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I’d always known that eventually, my fake relationship with Jax would have to end. But prospects looked good for the Fixer Brothers show to have many seasons. For all I knew, I was going to have to keep pretending with Jax for a long time.
I sure as shit hadn’t considered that the producers would come at me this quickly with an idea of a goddamn breakup.
“It’ll be great,” Kim said, waving a hand through the air as she picked up her phone, tapping a perfectly manicured finger over the screen, endlessly scrolling through schedules and emails. “Trust me. I’m never wrong about these things. Plus, if people think you’re single again after tonight, speculation can start about who your next partner will be. Even better. Charlie Benson, the heartbreaker.”
I looked over at Shawn and Nathan, hoping for some sort of help. But they were each caught up in their own plans, getting the rundown from the production assistants about what needed to happen tonight at the premiere. It was set to be a very well-attended event, especially because Nathan was dating one of the hottest young professional quarterbacks of all time. It was easy to get caught up in my own tiny little online fan circle, but in reality, the Kace Tomlin cameos on our show would probably get way more attention than my fake relationship, anyway.
“Why don’t you get Kace and Nathan to stage a fake breakup, instead?” I told Kim, half joking.
She snorted. “Nobody would believe that.”
“They wouldn’t believe that Kace and Nathan would break up, but they’d believe that Jax and I would?”
“Of course,” she said offhandedly, her face still framed by the white-blue glow of her phone. “Some people already believed you and Jax were a publicity stunt, anyway. You guys breaking up would be more kindling for the gossipers' flames. Everybody knows Kace and Nathan are head over heels in love.”
Another sucker punch, right to my gut.
“Of course,” I muttered. “Nathan and Kace are capable of love, but obviously I’m not.”
Kim finally glanced over at me, sensing the bitterness in my voice. “Hey,” she said, giving my shoulder a quick squeeze. “You’re going to do great tonight. For the premiere, you and Jax will be all smiles. You can talk to him about the breakup after the premiere. Ten more minutes ‘til we’re there.”
I didn’t respond. In another couple of minutes, the limo experience really did become more like a party—one of the camera guys unearthed a bottle of champagne from a cooler and popped it, licking off the spillover from his hands. People started passing around glasses, pouring drinks, laughing, and getting more and more excited for the premiere.
I felt like it was all happening around me.
Like I wasn’t really here.
I didn’t have any of the champagne, and as everyone else celebrated and buzzed with anticipation about the premiere, I was lost in thought.
For the whole time we’d been filming the show, I’d been right on the same page with Kim. Sure, she’d been a bit cold and calculating, and half of the time I was convinced she was just a robot programmed to make successful reality TV shows.
But she’d always seemed right. Shrewd. When she’d suggested the fake relationship, it had seemed like a golden ticket, and I’d been instantly happy to follow her lead.
So why did this latest idea feel like such a misfire, and absolutely the wrong call? I chewed the inside of my cheek, just wanting to be out of the limo sooner rather than later. My mind churned over the idea, but no matter how I thought of it, breaking up with Jax felt like a comically stupid thing to do.
Why would we end it all when our fake relationship was doing so well?
When the limo pulled up onto the side street near the swanky club, I realized that I’d been wrong about the premiere event being “well attended.”
The place was a fucking madhouse.
“Holy shit,” Nathan said, peering out of the side windows.
We could barely make it onto the street. We still had a lot longer to go before we reached the actual club itself, tucked in a shiny modern glass building in downtown Denver, but the road was packed with cars trying to get into the overflowing underground parking garage nearby. There was a long line on the street full of people waiting for when the club would open.
“Hold on,” Shawn said, lifting his eyebrows as he looked out. “Are those guys paparazzi? In Denver, Colorado, for God’s sake?”
“It’s got to be for Kace,” I said. “Nathan, your boyfriend is the real celebrity at this event, and you know it.”
“He’s hot as hell, and the paparazzi flew all the way from LA because they know that,” Nathan said, a grin on his face.
“You lovey-dovey bastard,” I said, but inside, I was as envious as ever.
