(For His Pleasure 14) With His Belief (8 page)

Danielle looked down at her green skirt. “This is an Oscar De Laurenta skirt. Are you out of your mind?”

“Maybe Oscar was out of his mind when he made that thing. If he even did.”

“Okay, okay, okay. That’s it,” Nicole said, her voice loud and her eyes flashing.

“I’m not going to put up with this bickering anymore. I brought you all here to have a nice time and to plan something for Kallie. If you don’t want to do that, then maybe you should just go.”

Lydia tossed her hair. “That’s fine. I knew I wouldn’t be treated with respect here.” She glared at Scarlett. “I’m used to being let down, though. Anyway, it’s okay.

The people who need to know will know soon enough that I’m not just trying to get attention. And then there will be some apologies owed.”

“I’m sure,” Danielle said, still with her back turned to Lydia.

Lydia turned and stormed out and Scarlett followed after her. She didn’t want to, but she was terrified that this incident would push her to send out some crazy email or make a phone call and tell everyone about Kallie and Hunter’s contract.

When Lydia got outside, she spun around to face Scarlett. “I’m sick of this,” she practically yelled.

“Sick of what?”

“You promised me. You said we were friends.”

“We are friends.”

Lydia laughed a sharp, barking laugh. “You call this being friends? You barely even acknowledge that I exist.”

“I’m sorry if you feel that way.”

“Well, I do feel that way. You never call me, you never include me in anything.

And I can tell that you don’t even really like me, Scarlett.” Now there were tears in Lydia’s eyes.

“That’s not true,” Scarlett said, but a little voice inside her head was saying otherwise.
Why would I like someone who’s blackmailing me
? she thought, but knew that wouldn’t be a good thing to say out loud right now.

“I see the way you look at me—with contempt.”

“That’s not true. And I do want to include you.”

“Because I’m thinking maybe this would all go away if I just told everyone—

everyone—what Hunter Reardon’s really like.”

Scarlett felt panic rising in her chest. She could feel Nicole behind her, watching and listening to everything that was being said. “Listen, you should come by the set tomorrow and hang out,” Scarlett told her.

Lydia’s eyes narrowed, mistrustful. “I don’t want to be invited just because I threw a tantrum and you want to shut me up.”

Scarlett forced herself to laugh, and act as if nothing could be further from the truth. “I’m inviting you because I want you to come.” She stepped forward and put a hand on Lydia’s shoulder and looked her straight in the eye. “The truth is that I’ve been super busy and caught up in my own petty little dramas. But I shouldn’t let that get in the way of our friendship, and I won’t let it get in the way of our friendship again. I promise.”

Lydia thought about it, the beginnings of a smile starting at the corners of her mouth. “You really do promise?”

“I really do. Come tomorrow afternoon, I’ll text you the address.”

“Afternoon? Don’t you start filming at like the crack of dawn or something?”

Scarlett laughed. “We do, but I thought you might be bored sitting around waiting while they get everything set up. And the actors won’t even be there yet.”

“I don’t care,” Lydia said, grinning. “I’ll be there with my bestie.”

Scarlett felt a pit form in her stomach. Would this vicious cycle never end?

“Great. Then I’ll see you bright and early, I guess.”

Nicole finally stepped forward. “I’ve called the car service for you, Lydia. I’m sorry you didn’t have an enjoyable time tonight.” Nicole’s voice was cool but still surprisingly friendly.

Lydia just shrugged. “I should have known that friends of Kallie and Hunter’s would think they were better than me. You’re rich and famous and who am I?”

“That’s not true, but I doubt I can convince you otherwise,” Nicole sighed.

“Well, I don’t really care. I’m happy with the friends I do have, right Scarlett?”

“Sure,” Scarlett said softly, hating the fact that she had to placate this bratty woman, and in front of Nicole to boot.

The car pulled around and Lydia got in. “I’ll see you tomorrow! Text me, okay?”

“Okay, I will,” Scarlett said, waving and watching her go.

