Page 69 of Savage Temptation

“No, you’re not,” Ashley huffs. “Just give it a damn minute to come up.”

“For what to come up?”

“BREAKING NEWS,” the screen blares.

Annoyed, I snap, “Just turn this off!”

“Sis,” Lance calls to me.

I look over to him and see that he’s smiling sweetly, which is so unlike my brother.

“Be patient,” he says calmly.

A female reporter says,“More footage has been leaked from the infamous Savage Playground—”

Oh, fuck…

It couldn’t be me. I’d only used the device once…which means that Atticus must have used it with someone else.

Is that why he had texted me? Was he trying to warn me that I’d soon be seeing him with another woman on some foreign alien planet?

But instead of Atticus dressed as an alien, I see a lake.

Is that me?

I squint at the screen as I come into focus. I’m walking toward myself. It’s the scene I found that night, when I was snooping around his apartment.

“What is going on? Why is this happening?”

“Just hold on, sis!” Lance enthuses.

I expand, filling the screen as the wearer approaches me. Then Atticus’s voice fills the room. “I have something I’ve wanted to tell you. Something that’s been on my mind.”

Virtual reality me gives him a smile. “What’s up?”

“You’re all I ever think about, morning, noon, and night. When I start my day, I wonder what’s going on in yours, and as I close my eyes to go to sleep each night, you're my last thought before I drift off.”

I cock my head to the side. “I don’t understand.”

“I love you, and as much as I’ve tried to bury my feelings for the sake of my relationship with your brother, I can’t hold back any longer. I’m miserable without you, and I want to dedicate my life to bringing you happiness.”

The footage stops, then shrinks into a corner. Atticus and the pretty reporter are now on the screen.

What the fuck just happened?

“I don’t understand…”

“Tell me, Mr. Savage, what was that we just watched?”the reporter asks.

“Well, Ivy, that was one of the first full scenes I created for the Playground. It was at Tessa Campbell’s graduation party.”

“So you recreated the scene exactly how it happened?”

“Actually, no. I was a bit of a coward, so I told her congratulations when I’d wanted to say so much more.”

“And why are you showing this footage today?”

“Because I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and although I cannot change the past, I can at least set the record straight.”