“You always hear what you want, don’t you?” he teased with a grin. “I never said to be a chib to him while having sex. My thought process was…if you sleep with him, then you’d have a reason to be nasty toward him. Well, Tiffany would have a reason, I should say. You know, not wanting her hot fiancé to find out and all.”
I hated it when Dave referred to Adam as hot. He was with my sister, which meant there was absolutely nothing appealing about him whatsoever.
“Not to mention, it’d kill two birds with one stone.”
“Oh, yeah? How?”
His smug eyes told me that whatever he was about to say made him very pleased with himself. “It’s been quite some time since you last—” He made a circle with his index finger and thumb on one hand and then stuck a finger from his other hand through, all while making some absurd whistling sound. “And considering that this wouldn’t be some love-making session, it just might be enough to get you through this desperation stage and back on par with the plan. Let’s be honest here, Tasha. You can’t possibly act like a stuck-up snob if you’re drooling over the neighbor.”
He wasn’t wrong there.
“If you get past that, it’ll make it easier to act like a total see you next Tuesday. It’ll get rid of Jacoby, so no chance of anyone finding out that you’re not actually a twatsicle. Sure, you won’t have anyone to entertain you for the next two or so months, but that’s okay. If you want to successfully imitate Tiffany, you must submerge yourself in the role. And since she doesn’t have friends, then you can’t have any, either.”
“Gee, thanks for nothing.” I couldn’t argue that he had a point, but that did nothing to help my case. “So what you’re saying is…I need to sleep with my neighbor and then act like a crazy person, all so I can be a believable snob on camera?”
“Glad you’re coming around, sunshine.”
I rolled my eyes, wishing he hadn’t taken the controller from me so I could throw it at him.
Regardless of how much I wanted to smack him for what he had to say, he was right. I only had a little over two weeks before the cameras showed up, and if I wanted to stay incognito, I needed to get serious. I didn’t, however, need to sleep with Jacoby to do this.
Or did I?
6
Jacoby
It’d been a couple of days since I last saw Tiffany.
Well, I’d technically seen her, but it was from a distance. I had been working hard, so I chalked it up as ships passing in the night.
“You invited her, right?” Jessa busied herself in the kitchen, making sure she had everything she needed for her barbecue.
I grabbed a pickle from the tray and bit off the end. “I told you I did, so I did.”
After leaving Tiffany’s house the other day, I came to talk about it with my sister. I didn’t go into detail about the entire visit, as that would’ve been inappropriate, but I did discuss with her the unexplainable flip in character. Jessa thought it made the most sense to invite her over for her annual poolside barbecue. That way, she could see it for herself.
“Did she say if she’s coming?” She smacked my hand away before I could grab another pickle. “And is she bringing her friend?”
Okay, it was truth time. “Well, I didn’t exactly ask Tiffany; I asked Dave, her best friend. He said they would love to come.”
My sister gave me the side-eye stare that had always successfully scared me growing up. “Jacoby Michael Abbott.” The full name was enough to make my breath stall in my lungs, too afraid to make its way out, but the hand on her hip, reminding me so much of our grandmother, made me feel like a small child all over again.
“Jessa Roseann Estrada,” I mocked, knowing it would get to her—in a good way.
Just as I had hoped for, her lips split into an infectious smile. My sister was a beautiful girl both inside and out. “My middle name isn’t Roseann”—I knew that—“and don’t turn this back on me. I asked you to do one thing, Coby. One. And that was to make sure the infamous Tiffany Lewis shows up today.”
“And I did. I promise.” I grabbed the tray of snacks and carried them to the storage fridge for her. “If I would’ve asked her personally, there