Off Camera

The playbook show

I stared at the contract document that Vress slid across the table, my eyes still wide from the shock and my palms still trembling slightly.

I sat down back and looked up at his emotionless face. "If I sign this." My voice came out less shaky than I was at the moment. "You delete the footage, you wipe it off completely without any backup copy."

He looked at me, a smirk crossing his face which made it obvious that he found what I said quite endearing.

"A dog owner always needs a leash," he said pleasantly, a smile tugging boldly at his lips. "Otherwise the dog runs wild."

He leaned forward, his gaze fixing on me. "I'm the one holding yours now, Miss Reid. You're not really in a position to be making deals."

Heat flooded my veins, bursts of red flooding through my sight. I wanted to grab him, slam his face into the desk or something but instead I looked back down at the paper.

Just sign it, sign it and get this s**t over with.

My hand was shaking when I reached for the pen. I pressed it into the paper harder than necessary so the signature wouldn't come out wobbly.

I signed, put the pen down and stood up immediately.

I didn't spare him another glance, I looked at the door and walked steadily toward it, telling myself that everything is going to be fine.

"Miss Reid." He called out. I paused, my gaze still focused on the door I was about to walk out of to escape the bastard.

"There are some things," Vress said, his voice calm and infuriatingly levelled "that you just can't run away from."

I stood there for one second, I knew what he was talking about. The f*****g bastard.

“Tsk.”

I scoffed and walked out.

The corridor was empty. I used the wall as support as I walked as I really couldn’t trust my shaky legs at the moment. I paused for a moment, took a deep breath and turned the corner.

A door opened from a room I'd never noticed before, without a name plate and Kyrian Maddox walked out of it.

We nearly collided. He stopped and I stopped too. We were close enough that I had to actually look up at him and he looked down at me too with that same unreadable expression from this morning, like he'd never seen anything less interesting in his life.

Of course, I thought. Of course it's you. Of course.

"Tsk."

I stepped around him and kept walking.

The rest of the walk back was kind of a blur, I remember the stairway light flickering. I remember my jaw aching so bad just because I forgot that I'd been clenching it the whole way.

A leash.

Who the f**k actually says that?

I shoved my door open with so much force that would have broken it if it was wooden.

Hori looked up from her bed, laptop open with a snack in hand.

"Hey, what happ—"

I walked past her, dropped face first onto my bed, and didn't move.

She didn't push it, and that was the thing I loved most about Hori. She was always very good at reading moods.

She went quiet and I lay there with my face in my pillow and my jaw still aching and the image of that screen still flashing right behind my eyes.

I am going to have to share a house with Kyrian Maddox.

I pressed my face further into the pillow.

I didn't sleep well. Hell, I didn't even sleep at all, actually. I just lay there in the dark thinking in circles until exhaustion won and pulled me under, and then in what seemed like two seconds later, my phone was ringing.

I grabbed it without opening my eyes, the exhaustion still wrapping around me.

"Hello."

"You've got to be shitting me."

Hori. I cracked one eye open. The room was bright, it was morning already.

"What," I said, my voice sounding as hoarse as it could possibly get.

"You're paired with Kyrian Maddox for some…Playbook show." She paused like she was checking something. "What the hell is even a Playbook show."

I sat up, my two eyes flinging wide open. "How did you find out about that?"

"Connie, it's on the announcement board in the main hall." She paused again. "It's not just me, half the school has probably seen it by now."

I stared at the wall, my brain still trying to catch up.

"I'll call you back," I said, and hung up.

I sat there for a moment, tapping my feet in an attempt to force myself awake.

My phone buzzed. It was a notification from the school official website that had been useless for a while now, until now apparently.

I picked up my phone, my expression neutral as I stared at the notification. I wasn't really surprised anymore.

PLAYBOOK—CRESTFIELD'S NEWEST REALITY DATING EXPERIENCE. FULL CAST AND ROOM ALLOCATIONS NOW LIVE.

COUNTDOWN: 14 DAYS TO D‐DAY

CLICK TO VIEW.

I clicked on it and the page loaded immediately, displaying the show's logo, the banner and little profile pictures of the cast members arranged in a grid. I scrolled past all of it to the room allocations because that was the part that actually mattered the most.

Room 2—Connie Reid.

I scanned through for my other roommates, trying to guess who—among the girls I saw on the profile picture page—it would be.

Room 2—Kyrian Maddox.

My stomach dropped as I read it again to confirm if I read it wrong the first time.

I didn't. I scanned through the other rooms and noticed the same pattern, a boy and a girl, the rooms were mixed.

I sat completely still for a moment with my phone in my hand and the realization that I was going to be sleeping in the same room as a guy with a s****l assault record.

Two weeks passed in a blur and finally— not like I was anticipating it or anything, If anything I dread that s**t—it was move in day

I packed a small bag, basically just the essentials, just what I needed. I was not going to be one of those people who showed up to a reality show with four suitcases and a ring light.

I located the building easily enough, since it had a huge banner with THE PLAYBOOK SHOW boldly written on it like it would have been hard to find if the fonts were any smaller.

The number of people present were considerably less than the people expected which meant that I was part of the early comers.

I located my room number and knocked to confirm if kyrian was inside..

There was no response, so I pushed it open.

The room was empty, no bags, no evidence that anyone else had been here, just a clean, quiet room with two beds on opposite sides and a single window.

I let out a breath that I hadn't even realized I'd been holding

He wasn't here yet. Good, that meant I had time to settle in and demarcate my side of the room.

The bathroom.

I dropped my bag on the bed closest to the window—obviously non-negotiable, the window bed was always mine—and crossed the room.

The bathroom was the most important part of any new apartment. My mum always said that you could tell everything you needed to know about a space from its bathroom.

I grabbed the handle and flung the door open.

My eyes widened as I stared at Kyrian Maddox half naked, hair damp, water still on his body, his butt hanging out facing me.

"You've got to be f*****g kidding me.”