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My face reddens along with Maddox’s, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this out of sorts. I nod at him—he knows he’s the one who has to say something.
“No way, Smith,” he grits.
“Way, Madman,” Smith deadpans.
Maddox scrapes a hand through his hair. “There’s gotta be something else we can do.”
“Yeah, right.” Smith laughs humorlessly. “We can tell the truth and watch forty-six million in new revenue go down the toilet.” From one to ten, Smith is cranked up to an eleven. “There’s nothing else we can do—don’t be dense.”
“Really? Dense? I’m out,” Maddox snaps. Smith better be careful. Maddox sold his small production company to Bingeflix, and is now on the board of directors. Smith maybe be my boss, but he’s not Maddox’s.
Smith’s face softens. “Madman. It’ll just be for a short time, and only in public. Think of what this’ll do for all our careers if you all become household names.”
“I’m already a household name.”
“Not like you’ll be after this. You’ll be Tom-Cruise-Jumping-On-Oprah’s-Couch famous.”
Iris adds, “We’ll make sure your lives stay completely normal behind closed doors.”
Smith’s face pinches as he goes in for the kill. “This could open up Oscar-potential roles. All you have to do is play it out until the press dies down.”
Play it out? What does that mean, exactly? Do we have to drive together? Eat together? Shop together? Will he have to stay at my house? Will I have to stay at his?
OMG. Would we wear matching outfits? He always has on green. No way I’m wearing that color. “Green washes out my pale complexion.”
“Riley?” Smith looks at me, wide-eyed.
My voice is teetering on hysteria. “I choose our matching colors.”
Smith blinks before giving me the side-eye. “Sure.”
Glaring at Smith, I have the overwhelming urge to yank on his cartoon-villain triangular patch of chin pubes.
“You two wantUrban Dawnrenewed for a third season, don’t you?“ Smith narrows his eyes. “Because Bingeflix is holding out on a contract, and I gotta be honest. It’s dangling by a thread. We’ve gotta prove we propelled the show forward after Zibby left.”
Translation: this is on me.
Maddox shrugs lazily. “We’ll get renewed now that we’re number one.”
“Not guaranteed.” Smith points at Maddox. “Look at what happened toManifest.”
Uh, oh. That does it—Maddox’s face pales. After studying me, he looks back and forth between Smith and Iris. “Can you give us the room?”
“Three minutes,” Smith says, standing. Once he and Iris are out in the hall, Maddox comes and sits across from me. His expression has changed—it’s softer, and his eyes meet mine when he says, “We don’t have to do this. It doesn’t matter what Smith says. This isn’t happening—unless you’re one hundred percent okay with it.”
This new, gentle Maddox is throwing me, and my brain can’t compute. Why is he studying me like that? It’s as if he’s seeing me for the first time.
I’m still fumbling for words when I say, “I’m not used to any of this.”
He looks away. “Yeah, well, I’m not exactly in the habit of forcing someone to be my girlfriend, even if it’s just for play.”
“Oh, God.” I cover my hands with my face, partly so I don’t have to meet Maddox’s intense gaze anymore. It’s messing with me. “I don’t know.” And by that, I mean I don’t knowanything. I’m not equipped to handle things like this. I’m not even used to acting, let alone on TV. Now, I have to pretend in my personal life, too? I mean,what?
At the same time,Urban Dawnis the top streaming show on Bingeflix. That’s huge. Ginormous. Who gets a chance like this? It’s a miracle I made it on the show at all. And if I don’t agree, I’ll be out on my ass. Acting has been my dream since I was a little girl. I used to watchFriendsreruns and imagine being a part of the cast. I wanted to be Monica—the girl who made an epic comeback after being the awkward dork in high school. Hell, I ended my relationship with my parents over this role.
I cross my arms over my chest. “What about you? You want to do this…with me? You’re Maddox Winter, and people call me by my character name because they don’t know my real one.”
“I do.”
