Beefcakes

by Katana Collins

  It was nearly eight o’clock and I was standing in my mom’s kitchen, putting out the cupcakes I had baked for our premiere party, when the doorbell rang. I wasn’t sure you could even quite call this a party. Me, Elaina, Finn, Liam, Addy, Chloe, and my mom. Elaina’s parents were invited, but decided to watch at home, just the two of them. All in all, kind of a sad party when the majority of the guests were your own flesh and blood. But when I moved out of Maple Grove, I had lost touch with most, if not all, of my friends that I’d had here.

  “Well, well, well,” I heard Addy say from down the hall. “It’s Loca Lainey. The ex-wild child of Maple Grove.”

  Shit. Of all the people in this damn house, it had to be Addy to answer the door when Lainey arrived?

  “Well, you should know, shouldn’t you? Since you’ve managed to Peter Pan it through life.”

  I tossed the cupcakes down and rushed for the door, nearly knocking into Addy. “Hey,” I said breathless and glaring at my sister. “Can you help Mom with the cheese plate?” I asked, jerking my head toward the kitchen.

  Addy gave me an annoyingly cheesy smile. “I was just greeting our guests.”

  My jaw clenched. I loved my little sister, but she held grudges like you would not believe. And that noise ordinance Lainey had slapped her with a year ago had gone over like a cat at a dog show.

  “Addy,” I warned. With a sigh, she stepped aside, rolling her eyes.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me,” Elaina said, waving away any concern I had and stepping through the front door. “I’ve been dealing with Addy Evans for years and something tells me we’ll be dealing with each other a lot more in the future.”

  “God help us, both.” Addy snorted and tossed her bright red hair over her shoulder, stomping down the hall.

  “Well, that’s one way to get her out of your face,” Chloe whispered, following Elaina into the house.

  “Come on in. The show’s about to start.” I led them inside the house into the kitchen which opened up into a TV room.

  “Hey, hey!” Finn said, coming down the stairs, grinning. “I thought I heard the Dyker sisters down here.”

  Finn bent to give both Chloe and Elaina a hug before crossing to the fridge and pulling out a beer. He held it up. “Anyone else want one?”

  “Sure!” Chloe crossed to him as he handed her a bottle after popping the cap off for her.

  “Where’s your fiancé tonight, Chloe?” Mom asked as she lifted the cheese plate off the kitchen counter.

  Chloe sighed. “Working. He’s always working.” She rolled her eyes, reached for a cupcake, and began peeling the paper lining off.

  Elaina’s face twisted as she checked the time. “He’s working at eight pm?”

  Chloe nodded. “He works late a lot.”

  “As a dentist?” Elaina pressed. “Don’t they usually stop taking clients after normal business hours?”

  Tension knotted between the sisters as Chloe sent Elaina a death glare. “Yeah, well there are other aspects to his job other than just cleaning teeth. He has paperwork and insurance and conferences. Just because you had an ex-boyfriend who cheated, doesn’t mean all men do.”

  Elaina blew a heavy breath from her lips. “That was low, Chloe,” she whispered.

  Chloe’s hard expression softened, and it looked like she immediately regretted what she’d said. But before either girl could apologize, Liam tugged a couple of bottles of wine from the fridge and waved them in the air. “Hey, hey,” he said. “Who wants some Pinot Grigio?”

  “God, yes,” Elaina said before adding, “Please.”

  I glanced back and forth between Elaina and Chloe, clearing my throat. “Well, I hope Dan can come to the next episode.”

  “Yeah,” Chloe said quietly. “Me, too.”

  As the rest of my family got settled around the TV, I grabbed Elaina’s hand and tugged her into the dark dining room, off of the kitchen, closing the door behind us. “Hey,” I whispered, squeezing her hand.

  Nerves fluttered in my chest until the moment she squeezed my hand back. “Hi,” she said, smiling.

  “I missed you this week.”

