Page 6 of Where You Belong

My brows furrow as I’m pulling clothes out of my bag, laying them out to show Madelyn. I pause, wondering who the heck Corbin is?

“Does he work for you too?”

When we had spoken, she led me to believe she’s been working here and running the studio by herself.

“No, he’s a friend of mine. He’s coming for the photo shoot.” She motions her hand toward the clothes, seemingly confused by my question.

“Did you get the TikTok video I sent you last night?”

I shake my head.

“Oh, well, that makes sense.” She chuckles. “It’s for a stranger photo shoot. I got the idea from another photographer on TikTok. Here, let me show you.”

She reaches for her phone in her back pocket. Pulling it out, she scrolls with her finger while my heart starts hammering in my chest.

She wants me to do a photo shoot with this… Corbin, and we’ve never even met.

I shake out my hands, trying to formulate the words to break this to her, but I don’t think I’m the right person for the shoot. The guilt twisting in the pit of my stomach leaves me feeling uneasy.

This is my first day. I haven’t even made it more than ten minutes, and I’m already disappointing Madelyn.

“Here it is.” She grins, turning the phone toward me. It takes me a second to even focus on the screen. The video shows clips of two couples meeting for the first time and their various poses during the shoot.

You can see the connection between the two strangers even in the short video, and the anxious feeling of being able to give her the same makes my body tremble.

I shove the fears aside, though. Despite the worry of being unable to deliver, I’m an expert at covering up my emotions and putting on a brave face to prevent anyone around me from knowing how I feel.

“Wow, you can feel the connection between them. That’s amazing!”

“Right?” Madelyn sighs, reaching for the phone to watch the video clip again before slipping it back into her pocket. “I thought it was a good idea to add to my collection of work and maybe entice some new clients to book their upcoming event with me. Anything will help, right?”

I didn’t want to let her down by telling her how I haven’t been touched by another man in over a year. Hell, it’s been even longer since I was intimate with Atlas.

I’m not sure I can evoke the same emotions watching that clip, but I’ll give my best effort.

She looks over the outfits I brought with me and assures me they’ll be perfect.

“Oh, he’s here!” she squeals. “You should get changed. Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll walk you out, so we can start with the initial meeting. Does that sound good?”

I bite my lower lip, trying to stop the words on the tip of my tongue from slipping out. It’s not that I don’t want to do this or that I can’t do this; it’s more that I don’t want to disappoint Madelyn.

She’s been wonderful to me since we first met, and the last thing I want to do is to let her down.

I scoop the clothes in my arms and slip behind the divider to change.

“Oh, I left the mask to cover your eyes on the hook in the corner. Do you see it?”

“Yes,” I croak out. “Yes, I do.”

Standing in the mirror, I stare at the girl looking back at me. My mind flashes back to the nights I’d slip away to the bathroom, desperately seeking distance from him. I’d get lost in my mind staring at my reflection, thinking about how I ended up here and dreaming about the day when I’d break free. I was constantly walking on eggshells around him, and every second he was home began to feel like a countdown until the moment he would leave.

It dawns on me, taking in the look on my face, how different I look from the woman I saw a year ago.

The lost look I saw in my eyes doesn’t look so distant, and the dark circles under my eyes have begun to fade away. My cheeks are fuller, and the sun-kissed tan highlighting my skin glows, reminding me of all the good things coming my way.

Something about seeing this change right now, on the brink of starting a new chapter in my life, has me letting out a heavy sigh of relief. It’s the sign I needed, reminding me of how much change I’ve gone through and how many risks I’ve taken to get here.

The door dinging in the distance yanks me from my thoughts, pulling me right back into the present.

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