“Who would you suspect more out of those two?”
Eden gave me a wry smile. “Anya, obviously. She’s been number one on our list of suspects from the start.”
“Why?” I asked, furrowing my brows.
“Because she’s…well, I really hate to call another woman a bitch, but my god, she really is a bitch.”
“She’s actually not that bad,” I replied, shaking my head. “I spoke to her about it when the show first started. She said she knew she was going to get painted as an alpha bitch, so she decided to play it up for the cameras. She’s an actress trying to get attention, that’s all. She’s actually one of the coolest out of all the contestants; that’s why I haven’t eliminated her yet. Well, that and the fact that Glenn keeps telling me to keep her around. He thinks her bitchy antics bring in good ratings.”
Eden arched a brow. “Oh. Wow. I honestly thought she was just a really nasty person. She’s a damn good actress, then. But you know what, we did find hair bleach in her bathroom.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. Candice and I checked her room ages ago when we first suspected her. We found a little bottle of bleach, and we thought she could’ve used that to ruin Blair’s hair. But I spoke to hair and makeup afterwards to check if it was for something necessary, and they ended up telling me that they gave it to her because she had some hair she wanted to lighten on her lower abdomen and upper lip. That bleach was the only vague proof we had that it could be her, and she had a perfectly reasonable explanation for having it, so we couldn’t kick her off the show based on that alone.”
“Yeah, well, that’s probably a good thing, because I really don’t think it’s her. Like I said, she’s actually pretty cool. Cailin, though…I think it could be her.”
Eden’s eyes widened. “Really? Why? She’s so sweet. I mean, she does go on and on about her peanut allergy all the time, but aside from that, she’s fine.”
“You know what they say. Still waters run deep. She seems sweet and kinda shy, but who knows? It could all just be an act.”
“True. But you can’t eliminate her based on that alone, when she could be innocent. I really want to figure out exactly who it is.”
I slung an arm around her shoulder and gave her back a comforting rub. “I know. Lucky it’s a rainy day, because that means we have all day to brainstorm ideas of how to catch whoever it is. But first…”
I leaned over and planted a kiss on her mouth, and Eden melted into my arms, her lips responding hungrily as she returned my gesture with full force. She was wearing a strawberry-scented lip balm, and her sweet taste almost made me groan as I slid my hands into her hair, weaving them through it as I pulled her closer.
I was so deep in the kiss that I only vaguely registered the sound of someone turning a key in the locked trailer door, and I barely even heard the door opening. I did hear the quick footsteps of someone stepping inside, though, and Eden and I pulled away from each other as quick as we could. It was too late, though; we’d already been seen, and Eden was still shirtless from the massage I’d given her earlier.
Blair was standing in the doorway, staring at us with her mouth open.
“Oh.” That was all she said before turning and walking out.
Shit.
Chapter Eighteen
Eden
“Oh no…”
I pulled a hoodie on and zipped it up before dashing out of my trailer as fast as my legs could carry me, and I called out as I hurried along. “Blair! Stop! Just wait…”
She turned and stopped, her eyes narrowed, and she folded her arms as I ran to catch up to her. Adrenaline was racing through my system like mad, and my mouth went dry as I realized how stupid I’d been. Of course I was going to get caught sooner or later. What the hell had Troy and I been thinking this morning, holing up in my trailer together in broad daylight? Sure, hardly anyone was around because of the free day, but still, there was always a chance someone might need me and come looking for me, and I’d been so careless that I’d just thrown caution to the wind and ignored the risk.
I guess I was lucky that it was Blair who’d caught us, though. Things could be much worse if it was someone else.
“Really, Eden?” she said, her voice dripping with scorn as I finally reached her. “You’re seriously sneaking around with Troy?”
“Yes,” I said, my cheeks turning red. “Please, Blair, don’t tell anyone.”
She shook her head, her eyes still narrowed. “How could you do this? I honestly can’t believe it.”
“It’s not that surprising, is it?” I asked, wondering why she was so pissed at me. “I mean, we sorted out all our issues from the past, after the whole letter thing, which—”
“Which was my fault, I know,” Blair said, cutting me off and holding up one palm to shush me. “You and Troy getting back together is not why I’m upset. I just thought you were better than this.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.
She sighed. “Your job, Eden! Don’t you care about it? If it hadn’t been me who walked in on you just then, you could be getting fired right now!” she said. “Surely I’m not the only person who knows where you keep your spare trailer key.”
My face burned with shame as I nodded. She was right. I was risking my job every single day that Troy and I chose to sneak around; risking the job that I’d worked so hard to succeed at. I’d always known this—I just hadn’t really taken it seriously enough to keep my hands off him.
Until now.
“I know,” I said quietly. “I’m an idiot. It’s just so hard to keep away from each other now that we’re finally together again after all these years.”
“Well, why didn’t Troy just quit the show as soon as you two sorted your stuff out? That would’ve made this a lot easier,” Blair replied.
