Chapter 7

Cami

As I stood on Xander’s front porch, I wondered what had possessed me to race over to his house to tell him what I’d done, rather than calling him.

My morning had started with over a dozen texts from Mitch, all either apologizing for how he’d acted at the club or warning me about how dangerous Xander was. He’d insisted I’d end up being mistaken for one of Xander’s groupie sluts. He’d used the words groupie sluts, not me. I had no problem with women having healthy sexual appetites and experimenting. Men got to do it, so why not women? Why should women be called sluts while men were praised as studs? His choice of words had done more to prove Mitch wasn’t the guy for me.

I’d ignored his texts and gotten ready to head out to the grocery store. I figured that since I was already up early, I might as well beat the lines. Then, I’d decided to procrastinate a little and checked for stories about the Reckless Release show. I’m still a groupie, just a groupie with better connections.

There was a lot of buzz about Xander and me. Usually, I ignored it, and it went away. Xander always responded, but his responses were light without adding to speculation. He was great with social media. All I needed to do was ignore any posts suggesting I was dating him, and they would go away, but I’d suddenly come up with another plan.

Xander was holding his phone when he opened the door, and the first words out of his mouth were, “#XanandCam is trending. Someone must have hacked your account.”

“I kind of started it,” I admitted. “Not kind of. I started it.”

“Yeah, right,” he replied with a laugh. “So, do you want to come in and consummate this relationship now? Should we head to the bedroom? Or should we go for something a little more original?”

“Very funny,” I grumbled, trying to not let the image of Xander naked in his bedroom take root in my mind.

“Sorry,” he began. “I shouldn’t joke about this. I’m sure you’re upset. Have you already changed your password? Wait. Why didn’t you delete the posts?”

He didn’t believe I’d been the one to confirm the latest rumors, not that I blamed him. “It was me. Can I come in to talk about this?”

Xan still looked shocked, but his grin was back in place. “Sure. You never answered my question. Do you want to consummate our new social media romance?”

I smacked his belly as I passed him on the way into the house. “It’s not like that.”

He followed me as he read from his phone. “My ex can’t accept that I’m with Xander now #XanandCam. Did you really post that?”

“That was me,” I replied. “I already told you I started the Hashtag. It’s just not what it seems like.”

“Maybe you should explain,” he suggested. “Should I get naked, or is there definitely going to be no consummation today?”

“Xander,” I warned. “I’m serious. No sex, and definitely no getting naked.” It pained me a little to say the last because I was sure Xander looked fantastic naked.

He put his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what happened before someone from the band sees this?”

“Mitch won’t leave me alone.”

He nodded his understanding. “I noticed last night. I assume that wasn’t the first time you’ve told him you don’t want to see him again. Have you considered getting a restraining order?”

“I don’t have grounds for one,” I admitted. “To be honest, I figured he’d get over it and leave me alone. After we broke up last time, I didn’t see him for months. I’m not sure why he’s so obsessed this time. He says it’s a horrible time to break up and even accused me of ruining everything—whatever that means.”

I collapsed onto the comfortable sofa in Xander’s family room while he took a seat at the opposite end.

“Ruin everything?” he asked. “Did he seriously put it that way?”

I nodded. “Seems a little dramatic, doesn’t it?”

“Crazy was what I was thinking,” he replied.

“I could see him feeling that way if we’d dated a long time and had a future planned together,” I admitted.

“Even then, it seems a little over the top. What is his problem? Has he threatened you?” Xander sounded angry.

“No, he hasn’t threatened me,” I assured him. “He just won’t go away.”

“So, you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” he asked.

“When I made that post, I didn't think that far ahead,” I admitted. “If I’d taken the time to think things through, I would have realized how ridiculous my idea was. Mitch won’t see this. He doesn’t use anything except LinkedIn. He’s not following any celebrity gossip. I’m really sorry, Xan. What a mess!”

He moved closer and slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t stress too much about it. I’ve been known to act impulsively on rare occasions.” When I laughed, he continued. “There’ve been one or two times when I didn’t think before I acted.”

“You don’t say,” I said with a smile.

“It’s true. So, what should we do about this?” he asked. “If you want it to all go away, I can issue a statement saying your account’s been hacked. It happens enough that people will buy it, and this whole thing will be forgotten in a day or two.”

“Or you could pretend to be my boyfriend.” I pulled away to see his reaction to my suggestion. It was a crazy idea, and I would be the first to admit it was even a little juvenile. Normally, I don’t like playing games with people. That’s not my style. In this case, I was out of ideas.

“Are you fucking with me?” Xander asked.