Page 128 of Wild As Her

I look at Elena. Then I look at Cami. And everything in me says no.

I take another step. Then stop. I can’t do this. I physically cannot say the words. My mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.

Elena shifts beside me.

Jenna hisses from offstage, “Say the damn line, Jack!”

I look out over the crowd again. At Cami. Beautiful. Brave. Mine.

I swallow, hard. Then I drop the script entirely. “This isn’t real love,” I say.

The crowd goes completely still.

“I’m supposed to say that I’ve found love. That I’ve made a choice. That I’ve fallen for someone over the course of this wild, chaotic show.” I glance at Elena. “And I have. But not with you. I'm sorry.”

Elena nods softly, stepping back.

There are gasps in the audience.

I take a shaky breath. “The truth is, the woman I love has always been here. Long before the cameras showed up. Long before the show. Long before I ever knew what the hell I was doing.”

I step off the stage. Walk straight down the aisle.

People part like the Red Sea.

Cami looks up slowly, stunned.

“Jack…” she whispers.

I stop in front of her.

“You don’t have to say anything,” I tell her. “You don’t have to do anything. But I need you to know this whole time, it’s been you. Every second of it.”

She blinks up at me, wide-eyed. “You’re really doing this?”

“I already did.”

She stares at me for a long, breathless moment. The barn is dead silent. The cameras are rolling.

Then she says, “I love you, Jack.”

And she kisses me.

It’s not careful. It’s not neat.

It’s messy and red-lipstick-stained and real.

The barn erupts into noise. Someone wolf-whistles. Jenna screams, “CUT!” like it’s an exorcism. Logan leans over to Ollie and says, “Well, that took a turn.”

I pull back and rest my forehead against hers. “I love you,” I say.

“I love you too,” she breathes.

Jenna marches over, flinging her clipboard down. “Okay. FINE. Great. We’ll spin it. ‘Local cowboy finds unexpected love in childhood rival.’ We’ll use soft lighting. Maybe a voiceover. I hate all of you.”

Tucker claps me on the back. “That was better than TV, man. That was, like,feelings.”

Weston smirks. “I’m telling you, if this ranch thing doesn’t work out, you’ve got a future in soap operas.”

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