Only Mine (Fool's Gold #4)(77)
He turned up the volume on the remote with one hand while keeping the other on Hannah’s back. The baby was sleeping on his chest, her head on his shoulder, her nose pressing against his neck. It was the kind of image that turned even the most sensible of women’s hearts to mush. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to resist.
“This is interesting,” Finn said.
Dakota glanced at the screen. Sasha and Lani were in the park. Sasha sat on a bench while Lani sat on the grass in front of him. They were in deep conversation.
“You’re such a baby,” Lani said. “Why aren’t you visualizing every day? It’s the best way to get what you want. Sure, you have to do the work, but this allows you to be in the right place at the right time. When you visualize and practice, you prepare yourself for success. I’ve been visualizing myself winning an Oscar since I was fourteen years old.”
She stood and walked over to the bench, then sat next to Sasha. “I don’t know anyone in the business,” she told him. “I don’t have a lot of experience or friends I can ask. I’m doing this all on my own. This is how I make it real. This is how I get through the day. If you want it, Sasha, you have to believe in yourself. Most of the time no one else will believe in you.” She sighed. “I imagined myself on a reality show. I should have been more specific. I can’t get anyone to tell me ratings numbers. Have you heard anything?”
Dakota blinked. She didn’t know a whole lot about the entertainment business, but she was pretty sure contestants on a show weren’t supposed to talk about ratings.
“What are you talking about?” Sasha asked.
She groaned. “How is the show doing? Are the advertisers happy with the number of viewers? That kind of information is important. We want the show to be successful.”
“What does it matter if it isn’t? We’ll be gone.”
“It’s important because if we’re going to put it on a resume, somebody has to have heard about it. There’s no point in claiming stardom on a show no one saw.” She stared at him. “You make me crazy, and not in a good way.”
“Part of my charm,” he told her and grinned.
“You are not all that.” She looked past him. “For all we know, one of the camera guys has followed us. We should probably make out for a little bit, just in case.”
As Dakota watched, they went into each other’s arms with practiced ease. But little or no romance. It was painfully obvious that they were simply going through the motions to get more show time.
She winced. “Geoff made a huge mistake in showing that. I’m sure he’s going to think it will get people talking, but the viewers are going to feel like they’ve been tricked.”
“Which means my brother is about to be voted off,” Finn said.
She couldn’t tell if he was happy or not. “And then what?”
“Hell if I know.” He kissed Hannah’s head. “Sorry, little girl.” He settled more deeply in the sofa and sighed. “If I had to guess, I would say that Sasha is going to head to Los Angeles. There is no way he’s coming back to South Salmon. Stephen told me he was going to finish college. I guess I’m going to have to be happy with one of them getting through school.”
Before she could point out that he had a fifty percent success rate, the scene shifted to Stephen and Aurelia. They were locked in what looked like a very passionate embrace. This wasn’t fake, Dakota thought, feeling her mouth drop open. This was hot and sexy and very real.
“Oh, my,” she murmured. “I didn’t know Aurelia had it in her.”
Finn sprang to his feet. She had to give him credit—he held Hannah so securely, the baby didn’t even stir. But Dakota saw the fury in his eyes.
“She lied. She made it sound like all she was interested in was getting Stephen back to school. He lied to me, too. Damn him, he never said a word about this.” He turned to Dakota. “I’m going to kill them both.”
FINN DIDN’T CARE about breaking the law. He knew it was wrong to kill anyone, especially a woman. He knew he would go to jail, and he accepted that. He wasn’t sure how this had happened, but he was going to make sure it stopped. And while he was out ravaging the countryside, he was going to find Geoff and put a fist through his face.
In the back of his mind, he acknowledged that for the second time in as many months, he was contemplating murder. In his normal life, the one he liked back in South Salmon, he never had those kinds of feelings. He simply went about his day, fat, dumb and happy. Well, not fat or dumb, but still. He didn’t think about crushing another human being.
It wasn’t him, he told himself. It was this damn town.
Dakota took Hannah from him. The baby stirred and murmured a protest before falling back asleep. For a second, staring at her sweet face, he felt himself grow more calm. Rational thought took over. Then he looked at the television screen where his brother was making out with some cougar, and the rage returned.
“Don’t go out there mad,” Dakota told him. “I know you’re not happy about this.”
“Not happy?”
He did his best to keep his voice level, more for the sleeping baby than because he didn’t want to shout. Right now yelling sounded pretty damn good. As did throwing something or maybe putting his fist through a wall. Of course, if he put his fist through a wall, he ran the risk of breaking something and right now the only thing he wanted to break was Geoff’s face.