[ I know it says endgame Tyler and Kate but that was before I started writing this. I didn't mean to make Tyler such a dick but it kind of snowballed out of my control — like I planned on him being redeemable, but idk how I can make that happen anymore. So, thoughts on endgame Javi and Kate? ]

☁︎

MY CAREER WILL BE OVER.

THUS BEGAN THE FALL OF TYLER OWENS.

Okay, that was dramatic. But when Dani woke up, things had snowballed on the social media front. She woke up Lily to show her, both women crowed over a phone, scrolling through the countless — literally countless — videos analyzing what happened the day before.

The comments Dani saw in the live chat were nothing in comparison to what happened now that everyone that missed the live saw what Tyler did — or rather didn't do.

People were calling Tyler out and asking for a statement from both him and Kennedy. There were people shouting at his actions. Tyler had lost two thousand Instagram followers as well, not that he checked enough to notice.

Someone even made an edit of Kennedy and Scott that had half a million views in less than twelve hours.

Dani then braved checking her email, seeing that news outlets were already reaching out to the Wranglers to try and get more information about what happened and who the mystery man who rushed to check on Kennedy was.

"This is a bad look," Dani groaned. "Especially with that reporter coming from London soon."

"Man, I am so glad I don't have your job," Lily chuckled while grabbing her clothes for the day.

"How am I supposed to explain who fucking Scott from StormPAR is to the fans?" she asked with a scoff.

"Just say he's some guy with a crush on Kenny," she mumbled. "Because he definitely has a crush on Kenny."

Dani blew air out of her mouth. "Yeah, I already warned Ken off of him. He was trying to buy her shit at the gas station and standing all close. But she knows to watch out for him."

"Good. Ty was just out of sorts from the accident," Lily told her. Then she paused, a frown fixed in her face. "No body loves Ken like Tyler does, right?"

"You got that right."

☁︎

Kennedy was confused when she woke with her head against a firm chest. She'd been waking up alone for weeks — even when she was in the bed with Tyler, he didn't hold her. Though her head was sore, she lifted it the slightest bit, peeling her eyes open.

And then, as she saw Scott asleep next to her, all the memories from the night before came rushing back.

Him coming to take care of her and sitting on the bed with her. Then, as she'd gotten tired, she curled into his side, him wrapping his arm around her at such a slow pace because he was afraid of upsetting her. And then she drifted off in his arms. His strong arms that were still holding her close.

She studied his calm expression. He looked so content and peaceful in his sleep — so beautiful with messy bed hair and the collar of his white shirt unbuttoned for comfort, revealing the top of his smooth chest.

She was sleepy. So sleepy and concussed. That was why she stared for so long at Scott before waking him. There was no other reason.

"Scott," she whispered, her voice a bit raspy. She could see his eyes fluttering as he roused a bit. "Scott, wake up."

Scott just groaned tiredly and tightened his hold around her, making her suck in a sharp breath as his body pressed against hers.

"Scott," she said in a more firm tone. "I need to use the bathroom." She watched as the corner of his lip turned up before he peeked an eye open. And she couldn't help but smile at him. "Good morning."

"Good morning," he said before loosening his hold on her.

Once she was free, Kennedy made her way to the bathroom. And when she was done, she looked at her reflection in the mirror for a moment.

There was a bruise on her forehead and the bandage was still on her head from where she'd cut it in the crash. Her hair was a mess, and she blushed, realizing that Scott had caught a glimpse of her bed head before she could fix it. So, she quickly ran a brush through it before coming back outside.

Scott was out of the bed by then and opting to sit on the edge of it. She watched for a second as he scratched the underside of his jaw — the makings of morning scruff had grown in, and though she liked his handsome, clean-shaven face, it was still a good look.

And then Scott looked up, and for the first time, as he'd been too occupied with making sure she was okay the night before, he took in her actual appearance. There she stood there in small, cotton shorts and a tight, pink t-shirt that made it so evident that she wasn't wearing a bra, which made his already tired brain feel a bit fuzzy as he quickly looked back at her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Scott asked her.

And god, his voice was so deep and raspy in the morning, she thought, as she came closer.

"Head's sore," she told him simply while taking a seat next to him on the bed.

"Well, I got the stuff to change your bandage out," he said, holding up the extra supplies that the hospital sent her home with.

Kennedy nodded and turned to face him better. She remained silent as he peeled the old bandage off. His touch was so gentle as he cleaned the wound, and she couldn't help but stare somewhat longingly into his shining blue eyes that were filled with concern for her as he replaced the bandage on her forehead.

She blamed that longing on her head wound.

"Think I'll make it, Doctor Scott?" she asked jokingly once he finished.

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Only just barely."

He moved to get off the bed to throw the trash away, but Kennedy reached for his hand quickly. "Scott," she said softly, earning all of his attention. "Scott, I just... I don't know how I can thank you for last night."

Scott just shook his head gently, looking at their joined hands. Hers was so much smaller than his and yet it fit perfectly, he thought. "You don't have to."

"But I do," she insisted. "I was... alone and scared and in pain, and you were the only one there for me. I won't ever forget that."

He was silent for a moment before looking from their hands to her eyes. "Why don't you tell me why I was the only one there for you?"

Kennedy froze, her mouth feeling painfully dry all of a sudden. "I don't - I don't know what you mean," she said weakly. 

But Scott just gave her a knowing look, making her sigh. "You and Owens in a fight or something? Big enough that he didn't check up on you after a concussion? Because if I were your boyfriend, I wouldn't have left your side once from the second that truck stopped rolling no matter how rough things were between us."

"If you were my boyfriend?" Kennedy couldn't help but ask softly. Did Scott think about being her boyfriend?