Nicole stood next to her, watching the car leave with Lydia inside it. “I wouldn’t have invited her to this had I known she wasn’t on good terms with Kallie and Hunter.”

Somehow, Scarlett now felt responsible for the whole thing. “She’s just immature. She’s a little bit jealous of all the attention they get.”

“Is that it?” Nicole asked. “Because she hinted at something else—a secret or something that she’s keeping about Hunter?”

Scarlett licked her lips. She considered telling Nicole everything, but didn’t know for sure if she could trust her or not.

Just tell her. Unburden yourself, maybe she can help you find a way out of it.

But then she thought about how unfair it would be to put Nicole in that position. “I don’t know what Lydia was talking about,” she lied. “I think she’s just angry and envious and wants to cause trouble. But I’ve got her under control.”

Nicole smiled a little. “Are you sure about that? Because she seems about as out of control as a person can get.”

Scarlett nodded. “I’ll get her under control. I’d never let her hurt Kallie.”

“Come on, let’s go back inside and have another drink,” Nicole said.

“Now you’re talking.”

The two of them walked back inside together, talking and laughing.

***

The next morning, when she arrived on set, something was definitely wrong.

Bryson greeted her brusquely. “You’re late,” he said.

“Sorry,” she said. It was true, she was about twenty minutes late because of some train delays, but normally the first twenty minutes after she arrived were quite dull anyway. “Is everything okay? Something I can do?”

He shook his head, as the line producer came over. “We better get moving if we’re going to shift these scenes around.”

“I know, I know. I’m just trying to figure this out.” Bryson was standing with a copy of the shooting script and paging through it as they spoke.

“Why do we have to move scenes around?” she asked.

The producer shook his head. “I guess she missed the fireworks.”

“Fireworks?”

“I’ll explain later,” Bryson said. He continued flipping through the script.

“We need an answer on this, Bryson.”

“Give me ten minutes. I need to think this through.” He frowned down at the pages as if trying to figure out a particularly tough riddle. His brow furrowed and he bit his lip in concentration.

The line producer gave an exaggerated sigh. “Time is money.”

“I’m aware of that.”

The line producer stalked off.

Kallie looked at Bryson. “I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Just before you got here, Dale Nolan and I had a bit of a disagreement. He came in this morning with a bug up his ass about the scenes we’re shooting today.”

“What was his problem?”

Bryson continued searching his script as he talked. His voice was weary and strangely unaffected. “I could hardly make heads or tails of it. He had some ideas about script changes. Fucking actors. It’s like, no—you’re not a writer and a director and a producer. You’re a puppet. Be a good puppet, recite the lines that people write for you and move the way the director tells you, stand where you’re supposed to stand—and look pretty.”

Scarlett was a little shocked by his outburst. She looked around to make sure nobody had really heard him, because if that kind of talk got around set, things could get ugly for Bryson. “I think maybe calling him a puppet’s not such a great way to communicate your frustration.”

“I know that, Scarlett. This is just between me and you. If I can’t bitch to my assistant, than what are you here for—right?”

Her mouth puckered. “I thought I was here for more than that.”

“Please, don’t you get an attitude now, too. I don’t think I can deal with that right now.”

She wanted to make a smart comment to him right then, but looking at the exhaustion written on his face, decided against it. He was clearly stressed to the breaking point. “So what exactly happened with Dale? Where is he?”

“God only knows. When I told him that I wasn’t going to use his script changes, he stalked off in a huff. So now we need to reorganize filming because he’s left the set and I refuse to shut down filming over it.”

“Okay. Does Eliza know what happened?”

He looked up, and now he did look somewhat concerned. “I don’t think she knows. And her and Dale are fairly tight. Maybe you could go talk to her, Scarlett. See if she’s spoken to Dale, and if she hasn’t, then you can explain we’ll be needing to shuffle things around a little.”

“Is she in her trailer?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Scarlett started to leave, but Bryson reached out and caught her arm. His mere touch electrified her entire body.

“Scarlett—” he said.

“Yes?”

“I owe you one for being so cool. I know I busted your chops just now, and you didn’t deserve that.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m the last person you need to worry about.”

