Page 101 of The Pretender

I nudge his leg. “Looks like this is more than prank footage.”

Sebastian rakes a hand through his hair, hitting the fast forward button before he quits and unplugs the whole thing. “It’s not what it looks like,” he says, leaning back onto the sofa. “I admire her.”

Tingles rush through my stomach and I’m sure it isn’t the moonshine.

“I thought you hated her.”

Keeping his eyes closed, he presses his palms to his head and sits up. “It’s weird. It’s like I hate to love her and I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because she’s smart and so goddamned sexy. She’s every man’s dream, but yet, she can’t stand the sight of me.” He scoffs. “It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted a woman and she hasn’t wanted me.”

Suddenly my lips are pressed to his. They’re warm and soft and—

“What are you doing?” Sebastian jumps up from the sofa, and I stand, holding my palms up and forgetting I’m supposed to be a man when I apologize. “I’m so sorry.”

His eyes widen and narrow to my head. Shit. I reach up and find my wig has shifted. “Guess the secret is out, huh?” With an apologetic grin, I pull the rest of my wig off, letting my dark hair fall around my shoulders.

“What in the mother of all fucks?” Sebastian’s mouth falls open. I’ve shocked him. That’s understandable. It’s quite the difference. “Have I been roofied?” He scrubs a hand down his face over the dusting of hair.

“Am I foaming at the mouth?” He asks me seriously. “Where’s my phone? I need a mirror. If I’m about to die from being poisoned, I prefer not to go out looking like I frenched a Saint Bernard.”

“Sebastian… I’m sorry,” I explain, “I didn’t mean for—”

“Hell yes you did, you liar!” He slams me against the wall as the camera crew starts laughing. “And now you’re going to make up for it with your mouth.” He nudges his face in my shoulder, nipping at my neck. “I want a blow job for every time you pissed me off.”

This idiot.

I smile, gripping his shirt and tugging him to me as fast as possible. It’s been a long day of pretending I hate him. I’m ready to feel his lips on mine, the warmth of his body pressed against me. This is my demon—my ridiculous, crazy man. Whether I’m his bro or his hoe, I’m still his.

“Cut! That’s a wrap for today. Take the rest of the night off. We’ll start again in the morning.”

Sebastian pulls up from where his head is in my neck and grins. “Works every time. I am so tired of not seeing you naked.”

I giggle into his shirt, inhaling the sweet scent of moonshine he specifically drank for this scene as the film crew shuffles about, cleaning up their equipment in a staged townhouse that isn’t the real one this all went down in.

“Thank fuck.” Sebastian rises, lying to the camera crew with, “Vee was molesting me under the table that entire scene. I was either about to file a complaint or fuck her on the table.” He winks down at me and then looks up at the director who just shakes his head. I bet he will be so happy to see this movie finished.

I shake my head and try to push the big goof off, but he only wraps his arms around me. “No, ma’am. Where do you think you’re going?”

I arch my back, trying to maneuver out from under him to at least touch him, but all it does is send a pained groan through him. “Keep arching, T, and we’ll end up with a bonus scene fit only for the dark web.”

This man hasn’t changed much since the day I first met him as he mimicked the scene from the movie,Titanic, mouthing, “watermelon” as I sang (awfully, per him) for the internet and started this whole war. He’s still rambunctious and never gives two shits about telling me like it is. But probably the most noticeable difference about Sebastian is he seems genuinely happy.

No longer does he avoid his family and tense up at the sight of a wig on my head. He calls me T whenever he wants to be a shit or just remind me how far we’ve come. But most of all, he stayed in Georgia and finally made it his home.

After changing his major to film, he spoke with his parents and they agreed he should chase his dreams and be happy. It took only a few days to see the result of a happier Bash-hole who is enjoying being the star of a soon-to-be major motion picture.

Yep, you heard me correctly. Not only did we win the UniCamFlix competition, but merely days after our story aired on the UniCamFlix, a major film network, Ustream, offered us a deal. They wanted to tell our story—the full story, not the fake one.

They wanted to tell the story of how Sebastian and Valentina really fell in love. The name of the movie…Subscriber Wars.

EXTENDED EPILOGUE

Sebastian

Six years later

“You see all of this out here?”

I pinch Vee’s nipple between my fingers, which sends a moan through her tight body as she drops her head onto the wooden railing of our balcony, panting and spreading her legs wider.

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