Model Behavior
Nova Sinclair had spent the last hour pretending she wasn’t jealous of Lane, but not in the ugly way that screamed, “I wish it were me!”
Never that because Lane deserved every grand gesture and every dramatic declaration of love that Lennox made under the St. Barts sunset.
Nova had cried when Lennox got down on one knee, and she screamed when Lane said yes.
She’d taken exactly thirty-seven pictures, three videos, and one blurry close-up of Lane’s ring because Cadence bumped her arm while sobbing into Khalil’s shoulder.
Lane earned her soft landing, and nobody was happier for her than she and Cadence.
But watching Lennox claim Lane out loud, standing before their family and friends and telling the whole world Lane was his future, had pressed on something tender inside Nova.
Something hidden beneath a sparkling dress and perfect hair with the smile her team kept calling marketable.
Nova Sinclair had a husband, and nobody knew- well, almost nobody.
Tariq knew, obviously. Because he was the man standing beside her in a twenty-four-hour Vegas chapel at three in the morning, wearing sunglasses indoors and a smile so delicious it had temporarily turned off her common sense—the minister and the Elvis impersonator who’d served as their witness knew.
The woman at the marriage license office told Nova, “Baby, he looks like trouble, but at least he looks like fun trouble,” and she wasn’t wrong.
To everyone else, Nova Sinclair was single, and what made it unbearable was that she was strategically single.
Her debut album was coming out, and her label made sure she had everything she needed to make it a success.
Money, marketing, and sheer industry knowledge were being used to make sure a platinum plaque and countless awards were in her future.
The good news was the industry had responded exactly how Lane predicted it would.
They weren’t just treating Nova like a rising star; they saw her as a beautiful fantasy with a voice like an angel.
She’d quickly become one of the newest sex symbols in R admittedly, the sight of both rings in public made her stomach flip.
It also made her emotional that she should be openly celebrating her newlywed status, but instead she was stacking secrets like blocks.
“How long, Nova?” He asked, his tone firm.
She looked up at Tariq, and there was no mischief or charm in his expression; that alone was enough to make her chest tighten. His eye held tiredness and pain in a way he had been trying to hide for months and failing more often lately.
“Tariq,” she started but was cut off.
“No, for real.” His thumb stopped moving. “How long are we doing this?”
She glanced around instinctively, checking to see who was watching them.
“See? That. I hate that,” His jaw tightened.
“I’m being careful,” she pleaded.
“You’re acting like being married to me is a crime scene,” he grumbled.
“That’s not fair,” Nova whined.
“Neither is watching industry niggas flirt with my wife while I’m standing right there pretending I don’t know what she feels like when she wakes up beside me,” he spoke angrily.
Nova’s breath caught. “Tariq,” she whispered.
“And these little dates?” He leaned back, laughing once without humor.
“They’re not dates,” she lied.
“Nova,” he called with a tone that said Be fucking for real.
“They’re appearances.”
“With men who want you, and I can’t be mad because they don’t know you’re a married woman,” his voice filled with exhaustion.
“They want the image,” Nova reminded him, trying to reason.
“They want both.” His voice dropped as his hurt sharpened around the edges. “And I’m supposed to sit there while blogs call you the next it girl and link you to every athlete, rapper, and actor with a pulse because it’s good for publicity?”
She looked down at their ring fingers as the lie sat between them, heavy enough to break the union if they didn’t find resolve.
“I’m trying to protect the rollout and the album. I deserve to see the payoff for my hard work, Riq,” she stated, calling him by a name meant only for her.
“I know, Baby,” He spoke, letting his temperament soften slightly.
The baby almost undid Nova as he pulled her hand back and rested it over her stomach. The movement was small, but Tariq noticed it like he did everything about Nova. His
“That’s another thing,” he said quietly while leaning forward, “How long are you gonna hide the pregnancy?”
The words landed loud even though he barely raised his voice, causing Nova to look around again.
“Nobody heard me,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” she fussed in a hushed tone.
“I know I’m tired of whispering about my own wife and child while we celebrate love and life loudly for everyone else,” his words filled with bitterness.
Her eyes filled with tears and regret; she never imagined two things she’d always wanted having to be treated like a dirty little secret.
The hurt on his face ate away at her conscience.
Tariq could be silly and petty, often unserious in ways that made people underestimate him.
But he had never been unserious about her, not once.
Not in Vegas when he’d held her hand outside the chapel and asked if she wanted to run before they went inside.
Not the morning after when he’d made love to her and ordered room service and told her he’d marry her again in every lifetime.
Damn sure not when the test turned positive, and he sat on the bathroom floor with her for an hour as he laughed and she cried before saying, “We made a person, Baby. A whole little tax deduction that will have all the best parts of us.” He had been there, and she returned the love by asking him to become a secret.
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” she said.
“I believe that.” He swallowed. “But it still hurts.”
Nova closed her eyes as the ocean breeze moved around them. Her life looked beautiful from the outside, but on the inside, it felt like standing on shaky ground and being told not to move until after the album dropped.
“I’m currently romantically linked to an NBA player,” she whispered.
“I’m aware, ” Tariq’s mouth twisted.
“It wasn’t supposed to get that big,” she tried to justify.
“That man posted a picture of your shoulder and the internet started naming y’all children,” he reminded Nova, causing her to twist her face up.
“And now we actually have a child,” Tariq said, voice low, “Yet the public thinks you’re out here soft-launching a man who couldn’t pick you out of a lineup without your glam team. ”
“I feel like shit lying to everybody,” he said, “Nova, Lane got engaged tonight, and I stood there clapping for my boy while hiding the fact that I married you months ago.”
Guilt slid beneath her ribs.
“Cadence is going to kill us,” Nova whispered.
“Cadence is busy with the twins so she might outsource it, but yes,” he finally joked, making Nova chuckle.
She reached for his hand again. “Give me a little while longer, please,” she begged.