  Even in the near pitch-black room, I could see the glint of her striking blue eyes with the sliver of moonlight coming in through the open window. “I missed you, too.”

  I brought my lips to hers. The kiss was gentle at first but became increasingly passionate until I forced myself to push her to arm’s length. “We should probably go out there…”

  I heard her heavy breaths, felt the heat against my skin as she panted. “Probably. They’re going to suspect something if we hide out here all episode.”

  I groaned. I finally understood what Jude was talking about when he said he hated watching himself in movies and on TV. Sure, I’d been in movies before, but as a stuntman you hardly ever saw my face. And I never watched the playback videos of me in my bodybuilding competitions.

  I dropped my forehead to Elaina’s. “We never talked about what that night meant,” I whispered to her. “At the lake.”

  “We didn’t.” She gave me nothing else, offered me nothing more to go off of.

  “Well? I’m all in, Elaina. I want you. I’ve wanted you for ten years, and even though I blew it last time… that’s not going to happen again.”

  As our eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw the movement of her mouth opening, but she said nothing. Speechless wasn’t a phrase I would use too often to describe Lainey, but in this moment… she was.

  I swallowed hard. “Please say something, Elaina.”

  “I-I’m just going to need to take things slowly.”

  I nodded. “I can do slowly.”

  I squeezed her hands and kissed the tip of her nose.

  “Hey lovebirds!” Finn’s voice called from the TV room. “Hurry up, it’s starting.”

  I groaned. “You ready for this?”

  “If by ready you mean about to throw up in my mouth… then yes.”

  I chuckled, tugging her out of the dining room and toward the TV room where everyone had managed to squeeze into seats together. There was only one lounge chair left, so I offered it to Elaina and grabbed a pillow from beneath Finn’s arm to sit on the floor at Elaina’s feet.

  The first episode was almost over, and I swear my heart had been in my throat for the entire fifty minutes. Even though I was only on screen a total of maybe four minutes so far… I was panicked every time I saw my face, especially when I opened my mouth, on national television. But so far, Elliott, Ash, and Jude had kept their promise. There was no unnecessary drama for drama’s sake. The town was filmed beautifully and shown as a picturesque vacationland, suitable for families. Even that first interview where I had taken the Benadryl, I came off as cute and funny and… sympathetic. If anything, that could help change how the world viewed me after the viral meme.

  I was ahead of the other girls in the polls… but only by a small margin.

  I chewed the edge of my pinky nail as the commercial ended and the show cut to our date at Greico’s. It was… painful. All of my charm from earlier went right out the window, and I looked weird and shy and kind of snobby, like I wouldn’t talk to Neil. The ticker at the bottom showed my lead in the votes dip, and by the time the two-minute footage was over, my lead in the polls had dropped behind Gretchen by eight percent.

  Eight percent wasn’t a terrible drop. I could come back from that… except, there was nothing else. The show only had a few minutes left and there was no more footage. No more dates we had filmed, no more video diaries. That was it. That was my last shot to win people over and I blew it.

  My face went hot as the blood rushed to my cheeks. I was going to lose. I was going to lose before Neil and I even had a chance to begin. And then I was going to have to watch him in the remaining episodes with freaking Gretchen. In my town.

  I closed my eyes and breathed deep as I felt Neil’s hand brush my shin. “It’s okay,” he whispered up at me. “It’s going to be okay.”

  I nodded at him
and did my best to smile, but I was pretty sure it came out as a grimace.

  Neil was being so sweet. In some ways, it was like old times. He was always so attentive. Everything from bringing me my favorite food to small touches on my arm and back to let me know he was there and thinking about me.

  And yet, I couldn’t get the fear out of my head. Would he pack up and leave town again? Even though he claimed he wouldn’t… what’s to stop him from embracing an opportunity should it arise after the show ended?

  I wanted to trust him. I wanted to be with him. But in order to do that, I had to let go of these past issues, and I wasn’t sure I could. But you should at least try, a little voice inside me pleaded.

