One Man Band System

A few hours later, as darkness began to fall, Eric walked out of the Trinity Pictures RV and headed back to his own trailer, his mind a whirlwind of emotions after hashing out the bullet points for the upcoming contract and saying his goodbyes. On one hand, he was thrilled to be collaborating with industry heavyweights, but on the other, he was in disbelief, just a few months ago, all of this had been nothing more than a pipe dream.

As he walked toward his RV, "Hey," a voice called out. Eric turned around to find Wesley approaching him. Eric could see a smile on Wesley’s face, but it was completely hollow, carrying an underlying tension. Naturally, Eric kept his guard up, still feeling a lingering bitterness and jealousy over how cozy the girls had gotten with the famous actor.

"What do you want?" Eric asked, cutting straight to the chase.

"We need to talk," Wesley replied, clearly not in the mood for small talk either.

"About what?" Eric pressed.

Wesley went quiet. He stared at Eric, who didn’t flinch or back down for a second, standing his ground entirely unfazed and unintimidated. Wesley studied Eric’s cold expression, not explicitly hostile, but far from welcoming. Finally, he let out a sigh.

"I want to know... what exactly is your deal with Emma?" Wesley asked.

Hearing that question made Eric’s blood boil, but he fought to maintain his icy composure, suppressing the anger rising inside him.

"Why do you care? It has nothing to do with you, does it?" Eric asked, locking eyes with Wesley.

"Actually, it does... you’ve turned Emma into just another one of your girls. I don’t give a damn about the other members of The Empress, but I’m telling you right now, don’t play around with Emma," Wesley snapped.

"And what exactly counts as playing around to you? Because Emma and I have already done plenty of things together... like eating together, living together, and sometimes sleeping together. Of course, none of that is any of your business, so you’d better stay out of my relationship with the six girls I’m with," Eric said, his voice calm but sharp and unyielding.

"What did you just say?" Wesley fired back, his voice rising a bit.

At Eric’s words, Wesley’s composure cracked for a split second, looking as though he might blow a fuse before masking it. Meanwhile, Eric realized he could see a striking resemblance to Kevin in Wesley’s features, but he refused to make assumptions and chose not to ask. Since both of them had fallen silent and were just glaring at each other, Eric took a step back.

"If you don’t have anything else to say, I’m leaving. I have to drive back tonight because they have school tomorrow. Sorry, but I don’t have time for this," Eric said.

Without waiting for Wesley to reply, Eric turned around and walked back to his RV without looking back. Wesley was left seething, his cool completely shattered as he balled his hands into fists, yet he couldn’t do a thing if he wanted to protect his public image, especially since there were still a few crew members working nearby, clearly stealing glances at them while pretending to mind their own business.

"Click."

Eric unlocked the back door of his RV and stepped inside, but he instantly froze. Emma, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, Laura, and Monica all had puffy faces, looking as if they had just finished slapping each other around or crying their eyes out—though they still managed to look incredibly gorgeous.

"Uh... what happened now? Why are your faces so puffy?" Eric asked, totally bewildered as he shut the door behind him.

"Nothing... but... do we absolutely have to head back tonight?" Chloe was the first to speak up.

"Yeah... can’t we just leave tomorrow instead?" Priya added.

"What if we stay just one more night?" Heidi asked.

"Come on, Eric, besides, driving back this late at night is dangerous, isn’t it?" Monica added.

"How about we all sleep together tonight and just head out super early in the morning?" Laura suggested.

"What do you say... you’re down, right? Come on, honey, let’s just go home tomorrow, please?" Emma said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Eric’s waist from the front.

"You guys have school tomorrow... plus, I don’t mind driving at night," Eric answered flatly.

"Ugggh... let’s just go back tomorrow!" the six girls whined, starting to crowd around Eric all over again.

Eric found himself torn because, truth be told, he wanted to stay there a bit longer too. However, he had to keep their school schedule in mind since he had promised their mothers that he wouldn’t let anything interfere with their classes. He glanced out the window and noticed Wesley was still standing in the exact same spot, though he now appeared to be making a phone call.

Naturally, Eric didn’t give it much thought. But as the girls kept whining and begging him, suddenly, "driiiing," the phones belonging to Emma, Priya, Monica, and Heidi all rang at the exact same time. Eric glanced back outside and saw Wesley turn around and walk away. When he looked back at the faces of Emma, Priya, Monica, and Heidi as they stared down at their smartphone screens, they had gone completely pale, looking utterly terrified.