“He wanted to, but I said no. He has a contract, just like you, and if he broke that, then not only would he have to pay the network a ton of money, it would also screw everything up for a lot of people. Everyone working on the show would be benched while a replacement Stud was sorted out, and if they couldn’t find one and reshoot everything in time for when the show needed to start airing on TV, then the season might just be canceled. That’d mean a lot of people out of their jobs, Blair. Not just me.”
Blair’s face softened a little. “And I guess it would also mean all the contestants would get sent home empty-handed, including me. No chance to be on TV and promote ourselves, which is the main reason we’re all here, really.”
I nodded. “Yeah. It would’ve really screwed things up for everyone here if Troy broke his contract and left the show just for me.”
“So you guys were stuck between a rock and a hard place, then.”
My shoulders slumped with relief as I realized she finally understood. “Yes, exactly.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, hurt flashing in her eyes. “Are you still mad at me for what I did with the letter?”
I shook my head. “No, you know we’ve gotten past that, Blair. I’m sorry, I just thought if no one knew except me and Troy, we’d be less likely to get caught.”
“You know I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“I know, but someone might’ve overheard us talking about it, or something like that. I couldn’t risk it.”
She nodded. “Fair enough,” she said. “But seriously, Eden, you need to be more careful. Don’t let him in your trailer anymore. And god, I hope none of the cameras have picked anything up. They’re freaking everywhere.”
“They haven’t. We only ever…erm…”
I trailed off, embarrassed, and Blair arched an eyebrow. “Go on. You may as well give me the juicy details now that I know.”
She had a point. “You know how there’s some areas where there’s no CCTV at all?” I said.
“Yeah, there’s heaps of dead zones. Like the storage rooms, or the hallway that goes to the main kitchen.”
I nodded. “Yes. Well, we’ve sort of taken
over the last storage room on the third floor. There’s a lock on the door there, so we sneak in there, and…well, you get the picture.”
A ghost of a smile finally crossed Blair’s face at my dirty revelation. “You guys are so naughty. I hope you’re sneaking in there separately, though. If any of the CCTV cameras in the halls caught you both walking around up there together all the time, then that might look a bit suspicious.”
“We do go up there separately. Troy goes first, and then I wait fifteen minutes and follow him up there.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, then,” she replied.
I sighed and shook my head. “No, you were totally right earlier. We aren’t being careful enough, and I can’t risk it anymore. I’m going to go back and talk to him now and tell him we need to cool it off until the show is over, as hard as that might be.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. Good luck. I better get back to the mansion before they start thinking I’ve escaped.
“Okay. Oh, wait. Why did you come to my trailer?” I asked. She’d found my hidden spare key and used it, and it’d just occurred to me that that meant she’d assumed I wasn’t in the trailer when she arrived.
A guilty look crossed her face, and her cheeks turned slightly pink as she hesitated. “I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t ask. Promise you won’t yell at me?”
“I promise.”
“Well, you know how none of the contestants are allowed phones or computers?” she said. I nodded; it was part of their contract that they weren’t allowed to communicate with the outside world as long as filming was going on.
“I was desperate to check my store website,” she continued. “I know I’m not allowed, but I really wanted to see how it’s going and if being on TV is helping at all. So I was going to sneak onto your laptop for a few minutes. I thought you were out in town with the rest of the crew.”
I smiled. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I checked your site this morning. A lot of things say ‘sold out’ now, so I’d say it’s going pretty well.”
Blair squealed with excitement. “Oh my god! That’s amazing!” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Let’s just hope I last a bit longer. The more attention I can squeeze out of this show, the better. Hey, maybe Troy will even let me win, seeing as he’s sleeping with my friend.”
She winked as she made her little joke, and I simply laughed and nodded. There was no need to tell her that she wouldn’t win the show due to Glenn’s insistence that one of his two favorites—Cailin or Hayley—win instead. It would just needlessly upset her, and she’d never intended on winning, anyway. She’d just wanted to get some free promotion for her online store, and it was obviously working, so everything had worked out well.
“Anyway, you go talk to Troy, and I’ll go back to the mansion,” she said, giving me a quick hug. “And if you two really can’t keep your paws off each other, just remember—stay away from all the cameras!”
As Blair spoke that last sentence, it felt like a lightbulb had just switched on in my mind, and I quickly said goodbye and dashed back to my trailer. How the hell had I not considered this before? It was so simple, yet it hadn’t occurred to me at all until now, and I mentally kicked myself as I stepped back inside.
I knew exactly how to find our saboteur…
Chapter Nineteen
Troy
Eden returned to her trailer after just a couple of minutes, and I jumped to my feet. “Is everything okay? What did she say?”
“It’s fine, Blair isn’t going to tell anyone,” she replied. “But we really do need to be more careful.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I should probably head back to the mansion.”
Eden held up a hand. “Not yet. I just thought of something, and I think I know how we can finally catch our saboteur.”
“Really? That’s great. How?”
“You know how this place used to be used for another reality show?”
“Vaguely. That weird one where they got those city people to live a cowboy sort of lifestyle for months at a time?”
She nodded emphatically. “That’s the one. Well, that was a kind of ‘Big Brother’ type of show, so there were way more cameras hooked up around the place. As in CCTV stuff.”
