“Because I don’t know if I should trust you with everything.”
She scowls. “You did some shit to my body without permission, and you don’t know if you can trust me?”
“I did, didn’t I?”
Her scowl deepens.
I stand up, and she sets her feet on the floor.
“Probably not gonna ask permission for a lot of things I do to your body over the next few months; you’ll adjust.”
“I’ll adjust?” she huffs.
“God, I hope so. I can’t wait to slide inside you with no resistance.”
“Understood.” She shrugs then turns her back to me.
I’m not sure why that makes me uneasy, but it does.
I follow her outside.
Still giving me her back, she says, “Now help me over.”
And just like that, she’s gone.
My chats with Luna aren’t lengthy, but they’re frequent. Morning and evening and sometimes midafternoon. Right now, she’s still in school for a couple of weeks, then she starts day camp. Reading is going to be a real struggle, so she’s enrolled in a summer enrichment program. Thank God she loves school, or I’d feel even more like shit than I already do about not being there for her.
After shoving a few more bites to eat in my mouth, I head to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.
Walking out of the hotel, I see the line of three SUVs parked and ready for us. I make it just in time to see Bella getting into Mara’s vehicle, and the feeling of unease consumes me as I hop in the one leaving behind her.
“Good morning, Tags,” David says before putting the vehicle in drive.
I nod. “Let’s make it a good one.”
Fourteen
Mayhem
Bella
Sitting in the vehicle with her, I can’t help staring at the back of her head and wanting to grab fistfuls of her weave so I can bash her head against the window in hopes of knocking some sense into her. It’s bad enough she won’t sign the papers and let Tags—Carter—end a marriage she has long abandoned, but the bitch has abandoned her child, too.
“You gotta problem, Izzy?”
You, bitch, my problem is you, and the nearly uncontrollable desire to fuck you up, I think, but just smile instead. “The sun’s up, Mara; it’s a beautiful day.”
I can’t see a thing past the lenses of her black sunglasses, but I feel the glare. Oddly, I don’t give a damn.
The feeling’s mutual, bitch, I think as I look at her.
“So, who’s getting the new girl?”
I look over at Grimm. “My name’s Bella.”
“Fresh meat gets Maze, you, Axel, and Ranger,” Mara answers as she guns it through a yellow light.
“You get Neo and Tags?” Grimm, the pasty white, completely bald man with colorfully tattooed skulls, asks.
If you only knew how fucked up that was, Que Ball, I think.
“Not fair, Miss Mayhem.”
I look back and see Maze shaking his head.
“It’s a non-elimination week,” she says dryly. “Plus, it’s none of your fucking business, Maze.”
“So, it’s not just me, huh?” I ask Grimm.
“No, she’s a pocket full of posies to all around her.”
Pocket full of posies? Um … weird.
Typically, a producer overseas all aspects of video production, makes executive decisions, and handles getting the money it takes to pull off a show, contracts, and budgeting. I’m too late in the game for that, and in Reality TV, it’s different. I’m basically here to pull out the story of the cast members I’m charged with and … babysit. In order to pull that off, I need them to trust me and be able to open up to me, the client, and make themselves likeable … or the villain of the show.
“So, it’s your studio?” I ask, knowing damn well it is, but I’m making small talk, because this is work, and no matter how much I dislike her, we need to be able to get through several months together. Plus, the old adage, keep your enemies closer, isn’t used all the time because it’s an ineffective way of dealing with them.
“You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes, aren’t you?” she huffs.
Bitch.
“Does that make you my Watson?”
As the SUV erupts in laughter, she slams on the brakes. “Let’s get one thing straight; I’m never gonna be your bitch. You’re just filling a position. So, fill it and shut the hell up.”
“Easy,” Neo says from the passenger seat. “You push her out and we’re delayed even more. I got shit lined up after this thing tanks.”
Maze sighs. “The energy in this place is getting negative.”
I look back and wink. “You want change, you gotta make it.”
Mara hits the gas, and the tires squeal. “I really can’t deal with your shit this early in the morning.”
I wink at Grimm and whisper, “Do you feel the love? I do. I feel the love.”
To that, he smirks and no longer looks so … grim.
“Tell me about you.”
“Why?” he asks, no longer smiling.
“My job is to make sure the real you is shown to the hopefully millions of people watching, in your art and your personality. My job is to help you win.”
“I don’t care if I win; I just want to work.” He turns his head and looks out the tinted window.
Hearing the depth in his voice, it’s evident that he has a story, but he offers no more. I don’t want to push on day one. I need him to feel comfortable with me, to trust me. So, I give him the emotional space he seems to need.
When the SUV whips into a parking lot then comes to a quick halt, I lean over to look at the brick building that is all black, like her soul, I think to myself, with the word Mayhem in burgundy script.
I catch what I assume is a smile on her face, but just as quickly as it came, it’s gone.
She looks over her shoulder at me and snaps, “What are you looking at?”
I sigh as I look away from her, unbuckle my seatbelt, and open the door. Stepping out in the Florida sun, I can’t help noticing the bright and vivid colors—the blue of the sky, the bright, fluffy clouds, the yellow sun, all just beyond the darkness of the building.
“Mind shutting the door so I can lock it?” she snaps.
Kill ’em with kindness, I think as I smile, shut the door to the SUV, and answer, “Sure thing, Mara.”
Inside, the cameras are already set up and what I assume are Mara’s regular artists—all three female—are at the reception desk, looking just as friendly as her. I introduce myself anyway.
“I’m Bella.”
The three of them give me a quick once-over then look away.
When their eyes light up, I look toward the door as David, Breaker, Ranger, Axel, Blade, Darby, Dagger, and Tags come in. I notice the way they look at Tags, like they want to eat him up.
His eyes meet mine, his jaw clenches, and so do my insides. When his Adam’s apple bobs, my mouth fills with saliva. He looks away, and I do the same.
Lord, help me, I think as I walk over to Maxine.