Their hands were trembling, seemingly hesitant to even hit the answer button. Meanwhile, Chloe and Laura seemed totally fine, until suddenly, "driiiing," Laura’s phone started ringing as well. The moment she saw who was calling, the color instantly drained from her face, leaving her just as pale as the rest.

Then they all hit the reject button at the exact same time before looking up at Eric, who was still standing there watching them in total confusion.

"Let’s... let’s go home. We have school tomorrow, right?" Emma said, her face completely pale.

"Yeah, exactly. There’s no way we can skip class," Priya added, looking just as white.

"Let’s move, right now. No more stalling," Heidi added, clearly shaken.

"If we hit the road right now, we can make it home pretty fast," Monica added, her voice tense.

"Yeah... come on, Eric, let’s go... let’s get out of here," Laura added, her hands visibly trembling.

"Ugh... fine, I guess we have no choice. I actually didn’t want to leave yet. You guys are party poopers," Chloe teased her friends.

"Shut up!" Emma, Priya, Heidi, Monica, and Laura snapped back at Chloe in unison.

"Alright... alright... let’s hit the road," Eric said, feeling a slight wave of relief.

He glanced back out the window toward the film crew, who were just finishing up packing their gear, and caught sight of Wesley. The actor was leaning against his sports car, staring straight back at Eric’s RV. This time, Wesley had a smug, satisfied smirk on his face before he slid into the driver’s seat.

"Hmm... does their sudden change of heart have something to do with that actor?" Eric thought to himself.

Eric didn’t dwell on it too much. He walked over to the driver’s seat, sat down, turned the key, and started the engine. He glanced back at the girls, who were now sitting in absolute silence scattered throughout the trailer, at the dining table, in the kitchen, on the pull-out sofa, and on the bed. Only Chloe seemed completely relaxed, acting as if nothing had happened. Eric shifted into drive and headed out, making his way back toward the city and their penthouse.

After a nearly one-hour drive, the RV finally made a turn into their apartment complex. But as he looked down the driveway in front of the Tower A lobby, Eric froze. He spotted four cars he recognized instantly, along with a suspicious-looking black SUV.

"Huh," Eric muttered, slamming on the brakes.

The six girls rushed up to stand right by the driver’s seat. They gasped, staring at the five vehicles parked in front of Tower A like they owned the place, completely blocking the RV from turning into the parking lot.

"Pull back... pull back!" Laura shouted in a panic.

"Yeah... move it, fast... let’s get out of here... run!" Monica added.

"Hurry up, Eric... we have to leave," Heidi added, completely panicked.

"Come on... don’t just stand there... go, go!" Priya added, losing it.

"Eric... let’s go back to the mountains... if we have to, we can just live there forever... come on, hurry!" Emma added, terrified.

Chloe glanced over at her friends with a bizarre look on her face, like she wanted to burst out laughing but also felt a little sorry for them. Meanwhile, Eric sat frozen. He knew that trying to run away would only make things worse.

Sure enough, the doors of the four cars swung open simultaneously, and four pairs of women’s legs stepped out in perfect unison. It was Miranda, Layla, Anna, and Vicky, plus Joe, who just rolled down his window and glared daggers toward the RV.

"We are so dead," Emma, Monica, Heidi, Priya, and Laura whimpered.

"Wait... hold on a second. Why are they so pissed? Didn’t you guys tell them you were coming camping with me?" Eric asked.

"I told Bryan and asked him to handle everything at the office for tomorrow," Chloe said, raising her hand.

"Not you, the others," Eric said.

Emma, Monica, Heidi, Priya, and Laura just stayed quiet, keeping their heads down, but Eric instantly knew the answer. Then he looked through the windshield at the four women exuding literal killer auras as they marched toward his RV, with Joe watching the whole thing play out from inside his car.

"Great... this is a total disaster. They didn’t say a word about leaving, this is bad... but how on earth did they find out we were camping? If we didn’t tell them, there’s no way they should’ve known where we went, right?" Eric thought to himself.

Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. He remembered Wesley making that phone call, and the smug, arrogant smirk plastered across the actor’s face right before he drove off. All his previous suspicions about Wesley looking exactly like Kevin came rushing back, and a cynical smile crept onto Eric’s face.

"Damn that actor. It looks like he really does have some kind of connection to Emma and Aunt Miranda... I’m only just realizing this now because I spent the whole day drowning in jealousy... and because I panicked, I completely missed it... I’m pathetic," Eric thought to himself.