truth was, I had no idea. “I guess it’s dead, and I didn’t notice. I’ll charge it so you can get ahold of me anytime you want. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get dressed.”

  “That’s another thing,” he practically shouted, even though I was only two feet away from him. He gestured to Jacoby’s shirt and boxers, looking me up and down with a narrowed gaze and prominent curl in his top lip. “Why did you go over there wearing that? Is that what you slept in?”

  “Can we deal with this after I get ready?”

  “Sure…I just don’t understand why you’re perfectly okay being around the neighbor like that yet uncomfortable around me. There’s a higher chance of her finding you attractive than there is that I would.”

  I rolled my eyes and continued my climb up the stairs while answering him over my shoulder. “It has nothing to do with you. I just want to put on real clothes.”

  Thankfully, he didn’t follow me, giving me space to clean myself up. Out of fear of Jacoby stopping by, I skipped the shower, choosing to wipe down the important parts instead. Washing my hair would have to wait for a safer time. Right now, I needed to quickly get ready and meet Ty back downstairs before he had a chance to pick through my lies from this morning.

  While brushing my teeth, I remembered tossing my purse on the couch before leaving out the back door. That was why my phone was dead—I’d left it in the clutch I’d taken to Jeannine’s dinner party. Out of all the questions Ty had flung at me this morning, that was the only one I could answer honestly, and it was the only one I hadn’t had an answer for.

  Keeping up with this charade had become more and more challenging. Fooling everyone around me into believing I was my sister was hard enough, the only thing making it slightly easier were the very few people I didn’t have to pretend around. Except now, I had to lie to one of the people who helped make up that safety net about something entirely different.

  If I wasn’t careful, the web of lies that I had spun would imprison me.

  Ty was on the couch with one leg crossed over the other and his phone in his hand when I returned to the living room. For someone who was so high strung five minutes ago, he certainly seemed relaxed now. He glanced up at me as I entered the room but quickly returned his attention to the device in his hand, correcting my previous assumption of his mood. He wasn’t as relaxed as I’d initially thought. Instead, he seemed perturbed, possibly on the verge of becoming angry.

  I took a seat on the opposite side of the wrap-around couch, getting as far from him as possible. And suddenly, I understood why someone would need such a massive piece of furniture—to distance themselves from others without sacrificing the comfortability of the sofa.

  “Well? Are you going to answer my question now?”

  Honestly, I couldn’t remember which one he was referring to. So playing dumb didn’t take much effort when I shrugged and said, “I’m going to need you to repeat it for me.”

  “Why didn’t you get dressed before going next door?”

  Oh, yeah. That’s right. That question—the one I specifically didn’t want to answer. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any way out of it this time, so my only option was to come up with something fast and pray he believed it. “She was outside, and I didn’t want to lose my opportunity by taking the time to change out of my pajamas.”

  “How did you even know that she would be able to help you?”

  “What is this, a deposition hearing? What’s with all the questions?”

  He finally put down his phone and looked at me. “I’m simply trying to understand the extent of your interactions with others. Don’t forget, Tiffany will come back, and when she does, all the people you’ve befriended will get a nasty dose of reality. I’m sure you don’t want that. And I, for one, don’t need more rumors to deal with—on top of the ones about her appearance that I already know will spread like wildfire.”

  “You don’t have anything to worry about, Ty. I’ve made sure to keep up the sham around others, including the neighbors. She won’t be shocked when Tiffany treats her like garbage. The ones you should worry about are the women I have to film with.”

  His brow furrowed in concentration. “Why should I worry about them?”

  “I’ve been blindsided left and right by these women—namely, Serenity.”

  “I’ve already told you—”

  “Yeah, and I call BS on what you told me.” I was beyond frustrated by this entire thing. In a way, I felt like Ty and my sister had sold me a lie. They made the situation sound like paradise when, in reality, it was a battlefield, and I was left to fight someone else’s war. “Either Tiffany is saving face with you by downplaying it all, or she really is delusional and believes that her infidelity is some tight-lipped secret. Because, I’m telling you, Ty, Serenity knows something.”

  He was quiet for a moment, taking deep breaths while contemplating my obvious concern. “Okay, maybe she does know something, but I highly doubt it’s enough to do any harm. As long as you deny any allegations that are made and play dumb, you’ll be safe. Just get through this and then let Tiffany deal w
ith it when she gets back.”