  My lungs squeezed as the camera followed me leaving the restaurant and getting into my car. Huh. I didn’t recall them following me out of the restaurant. Or… uh oh.

  The next shot was me sitting on the dock of the lake at night. It was dark, and there wasn’t nearly as much light as there had been in the other shots. The sound was muffled—even though you could still hear our conversation, we clearly weren’t wearing microphones. It was obviously less professional than the other shots.

  “Oh, fuck,” Neil whispered. “Is that…”

  Whatever flush had spread to my cheeks had completely drained. The heat I’d experienced dissipated to a chill throughout my body. “How did they find us?” I asked as Neil kissed me on the screen.

  Neil shook his head, his muscles rigid.

  I glanced around at his family and my sister, and their gazes shifted from the TV to us and back to the TV. I caught Chloe’s eyes, and she asked the question that, no doubt, everyone in the room was wondering. “You didn’t know they were filming you here, did you?”

  I shook my head because I knew I couldn’t trust myself to speak just yet.

  That was the moment Neil ripped off his shirt and pants and jumped in the lake. “Oh, God.” I knew what was coming next and I didn’t think I could stomach watching it.

  “Look at the polls,” Liam said, pointing to the ticker at the bottom of the TV. I had climbed in popularity by twenty percent. What? Would this be the reason I won this damn show?

  I buried my face in my hands, peeking through my fingers as my TV counterpart tugged her skirt and shirt off. When I bent over, my thong-covered (or rather, not covered) ass was essentially mooning the camera before I jumped into the lake with Neil.

  “Oh my God.” I pushed out of the chair I was sitting in and ran into the kitchen. I couldn’t look at anyone in that room… especially not at Neil’s mother. How was I going to go into work tomorrow? Face a table of city council members? Do this presentation for the healthcare outreach center when literally a nation had just seen my half-naked body on television?

  It was humiliating. It was degrading. And such a violation, I wasn’t sure what to even feel, let alone do about it.

  Neil followed me out into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. For a moment, it felt right, being comforted by him. But that was also the reason we were in this mess in the first place.

  When I pulled away, he gave me a weak smile. “The good news is… you won.” He pumped two fists in the air in mock celebration. “Yay?”

  Tears sprang to my eyes, and I honestly didn’t know if I was happy or sad that I had to continue to be on this stupid show.

  “Are you not embarrassed?” I asked.

  Neil shook his head. Cupping my jaw, his thumb brushed across my bottom lip. “I’m pissed on your behalf. A little uncomfortable that my whole family just saw us kissing and swimming together in a lake. But… not embarrassed.”

  I folded my arms. “Well, that must be nice. It’s different for men,” I huffed.

  To my utter surprise, he nodded in agreement. “It is. Plus, I’ve been seen on national television in a Speedo for competitions. Swimming in my boxer briefs isn’t all that revealing for me.” He winced. “But you were a lot less covered than I was and I know it’s different for women. The standards are different, as stupid as that is. There’s more slut shaming—” His eyes grew wide and he tugged his hand back, then held it out to me. “Not that I’m calling you a sl… I mean. You’re not.”

  I chuckled and grabbed his hand to kiss his knuckles. “I know what you mean. There is more slut shaming of women than men, for sure.” I blew out a breath and ran my hand through my hair.

  “So… now what do we do?” Neil asked.

  I inhaled a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Well… tomorrow, we’re going to ignore the whispers, and I’m going to present an incredible proposal to the city council despite this setback.” My stomach trembled despite my false bravado.

  “Good… but that’s not exactly what I meant. What do we do about the show? I completely understand if you want to break the contract with them…”

  I shook my head slowly. Did I want to be on the show anymore? Not really. But I also knew from reading that contract front to back that they were a hundred percent within their rights to follow us and film what they did. Even if it was shady… it wasn’t forbidden. “No,” I said. “I think the best revenge is to win the damn show. Take their one million dollars and make them pay for everything we can think of.”

