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“I needed to talk to you. Privately.” She took a deep breath and stared directly at him. “You don’tlikeme, right?”
He wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. She didn’t seem upset, or even curious about his answer. If anything, it had sounded more like a statement. He wondered if this whole thing was because she did remember when he turned her down and wanted to confront him about it. “I don’t know you.”
“Yeah, I know, but what I’m trying to get at is you’re not on this show because you want tofind love, right?”
Now it was his turn to take a deep breath. This was exactly what he’d been worried about. Just because he didn’t believe in finding love on reality TV didn’t mean that wasn’t his partner's goal. He didn’t want to upset her, but he also didn’t want to lie.
“Look,” she smiled. “I know that Ivy and Iris are your nieces and I’m guessing you’re only doing the show as a favor to them.”
Keaton hadn’t been advertising the fact the twins were his nieces. So, unless the girls had said something or slipped and called him Uncle in front of someone, he had no clue how she would know that. “Who told you that?”
“No one told me. I follow them on TikTok. You’ve been in their videos. And I could tell from the first time I ran into you outside when I was on the phone with my sister, that you did not want to be here. You looked like you were turning yourself in for a prison sentence not signing up for a dating show. And I remember during all the interviews you did before your last fight you talked about how important your family is and that you’d do anything for them. I put two and two together, which brings me to why I’m in the bathroom. I think if this is gonna work…” She waved her hand between them. “…then we need to be completelyhonestwith each other. Don’t you agree?”
“To being honest? Sure.” He hated lying.
“Good. Like you, I am also not here for love. I came here for two reasons. First, I need the money from the grand prize. I was just awarded full custody of my two little sisters. My mom has some issues with drugs…well, no that’s not true, actually her relationship with drugs is fine, she has some issues being a mom. Anyway, not the point, they are typical teenagers who are not taking high school seriously, which means they won’t be getting scholarships. I want them both to go to college and I don’t want them to be paying off student loans for the rest of their lives.AndI don’t want them to end up on Only Fans, so the prize money I’m going to win is their college fund.”
That was the last thing Keaton had expected her to say. He admired and respected her reason for being on the show. Once he heard she was an influencer and model, he’d just assumed she was doing it for followers or fame. Which, meant the saying was true, assuming made him an ass.
“But that reason isn’t why I picked you.” She continued. “I can win with anyone. I picked you for the second reason I came on the show. I need to light a fire under my ex. I don’t want to find a new king. I have a king. Mario just needs to get his head out of his ass and realize that he wants to marry me. That is only going to happen if he thinks he has somerealcompetition. I think you are just the man for the job.”
“You chose me to make your ex jealous?”
“Partly, and you should be flattered. He has a healthy ego and would not be threatened by anyone else on the cast. He loves MMA and is your biggest fan.” A slow smile appeared on her face. “He is not going to be happy that we’re paired up together or that I was the one to pick you as my match.
“But mainly, I chose you because, since you turned me down after your fight, I know that youwon’tfall in love with me, which could make things sticky. I might be doing this show for my own reasons, but I don’t want to fuck with anyone's emotions.”
He definitely agreed with that. The last thing he’d want to do was fuck with someone's emotions.
“So listen, I know what to do to win this. All you need to do is follow my lead. When the cameras are on, I’m going to flirt with you, I will be touchy-feely and lovey-dovey and there will probably be tears at some point to show that you are breaking down my walls and I can be ‘vulnerable’ with you. We’ll have small fights along the way, so that you can demonstrate breaking down my walls. And when the time is right, I will pick a ridiculous fight with you so I can come back later, apologize, and say that I was trying to push you away because what I feel is too perfect, and I always self-sabotage when things seem too perfect. We will make up and complete our redemption arc, and be crowned the King and Queen of Fairytale Love.”
Keaton stared at her and wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or terrified. “You actually think that will work?”
She looked at him like his question was cute, if not naïve. “No, I don’tthinkit will work. Iknowit will,” she responded confidently. “I just need to make sure that you’re in.”
Keaton wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to stay on the show till the end, but he’d also given his word to do the show. “I’m in as long as we’re paired up together.”
“Deal.” She held out her hand and he shook it.
He was slightly concerned that he’d just made a deal with the devil, but he guessed the alternative would be worse. Like Zara, he also didn’t want to fuck with anyone’s emotions. Especially someone innocent who was just there to fall in love.
“Okay, partner. Let’s do this.” Zara turned and opened the bathroom door and they stepped out.
His timing could not have been shittier, though, because at that moment Avery was passing by in the hallway. When she saw them, she had a deer in headlights look as if she was about to be run over by a tank.
“Hi,” he said lamely.
“Hi, I was just, um they needed the key for the linen closet.” She held up a large metal key ring and then hurried down the hall.
As she rushed past him, he mouthed sorry. He wasn’t even sure what he was apologizing for, other than inadvertently doing exactly what he hadn’t wanted to do i.e. fucking with an innocent person’s emotions.
14
“How are things going?”Avery asked Sabrina after her friend burst into her office and collapsed in one of her chairs.
“Busy, but great! We’ve already hit a million views on YouTube and viewers are making Insta reels of their favorite couples. Oh, and someone started a TikTok dance featuring the opening credits song that is trending.” Sabrina seemed more relieved than excited.
“That’s amazing!” Avery exclaimed hoping not to show the disappointment she felt from not getting the information she was really asking about. Of course, she was happy that her friend’s show was doing well, but what she really wanted to know was how Keaton was doing.
