The Siren by KATHERINE JOHN (general ebook reader .txt) 📕

than eighteen rushed over, apologizing. I waved him away with a laugh. What, did he think I wasn’t cool? I was cool. I’d partied harder than any of these amateurs in my time.

The pool was clearly where the fun was. Reggae music played and piña coladas flowed; a Ping-Pong game was in full swing under the awning of the restaurant. Most of the crew had to be here; there were at least thirty revelers, of which I counted one, two, three…four women, including Felicity and Madison, whom I had yet to meet.

Felicity floated like a mermaid on a swan-shaped lounger in the middle of the pool, and Madison posed in front of a pot of colorful flowers by the Ping-Pong table while some guy snapped photos of her with a phone.

My mouth watered as I watched Madison take a long draw of the pink frozen drink in her hand. Oh my God, I could almost taste it. Alas, I had to pretend to be sober the entire time I was here, like a teenager. So stupid. Thank heavens I had my pills and Felicity to secretly share her drinks with me. How was it possible I’d lived all my life without her up until a few months ago? Good help really was hard to find, especially on a tailored budget.

I placed Mary Elizabeth in my purse and shed my caftan, revealing the sexy white one-piece I’d splurged on last week. The neckline plunged near to my belly button, and the butt was a Brazilian cut that made all the Pilates I’d been suffering through totally worth it. I knew I looked hot in it, and sure enough from behind my sunglasses I clocked more than a few of the guys checking me out. It felt good. “Fee,” I called.

Her head snapped up, and the swan nearly tipped over. She paddled slowly toward me, laughing. “This thing’ll dump me into the water if I so much as breathe. You have a nice time at the beach?”

“It was beautiful,” I confirmed. “It was lovely to catch up with Cole. We have so many friends in common, you know. And of course, our past…” My gaze drifted to Madison, now popping out from behind a plant over and over again. “What’s she doing?”

Felicity followed my eyeline. “Boomerang. She’s been at it since I came up here.”

At that moment, Madison noticed us staring and waved brightly. She grabbed her phone from the guy and hurried over, thick dark waves bouncing. She really did have enviable hair, and her makeup was fantastic; I’d have to ask her for tips. Maybe we’d become friends after all.

“Hiiiii,” she sang, perching next to me and holding her phone out. It was then that I noticed she was filming. “This is my costar, the talented Stella Rivers,” she told the phone without looking at me. “It’s so nice to finally meet her. Say hi, Stella!”

What a strange greeting. And I was not ready to have my picture taken. Heaven knows what I looked like after a sweltering day at the beach. I waved the camera away. “I’m good,” I said. “Maybe later.”

“But we’re live streaming!” she protested.

No, we were not going to be friends.

“…with all my amazing fans,” she continued. “How many of you are there? Wow, I see we have more than 143,000 watching right now. That is truly, truly amazing.” She focused the camera on herself, batting her dark eyes flirtatiously. She was wearing eyelash extensions. Ugh, why hadn’t I thought of that? “Thank you all so much for being here. I can’t tell you how blessed I am to be in the beautiful Caribbean with such a talented cast. We have the camera-shy Stella Rivers”—she popped the phone over at me again, and I forced an uncomfortable smile—“and of course, Cole Power. Who doesn’t love Cole Power? Well, I can name one person, but she isn’t here now, is she?” She tittered.

As Madison rambled on about how amazing everything was, I fingered my amethyst pendant and threw Felicity a telepathic plea, silently begging her to get me out of there. I knew it was good for me to be in Madison’s video in front of 143,000 fans—better than good. As much as I hated the fact that I was working with a YouTube star, she clearly knew how to court fans, and fans were what I needed. It really was so kind of her to include me, I chided myself. I should be grateful. I was grateful! Just not right now. I wasn’t twenty-five with flawless skin. Sure, my mother’s Venezuelan genes meant I was still getting carded at forty, but I needed to prepare to be on camera. I had an image to protect.

I was getting panicky, trapped half in the video with thousands of fans looking on. Felicity must’ve read my mind, because she pushed out of the pool and leaned into the shot between Madison and me, dripping all over her. “Oh!” Madison exclaimed. “Hi, Nikki!” She turned the camera on Felicity. “I’m so sorry, I can’t remember your other name.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Felicity said, her cleavage filling the frame as she leaned in to grab my hand. “I totally forgot I was supposed to take Stella for a final wardrobe fitting. You’ll have to forgive us.” She pulled me up, and we both blew the camera kisses as we hastened down the teakwood stairs that led from the pool to the beach.

“Oh my God, that was intense,” I breathed when we were safely out of earshot.

“Yeah, she’s a little much,” Felicity agreed.

“Why was she calling you Nikki?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Apparently she was in an acting class with a girl named Nikki that looked like me.”

“Weird.”

“Not really,” she said, running her fingers through her bangs as we made our way down the shaded path that led to our row of over-water bungalows. “People are always telling me I look like someone else. It used to be annoying, but I’ve gotten used to