Page 9 of Take the Lead
Stone jammed his hands into his jacket pockets. Fuck. What did he think of her? In reality TV, it was hard to know what was real and what wasn’t, and she’d left him with a contradictory mess of impressions.
Most of all, he felt like a dick for scaring her.
But Miguel was waiting, so Stone went with something noncommittal. “Gina was cool. For a city girl.”
Miguel’s eyes lit up. “Explain.”
Stone shrugged. “Most people aren’t used to the way we live at Nielson HQ. Things are wild out here. There’s no Hollywood or Disneyland. We don’t have manicures or hair salons.”
Stone held up his hands to show his dirty fingernails, remembering the way Gina had stared at his hands when he’d shown her the axe. What must she have thought of him?
Building steam, he kept going. “Alaskan life is difficult for folks from the lower forty-eight. They can’t hack it.”
“Do you think Gina will want to come back to visit?”
It took everything Stone had to keep a note of accusation out of his voice. “I can’t imagine Gina will ever want to visit again, not after the bear thing.”
“Are you looking forward to moving to LA for rehearsals?”
Stone suppressed a grimace. Being onThe Dance Offrequired him to live in Los Angeles for however long he lasted in the competition. It could bemonths.
“I’m going to miss my family, for sure,” Stone said, since he couldn’t admit how much he dreaded the move. “And all of this.” He spread his arms wide to encompass the beauty and nature surrounding them. “Who wouldn’t? It’s beautiful here.”
“Are you nervous about learning to dance?”
Like he was going to answer that. With his hands on his hips,Stone smirked a little, posturing for the camera. “I scared off a bear today. You think there’s anything in Los Angeles that could scare me?”
Miguel sighed. “Is that the best you can do?”
Stone threw up his hands. “What do you want me to say? That I’m glad my partner is terrified of me? I’m sure it’s going to make my experience in Los Angeles so much easier, thanks.”
“Relax. It was a great scene. You played it perfectly.” Miguel conferred with the rest of the team to come up with better answers for Stone.
The break gave him time to rein in his anger. It was useless, anyway. He’d signed up for this bullshit. He’d known what he was getting into.
It’s not forever.That was what Stone told himself when the pressure, the cameras, and the manipulation got to him.It’s not forever.
When Miguel came back, Stone dialed down the sarcasm, listened to their notes, and dutifully recited his lines back to the camera. After a few more questions, he got the signal that his family was returning soon.
Back at Nielson HQ, Stone dropped onto one of the benches surrounding the fire pit and scrubbed a hand over his face. This whole thing was a fucking disaster. There had to be other competition shows he could join to earn enough to pay for his mother’s medical bills. What happened to the show where people ate bugs? He could do that.
Since the cameras were still rolling, he started a fire, then sat back to sharpen one of his hunting knives. It was the kind of B-roll footage they could intersperse into any episode or commercial.
Stone heard his family coming long before he saw them. Reed and Raven had loud, carrying laughs, and Wolf was prone to howling. It wasn’t for show—it was just Wolf, living up to his name.
Living Wildhad picked up the nine Nielsons in a package deal. Jimmy and Pepper Nielson had seven children with names inspired by the natural world. Four boys, followed by three girls: Reed, Stone, Wolf, Winter, Raven, Violet, and Lark. Their hair ranged from Pepper’s pale blond to Jimmy’s coppery brown, aside from Lark, the baby of the family, who was a true redhead. Most of them had Pepper’s bright blue eyes, except for Reed and Raven, whose eyes were hazel. When Jimmy approached the network with his pitch, it had been too good for the producers to pass up.
Stone’s shoulders tensed as his family entered the clearing. Cameras stood at the ready to catch the barrage of questions.
Wolf approached first, giving Stone a slap on the back. “Bro, who’d you get?”
Stone kept his attention on the knife. “Gina.”
Whoops and hollers followed, which would have happened no matter which dancer he’d been assigned.
His mother, Pepper, sat beside him on the rough-hewn bench. “What was she like? Was she nice?”
“Yeah, she was nice.” Before he’d pulled out a gun and scared the wits out of her. “She’s from the big city, though. We saw a bear, and she left early.”