  “That would be fine if Serenity didn’t know anything. And since I don’t know the whole story, I can’t say how much she knows, but I get the feeling it’s enough to make this whole thing blow up in my face. I can pretend to be my sister while shopping or having lunch in town, but I draw the line at tabloid drama. If this gets out—and based on the things Serenity has said, I believe she’s working on some grand reveal—then I’m gone. I won’t stick around and defend her name against rumors of infidelity.”

  “What else has she said?”

  Jacoby had done an excellent job last night at taking my mind off the anxiety-inducing dinner party. But now, Ty was making me conjure it all back up. “Right in front of Jeannine, she accused me of being at her house before. Of course, I played dumb, and Jeannine backed me up by explaining that they’d just moved in, and last night was the first time anyone had been over. But Serenity wouldn’t drop it, claiming that she’s friends with one of the neighbors and heard about Tiffany’s car being spotted in the driveway several times.”

  “Well, that’s a blatant lie. Tiffany said the affair ended a while ago.” Ty was fully aware of who my sister was and what she was capable of, so I didn’t understand why he continued to believe the things she told him over the things I had heard. There was no way he was that naïve when it came to her.

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it. Another way would be that it wasn’t as long ago as she wants you to believe and, quite possibly, is still going on. But that’s none of my business. As long as it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care.”

  He leaned forward and scrubbed his face with his palms. I could tell that the stress was getting to him, probably just as much as it was getting to me, only for different reasons. He honestly wasn’t a bad guy—annoying at times, but he had a good heart. He just trusted the wrong person. And I would bet every penny of my worth that there was a trail of others behind him who had made that same mistake.

  “I’ll figure something out.” When he dropped his hands, he looked like he had aged twenty years, as if he’d rubbed off a mask of youth. “You’re off today, so just lay low. Let me get this situated, and then I’ll contact you about this.”

  I had no idea how he planned to fix the situation, but as long as it didn’t make my life or this job worse, then I didn’t care. I wasn’t bluffing—I would walk away before I defended my sister’s infidelity. Maybe all of this would finally open everyone’s eyes to see the real Tiffany Lewis.

  Ty must’ve had a hard time coming up with a way out of this mess, because it’d been two days and I still hadn’t heard anything from him. Luckily, I’d had both days off, but that all ended tomorrow. I figured I’d give him until the morning before I tried to get ahold of him.

  Jacoby and I had made plans for tonight, so Ty and my sister were the furthest things from my mind. It only took one night of sleeping in his arms to make the thought of sleeping by myself unappealing. I’d spent the last two nights in his bed—cuddling without taking it further—but since I had to work in the morning, he’d agreed to stay tonight at my place. Reluctantly, I might add. He felt uncomfortable sleeping in my sister’s house, which I understood completely. It just made more sense to me if I was already there in the morning in case the glam squad came early. At least with Jacoby there, if they showed up ahead of schedule, he could sneak out the back, and no one would be the wiser. If I were at his home, I’d have to explain where I’d been and why I hadn’t answered the door. The one time I’d gotten caught by Ty had been enough to never put myself in that position again.

  As I sat on the couch, waiting for Jacoby to come to the back door, I was startled by a sound coming from the front of the house. I couldn’t tell what it was, so I paused the game and sat completely still. A heavy thump echoed down the hall, causing my heart rate to spike. And by the time a figure came around the corner into the living room, I was on high alert.

  This was the second intruder in two days.

  After what had happened with Ty, I made sure to look at him before reacting, just in case it was Ty again. But it wasn’t. This man was much taller, with muscles on top of muscles and noticeably broad shoulders. If The Rock and Aquaman had a baby, this man would be it.

  The second I realized it wasn’t Ty, I immediately began my attack to defend myself. Since I had the game controller in my hand, I chucked it at him as hard as I could. Unsurprisingly, it bounced off his chest like an ineffective bouncy ball. His pecs likely caused more damage to it than had I thrown it on the hard floor.

  Not wasting time, I grabbed anything and everything I could find and hurled it in his direction. The TV remote, an empty plate, a glass vase, pillows, and shoes, but nothing seemed to faze him. Although, the vase did make him flinch. When the only thing left on the coffee table was a can of beer that I’d taken maybe two gulps of, I committed the ultimate sin. I picked it up and launched it at him.

