It takes a moment for everyone to soak in what I’ve said, but once they do, they seem more settled. I catch Byron crossing his arms. He’s frowning, but I can’t quite tell if it’s because his choice of host turned out to be horrific or if it’s because he’s thinking about something else.
When he turns his frown on me, I decide, screw it. “I remember what you said to me when I first pitched this series to you, Byron. You told me I needed to take more risks. Well, this is my kind of risk taking. I fired the host because he attacked a crew member—and I did it without the approval of you or anyone else at the network because it was the right thing to do. And then I put a series together with my field coordinator, who happened to be natural on-camera. That’s a hell of a risk too. And I’m proud of it.”
A tense silence follows for a few seconds. And then Byron holds up his hands. “You’re right. I’m sorry for what Blaine did. Truly. I think it’s safe to say I’m done putting my hands in all things production and talent related.”
I almost choke at how openly Byron admits his shortcoming. The rest of the execs nod along with him.
Peter looks at me. “You clearly know what you’re doing. We’re all on board with your risk-taking move, Alia. The show with Drew as the new host is a go. Go ahead and continue editing the twelve episodes we planned. We’ll start promoting it at the end of July for a fall airing—if you think you can get us the episodes by then. That’s about two and a half months away.”
I smile. “I can absolutely do that.”
“And anytime you have any more ideas you want to pitch, come straight to me,” Peter says. “I know we still have to see how the show does ratings-wise when it airs, but I have a good feeling about it. You clearly have a talent for this content. And we need more stuff like this at Expedition.”
I thank him, then thank everyone else. They all compliment me as they leave the room. When it’s just Brooke and me in the room, she hugs me.
“Oh my God!” I sputter.
She holds me by the shoulders, her ruby-red lips stretched in a smile. “You nailed it, Alia! I knew you would!”
“I just . . . I can’t believe they actually went for it . . . I mean, I’m so freaking happy they did; I honestly don’t even know what I would have done if they didn’t, but . . .”
I pause from babbling to take a breath.
Brooke squeezes my shoulders. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve blown everyone away.”
I’m in the middle of thanking her when Haley comes running into the conference room. “Drop whatever you’re doing and watch this. Now.”
“Don’t you want to know how the presentation went?”
Haley shakes her head. “No. This. Now.”
I almost laugh at her insistence. But when I look at the video playing on her phone, my jaw drops. It’s Blaine standing in the hallway at the hotel in Utah.
“Haley, what is—”
“Just watch it,” she orders.
It takes a second for me to hear what he’s saying, but after a moment it all registers. It’s the conversation Drew had with Blaine that I overheard.
Brooke stands off to the side of Haley and me, her eyes bouncing between us in confusion.
Haley waves a hand at her. “I’ll explain in a minute, I promise.”
“Then what’s your style, man?” Drew asks. “I gotta know how the great Blaine Stephens gets those notches on his belt.”
This is the moment I ran off. On the screen, Blaine pauses to glance around, like he’s checking to make sure no one is around to hear him.
“Exactly what I did with that sweet little thing Rylan. I compliment them at first on set. Let them know I like what I see. Then I after a while I move in for the kill.”
“The kill?” Drew’s tone is hard.
“Yeah, man. Just like I did that night at the brewery.” Blaine laughs. My skin crawls. “I know she was playing hard to get. They always do. Girls like that want you to chase them. They say they want you to leave them alone, but I know what’s really up. No means yes, right?”
My breath quickens. So does my pulse. Blaine is detailing in his own words how he attacked Rylan.
“So that’s exactly what I did—I went after her. I waited till there was no one else around, and I could get her in a quiet corner by the bathroom. And then I let her know just how hot she was making me.”
“Huh.” I can tell by the way that sound falls out of Drew’s mouth that he’s livid.
My mind spins as I make sense of what I’m hearing. This whole conversation, Drew was pretending to make amends with Blaine. It was all a setup to get him to admit what he did to Rylan on video.
The memory of being with Drew that morning before flying back to New York flashes in my mind. I remember hugging him so tight, telling him how nervous I was that the execs would side with Blaine because he was in the power position since he was connected to Byron.
“And how did you do that? How did you let her know?” Drew’s voice in the video pulls me back to the present. There’s a tinge of anger lacing his words that Blaine doesn’t seem to pick up based on how he’s grinning and chuckling.
“Oh, you know, I touched her arm, led her back behind the bathrooms so we could have some privacy.”
“She wasn’t into it, though,” Drew says quickly.
“Maybe not at first, but I have a way of turning things around. If only that bitch Alia hadn’t interfered.”
I flinch at Blaine’s insult. There’s a low exhaling noise that bursts from Drew that makes my eyes widen.
“Is that why you grabbed Rylan’s arm like that?” Drew asks.
Blaine shrugs. “A lot of girls like it rough. They just don’t know it at first.”
