Exposed by Sierra Riley Read Free Book Online

good for the place. I mean, I am the best damn new face they’ve ever signed, but even the secretary has an attitude there.” He sighed as he pushed himself to his feet. “I gotta do laundry and sort through my closet. I hope they pay me for my couple days worked soon. That’ll buy another few key pieces…”
    Sandra looked up at him, setting down her needle for a moment. “I’m glad for you, Gabe.”
    “Yeah.” Gabriel glowed. Just days before New York’s fashion week, when the city was flooded with the best wannabe-models, it felt damn good to be recognized. Not just acknowledged, either. Invited to join the elite ranks of models being flown to London next week.
    He hadn’t seen Briar since he’d told him he was giving him his big break. That wasn’t the surprise, though. It was that he wished he’d seen him around more.
    Gabriel fidgeted with his brass ring as he headed upstairs to sort out his wardrobe for the next intense week. Having something to do with his hands kept him distracted from thinking about why he missed seeing Briar around.

10
Briar
    “ I t’s a small fuckin’ world . You’re going to see Austin in London. Are you ready for that?”
    Briar ran a hand across his stubbly face, then pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. “I… I expected that.”
    Vince was watching him evenly from across the table, his hand delicately wrapped around a bright blue cocktail. In addition to being the new faces department head, Vince was one of Briar’s closest friends and one of the four original guys who had helped him get this shit off the ground.
    He was also kinder to Briar than most others. He had that way of watching Briar that told him he knew exactly what Briar was trying to hide, every damn time.
    And he’d seen the Austin shit show coming from two miles off, but Briar had been too damn stubborn to listen to him.
    “So? Do you need me to whisk you away when you see him?”
    “No, no,” Briar hastened to answer. That would only tell Austin that he’d gotten to him, and Briar wasn’t prepared to let him win.
    No how, no way.
    “I’ll deal with it,” Briar added, drawing a heavy sigh. “It’s not like he’s traumatized me.”
    “Mmm.” Vince’s noise was that perfect mix of noncommittal skepticism so he didn’t draw Briar’s ire, but expressed his real thoughts on the matter.
    Briar glared at him, then downed the rest of his cocktail. “Shots. We have to talk about next week, and London, and…”
    “No shots ’till you tell me what’s going on.”
    “What?” Briar frowned.
    “Why you’re avoiding talking about him. And why he’s so determined to be in all the places you are. All week, at every fuckin’ show you go to, he’s there.”
    “Small world, like you said,” Briar shrugged. “He has to be in the same places to get work.”
    “He left you for Jordan O’Malley, didn’t he? What’s he doing this year?”
    Briar flinched but nodded. “O’Malley’s the guy with the ugly little anchor and elephant prints… ocean safari, he called it.”
    “Oh, him .”
    “O’Malley.” Briar rolled the name off his tongue. He couldn’t see it working. “He’s the guy to watch, though. Rumor has it he’s starting a modeling agency now. Doing the circuit starting this week, trying to collect big names to hire.”
    “It’s working.” Vince tapped his chin thoughtfully. “And Austin’s a pretty big name to tap. Sorry.”
    Briar shrugged it off. It was true—there was a line somewhere between a few thousand and tens of thousands of Instagram followers where you became a really big deal online, and that usually translated to being a really big deal offline, too.
    Austin wasn’t the first guy to cultivate a perfect online persona so he could become bigger than his agency.
    He was just the first guy to take Briar’s heart along with him when he ditched the agency for his own endeavor.
    “Anyway,” Briar mumbled, “we’ll deal with him when we see him. It’s