Page 10 of One Life to Loathe

“And he hasn’t worked since then?” I tried to wrap my head around that.

“He has, but mostly in Canada,” Bethany replied. “He got himself in trouble over here and had to go across the border because nobody here would hire him.”

Well, now she had my full attention. “What sort of trouble did he get in?”

“The sort he’s going to get himself in tonight.” Bethany wiggled her fingers at the younger women Ed was standing with. “He’s a butt man, and he doesn’t care if he has permission to grab your butt or not. You need to be careful with him.”

Did she mean me specifically, or was that a general “you”? I honestly had no idea. “Huh.” This time when I looked up at Levi, I found him watching me with sympathetic eyes. He also seemed to be darting dark looks in Ed’s direction. Before I could decide how I wanted to respond, Miles interrupted us … and I had never been so happy for an end to a conversation in my life.

“I need to talk to you,” he said to me. He smiled at Sylvia and Bethany but gave my wrist a little tug. “It won’t take more than a few minutes.”

“No problem.” I drained the rest of my drink—I’d been nursing it for an hour and wasn’t drunk—and followed him to a table in the corner of the room. I was already taking my seat before I realized Leo was sitting across from me. “Is he supposed to be here for this?” I asked.

Leo’s smile was impish as he sipped from his glass. Unlike everybody else in the room, he hadn’t gone out of the way to mingle. Not that I was watching him or anything. It was hard to miss him when he was sitting in the corner, alone, like a big, unfriendly baby.

“Yes,” Miles replied. If he sensed the tension between Leo and me, he didn’t show it. “I want to talk to you both together.” He was guileless as he sat between us. “I have to ask a favor of the two of you, and it makes me uncomfortable, but I want this show to be a success.”

Instantly my antenna went up. “What sort of favor?”

“Well, I was hoping the two of you might go out together.”

Was he joking? Was that supposed to be funny? “What?”

“Yeah, I’m confused too, Miles,” Leo said, his face impassive and not betraying a single emotion. “Why would we possibly go out together?”

“Because, if people think you’re dating in real life, it will build up natural buzz for the show,” Miles explained.

My heart began to sink. In hindsight, I realized I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was making the request. A show like this only made it if there was interest in the central love story. It was like a romantic comedy they were trying to make go viral. If the actors pretended—or at least didn’t deny—that what was happening on screen was creeping off screen, the movie or television show did better.

“We’re not dating,” Leo reminded Miles.

“Oh, I don’t actually expect you to date,” Miles assured him. “I’m not trying to force you to have sex or anything. That’s just … a big no-no. I thought you could head out on the town together, though. Go on a few tours. Just as friends.”

“But if a photographer happened to snap us together and sell those photos to one of the gossip rags, so much the better for the show,” I mused out loud. “You want people to think a romance is brewing between us because that will make them more interested in the romance between our characters.”

“Yes.” Miles looked relieved that I understood the concept, even though I hadn’t yet agreed to his request.

“Wait.” Leo abandoned his drink and leaned forward. “Are you saying you want us to pretend we’re dating to drum up fake buzz for this show?”

“It’s not necessary,” Miles replied hurriedly, correctly reading Leo’s tone. “It would just be helpful.”

“What sort of things would you want us to do exactly?” Leo gritted out.

“Well, since we’re not filming yet, I arranged a tour for tomorrow.” Miles twisted his fingers together as he tried to holdLeo’s gaze. “I don’t expect you to hold hands … or kiss. Just go on a walking tour and act as if you like one another.”

“And someone will be following to take photos?” Leo asked.

Miles nodded. “I know you’re going to say no?—”

“You’re damned right I’m going to say no,” Leo snapped. “I was not hired to date my co-star.”

“It’s free publicity,” Miles implored. “It’s an hour out of your day. I’m not asking you to do anything immoral. I just want to get people talking. It will be good for the show, which means it’s good for all of us.”

Leo shook his head but stopped when his eyes landed on me. “You can’t be for this,” he said when I was quiet for a beat longer.

“It’s just a tour,” I said to him, resigned. “Trust me, I don’t want to spend any more time with you than I have to. It’s good for the show, though. It’s not as if it will kill you to sit next to me on a tour bus.”

“It might,” he fired back.

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