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Nerves were rolling around in my stomach so intensely that even my head was swimming. I’d never been this anxious in my life and that was saying something.
My heels clicked on the floor as I paced back and forth and I knew I was probably driving Micah crazy just like I did before I went on my date with Atlas. He hated pacing and it was my nervous tic.
And this was for a much different reason.
My first dreaded interview forMy Fairytale, one of my contractual obligations I could no longer ignore.
In my nerve-induced stupor this morning, I already had the tripod set up with my phone attached, waiting for the phone call. There was a blank wall behind me, so no distractions and I followed the instructions the network had sent me.
I finally sat down right before the minute they said the call would start and as soon as my ass hit the chair the phone was ringing.
The jump scare I received as I answered the video was unnerving. I was immediately met with a man smiling and far too close up. He had curly hair and a fake smile. His eyes were shrewd and I had a feeling this was about to be brutal. Nothing about him radiated kindness.
“Here we have her, the omega that we’ve all been dying to hear from,” he said without any real greeting. I could hear the audience laugh but I wasn’t sure what the show was like. They insisted I had to go in blind with no background information. The network loved to throw me to the wolves.
“My name is Grady Stone and we want to thank you for joining us, Ellie, for Backstage Pass!”
I plastered an unbothered smile on my face and took a deep breath.
“Thank you, Grady. I’m happy to be here,” I said in response. Somehow my voice didn’t even shake and I was proud of myself for my ability to fake it through these kinds of things.
“At this point the whole world saw your rejection.” He gave a sad face that had chatter erupting. “Tell us, Ellie. What were you feeling in that moment?”
“Terrible,” I said with a humorless laugh. “It’s not every day you get turned down by the pack you were hoping would be your fairytale ending. Then to be told every smile or flirt was a complete lie and they never wanted me anyway? Not exactly a daydream.”
Grady nodded with mock sympathy. “Well, I think everybody in the audience can agree with that.” Another round of laughter and a few cheers echoed out behind him. It was almost as if they mixed a live audience and a laugh track. It was even more strange because I couldn’t see them at all.
“Did you see it coming? Were there any red flags?” he questioned.
“Honestly no, they didn’t let us see the confessionals or any footage. We had a lot of down time where we could interact and it was just like a constant dinner party you couldn’t escape from. I talked to everybody a little bit but obviously the Forrest Pack got more of my attention. Morgan and I were even fairly friendly. They put on a good show.”
“From the clips I’d say Morgan is hardly friendly,” he said. “In fact I’d say she’s downright vindictive. She knew what she wanted and sank her claws right in.”
“It appears so,” I agreed. There was no point in lying, we’d all seen it. “I can’t say I’m not hurt by their actions.”
He gave me a quick sad look before his smile was back.
“For those of you who have not caught up, here’s a clip.” He rolled the footage, it was a clip I’d never seen. Morgan in the media room talking to the camera.
“You know, I wasn’t even interested in the Forrest Pack at first but the way Ellie kept talking them up I was wondering what I was missing out on. I was worried that they wouldn’t give me a chance,” she said. Again she was pouting at the camera, trying to convince us to believe her. “They’ve mostly been on dates with her at this point, but at the end of the day… guys will be guys, won’t they?” She gave the camera a wink that had me holding back an eye roll.
“Wow,” Grady said in mock outrage that had the audience talking again. He quickly switched to a new clip. She looked fresh from a date, full makeup, dress that had her breasts spilling out and her heels in hand.
She sat down and let out a breath.
“Wow. That was one amazing date and it went on into the morning,” she said with a cute, little smile, biting her lip. “We all knew right away where we wanted this to go.” The tinkling laughter had my head throbbing.
I wondered if she even cared about them at all. It didn’t matter either way, they weren’t my problem anymore. They meant nothing to me.
“Ouch,” Grady’s face was right back in place, so big I startled visibly this time and it was quickly adjusted. “Did you know all this was happening behind your back?”
“No, we weren’t allowed to watch the footage during filming. I had no way of knowing what was going on during these little confessionals. As far as I knew, the pack was interested in me and she had her own pack she was seeing. They were just as betrayed as I was.”
“She wasn’t afraid to burn bridges,” he agreed.
“No, and I thought she was a friend,” I offered with a shrug. Before I could finish, he cut me off.
“You were wrong,” Grady said bluntly, letting out another laugh at my expense and the audience joined right in. My jaw tensed and my hands clenched together but I tried to keep my composure. I sure as hell wasn’t interested in being the butt of anybody’s joke. The only thing I did was raise my eyebrows and give him a judging look that had him quieting down.
