In the middle of it all.

CHAPTER 17

Song: "Courage to change," by Sia.

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In hindsight, she should have known better. Nothing was ever simple when Cameron Reynolds was involved. Surely their sudden engagement counted.

"You can be real naïve sometimes," muttered Mikayla. She sat alone on her bed.

"You're not naïve." Mikayla jumped in fright. She'd assumed she was alone. She turned her head away from the muffled noises from outside. She could hear him by her doorway.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You're right. I should be mad at you instead."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I shouldn't have lied." Mikayla deliberately threw her head in the opposite direction. She hoped he got the hint. "Ah come on," he whined. She heard his feet shuffle along the hardwood floor. "Mickey don't ignore me. I'm sorry alright. To be fair, I thought it would be worse than this so, we're doing okay." Mikayla rolled her eyes. "Come on. Look at me please. I miss seeing your face."

She sighed and sagged her shoulders. Damn him. She couldn't resist. Mikayla dropped her arms and turned her head towards him slowly. "There she is," he whispered. "The most beautiful girl to exist."

She shook her head with a grin. "Don't be a charmer Daxton."

He chuckled. "It's fun to see you blush."

Her hands shot to her cheeks. "I'm not blushing."

"Yeah sure." She heard him stand up. She always knew when Daxton moved. His knees creaked along with him. "Listen, it's a media frenzy out there. We're all going to be indoors until the hype wears off."

Mikayla frowned again and turned her head towards where her window stood. From her second-floor bedroom the sounds were muffled but she could still hear them. The cameras had stopped flashing an hour ago. All that remained were the photographers chatting. They were cheerful and relaxed. Mikayla was sure they'd set up camp there. As though they had every right to crouch on their privacy.

"What about my job Daxton?" she asked worriedly.

She heard him sigh. "For now, everything is on schedule for you to go back next week. It's just this week that you'll need to hang low."

Mikayla nibbled her lip. "Do you think anyone from work knows about this? Do you think it'll matter?"

Daxton's knees creaked again as he walked. Soon the mattress dipped beside her. She felt his arm wrap around her shoulder, and he squished her tight. He smelled musky and Mikayla sagged comfortably against him. He always had a way of calming her down. "Look Mikayla, if I'm being honest here-"

"Don't," she interrupted. "Honesty depresses me."

He laughed loudly and his body shook under her head. He kissed her head after he calmed down. "Damn but you make me happy." He whispered just before his finger pulled her face up towards his. His lips fell down softly on hers. When their lips met, they both sighed pleasantly. The kiss was soft and over too quickly. Mikayla pouted when he moved away, and Daxton chuckled.

"We should talk about this properly. You should know what you're getting into." She chose to say nothing. Instead she wrapped her own arms around his waist. "I should have prepared you properly about this before you even agreed."

"Just tell me."

He sighed. "What you and my brother did yesterday started a storm. It's good for Cameron because this is good publicity. We're showing his fans and producers that he's changed and he's focusing on sobriety. Soon the roles will be flooding in again and my brother will be healthy."