My jaw drops just as Brooke says, “Oh my God.”
And then the screen goes blurry for a second. There’s a shuffling noise followed by a loud slam. Then all I hear is breathing.
The image on the screen steadies. I make out Drew’s arm pressed against Blaine’s chest. Blaine wheezes.
“You’re a piece of shit,” Drew growls through the breath he heaves. “You’re a goddamn predator, and you’re going down.”
And then it all clicks in my brain. Drew did this to help me. This video is irrefutable evidence of Blaine’s behavior in case I needed it if the execs tried to challenge me. Thankfully they believed me and trusted my handling of everything . . . But the fact that Drew went through all this to secure this extra evidence against Blaine blows me away.
The video cuts out. Then Haley taps the screen. That’s when I notice the thousands of likes and retweets and views of this video.
A few comments with the #subwaygentleman hashtag catch my eye.
Damn. Good on the #subwaygentleman for calling out this predator. Fuck @blaine_stephens. Dude deserves to rot
Hell yeah @drewirons aka #subwaygentleman! This is exactly what we need more of—men willing to call out other men on their rapey behavior!
“So he . . . didn’t betray me,” I say softly. It’s like I’m in a daze trying to process the ninety seconds of video I just watched.
Haley shakes her head. “It’s obvious now that he just said all that stuff to goad Blaine into admitting what he did to Rylan. He wanted to get it on tape as proof. Oh, wait.” Haley turns her phone back so she can see it. “He wrote a caption with the video.” Her eyes go wide. “You need to read it.”
I squint at the phone.
Just in case there are any defenders of that disgusting sack of crap @blaine_stephens, here is proof of his harassment and the assault he committed on my coworker. Yes, this was a setup. He admitted to my face what he did with no remorse whatsoever. He laughed like it was a joke. And he bragged like assaulting someone is something to be proud of. And then he had the gall to call our showrunner a derogatory name for defending the woman he targeted. He deserv
ed to lose his job with @ExpeditionNetwork and he deserves to lose every sponsorship and job opportunity he’s been given.
My head feels like it’s whirling in a million frenzied circles as I process Drew’s Instagram post.
“When did he post this video?”
“This morning,” Haley says. “It’s been trending all over Twitter and Instagram. Rylan was the one who forwarded me the link. She told me that Drew called her earlier today and explained he had a video of Blaine confessing what he did and asked if she’d feel comfortable posting it to expose him. After she watched it, she said she was one hundred percent on board.”
He was probably going to tell me all this when he called me today . . .
“I was wrong . . . He tried to tell me . . .”
Haley squints at me. I explain how Drew called me before the presentation and how I talked over him to go off on him and to tell him I love him.
“Whoa . . .” she mutters.
My brain finally catches up. This means Drew’s loyalty for me never wavered. It means that his feelings for me are true. And it means that I need to find him immediately and try to make things right.
Brooke holds up a hand. “I’m sorry, but what is going on?”
Haley turns to her. “I swear, I’m going to fill you in.” She spins back to me. “You and Drew need to talk. Now.”
I nod and smack her phone back into her hand, then hug her before darting out of the conference room. I jog to my office, grab my purse, and sprint down the hall in the direction of the elevators.
As I smack the buttons a dozen times, it occurs to me that I have no idea where Drew lives. I know he lives in Brooklyn, but I never asked his address. I start to dig my phone out of my purse. Maybe if I call him on my way out of the building, he can give me his address, and then I can sprint over there and we can talk and make all of this right . . .
The elevator on the far side dings and begins to open. I dart over to it and stop dead in my tracks. “Drew.”
It’s the first time I’ve seen him in the flesh since Utah, and for a long second, all I can do is stare. He’s not an image on a computer screen that I’ve been looking at for hours and hours—he’s the real thing, standing right in front of me in the elevator, and he’s ten million times more divine in person. His hair is mussed, and he’s shaved his beard. Now it looks more like a well-grown five-o’clock shadow. He’s wearing jeans and this plaid, casual button-up that is rolled up along his perfect forearms. He looks like a hot lumberjack who got a trim at the barber. The very definition of ruggedly handsome.
His brow is wrinkled all the way to his hairline, and he’s gazing at me like he can’t believe he’s seeing me.
“Alia.” The way he says my name sounds breathless. I wonder if he sprinted to get here too.
His dazzling hazel-brown eyes fall down the length of my body. “Whoa . . . you look amazing.”
“Thanks. Listen, I—”
A boisterous crowd of suits walks over to the elevators.
One of the older men laughs and looks in our direction. “You going up?”
“No,” I bark at him, then jump into the elevator with Drew. The doors shut and I hit the emergency button, which stalls us.
“What are you doing?” Drew asks.
“We need to talk now, and I don’t want anything or anyone interrupting us. I just saw the video you posted.”
“You did?”