  Neil lifted a brow. “I’m not sure if that’s revenge or just what’s outlined in our contracts…”

  “And then, after we win, we can reveal all their dirty practices on various talk shows.”

  Neil hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “To be fair, I think they already aired that. It was obvious we didn’t know they were filming. It was probably clear to any viewer that they didn’t have our consent to show that. But… I don’t think the viewership really cares either.”

  Damn. Neil was right. Okay, so I didn’t have it all figured out yet. But quitting the show wouldn’t do anything except leave both of us without the one million dollars.

  Neil’s smile widened, and his grin was conniving and beautiful. “I think I have an idea.”

  “Keys,” I said aloud. “Where the hell are my keys?” I grabbed a pair of pants off the floor and felt the telltale heaviness in the pockets. Diving my hand inside, I tugged my keys free. “Aha!” I stuffed them, along with my wallet, into my pocket with a quick check of the time on my cell phone.

  As I touched the button, my screen came to life, showing my call log. Fourteen calls to Elliott. Not one of which he picked up. The coward. If you’re going to be a dick, at least have some balls.

  I could have called Jude and Ash… but I wanted to give him a chance to explain himself. Apologize. The truth was… he hadn’t done anything technically wrong. Elaina and I signed away our lives with those contracts for the next few weeks. We knew that any time we were in public, there was a possibility we might be captured on film. I thought we were safe that night despite being in public, but we weren’t… and we wouldn’t be until the show was over.

  I sighed and shoved my phone into my pocket as well. Luckily, Elaina had taken it better than I thought. She was taking it better than me, that’s for sure. I wanted to slam my fist into something… namely Elliott’s camera.

  Fifteen minutes. That’s the amount of time I had to drive to city hall and get to Elaina’s meeting. Mom was already headed over there with Rita and Carlie, so I didn’t have to worry about picking her up first, which was a nice change.

  I opened the door to my cottage to leave and nearly plowed into Gretchen, hand raised, ready to knock.

  I startled, trying to cover up my high-pitched yelp with a low, guttural cough.

  Based on the smug grin curving Gretchen’s overly made up lips, I’d say she wasn’t buying it.

  “Hey, you,” she said quietly.

  I narrowed my eyes at her, glancing around and over her shoulder for a camera or crew member. Hey, you. It was the phrase she used to use when we lived together for all of a minute. Yep, that’s right. No sweet term of endearment for me. Just: Hey, YOU. I knew how she meant it. It was meant to be sweet, sexy, maybe a little
charming. But all I heard in those two words were all the fights and memories of her using me to get auditions and have a nice piece of arm candy on the red carpet. The number of times she would talk down to me, act as though I was too stupid to understand big words in her vocabulary, were too many to count.

  I folded my arms, brows jumping higher. “Hey,” I grunted, trying not to sound too friendly. “What do you want?”

  “Why do you say it like that?” she whined, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

  Oh, yeah. Something was up. Gretchen rarely spoke to me in a sweet tone unless she wanted something. “For the last week, you’ve been nice to me while cameras were rolling and as soon as they yelled cut, you went right back to your phone. So, forgive me for thinking something is up right now while you’re using your fake, nicey-nice voice that is usually reserved for celebrities with bigger names than me.”

  Her eyes narrowed, gaze hardening. “It’s reserved for celebrities with bigger dicks than you, too,” she whispered.

  I laughed, because we both knew there weren’t many out there larger than me… I had no insecurities in that department. “Ah, there she is,” I sneered. “There’s the mean-spirited Gretchen I know.”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed a breath. “You know, I really did just pop in to say goodbye. My flight leaves in a few hours from Boston, and I’m hitting the road soon.” She threw her hands up dramatically, then flung her curly red hair behind her shoulder. “You didn’t have to be such a dick about it.”