  It wasn’t until I ran out of things to hit him with that I realized he was still in the same spot he was when he came in. He hadn’t moved or made any advancement toward me. I mean, it didn’t make me any less scared, but at least it didn’t escalate my fear.

  While we stood in silence, staring at one another, the front door slammed closed. The sudden noise caused me to jump and hold my breath. The man in front of me glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting someone else to join him. That was when I abandoned my fight instinct and chose flight instead. I became hyper-aware of my surroundings, mentally plotting my escape, and felt that my best option was the French doors behind me. As long as this home invader didn’t have anyone around the side of the house, I could run through the yard and make it next door to call for help.

  I spun on my heel and grabbed ahold of the handle, but as I pulled on it, the door didn’t budge. It was locked. I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins that I was oblivious to anything going on around me. While I could hear voices, I wasn’t able to make out what they were saying, so the fact that one of them was calling out my name never registered until someone grabbed my shoulders from behind.

  “Get off me!” I screamed, swinging my arms around as I turned to face my attacker. My blood pressure must’ve been high, because I couldn’t hear anything past the ringing in my ears, and while I had my glasses on, my eyesight had gone to crap because I couldn’t seem to comprehend the scene in front of me.

  When he managed to restrain me by my wrists, I squeezed my eyes shut and chanted, “I’m not Tiffany,” even though the man in front of me repeatedly called me by my name, not Tiffany’s. Yet that fact didn’t register in my mind over the fear of being murdered.

  “Tasha, calm down,” he cooed, which was the first time he was able to get through to me. His voice was comforting and familiar, not alarming or threatening. “It’s okay, it’s just Adam and me. We’re here to fix the situation.”

  I opened my eyes, relieved to find Ty standing in front of me. But that relief was quickly replaced with anger. “What the crap is wrong with you?” I now slapped him for a completely different reason. “Stop sneaking up on people! One of these days, I’m going to seriously hurt you, thinking you’re a burglar.”

  “Sorry!” He shielded his face with his arms and backed away, moving closer to the giant I presumed to be Adam King. “Just hear us out, please. You can be mad after I explain everything to you…it’ll save us a lot of time.”

  I took that to mean that whatever he had to say would piss me off.

  Conceding, I moved to sit on the couch and waited for them to join me. All the while, I studied Adam. This was the first time I’d ever seen him outside of a random picture on the internet that Dave found after we learned of his engagement with my sister. He was not at all what I thought he’d be. I’d imagined him as a total meathead, a total creep who had no respect for others. I mean, he did ask Tiffany to marry him, so I had a hard time picturing him as a good guy, even though he’d remained by her side through this whole plastic surgery fiasco.
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br />   “Before you speak your mind like we both know you will, just hear me out. Okay?” Ty acted afraid, which meant that he knew I wouldn’t like what he had to say. But rather than argue, I nodded in agreement, gesturing for him to continue. “Well, I’ve spoken to Tiffany about the situation with Serenity.”

  I glanced back and forth between Ty and Adam, wondering how much the athlete knew.

  And based on the intensity of Ty’s stare, I assumed it wasn’t much, and what little he did know was a lie. “We’ve agreed that the only way to squash the rumors was for Adam to come home for a couple of days. Seeing you two together in public should make Serenity think twice before accusing you of anything that could potentially harm others.”

  “Let me get this straight…” I clasped my hands together and leaned forward. “Serenity is under the impression that my sister is cheating on her fiancé, and your brilliant idea is to bring said fiancé into the mix?”

  “It’s clearly a rumor, and she’s only doing this to secure her place on the show. Even if she does try to start problems, Adam will be there to put an end to it before it gets out of hand. Something like this requires a strong personality to shut something down, and while you’re not a weak person, we just feel that you wouldn’t be able to put her in her place if you need to.”

  While I didn’t necessarily agree with this, I didn’t want to throw Ty under the bus. He was just as much a victim in this as I was, so it wouldn’t be fair to let him take the fall. Regarding Adam, who continued to sit on the couch in silence, I contemplated how to handle this situation. “And you’re all right with this plan?” I asked him.

  He nodded slowly, but then he licked his lips and spoke for the first time since walking into the room and scaring the crap out of me. “A rumor like that doesn’t only affect Tiffany. It affects me, too—as well as our relationship—so yes, I’m good with this.”