I nod. “I was taking the trash out at the hotel before leaving for the airport and overheard you with Blaine. I only heard part of the conversation . . . I had no idea what you were planning to do. That’s why it hurt to hear what you said. I thought you were telling him how you really felt about me. And honestly . . . as weird as this might sound, hearing you say all that triggered me. It reminded me of what Reid did to me all those years ago, how he lied about me and betrayed my trust.”
Sadness shines in his eyes as he nods.
“I’m so, so sorry, Drew. I should have let you just explain yourself.”
I sniffle, trying to hold back tears.
“It’s okay. I owe you an apology for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it, not a single word. I was just trying to think of something I could say to him to get him to admit what he did. And I understand why you were upset . . . You had no idea what was going on, plus the trauma of your relationship with Reid . . . Honestly, if the same thing had happened to me, I would have reacted just like you did.” He rubs his hand along the back of his neck. “It all happened so fast, that day at the hotel. I was walking to get ice and then out of the blue I saw Blaine wandering the halls. He wanted to confront you, and something clicked in my head. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get proof of what he did, in case he or anyone tried to go against you or Rylan.” He shakes his head. “So I took him aside, put my phone in the front pocket of my shirt, hit record on my camera, and tried to make him think that I was on his side.”
“It worked,” I say. “You got him to admit what he did on video.”
He sighs. “I wanted to tell you. I didn’t want to release it without you knowing. But then when you sent that text and then blocked my calls, I went out of my mind trying to figure out what I did wrong. And then when we talked this morning, it all clicked. And that’s when I called Rylan to post the video on social media and hoped you would see it—so you would see that I never meant to hurt you . . . even though I did. And then I thought screw it, I should just run over here to try and explain everything to you . . . I don’t know why I didn’t think to do that sooner. I’ve just been such a mess these last couple of days without you . . .”
His face twists like he’s in agony. I squeeze his hand again and step closer to him. “It’s okay. Situations like this are always messy. There’s never a neat and clean way to expose someone horrible.”
The lump that’s been lodged in my throat ever since leaving Utah eases. Everything is out in the open. Now for the next part—the most important part.
“Drew, I meant what I said on the phone earlier. I love you. So much. I know that we just met two months ago, and I have a lot of work to do on myself . . . I’m gonna start seeing a therapist to talk about my relationship trauma with Reid. I think it’ll help me move on . . . so I’m in a better, healthier place for my next relationship.” I swallow, taking a much-needed moment to calm my nerves. “I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you, Drew. And I know that most people would think it’s too soon . . . And you probably aren’t totally out of your mind like me and fall in love after knowing someone for weeks, but that’s okay because I just want to be with you and . . .” I pause to calm my frenzied heartbeat. “Can we please start over?”
A hard swallow moves along his stubble-covered neck. “No way am I starting over with you.”
All the breath leaves my body. My hand loosens around his, but then he pulls me against him.
“I don’t want to start over because I’d rather pick up where we left off. I love you, Dunn.” A grin stretches across those gorgeous lips of his. “And if we both love each other, there’s no reason to start over. We can move straight ahead.”
My eyes well up, but this time I’m grinning so wide my cheeks ache. And then he leans down and kisses me. I lose track of the seconds, the minutes, the time, the place. Kissing Drew feels like coming home. I don’t ever want to stop.
When we finally break apart, I’m still grinning.
I cup his scruffy cheek with my hand. “So that means—”
Just then the elevator doors squeak open. When we twist around to look, there’s a maintenance guy in coveralls standing right in front of the doors . . . and a small crowd of people standing behind him. The loud guys in suits look on, confused expressions on their faces. Behind them stand Haley and Brooke. Both of them go from frowning to grinning once they see it’s us in the elevator.
Coveral
ls guy frowns at us. “The elevator doesn’t seem broken.”
“Oh, um, sorry about that,” I say, my face heating. “False alarm.”
I’m still hugging Drew by the waist when I answer him. Despite how shocking it is to have an audience, I grin wide. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to stop smiling around him.
Coveralls guy rolls his eyes and walks away.
“Uh . . . can we get in the elevator, then?” the loud suit from minutes ago asks.
Drew starts to stammer something, but then Haley walks over.
“This elevator is spoken for. You’re better off taking the stairs. Or wait for the next elevator,” she says to him. Then she turns to us. “You guys made up?”
Drew and I nod at her. She beams at us. I look up at Brooke and see an amused smile on her face.
She glances at Drew. “Andrew. Good to see you.”
“Hey, Brooke. Likewise.”
And then I suddenly realize how odd this all must look—two crew members all over each other in the elevator at work. My hands fall from Drew as I turn to face Brooke.
“Sorry, Brooke . . . I . . . I, um . . . This probably isn’t the most professional behavior in the world. Crew members pairing up during a shoot, that is.” I let out an embarrassed chuckle.
She holds up her hand. “You don’t have to justify anything to me. That’s how Greg and I met, remember?”
On Location Page 29