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We all burst out laughing. When Jennifer had moved in, she’d transported two stray cats, Avocado and Bacon, to our property. They still lived outside and mostly fended for themselves. But Avocado had held it against her for months. I couldn’t imagine moving them a second time. It had been hard enough the first go-round.
We discussed possible new solutions for the cats. Even going as far as offering to let her leave the cats at the house. I didn’t mind feeding them. They didn’t love me as much as Jennifer. But Bacon and I had an understanding. I would be perfectly happy with having them around still.
Annie and Jordan migrated to the table at some point with Julian, who pulled Jennifer into his lap. Honey dropped into the vacated seat next to me. She had been making friends with some other Wright Vineyard regulars. I knew them by face but not name. It had been nice to not have her hovering. She was incredible at her job, but sometimes, she was a little too enthusiastic.
“Oh my God, did you see Nate’s new TikTok?” Honey asked. “It already has three million views.”
She thrust her phone at me. And there was Nate King in all of his glory. Nate lived an hour and a half south of Lubbock in Midland, Texas. His family was one half of Dorset & King oil, one of the largest oil companies in the country. We’d met via social media and hit it off. After one date, I invited him to Peyton’s wedding. Only part of the reason was because I’d found out Campbell was going to be there. The other part really enjoyed his company. We’d gone on a few dates in the month since then, and our fans loved when we did videos together. Both of our followers had gone through the roof since we’d joined forces.
But…I had doubts. Nate was hot and friendly and a really stellar kisser. He just didn’t seem like the one. And if I preached to my followers that they shouldn’t settle, neither should I, right?
“Oh, let me turn the volume up,” Honey said, clicking the side buttons so I could hear the song being played.
And I froze in place. Because the song was “I See the Real You” by none other than Campbell Abbey himself. I wanted to throw the phone back at Honey, but I couldn’t. I just watched the guy I was sort of, kind of not-exclusively dating start a viral TikTok trend.
The video was good. It was him looking into the camera, wearing a baseball cap, an oversize shirt, and baggy sweats, hiding how good-looking he was. Then, when the chorus dropped, the video seamlessly transitioned to show him shirtless, his eight-pack on display, in low-slung jeans. His hair was done, and he was smirking at the camera like he was going to eat them alive. The caption said, Show the world the real you.
I clicked on his hashtag and almost groaned. Already in the twelve hours since Nate’s video had gone viral, there were thousands of other people clambering to do the “I See the Real You” challenge. Just my fucking luck.
“We’re going to have to do it,” Honey said eagerly.
I thrust the phone back at her. “No.”
“But Blaire…”
I ignored her. “No.”
Piper snatched Honey’s phone out of her hand and watched it. She nodded. “Damn.”
“Right!” Honey said.
“You could do this easy,” Piper said. “It’s just a glow up.”
Annie leaned in, and her eyes widened. “Quite a glow up. Jesus.” Jordan cleared his throat next to her. She grinned at him.
Annie offered the phone to Jennifer, but she shook her head, embarrassed. “I’ve already seen it.”
The girls all laughed.
“Speaking of, where is Nate tonight?” Annie asked.
“He’s in New York, visiting his cousin,” I told her. “Gavin King, I think.”
“You didn’t go with him?”
I shook my head. Nate had asked. Though I didn’t say that. He’d thought it would be fun to show me around the city with his cousin, who apparently knew all the people. Whatever that meant. But I knew exactly what that would mean for our relationship. We were incredibly casual at this point. New York would have meant defining it. And I honestly thought we made better friends.
“Hey, y’all. What did I miss?” Campbell asked as he exited the dressing room. His manager was nowhere in sight.
Piper glanced up at Campbell with a grin that should have been his first warning. “We were talking about the guy Blaire is dating. You remember Nate from the wedding?”
My jaw nearly dropped at Piper’s audacity. But…I had to admit, it was satisfying to see the first hint of jealousy on Campbell’s face.
4
Campbell
My eyes shifted to Blaire and back to Piper. “Sure,” I ground out. “I remember him.”
I remembered coming home from tour, jet-lagged to hell and suffering through a wedding when all I wanted to do was sleep, only to find Blaire had an actual date. I’d been back for over a year, and she hadn’t had anyone else in her life. A five-month tour had fucking ruined that for me.
