I’m aware of the confused glances. Of the gasps. Of Leo and Owen watching me leave, the cameramen following us, and my girls behind me, wondering what happened.
Cooper. Cooper happened.
“Hey!” Lindsey calls, her footsteps falling fast and hot behind me. “Are you okay?”
I turn the corner of the house, and only when everything is out of sight do I relax, stopping to catch my breath.
This dress isheavy.
Looking up, I find my producer in front of me, and right behind her, the cameras.
“I don’t want to be filmed,” I tell her with a cry.
“Amara—”
“I don’t think I can do this,” I admit, falling to the ground. My dress billows out around me, and I hide my face in my hands.
She’s quiet for a few beats. And then she’s in front of me.
“You guys have history?” she asks.
I let out a dark chuckle. “You could say that.”
“What kind of history?”
I know I’m still being filmed. I know that this is going to make their show. I know that I’ve caused a scene, and this is exactly what they want. I know that she probably knows much more than she’s letting on.
“I think that’s for us to discuss,” a low voice says behind her.
My eyes flicker up.
I’ve always hated how much his eyes make me melt.
Since the second I laid eyes on him as a kid. No matter what, his eyes could make me do anything they wanted.
They’d crack me open when I was feeling down. I’d spill my guts and my feelings in an instant.
Those eyes used to look at me like they cared. Like he wanted me, once upon a time.
And I hate how they look at me the same way now. They were lying then. They’re lying now.
“I don’t?—”
“Can you give us a second?” he asks Lindsey. She looks behind her at the crew before nodding curtly and walking away.
The cameramen stay.
Cooper looks around before carefully sitting next to me, like I’m some woundedthing.
“Are you okay?” he asks softly.
“I don’t want to be here,” I say again. I mean it. I mean it with everything in me.
“What can I do to make this better?” It’s a plea. I remind myself that he’s a liar.
“You can leave.”
He shakes his head. “You had to have signed a similar contract as I did. I think you know I can’t do that.”
