Rumors about Davbrose intensified the second our contract was signed. An ongoing wildfire was on the horizon with the constant little photos of Davina wearing my accessories. Every new picture fueled the fire. Fans were in an uproar upon hearing their new EyeCandy has been claimed by a washed-up celebrity.

Davina's supporters applauded her for finding someone who seemed genuine and sweet. If only they knew everything between us was a complete and total lie. From their standpoint, I contained the qualities she lacked in her relationships in the past.

But what did they know?

Things were always a different story behind the shades.

Tension between Wesley and me was on the horizon. He must've known about the rumors circulating and wasn't thrilled about it. Who knew how everything would change the moment our relationship goes public. I risked my friendship with Wesley in order to make Lana jealous and finally gain a chance with her.

I just fucking hope it's worth it.

"Bro, I wrecked you at Ninja masters. I'm starting to think you're losing your edge," Wesley smirked.

"That's because all you do is play that game. I'm actually trying to get a girlfriend," I playfully retorted.

"Yeah, with a taken woman. I never knew you as a home-wrecker," Wesely mocked, hitting the back of my head.

"I haven't done anything morally wrong besides admiring her from afar," I responded. "God, this better not be another twelve-hour shooting day."

Wesely raised his eyebrow. "Hanging out with Lana tonight?"

A smile rivaling the sunshine emerged on my face. "Hopefully. But the looks of it... I doubt it."

For two hours, everyone was sealed in their dressing rooms while the crew worked on the set. The walls changed from their muted colors to a multi-colored, toned frenzy. Instead of twelve workstations, they had four gigantic ones with multiple food items stocked on the countertops. The island remained a navy-colored granite with three keycards laying downwards on it.

"Today, we decided for our special Halloween episode to separate everyone into groups of three. Everyone in the group will have their own job, the dessert, the main course, and the drink. The groups are free to decide the positions and the losing team will have to suffer through another round to pick the eliminated contestant," Elton explained, his voice vibrating through his air horn.

Once the twenty-minute timer went off, everyone stormed through the kitchen like a swarm of animals. On the first table, I checked Wesley's card laid there, and I frowned deeply when mine wasn't there. Two tables go by and my cue card wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Then I peeked at the very last table.

The Spawn of Satan was twirling her fingers, smiling as if her prayers were answered. I should've known the producers placed us in the same group to build suspense on our romance. I guess this was another experiment on how long I could last before chopping her head off.

"You never fail to make my morning brighter," Davina smugly said as she sipped from her Americano.

"It's way too early for your nonsense already. Let's just get this done with CT," I responded, stretching my hands over my head.

Davina squeezed my cheeks. "Well, I have ten thousand grams of caffeine circulating through my body, so expect me to be a fireball."

I swatted her hand away. "Can you save all the touching for when I'm your boyfriend?"

My eyes wandered over in Wesley's direction seeing him chatting with his team members and totally neglecting looking my way. In his mind, I hated Davina with every fiber in my being and I needed to keep believing it until the last moment.

"You don't have to worry about Wesley. He hasn't looked at me since I dumped him," Davina mumbled the ending.

For a second, I saw a flash of emotion in the Spawn's eyes. Pain? Sadness? Regret? Her indigo eyes shifted in a matter of seconds as if she erased her emotions just like that... Maybe Wesley wasn't the only one upset about it...

My eyebrows jumped. "It almost sounds like you want him to..."

She scoffed. "As if! I'm just reminiscing about the sex. For a virgin, he certainly knew what he was doing with his hands and tongue."

I covered my ears like a child. "Alright, enough."

Davina wore a good facade; I give her that. But from personal experience, I knew whenever someone was hiding something deeper within them. She was like a caged bird; locked up and hidden away.

Wesley would've been good for her if she hadn't ruined it.

"Should we decide our positions?" A pale, freckled hand planted itself in front of our faces with a marker in hand. I glanced up to find our teammate, CT, waiting for us to discuss the matters of the group. His tomato-red hair was a hot mess in his hairnet, and some spilled down to his shoulders.

