I want You Deeper

What was happening here?

Heath fully understood that Brooke was proud of herself for having figured things out. He even somewhat got that she

might have wanted to have a “called it!” moment when the episode aired. But making a complete public spectacle of them? That had to be more about her boyfriend’s issues with Heath than showing off for TV cameras.

If he’d thought he could just grab the award-a trophy that felt like it had been crafted by the same people who made sports trophies for kids- and rush back to his seat, he was wrong.

Brooke put a hand on his arm and spoke into the microphone. “Could all the presenter recipients come on up here? We’re going to get a group picture.”

A group picture. Great. He decided what he really needed to do was take a step back and gradually drift farther down the line from Brooke. Everyone seemed to be over what Brooke had said a couple of minutes earlier, although he was getting more stares than usual. But at least the camera guy had the presence of mind to stay well back from the gathering crowd, shooting from the audience.

“Sorry about that,” Brooke said, leaning toward him as everyone shuffled into place. “But you are Heath, aren’t you?”

Heath looked at her, fully prepared to deny it. Before the words were out, though, he realized that this would air eventually, and Brooke would remember his denial. He decided to go with evasiveness instead. “What would make you think that?”

At those words, Brooke’s eyes narrowed. He knew that look. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. Billionaires with quirky personalities tended to get that quite often.

“Your eyes. They’re very distinctive. There’s a picture of you on the company website, and it’s pretty obvious. In fact, I’d guess some of the people out there in the audience are pulling up your picture on their phones right now and noticing the resemblance. Someone should have at least put you in eyeglasses to hide you a little better.”

Heath let out the breath he’d been holding. There was no point in denying it at this point. At least it was off camera.

Or so he’d thought.

“Excuse me!”

Camera Guy Number Two, who had not spoken at all during this entire experience, now suddenly had a voice. He’d set his camera down to talk on the phone during the group photo shoot, but now he was off the phone, standing directly in front of them, poised to capture whatever was going on here.

“You figured out Heath’s identity. Maybe you could talk to him about that?”

Heath blinked at the guy. Really? He was a camera guy, not a producer. One reason Heath had agreed to do this show was that he’d been assured some crew wouldn’t be here telling him what to say to create a fake storyline out of the “real” things going on. He didn’t know much about reality shows, but he’d heard some things from people who had been involved in them over the years.

“Sure.”

Brooke was more than happy to comply. In fact, she decided they needed to move over into a better-lit corner, where they could get some distance from the noise happening. The camera guy instructed Heath to take off his battery pack and hand it to Brooke since she’d be doing most of the talking.

Without argument, Heath did what they said. Mostly because he was distracted. He’d lost track of Vanessa somehow in all this, and as the crowd shuffled out, he wanted to make sure she was okay.

“Look,” Brooke said. That one word, and her tone while saying it, pulled his attention back to her. The sincere expression on her face told him she wasn’t about to say something negative. He relaxed a little.

“Justin’s a little burnt that you didn’t issue a public statement of any kind.” She looked around. “I think if you’d just make an apology, it would help everything.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

There was a camera pointed directly at her as she said those words. The guy turned slightly to capture Heath’s reaction. He knew his response here was everything. It would make air. He wanted to defend himself, to attack the way Justin had handled things, but that wouldn’t do much to help his reputation.

“We need to set up a meeting.”

The all-too-familiar voice seemed so out of place, it took Heath a moment to realize it was Vanessa. He turned to see her standing behind him, watching the two of them.

“Vanessa?”

There was no denying the sheer disbelief in Brooke’s tone. Vanessa smiled weakly, an expression he interpreted as apologetic. So, she wasn’t going to sneak out of here and hope Brooke never pieced things together, even after they were shown together on national TV?

“I swear I had no idea who Heath was when I signed on to do this show,” Vanessa blurted out quickly, as though she was rushing to keep her roommate from making assumptions. “Once I figured it out, I was afraid you’d be mad.”

Frowning, Brooke looked from Vanessa to Heath. “I don’t understand.”

Heath decided he’d fast-track this explanation. Otherwise, they’d be here all night, and he really just wanted to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

“Vanessa was hired to help with this reality show we’re doing. She’s been lining up clients and I’ve been pitching them. It’s all…I don’t know. It’s me seeing what my salespeople go through when they come to events like this. I was supposed to be working alongside a guy-”

“He disappeared early on,” Vanessa explained. “No idea where he went.”

“So, I’ve been doing the whole thing myself. Well, Vanessa and I have been doing it all ourselves. Without her, I don’t know what I would have done.”

He looked over at her, and he hoped his expression communicated how genuine those words were. But Vanessa’s attention was on Brooke, not Heath. What was happening here?

“I wish you would have told me,” Brooke said. “We could have hung out together.”

Brooke glanced over at Heath, that frown still in place. She was trying to figure out what was going on between the two of them, but if she was getting a vibe about it, it was coming from Heath alone. Vanessa seemed to have gone completely cold on him for some reason.

“We need to set up a meeting between Heath and Justin, on camera.” Vanessa turned and looked at the guy, who was still holding the camera in

place. “It will be the perfect ending to the show, don’t you think?” The camera guy didn’t answer. He’d gone silent again.

Heath turned to look at Vanessa. Why was she trying to control the direction of the show they were doing? He wasn’t even doing that, and this particular episode would mostly be about him.

“That’s a great idea. What do you think?” Brooke was watching Heath carefully now, and he didn’t like the scrutiny. But there were now two cameras on him, just waiting to capture some sort of negative reaction from him. He wouldn’t give the producers that.

“I think I’m done here. I’m going back to my room.”

And with that, he turned and left the two of them there, along with the camera guys who seemed to suddenly be more interested in Vanessa and Brooke than the very person they’d come here to cover.