Page 37 of Crave

I swallowed hard, keeping my hands on him for comfort. “What happened?” I asked softly.

“Dad found them. Knew I was hiding them and sneaking food. He went apeshit about a cat colony around our house. Beat the shit out of me and locked me up. When I got out, the kittens were gone and so was Melba. He said he drove them somewhere in the woods and let them go free. But every night, I wondered if Melba believed I betrayed her. And I loved that fucking cat.”

My heart broke into tiny pieces. The thought of this beautiful man dealing with such evil and pain was hard to process, so Ijust stroked his hair and pressed kisses to his temple and told him again that I loved him.

I held the space for his story. It was all I could do.

Chapter Twenty

Landon

Listen to Calm Down

by Selena Gomez & Rema

The day started off so hopeful. If only I’d known how it ended, I may have stayed in bed with Adam and avoided the fall-out.

I opened my eyes to agonizing pleasure and found Adam between my legs, his hot mouth licking and teasing my swollen folds. Half dazed, I tumbled into my orgasm with intense speed, screaming his name. When he wrapped me up in his arms and our gazes locked, I knew he loved me. He just wasn’t ready to say it yet.

Our plan was set. I’d call and rally the girls, and Adam would take care of the guys. We’d meet at the club where Noah was playing, and when he finished, we’d tell everyone the truth. Nerves jumped in my belly but it was also mixed with excitement. Last night had proved we needed to stop hiding. Adam was paranoid about Max. Max still believed there washope to get back together. And I was lying to my friends, which I despised. I figured everyone would get upset and blow up, but eventually come to accept us.

Adam had a meeting with JJ and Unison, and I headed to my own meeting with the crew fromDumped. I’d been the last to sign on, and my agent said they’d gotten twitchy, so I’d decided just in time before they began to look for my replacement. We’d get the finalized shooting schedule and go over details. Now that I’d taken the leap, I was excited to move forward. It would be hard without Adam, but maybe I’d lean in to this opportunity and prove to him it was a good decision. I’d already teased the news out on my social media and responses were building. Everyone wanted to know the details and now that I signed the contract, I figured I’d do the big reveal today with the cast members.

I called my girls one by one, and they were on board. Elle swore to act surprised and have my back, so at least I knew one member of the crew would step up for us. Maybe all we needed was one person’s support to get the rest to accept the news. I figured Max would be the hardest, and would probably throw a fit and leave. I was prepared for any and all reactions. I’d be calm and patient but I’d fight for Adam. God knows, he deserved it—he’d been betrayed his entire life by people he loved. I’d never hurt him and eventually, he’d open his heart and trust me.

I changed into a cute baby blue crop top and linen shorts, paired with Italian high-heeled sandals in buttery leather. I arranged my hair into two long, tight braids, adding oversize silver hoop earrings, figuring the producers would like this look. It screamed country chic. I hoped they didn’t want me to muck stalls in open toe shoes. I shuddered at the idea.

The rest of the cast was already there. I greeted everyone with enthusiasm, knowing my role was going to be the cool, slightly bitchy, slightly ditzy blonde. Samson was the clown of the group,making everyone laugh so it was nice to get some comic relief. When Clayton hugged me, I noticed his cheeks turned a ruddy red. My showmance would be easy to control so maybe I could escape without being burnt too much. I was supposed to show him how to kiss, but I had no intention of following all the producers demands. Clayton would be easy to handle, though.

It was Brody I was more worried about.

The guy was an obvious asshole, big and brash and bold, the most annoying of the group. His good looks were different from Max, less polished, but he had those bulging muscles that screamed gym rat, and a calculated look in his hazel eyes. His hands wandered as he pretended to hug me with a casual friendliness, but I sensed he wanted more. It was the expectation I didn’t like. I could handle myself but I’d need to keep an eye out. After the incident with Red, my skin prickled when Brody touched me, dragging me back to that moment when a guy pawed me without my permission.

I squared my shoulders and swore he wouldn’t get the upper hand.

The other girls seemed nice and fit into certain niches. Abby was the geeky girl who wore oversized black glasses, and spoke like a scientist. Supposedly, she was going to be the one to try and rig the farm with mathematical theories to help the machines work better. I didn’t understand any of it, so I just nodded and agreed with what she said. Veronica—Ronnie—was the rebellious one. She said fuck a lot and rolled her eyes, with black bangs falling into her dark eyes. She was gorgeous in that untouchable, mean sort of way. I wondered if Adam would have liked her thorny personality. She was the one who’d have a temper and try and walk away from the work or get all of us into a big fight. After watching her, I calculated the best way to handle her was not to take her shit personally or I’d be blowing up every hour in front of the cameras.

Corinne was a makeup influencer, and obviously insecure. She flirted with all the boys in an attempt to gain their approval. Her honey brown hair and big brown eyes should have made her beautiful, but her face was too sharp and her gaze too calculating. The woman stunk with desperation to be the most popular. Men could smell it from miles away.

All of us had some type of social media following. The rest of the cast were fillers—explained by the crew that they’d be easy marks to take out to keep the episodes rolling, and we were the main stars. When we were given scripts, the producer detailed how this was more of a scripted reality show, and we all had our parts to play. A lot of it would be filmed organically, which was more realistic, but some of the scenes had to be acted out to keep up interest and drama.

I also noticed the word drama was repeated like a mantra. We needed to bring it, but I hated my portrayal. I’d hoped I could be cutting and cool, but they sketched me out as the annoying, entitled brat with a touch of slut thrown in. I brought my suggestions to the table but the producers waved off my suggestions, saying I’d have plenty of opportunities to let my real personality shine.

We went over the detailed schedule and script, and then I overheard something that made me speak up. “Excuse me, did you say we’d be leaving this Monday? I thought shooting started next Friday?”

Lydia, the assistant producer, gave me an overly patient look. “No, that’s when cameras begin rolling. We’ll need you at the site a few days beforehand to get situated.”

Crap. That meant I wouldn’t be able to see Adam off. I had it marked down wrong.

“You can influence on the farm, country girl,” Brody drawled, his gaze on my bare midriff.

I rolled my eyes. “I work at Red so I need to put in for my time earlier than I thought,” I explained.

Brody’s eyes lit up. “Red, huh? Hard to get in. Maybe you can get us all a reservation for our send-off? That’d be a nice thing to do.”

I gave a tight smile as everyone perked up with interest. “Sorry, my boss is an asshole. He doesn’t allow his employees to make any reservations for friends.”

I could tell Brody didn’t believe me but thankfully didn’t push. After the meeting, I spent some time chatting with everyone. Unfortunately, I felt no connection with any of the girls. They seemed nicer at our intro meeting. Most ignored me. Abby and Ronnie drifted off with some of the others, leaving me as odd one out. Corinne shot me nasty looks. My belly tumbled with nerves.

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