Left Me to Drown for Her？I’m Done with All Three of You！Chapter 01

Left Me to Drown for Her？I’m Done with All Three of You！Chapter 01

My name is Mara Whitfield, and I went on a dating reality show with my boyfriend, Graham Mercer, and my two lifelong friends, Nolan Pierce and Reid Holloway.

Graham played the reassuring older guy. Nolan was the loyal childhood friend. Reid got the aloof rich-heir edit.

All three were chasing Tessa Monroe.

I was Graham’s actual girlfriend. My only job was to make Tessa look irresistible.

Before filming, Graham held my hand and promised me.

“It’s all for the show. Once the completion bonus clears, we’ll get married.”

For a month, I watched him cook for Tessa and shield her from the rain. Every time he chose her, I reminded myself it was a producer-driven storyline.

Then production sent us whitewater rafting through Millstone Gorge.

When our raft hit a rock, Graham, Nolan, and Reid all lunged for Tessa.

I was in the back. The current took me.

No one noticed I was gone until a swift-water rescue guide dragged me onto the riverbank.

Graham came running.

Then Tessa shivered. He turned away from me and wrapped his jacket around her.

“Get checked out. I’m taking Tess back to change.”

In the on-site medical room, a crew member asked whether I had family or a friend who could stay with me.

Through the open door, I watched the four of them close around Tessa and walk away.

I shook my head. “No.”

That night, I removed our matching bracelet, withdrew from the show, and took the van to Cedarfield Station alone.

The favoritism on camera could be fake.

Forgetting me when it mattered was pure instinct.

…

On the first day of filming, the production asked each of us to write down the person we most wanted to know better.

I wrote Graham.

Graham wrote Tessa.

Cheers and teasing filled the living room when the answers were revealed.

Tessa hugged a throw pillow to her chest, the tips of her ears pink. “Graham probably picked me because I’m the youngest. He just wants to look after me.”

Graham didn’t correct her. He only smiled.

The camera pushed in. From the chair across from her, he gave her exactly the right amount of indulgent attention.

Live viewer comments streamed across the side screen.

[soft-spoken older guy x sweet girl-next-door. already shipping them.]

[the way Graham looks at Tessa? not even a little innocent.]

[day one and they already have meant-to-be chemistry?]

No one knew that minutes before production started, Graham had been holding my hand in the hair-and-makeup room.

Our matching bracelets were hidden beneath our overlapping sleeves. The small silver charms tapped together.

“One month,” he had told me. “That’s all.”

“The production wants conflict and buzz. Me being nice to Tessa? That’s just the archetype they assigned me.”

His thumb brushed over my knuckles. “Once the final installment clears, we’ll go to the county clerk’s office and make it official.”

“How long do we have to pretend we barely know each other?”

“Just at the beginning.”

He smoothed my hair the way he had a hundred times before. “Mara, you understand me better than anyone.”

So I nodded.

When the showrunner announced that the woman with the most votes could choose her partners first, I stayed in the corner and watched Tessa walk to all three men.

She chose Graham for the cooking challenge.

Nolan would take her into Cedarfield for groceries.

The afternoon-tea challenge card went to Reid.

“Would it be too greedy if I roped all three of you into my challenges?” Her eyes crinkled, and she poked out the tip of her tongue.

Nolan took the shopping bags from her. “Come on. You’ve been like this since we were kids. When have we ever told you no?”

Reid called it a hassle, but he took the card from her hand.

Graham rolled up his sleeves and asked what she wanted to eat.

Three men. Three on-screen personas.

Every one of them revolved around the same woman.

My challenge card sat untouched in my lap.

From behind the cameras, the showrunner prompted me. “Mara can invite someone too.”

Before I could speak, Tessa pressed a hand to her stomach.

“I skipped breakfast. I think my stomach’s a little upset.”

Graham headed for the kitchen at once.

Nolan crouched beside her and asked if she needed medicine.

Even Reid pushed the iced drink out of her reach.

No one checked on me again.

I set the card back on the table. “I can do mine alone.”

That evening, I built the production’s stargazing tent on the patio by myself.

By the time I returned to the Cedarfield cast lodge, dinner covered the table.

Graham had made Tessa’s favorite maple-glazed pork ribs and a small pot of mild pumpkin soup for her stomach.

When I sat down, he slid a platter of spicy Cajun shrimp toward me. “You like heat. Have some.”

Red oil gleamed across the shrimp. I didn’t reach for my fork.

A year earlier, I’d had stomach surgery. My doctor had told me to avoid spicy food.

Graham had taken a week off to stay at Lindenport General Hospital with me. Before every meal, he tested the temperature of my food.

Now he’d forgotten.

Tessa noticed my hesitation and offered me the soup. “Mara, do you want some?”

Graham caught the rim of the bowl before it moved.

“Tess isn’t feeling well. I made that just for her.”

His hand moved fast, as if I might steal it.

The table went quiet for a beat.

I pulled my hand back and tucked it into my lap. “It’s fine. I’m not hungry.”

After lights-out, Graham found me at the end of a camera-free hallway and pulled me into his arms.

“Rough day?”

I caught the faint sweet-orange scent on his shirt—Tessa’s sunscreen from that afternoon.

“I’m fine.”

His shoulders loosened. “I knew you wouldn’t overthink it.”

“Just hold on a little longer. After the show, I’ll make it all up to you. The best of everything. I promise.”

From her bedroom, Tessa called his name.

Graham let go of me before her voice faded.

“Her stomach might be acting up again. I’ll check.”

He hurried away.

In the dark hall, the silver charm at my wrist kept moving.

It looked like a promise only I remembered.