Page 44 of The Gift
We’ve all worked our butts off and have a tonne of footage that the production and editorial teams are going to go gaga for. I’m glad I’m not responsible for selecting what they use. Bruce will definitely get a starring role; he’s been a constant companion during the past few hours on set.
I’m still processing that it was Koda who purposely tracked him down and placed him in my arms without a word, but that man can talk without saying a thing. He is swiftly becoming something I had no idea I wanted or needed.
Being so busy, and doing what I love doing, is a much-needed distraction from A-team’s earlier revelations. Not that they were really revelations. Now, I need to figure out exactly what the A-team’s end game is and how it works in with mine.
“Did you get a whiff of her bedroom? We could make a shit load of money by bottling that up. Actually, you see that new trend people dabbing Eau-d-Vag?” Simone says quietly, interrupting our lunch.
“They don’t,” I splutter. Because really?
“Yeah they do. I think the person that started it was probably a closet omega wannabe, like she was online spouting how ever since she started it, she’s been banging alphas from sunup till sundown.” Simone smirks again. For someone who comes across sweet and innocent, it makes everyone laugh.
“Can’t be that good if she’s sleeping at night. I’d want to be banged 24/7 if I’m rubbing juice behind my ear,” Carmen adds, taking a smaller, less noisy bite after rolling her eyes at me.
“Seriously, did you catch that smell in her bedroom? Is that what that was? Her VJ-juice?” Ben asks, blushing a little, adjusting himself a lot.
“I can’t believe you all went in there,” I bitch.
Her bedroom had been touted as being included as a location before we even arrived. It was the most requested room from the people who viewed the pilot. If we had smell-a-vision, they would have wanted that too.
It was bad enough our stylist and production team made me hold one of the fluffiest, most omega-inspired blankets they could find in her room. The lime green monstrosity was garish, the purple flowers sent it over the edge, and the camera crew insisted I hold it while they get a couple of grabs of me describing the inside of the cottage. I had to run with it too, I’d used up my rights to negotiate when I refused to use Jenna’s bedroom as one of the places I shoot a grab from. Even though we used one of the upstairs sitting rooms, her sickly sweet, fairy-floss scent was all I could smell, still, despite washing my hands a couple of dozen times since.
Everyone sitting around Jenna’s outdoor table chuckles, making me glare harder at them. But it’s all in fun. Sort of.
“I swear that smell made me crack a lady-boner, and I’m like pure beta,” Fiona, our makeup assistant adds, blushing away and looking a little glossy-eyed. “Imagine if you had alpha genes? Their senses are turbo charged, and that must smell like crack to them. A couple of my girlfriends swear by the dabbing though, especially if they’re on the prowl for some, you know…”
“Nothing new, there’s heaps of alpha chasers,” I reply, waving my hand around.
“So true, but since she started it, all these others are trying vabbing and are saying the same thing.”
“I’ve got it! Bailey, ask the A-team if that’s happened to them.” Carmen plows one of her swanky shoes into my calf to pull my attention away from the girls gossiping about alpha sex.
“No thank you,” I reply tartly, my mouth open, aghast that she’d even suggest it. Nosy bitches, all of them.
“Come on, Bailey, you have to ask them. Seriously, we have to know,” Fiona practically begs.
“Again, thanks for the offer, but nope,” I growl out through my clenching jaw.
“Where are they, anyway?” Ben asks, talking logic, well a different topic at least. Thankfully too.
We all look around at each other, some people even looking behind them.
And then Carmen grimaces, shaking her head and looking off into the distance. Knowing her well, we all put our plates on the table and the fun disappears as quickly as the chocolate chip cookies did earlier.
“You know what we do and what we’re doing has always had supporters and detractors. Well, Donnie hasn’t been entirely honest about the extent of hate of one group and determination of some aggressive dark horses that we underestimated.” She starts speaking, no regret on her face, her voice loud and clear.
Admittedly, I’d hate to be in her position, always the mediator and the go-between for management and staff. But it still stings, like any betrayal does. And it feels like a personal warning for some reason.
“And that means?” A clawing starts in my guts, it might be coincidence or paranoia, but Carmen’s overly focused on everyone but me, and it’s not because I called her a horse.
“I’ll preface this shitful conversation by saying his lordship briefed me on my way here.” She has the good grace to look affronted. “I was always going to bring it up. Experience tells me you are all better people when you’re not hungry, or hungover. Anyway, the station has received a steady and increasing number of threats, slander, and the usual hateful spewing from the trolls. But of course, there’s more. Pack Miller have gone postal on us.”
“Aimed directly at The Gift?” I question her directly because she’s still skating on the edge of answering properly.
“Donnie’s excuse for not telling me sooner was supposedly he had to first reach out to the omega rehab centre where a lot of the vitriol is being directed. Well, more particularly at the omegas. Since there are a couple there, including Jenna and her pack, he focused his attention there in the first instance.”
I watch the concern on the faces of our team. Jesus, they are good people, and if what Carmen is saying is true, they’re potentially in the line of danger. We all know that what we do draws out the haters and the creepers but I would be gutted if something happened to anyone on our team because of a story we did. And we all know from past experience that it starts with bullshit online before it escalates into physical reality.
“Have any of us been mentioned, named, or targeted. I’ve got a baby on the way. I can’t let this upset my wife.” Terry asks, his voice pitching high as he panics.
