Page 91 of Next Time We'll Fall

“I know,” I say, dismissing the outstretched hand he has. “Juniper? I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“What’s going on?” August says, frowning.

Jackie sighs. “This is a friend of Juniper’s, who seems to be a little overprotective. He doesn’t really want her doing the show. I don’t really understand why.”

“You know why.” I glare at her. “Juniper?”

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” she says. “I literally just got here. I haven’t even shot a day. What’s going on?”

“Do you trust me?” I ask her, staring at her. “If you trust me, you’ll leave this set, and you’ll just come with me.”

“But, Rafe, I …”

She pauses. She looks over at August, who’s staring at her. Then she looks at Jackie.

“Fifteen thousand dollars an episode, Juniper,” Jackie says.

Then she looks at me. My heart is racing.

“Just because you guys had sex last night doesn’t mean anything,” Jackie says.

My heart drops as I see Juniper’s face paling.

“Yeah, he told me,” Jackie says, shrugging. “He didn’t care about keeping it a secret. Maybe because he sees you as some prized possession, and now that he realizes you have a shot with a man who’s ten times whoever he’ll be, he’s not taking it well. Is that the sort of man you want to be with, Juniper?” Jackie says nonchalantly. “A man who will tell a stranger that he fucked you last night on the beach.”

“I never told you that,” I say, eyes narrowed. “How the hell did you have that information?”

Juniper stares at me, her eyes watering. “You told her that? Really, Rafe?”

I press my lips together and take ten deep breaths. “You know me, Juniper. Do you think I would do that?”

And I know this is the crux of the situation because if she believes I would tell this stranger that we had sex on the beach last night, then she doesn’t know me at all.

She stares at me for a couple of seconds, and I watch as she plays with her hair.

August takes a step closer to her, and he grabs her hand.

“Juniper, I know you don’t know me,” he says softly. “We just met, but you’re something kind of special. You’re the sort of girl I don’t meet in Hollywood. And regardless of whether or not you want to continue on this show, I feel like we could have something. I feel like you’re the sort of girl who deserves the world, and I feel like I’m the sort of guy who could give that to you.”

I stare at him in shock because this man literally just met her, and he’s declaring things that I would never have declared if I barely knew her.

Juniper looks over at him, her mouth wide, and then she looks at me.

“Rafe,” she says softly.

“Juniper.”

She just stands there, and my heart sinks because, from the look in her eyes, I can tell she’s already made a decision.

She’s going to choose the show.

She’s going to choose the unknown.

I waited too long.

I think about just blurting out what she means to me. I think about telling her I love her. I think about telling her how I fucked up, how I wish I’d stepped forward before all of this started, but I don’t want to have to do that.

And then I see the mic above our heads and the cameras pointed at us, and I realize it’s all for the show. Every last part of it was for the show. August wasn’t for real. He wasn’t sincere. He was playing a part, and I don’t even know if Juniper knows.I’m about to say something when she steps forward and grabs my hand.