“Yeah, but they would’ve taken it all down when the show ended, right? Or at least turned them off.”
“A lot of them were taken down, yeah, because we don’t need as much CCTV footage for The Stud. But there are still a few around that were built into light fixtures, so they aren’t all that obvious, and they were never taken down. And most of them are in the dead zones where none of the Stud cameras are.”
I nodded slowly, finally comprehending what she was saying. “So the saboteur might be doing dodgy stuff in the dead zones, thinking she’s safe because she’s been told there’s no cameras around…but there are some still there.”
“Exactly. So if those old cameras are still recording and the footage is still being transmitted and stored somewhere, we might be able to find something helpful. It’s a long shot, but I’m going to find out.”
“How?”
“That old show was on the same network that our show is. I should be able to use that as a starting place.”
Eden grabbed her cell phone and dialed a number, and someone answered a moment later. “Hi, this is Eden Zamora. I’m a junior producer on The Stud. I was just wondering if I could talk to someone in the network IT department for a minute? Sure, I’ll hold.”
She was transferred to the correct department a few seconds later, and she explained the situation to the person on the other end of the line. “So I was just wondering if any of those old cameras are still transmitting videos and being stored somewhere. And if so, can I access them?” she finished.
She nodded and said ‘uh huh’ a few times at what was being said to her for the next minute or so, and then she typed something into a notes program on her laptop. “Thanks. This is really helpful,” she said once she’d finished typing. “Yeah, you have a good day too. Bye!”
“What did they say?” I asked once she was off the phone.
She grinned up at me. “We’re in luck. Some of those cameras are defunct, but some others still work, and any video they transmit goes to an online archive hosted by the network. All I have to do is log in to the network video archives with these credentials the IT guy just gave me, and I should be able to look at the footage from the last couple of months. Hopefully something useful comes up.”
“Want some help? Or should I get out of your hair?”
“You can help if you want. We can go to the main media room in the mansion, and if anyone asks why you’re in there with me, you can just say you got bored and came to ask me questions about the show. I am a producer, after all.”
“I guess being seen together in the media room is far less suspicious than being seen together in your trailer,” I said with a grin. “All right, you go first, and I’ll sneak out of here and meet you in there in about ten minutes?”
“You got it.”
Two hours later, we were in the media room together, watching several days’ worth of footage on a very fast speed so it wouldn’t take forever. So far, we hadn’t spotted anything out of the ordinary, but we were both hoping something would come eventually. A few people had been in and out of the media room since we’d arrived, but no one had questioned us hanging out here together— it looked like Eden was catching up on work, and I was simply hanging out and asking questions.
I knew Eden was feeling guilty and anxious over our secret relationship, and I couldn’t wait for this damn show to be over so I could show the world my true feelings about her. It sucked that we had to hide it for now, but I’d be damned if I let myself be the reason she lost her job. She’d worked so hard to get it, and I knew that she saw it as a good stepping stone kind of job in order to further her career path; she might not want to work on The Stud forever, but the experience would prove valuable and look great on her résumé. I wasn’t going to
be the asshole who took that all away from her, so all I could do was wait.
“I have an idea,” I said. “What was the date when we had that big dinner party? After I eliminated the first eight women.”
“You mean when the hummus was poisoned with laxatives and emetics?”
“Yeah.”
“Um…let me think,” she replied, chewing on her lip as she considered the question. “Must’ve been the sixth of March. Why?”
“One of the dead zones where there’s no Stud CCTV cameras is the hallway leading to the main kitchen, right?”
Comprehension dawned on Eden’s face. “Oh! Yes, and we have footage of that hallway now, because some of the old show’s cameras are there. So we can go back to that night and see if there was anyone sneaking around the kitchen.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
Eden scrolled back in the archives to the right day, and then she fast-forwarded the video to around five o’clock in the evening, when the chefs would’ve started preparing everything.
“Nothing yet,” she murmured as the time-stamp on the screen grew closer to seven o’clock. So far, the only people seen going in and out of the kitchen that night were staff members who had every reason to be there.
“That dinner wasn’t till pretty late. Give it time,” I replied. “Hey, wait….look!”
A new person had just arrived on the screen. Cailin. She was talking to one of the chefs in the hallway, and then the two of them walked into the kitchen together.
“Ha! I knew it,” I said. “What’d I tell you….still waters run deep.”
Eden sighed. “This doesn’t prove anything. Cailin is always going to the chefs and complaining to them about her peanut allergy. I bet she was just talking to him about that and then went into the kitchen with him so he could show her that the food was fine. I’ll ask.”
She paused the video feed and spoke to the kitchen staff on her two-way radio for a moment, and one of the chefs soon confirmed that he had spoken to Cailin that night. He’d let her into the kitchen so she could check out the food (and so he could prove it was all peanut-free for her), and he’d had his eyes on her the entire time. There was no way she would’ve been able to sneak anything into the hummus.
Daddy's Fake Bride (A Fake Marriage Romance) Page 56