Chapter Eighteen
Eden
“Oh no…”
I pulled a hoodie on and zipped it up before dashing out of my trailer as fast as my legs could carry me, and I called out as I hurried along. “Blair! Stop! Just wait…”
She turned and stopped, her eyes narrowed, and she folded her arms as I ran to catch up to her. Adrenaline was racing through my system like mad, and my mouth went dry as I realized how stupid I’d been. Of course I was going to get caught sooner or later. What the hell had Troy and I been thinking this morning, holing up in my trailer together in broad daylight? Sure, hardly anyone was around because of the free day, but still, there was always a chance someone might need me and come looking for me, and I’d been so careless that I’d just thrown caution to the wind and ignored the risk.
I guess I was lucky that it was Blair who’d caught us, though. Things could be much worse if it was someone else.
“Really, Eden?” she said, her voice dripping with scorn as I finally reached her. “You’re seriously sneaking around with Troy?”
“Yes,” I said, my cheeks turning red. “Please, Blair, don’t tell anyone.”
She shook her head, her eyes still narrowed. “How could you do this? I honestly can’t believe it.”
“It’s not that surprising, is it?” I asked, wondering why she was so pissed at me. “I mean, we sorted out all our issues from the past, after the whole letter thing, which—”
“Which was my fault, I know,” Blair said, cutting me off and holding up one palm to shush me. “You and Troy getting back together is not why I’m upset. I just thought you were better than this.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.
She sighed. “Your job, Eden! Don’t you care about it? If it hadn’t been me who walked in on you just then, you could be getting fired right now!” she said. “Surely I’m not the only person who knows where you keep your spare trailer key.”
My face burned with shame as I nodded. She was right. I was risking my job every single day that Troy and I chose to sneak around; risking the job that I’d worked so hard to succeed at. I’d always known this—I just hadn’t really taken it seriously enough to keep my hands off him.
Until now.
“I know,” I said quietly. “I’m an idiot. It’s just so hard to keep away from each other now that we’re finally together again after all these years.”
“Well, why didn’t Troy just quit the show as soon as you two sorted your stuff out? That would’ve made this a lot easier,” Blair replied.
“He wanted to, but I said no. He has a contract, just like you, and if he broke that, then not only would he have to pay the network a ton of money, it would also screw everything up for a lot of people. Everyone working on the show would be benched while a replacement Stud was sorted out, and if they couldn’t find one and reshoot everything in time for when the show needed to start airing on TV, then the season might just be canceled. That’d mean a lot of people out of their jobs, Blair. Not just me.”
Blair’s face softened a little. “And I guess it would also mean all the contestants would get sent home empty-handed, including me. No chance to be on TV and promote ourselves, which is the main reason we’re all here, really.”
I nodded. “Yeah. It would’ve really screwed things up for everyone here if Troy broke his contract and left the show just for me.”
“So you guys were stuck between a rock and a hard place, then.”
My shoulders slumped with relief as I realized she finally understood. “Yes, exactly.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, hurt flashing in her eyes. “Are you still mad at me for what I did with the letter?”
I shook my head. “No, you know we’ve gotten past that, Blair. I’m sorry, I just thought if no one knew except me and Troy, we’d be less likely to get caught.”
“You know I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“I know, but someone might’ve overheard us talking about it, or something like that. I couldn’t risk it.”
She nodded. “Fair enough,” she said. “But seriously, Eden, you need to be more careful. Don’t let him in your trailer anymore. And god, I hope none of the cameras have picked anything up. They’re freaking everywhere.”
“They haven’t. We only ever…erm…”
I trailed off, embarrassed, and Blair arched an eyebrow. “Go on. You may as well give me the juicy details now that I know.”
She had a point. “You know how there’s some areas where there’s no CCTV at all?” I said.
“Yeah, there’s heaps of dead zones. Like the storage rooms, or the hallway that goes to the main kitchen.”
I nodded. “Yes. Well, we’ve sort of taken over the last storage room on the third floor. There’s a lock on the door there, so we sneak in there, and…well, you get the picture.”
A ghost of a smile finally crossed Blair’s face at my dirty revelation. “You guys are so naughty. I hope you’re sneaking in there separately, though. If any of the CCTV cameras in the halls caught you both walking around up there together all the time, then that might look a bit suspicious.”
“We do go up there separately. Troy goes first, and then I wait fifteen minutes and follow him up there.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, then,” she replied.
I sighed and shook my head. “No, you were totally right earlier. We aren’t being careful enough, and I can’t risk it anymore. I’m going to go back and talk to him now and tell him we need to cool it off until the show is over, as hard as that might be.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. Good luck. I better get back to the mansion before they start thinking I’ve escaped.
“Okay. Oh, wait. Why did you come to my trailer?” I asked. She’d found my hidden spare key and used it, and it’d just occurred to me that that meant she’d assumed I wasn’t in the trailer when she arrived.
A guilty look crossed her face, and her cheeks turned slightly pink as she hesitated. “I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t ask. Promise you won’t yell at me?”
“I promise.”
“Well, you know how none of the contestants are allowed phones or computers?” she said. I nodded; it was part of their contract that they weren’t allowed to communicate with the outside world as long as filming was going on.
“I was desperate to check my store website,” she continued. “I know I’m not allowed, but I really wanted to see how it’s going and if being on TV is helping at all. So I was going to sneak onto your laptop for a few minutes. I thought you were out in town with the rest of the crew.”
I smiled. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I checked your site this morning. A lot of things say ‘sold out’ now, so I’d say it’s going pretty well.”
Blair squealed with excitement. “Oh my god! That’s amazing!” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Let’s just hope I last a bit longer. The more attention I can squeeze out of this show, the better. Hey, maybe Troy will even let me win, seeing as he’s sleeping with my friend.”
She winked as she made her little joke, and I simply laughed and nodded. There was no need to tell her that she wouldn’t win the show due to Glenn’s insistence that one of his two favorites—Cailin or Hayley—win instead. It would just needlessly upset her, and she’d never intended on winning, anyway. She’d just wanted to get some free promotion for her online store, and it was obviously working, so everything had worked out well.
“Anyway, you go talk to Troy, and I’ll go back to the mansion,” she said, giving me a quick hug. “And if you two really can’t keep your paws off each other, just remember—stay away from all the cameras!”
As Blair spoke that last sentence, it felt like a lightbulb had just switched on in my mind, and I quickly said goodbye and dashed back to my trailer. How the hell had I not considered this before? It was so simple, yet it hadn’t occurred to me at all until now, and I mentally kicked myself as I stepped back inside.
I knew exactly how to find our saboteur…