Page 23 of Crash and Burn

"I know," I replied.

He chuckled.

"This place is pretty busy," I noted as I rummaged around in his various bags, hoping I'd recognize the piece he needed.

"This isn't even one of the biggest shoots I've done," he said, fiddling with the settings on the camera in his hands.

I looked around. The whole thing seemed pretty impressive to me at its current size. Grant really must have been doing well for himself.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a thin woman in a strapless bra unzip her jeans and peel them down her legs, leaving her standing in her underwear. My eyes went wide. The guy next to her handed over a minuscule scrap of fabric that ended up being a dress she pulled over her head. One of the models, I supposed. She was certainly beautiful enough to be a model.

I noticed a good percentage of the women in the room were unusually attractive with flawless skin and toned bodies.

Whenever I imagined Grant at work I always thought about his boudoir photoshoot with the middle-aged couple. I'd never really considered the fact that he was probably surrounded by gorgeous models day in and day out.

I didn't want to compare myself to them. After all, the girl I'd seen in the mirror before I left the house had been pretty cute, right? Maybe I wasn't a bombshell, but I cleaned up nicely enough. There was no reason to feel self-conscious about my looks.

And then I saw her.

Missy.

Tall, long-legged, and raven-haired with smooth, tanned skin, she made a simple pair of dark denim jeans and a white t-shirt look a million times better than I ever could.

What was she doing here?

My stomach began to burn with sour acid as she caught sight of Grant, her whole face lighting up as she gracefully floated over.

"Grant!" She pressed her cheek to his and made a kissing noise. Her mouth was perfectly-painted with glossy red lipstick, and she no doubt didn't want to smudge it before the shoot. She saw me staring from my position kneeling on the floor in front of the bags.

"Oh, hello!" she said. "Liz, right?"

I fought to keep my expression blank. Only Grant called me Liz.

"It's Lizzy," I replied.

"Are you here to help Grant?" she asked. "That's so sweet of you." She turned back to him before I could reply. "I can't stay long," she continued. "They want me in wardrobe soon."

It was bad enough that Grant was dating someone else. Just that fact alone was enough to send me reeling.

But for the love of god, did he really have to be dating an actualmodel?

A sick, hollow feeling seeped into my chest.

Was this how the two of them had met? Had Grant met her on one of his photoshoots?

"You're going to look lovely, as always," Grant told her.

"Thank you, darling!" She beamed at him, then blew him a kiss. "I'll see you out there."

Then she floated away as easily as she'd appeared. Grant went back to his equipment without saying a word.

"She seems nice," I remarked.

"Yeah, Missy's great," he replied.

"Have you been together long?" I asked.

"No, it's all still pretty new." He went silent again.