Page 15 of Because of You

What he didn’t love was being in front of a camera. He didn’t love his personal life being discussed. He didn’t love small talk. He didn’t love people telling him when to sleep, when to eat, where to go, and what to do. But that is exactly what he’d signed up for.

As he scrolled through the production schedule, he saw that the first elimination ceremony was two weeks away. Hopefully, he’d get voted out on the first dumping. If not, he’d suck it up, because that’s what you did for family.

He was sure that his Aunt Laney hadn’t wanted to have another mouth to feed when she was already raising three boys as a single mom, but she got one. She’d taught him the true meaning of unconditional love, of family. The least he could do was to go on a reality show to help out his nieces.

The morning sun poured through the bay windows above his sink as Keaton stood and poured his first cup of coffee. He was pretty sure today would be a three-cup day considering he’d spent the entire night tossing and turning thinking about Avery Stone.

He knew that what he felt for her wasn’t healthy, it was damn near obsessive. What he didn’t know was how to get over it. How could he retrain his brain not to hyper-focus on her? That question lingered in his head as he sat at the table to enjoy his morning caffeine fix. He was two sips in when he heard the click-clacking of Mojo’s nails on the kitchen floor.

“Look who’s up,” Keaton said as Mojo took his sweet time strolling toward the back door.

When Keaton opened it, Mojo walked to the threshold, stopped, stretched and yawned, leaving Keaton holding the door open for him until he shook his entire body causing his tags to jingle before continuing into the backyard to take care of his morning business.

Keaton couldn’t help but grin at the leisurely pace the tiny furball operated at. This was Mojo’s world and everyone else was just living in it.

He sat down his food bowl, so his highness could eat after he came back to the kitchen, when he got a text on his phone. It was from his youngest cousin Seb.

Seb:Family dinner. Tonight. Lanterns. Seven.

Keaton stared at the text. He couldn’t remember a time when Seb had called a family meeting which meant something big was happening. If this was a few years ago, Keaton would be sure the dinner had something to do with Seb’s career as a world-class tattoo artist or that he was planning to move to another country or something. Now, Keaton assumed it was personal.

Over the past year or so both Knox and Ford had settled down and got married. Sebastian and Keaton were the only single Savage men left, but Keaton had a niggling feeling that might have changed and that he was the sole single Savage standing.

Last week, at Knox’s wedding, he’d seen Seb dancing with Kennedy Dawes who, coincidentally, was supposed to be in theFairytale Lovecast but had subsequently dropped out at the last minute. It was not just a friendly dance, the sparks flying between those two were so bright he needed welding glasses. There was definitely something going on between them. When he’d heard Kennedy had dropped out of the show, the first thing he’d thought was Seb had had something to do with the pretty blonde’s decision. Tonight he had a feeling he would find out if he was correct.

Keaton tapped on the message and ‘liked’ it, indicating he’d received it and would be there.

He checked the time and saw that he only had fifteen minutes before he was set to meet the Good Morning Chicago crew at the gym. He finished his coffee, took a quick shower, dressed, pulled the blinds up in the front room, and laid the throw blanket on the hardwood floor so Mojo could sunbathe like Aladdin on his magic carpet, and headed out.

When he got in the truck, the radio came on. Adele’s version of the Bob Dylan song “Make You Feel My Love” began to play through the speakers. Keaton was instantly transported to the first night he’d spent with Avery, which was the same day she’d rescued Mojo. They’d had pizza on the roof of the castle keep and this song had played on a radio left behind by the crew working on the renovations. They’d gone up there to watch the sunset while having dinner and ended up staying there talking, laughing, and dancing until sunrise.

A melancholy cloud hung over him as he thought about those two weeks. They had been so perfect, or at least they had been on his side. His sentiment must not have been reciprocated since Avery had bounced like a Harlem Globetrotter basketball out of town.

His shoulders bunched in frustration, but he rolled them back. Since running into her at the castle, he’d been mad at himself for how he’d responded to seeing her again. He should have asked her why she left. Why didn’t she say goodbye? Why hadn’t she contacted him in all these years?

There were so many questions that had been rolling around his head like balls in a bingo cage for years and yet he hadn’t pulled one out to ask her.

In his defense, it had been such a shock to his system that she was actually there, all his brain could think about was that she was actually standing in front of him again. When he’d caught a glimpse of her hair, he’d honestly thought he was seeing a ghost.

Over the years they’d spent apart, she’d become even more beautiful. Her cheekbones were a little bit more defined. Her eyes appeared to be larger and she’d filled out into even more womanly curves.

Seeing the ring on her hand had been the second shockwave he’d been hit with.

She was supposed to get married to a man who slept with someone else on their wedding day. Keaton couldn’t say for sure, but he was 99.99999% sure that the man was her ex, Jude.

When they first met, both Keaton and Avery were coming out of long relationships. They’d commiserated and bonded over stories about their exes. One of the things that made Keaton fall in love with her—or even more in love since the U.S.S. Love at First Sight ship sailed the first time she looked into his eyes—was that she never had a bad word to say about her ex. In all the stories she told him about the harder parts of their relationship, she never put him down or placed any blame on him. If anything, she defended him when Keaton told her that he sounded like a selfish dickhead.

Surely, there couldn’t be two men on this planet stupid enough not to appreciate the woman Avery Stone was. Jude had to be the biggest idiot on earth.

He was still ruminating on what a prick her ex was when he pulled up in front of Legacy and saw that the production crew was already there. After a few quick hellos where he met Lonnie and Cam who were running the cameras, Janelle, a segment producer, and Clancy Grant the reporter, the team from the morning show got right down to business.

“Can we get some B-roll of you walking into the gym and opening it?” Janelle asked.

“Sure.”

Keaton waited for the cameras to get set up on the sidewalk and then went through the exact steps he’d just done. He walked up the street from his truck to the studio door. Then he unlocked the door.

“Great, we’re going to set up cameras inside and we’ll get you coming in,” Janelle explained.

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