“What have you got there, M?”
“I love you, Ariana. You know that, right? I would do anything for you. I want nothing more than for you to be happy.” I try to snatch the papers from her, and she runs to the other side of the table out of my reach. “You have to remember that, okay? You have to remember how much I love you. Say it. Say you know I love you.”
“What did you do?”
“Say it, Ariana.”
“Fine. I know you love me. Now, what did you do?”
Her face flushes red, and she holds out the paper to me, ducking her head into her arm as she does so. “It’s for your own good.”
I take the page from her and unfold it, my eyes struggling to focus on what I’m seeing.
There is no way. Absolutely no way this says what I think it does.
I’m staring at the printed email, addressed to me, from an address I don’t recognize, but my hands are shaking so much that the words are blurring.
“I didn’t think they’d accept you,” my traitorous best friend babbles. “I figured, if they did, it was a sign that it was meant to be, and you’d forgive me because of fate or whatever.”
My heart is pounding so hard I’m surprised it hasn’t ripped out of my chest.
“How… what?” I stutter, unable to make sense of the words in front of me.
She steps forward, and grabs my wrists with gentle hands. “I applied toKnot What You Expectedas you. You’re going to meet Sax, Ariana.”
Chapter Three
THREE MONTHS LATER
Isit too early for another anxiety med?
How many can I take before I fall asleep where I stand?
I don’t think that one was enough. It got me out of the house, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to climb into the town car that sits at the curb.
There’s a line that separates my front path from the sidewalk, but it may as well be a chasm for how wide it feels.
Thirty seconds. Can I do it for thirty seconds?
What would Sax say?
I can do anything for thirty seconds. One foot after the other.
We haven’t been able to talk since we signed the show’s contract. I couldn’t even tell him I was signing it. Not that he’s tried to call. They had to have given him the same directive.
But it’ll be worth it.
Just two more days. Or is it three? Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I have to take those fifteen steps to the curb.
I’m sure the driver is pissed at me because I can’t seem to make my feet move, judging by the way he looks at his watch as he stands outside the passenger side door. I do feel bad that he’s been holding open for five minutes. If I weren’t “the talent”, I bet he would’ve driven off by now.
But he’s an Alpha.
I’m not even on the sidewalk, and I’m about to run into my first Alpha.
It’s a nightmare. My actual nightmare.
Why would they send an Alpha to pick me up? I told them not to. They promised to keep me away from Alphas. They know that I can’t do it. It’s hard enough to leave, I can’t also be around a bunch of Alphas.