Davina raised her hand as if we were back in high school. "I made a mean pumpkin cinnamon roll for Kid's baking champ. It won me the championship."

"Cool," CT replied, unimpressed. "Is that alright with you, Ambrose?"

I shrugged.

"Great. I'll work on the main dish. I had this perfect idea for meatball stuffed pasta brain," he stated more rather than asked.

By process of eliminations, that meant I was in charge of drinks. Honestly, I hadn't cared much for which position, but nothing was more boring than beverages. But I lacked the energy and passion to fight against the idea. My dishes had been missing their sparks ever since Lana shattered my heart in two.

An intense ringing sounded through the room when the clock completed its twenty minutes. Elton grabbed his air horn again and blew into it. "Everyone should have a job assigned by now. If not, you have a few seconds as I go over the rest. All contestants had an hour and thirty on the clock to complete each meal." He glimpsed down at his watch. "Three... two... one."

The numbers appeared on the clock and everyone was on the run again. Instead of joining the pile of sardines by the refrigerator, I stormed up ideas on the clipboard for my creation. The drink had to have a Halloween theme and flavor while also scoring points for uniqueness and coolness.

Pumpkin spice? Nope. Too basic, and Davina already was using that flavor. Caramel? Too sticky and overpowering flavor beside Lana hated it. Butternut Squash? Probably wouldn't make a delicious drink.

Which only left me with one choice-- apple.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head for a creative, yummy, drink.

Luckily for my team members, I had been working on a new beverage to impress Lana with on Halloween. It was a drink inspired by the Evil Queen named Poison Apple Punch. It had a mixture of flavors like apple cider, ginger, cinnamon whiskey, orange, and many more. The drink would turn into a blood-orange color with an apple and gummy worm garnish on top.

By the time I'm off to the refrigerator, Davina and CT began on their little project. The basket made it easier to carry everything in one go and waste the least amount of time.

To begin, I smashed the ginger slices with the flat slide of my knife and transferred them to a medium saucepan. Along with the slices, I added apple cider, orange zest, lemon zest, cinnamon sticks, and cloves to simmer for ten minutes.

"Your cuts are fucking horrendous," Davina scolded. "A five-year-old knows how to cut better than you."

To be honest, I hadn't cared enough to properly cut each ingredient because losing points meant nothing to me. It might hurt my team in the long run, but with my flavors and immunity from my contract-- I knew we would make it through the round.

"Shut up! Have you seen your lumpy batter? It's appalling," I retorted with a scrunched-up expression.

Davina clicked her tongue against her teeth. "It's supposed to be lumpy, dumbass! It has pumpkin mixed in it."

"Pumpkin doesn't make it lumpy." I cringed and tried grabbing the bowl out of her hands, only for her to pull back.

"Don't touch my bowl! You have your own shit to worry about. Let me worry about this," Davina protested, holding the container against her ribs.

I pulled harshly on the bowl. "Give it, I'll fix it for you."

Davina's mouth kicked up in a playful smirk. "Look at you being a great boyfriend, but I'm not a damsel in distress."

"Just let me do it." I forced myself to smile, even though my jaw was clenching hard enough to crack. Having to constantly deal with this girl's mood swings was going to be the death of me. I actually wanted to help, and she had to be so freaking difficult.

I gripped the bowl harder and dragged it over my side with all my force. She countered my movement, which only led to the batter landing over all her clothes and bowl smashing to pieces on the floor.

Davina raised an eyebrow in an arch so fierce, it managed to communicate all the many curses she'd be saying if we weren't being filmed for the entire world. Her fist was clenched at her sides, and I swore her body was shaking.

She had the murder look in her eyes and I was petrified, shitless.

"I-I-I can redo it for you..."

"Redo it?" she breathed, slowly, her anger seeping through. "Do you know how long it takes to make this recipe? We're fucked! There's not enough time to finish it. Gosh, I really wanna rip your head off right now."