Would Scott be like Tyler — the only experience she had with a relationship was with him, after all. And Kennedy didn't know if she wanted to see Scott acting like that. Slapping her ass in front of friends and bragging about how hot she was at every chance. She didn't like being shown off like her looks were the only important thing about her.

But surely Scott wasn't the type to do all those things? Maybe dating him would even be... nice.

Scott sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head. "It's just a saying, you know?"

"Oh," she said with a nod. "Well, it ain't really your business how Tyler acts in our rela—"

Kennedy was cut off by a knock on the door. Not really wanting to see anyone, she sighed before getting up to go answer it. And she was so lucky that she thought to look through the peephole before opening the door up.

It was Tyler.

She whirled around and looked at Scott, lowering her voice. "You gotta hide."

"What?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

When there was another knock on the door, Kennedy panicked and ran to Scott, pulling him off the bed and dragging him to the door. She pushed him up against the wall so that he'd be out of sight.

"What are you—"

Kennedy reached out her arm to cover his mouth and shut him up while opening the door, it looking like she was just casually leaning against the wall to Tyler when he looked up.

His blue eyes landed on the fresh bandage on her head before he looked her in the eye. "Morning, Ken," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "Can I come in?"

"No, you can't," she said quickly, making him frown. Even she knew it was odd. She'd have let him inside in a heartbeat if not for Scott just a foot away, whose mouth she was still covering. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"C'mon, don't be mad at me, baby," he pleaded.

The thing was, Kennedy wasn't mad at Tyler. She was never mad at Tyler, which was the problem. But she was hurt that he didn't even care enough to watch over her for the night, broken up or not.

"Look, now ain't a good time," she huffed. "And I still got an hour before I gotta meet you at the truck."

"I just gotta talk. Just listen, please," he requested. "We gotta do better today."

Kennedy frowned in confusion as he went on.

"You know, after yesterday, we gotta be real close on camera. 'Cause if they find out we ain't together anymore after how I screwed up yesterday? My career will be over," Tyler said, sounding so desperate.

Kennedy froze, feeling Scott tense underneath her hand, and it was so hard not to look to her left at him to gauge his reaction. And Tyler had no idea he'd just spoiled their secret they were trying so had to keep.

"Well, I'm sorry about how yesterday looked on you," Kennedy said, looking at the ground sadly. Even now, Tyler just didn't care about the fact that she could've been seriously injured. "We can do a video on how you took such great care of me or something."

"Good," he nodded. Then he smiled weakly. "How's your head?"

"Do you care?"

Tyler sighed. "Of course, I care about you, baby. But I figured it wasn't appropriate for me to be up here with you last night. Didn't want to risk anything happening. The last thing we need is to end up in bed together again."

Kennedys face scrunched up. She had a goddamn concussion. The last thing she'd have done was sleep with Tyler. So, how was that what was on his mind?

"Well, I'm so grateful for your consideration," she muttered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get ready."

Tyler nodded as she shut the door. And instantly, she took her hand off Scott. Kennedy stared at the door silently, nearly feeling the tension in the air as Scott burned a hole in the side of her head.

Finally, after an agonizing minute, Scott broke the silence. "You're pretending to still date that asshole?"

"We... broke up the night before we came to Oklahoma," she murmured, feeling shame wash over her. "But - but it'll make Tyler look bad and affect the channel. I'm just helping him out."

"Helping him out by letting him make you miserable?" he asked her.

"I ain't miserable," she muttered while turning to walk over to her bag of clothes, focusing on getting ready instead of Scott.

"Tell that to all the times I've seen you cry this week," he told her. "Just leave his sorry ass. Screw the channel."

"I can't do that," she said, her throat feeling tight as she fought off crying again. "It's my job just as much as it is his."

All she had was the income from the channel — and it was good income. But that'd be gone as soon as Tyler decided to officially end things on camera.

"So, this just goes on forever?" Scott asked, scoffing in disgust at the thought. God, it made him furious for some unknown reason.

"No. Just until storm season is over, he said," she explained. "Then we'll tell people it was mutual."

"Was it?" he asked. "Was it mutual? Or are you still in love with Owens?"

A few tears welled over, and Kennedy shut her eyes in annoyance at her lack of control over her own emotions. "No," she said, not sounding very believable. "But I'd do anything for Ty."

"And he clearly wouldn't do the same," Scott said harshly while grabbing his shoes, ready to leave. "Kennedy, this is pathetic."

"Yeah," she whispered. "I know I am."

"Not you, damn it," he huffed. He wasn't meaning to hurt her even more but he wasn't good at this whole feelings thing. "But the whole situation is fucked up. You have to see that Tyler using you for views is wrong. And you shouldn't put up with it."

"I can't do anything about it."

"You go live every day. Just break up with him on one."

"Yeah," she scoffed, "and have a million people hate me for it. As if I don't feel shitty enough."

Finally, she turned to look at him and saw that he was practically shaking with anger. And though she thought he was mad at her, he was just picturing throttling Tyler Owens.

"So, you're just gonna put up with it?" Scott asked, his jaw tight. "You're just gonna do what Owens wants because he's got you wrapped around his finger?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," she said, looking away again. "You can go now, Scott."

"Kennedy—"

"Please," she said weakly, more tears falling because now Scott probably thought so little of her. "Just go."

Scott stood there for a moment longer, just taking in her broken expression as she cried. And so badly, he wanted to cross the room and hold her, to tell her that she could do better than Owens — that he was better than Owens.

But Scott didn't do any of that. Instead, he just shook his head and left the room, knowing that crushed expression would be ingrained in his mind all damn day.