I pressed a hand to my neck, which I'm sure was going all red and splotchy like it does anytime I felt upset, embarrassed, or guilty.

With a shaking hand, I glided it against the batter on her cheek and tried it. "A-at least it tasted good..." I sputter, heat searing my chest and neck again.

Davina scrunched her lips to the side, flames fading from her eyes. I watched her in slow motion, picking up the flour container, and stood still as it meandered down my body. When I blinked, flour expelled from my eyes and I could barely breathe with my nose drenched in it.

"I might've deserved that..."

She nodded. "Oh... I don't think that's enough."

Before I could wrap my head around the erupting volcano in front of me, she grabbed the bucket of eggs and began chucking them at me. It hurt like a bitch when it landed on my bare arms. Her face was splotchy with rage and any sense of harmony was erased. Like a champ, I took the first round of eggs but my skin burned like hell, so I ran behind the countertop.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you!" she seethed.

I ducked when she aimed an egg at my head. "All I was trying to do was be a civilized adult and I'm getting tortured for it."

Panic washed over me as she stomped closer with her deadly weapon. In an instinct, I hopped over to the other countertop and felt my back bump into a firm feature. Before I could swing around, Davina stared at me with a creepy, wicked smile, scaring me to the core.

"Perfect." Her fingers were white as her grip around the egg tightened. Honestly, I'm surprised her grasp hadn't cracked it.

Everything went in slow motion as she cranked her arm back and I jumped down, banging my head against the drawer. The pressure threw my body off its balance and I fell onto my ass. A snort departed from my lips when I saw yolk running down CT's face. With widened mouth, he touched the gooey substance on his head.

She covered her mouth with her hand. "Collateral damage..."

"Is it so hard for you to say I'm sorry? CT wasn't even involved in the argument," I called her out.

Her resentment grew inside her like a tumor. "Haven't you learned your lesson already!" She dropped the container of eggs, the crashing sound from it booming through the room. Her hand scoped the countertop for an object and decided on CT's masterpiece.

His creation of brain guts was now all over my face. When my tongue glided against my coated lip, I hummed in amusement at how great it tasted. My head might've been aching. My face might've been drenched in ingredients, but at least I had my dignity and control.

Davina had nothing.

CT slammed his hand on the tabletop, his chest rose up and down with rapid breaths, as his face almost matched his hair. "What did I do to get paired up with the two most annoying people I've ever met! You're so lucky I'm on parole or I would've beat the shit outta you." He pointed in my direction causing shock to surge through me.

"Huh? Me? I was the one being attacked!"

"Does it look like I can hit a woman? Besides, don't think I didn't hear you egging her on before," CT raged.

"Thank you for defending me." Davina smiled at him.

As if she couldn't get any faker.

"Don't smile. I quit. I'm done working with either of you!" CT shouted, untying his apron and throwing it on the floor.

Elton came running over with his latte in his hand. "CT! CT! Where are you going? We still filming!" His eyes expanded as he took in the chaos. "I give you guys creatively freedom and this is what happens!"

He released an earth-shaking scream. "We're done for the day. I can't deal with any of you guys for another minute." Elton pinched the bridge of his nose.

Slowly, I got up onto my two legs and began walking away from the human grenade. Davina shook the remaining spaghetti from her fingertips and wandered in my direction away from Elton.

"You two!" he pointed in our direction, his eyes seething with fury. "You don't think the cleaning staff is going to suffer because you're inconsiderate. Both of you are on cleaning duty for two months."

Davina and I groaned loudly.

Elton drew in a long breath. "Alright, I'm going to get WWE man back."

Davina narrowed her crystal blue eyes in my direction and swung around, making sure her hair swatted my face. Dread coarsed through my veins as I realized I had to spend the night with Davina instead of the love of my life.

Lana, forgive me.

Poor Ambrose is stuck with arch enemy Davina for an extra few hours... I wonder what could go wrong... or what can go right? 😝lol

Can't wait to read all your comments and thank you for reading, I love you guys!!❤️❤️❤️