He grinned back at her. “Thank God for that.”

And then he let her go and she headed over to Eliza Johnston’s trailer, her stomach knotting up in anticipation of dealing with the unpredictable actress.

When she knocked on the door, Eliza’s voice was bright and sunny from inside the trailer. “Come in,” she called out.

Scarlett entered, finding Eliza trying on a lacy, sheer bra, standing in her panties.

“Oh, crap—I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were changing!” Scarlett cried, averting her eyes.

Eliza tinkled laughter. “Relax, babe. In a few days I’m going to be naked in front of the whole cast and crew. I think I can handle you seeing my tits in the trailer.”

“I guess I still have a lot to learn about the movie business.” Scarlett tried to smile, although her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. She felt like she’d just admitted to being a forty-year-old virgin.

“Don’t we all,” Eliza said. She took off the bra and started to try on another one.

Her body was toned perfection, and she knew it. “So, what’s up?”

Scarlett walked to one of the chairs and picked up a magazine, pretending to be interested in it. It was one of those trashy tabloids, and in the top right corner it said,

“Eliza Johnston’s Reckless Weekend Revealed!!” Beneath the headline, there was a picture of Eliza looking shocked and angry all at once. She wasn’t the cover story, but Scarlett thought that Eliza had probably bought this magazine to read about herself just the same.

“Earth to Charlotte!” Eliza said. “Hello?”

“Oh.” Scarlett put the magazine down again. “My name’s Scarlett.”

“Sorry.” Eliza shrugged. “I meet so many people, you can imagine I get things mixed up once in a while.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m not offended.”

“We were talking about why you came to my trailer,” Eliza reminded her, as she fixed her bra straps and looked at herself in the full-length mirror leaning against the wall across from her.

“Right.” Scarlett exhaled. “Bryson wanted me to swing by and let you know that there’s been a slight change of plans with today’s shooting schedule.”

Eliza was putting on a skimpy belly shirt, twirling side to side in front of the mirror now. “There’s always a slight change of plans.”

“Maybe more than slight. I guess Dale and Bryson had a disagreement about the script and—”

“And Dale took off?” she asked, flipping her hair and twisting, giving the mirror a come hither look.

“I’m not sure if he’s, like, gone for the rest of the day. But they decided to move some scenes just to be on the safe side and make sure we don’t lose precious hours.

Bryson’s still trying to decide exactly which scenes to do next, but obviously it affects you, so he just wanted me to let you know.”

“Wow, I hope Dale doesn’t decide to throw him under the bus,” Eliza replied, her voice not sounding concerned—just matter-of-fact.

“You think Dale would do that?”

Eliza gave her a look that said,
‘you can’t really be this naïve.’
“He’s done it before. Dale is a perfectionist. He’s a great actor, but if he doesn’t like the way something’s going, the way he’s being directed, the kind of hair gel they’re using on him—he can be pretty ruthless in getting what he wants.”

Scarlett licked her lips. “I’m sure Bryson will sort it out with him.”

Eliza studied her for a long moment. “You have a lot of faith in Bryson, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Based on what?”

Scarlett hesitated. “I’m not sure I understand the question.”

Eliza smirked. “What I’m saying is—how do you know Bryson’s good at this job? He’s never even done it before.”

“I have faith that he’ll be good at it. He’s incredibly smart, driven, and talented.

He’s just under a lot of pressure and obviously there are going to be some bumps in the road, especially in the beginning. But he’ll figure it out and this will be a great film.”

Eliza’s smile widened. “Oh my God,” she said. “You like him, don’t you?”

Scarlett’s heart pounded and her mouth dried up. “He’s my boss. I work for him, that’s all.” But she felt completely see through.

“I should have known.” Eliza clucked and shook her head. “I should have spotted it the first time I saw you walk into the club with him. Of course you’re crushing on him. He’s hot as hell and he’s in charge of you.”

Scarlett felt tongue tied, afraid and angry all at once. “Listen—I don’t see what that has to do with anything. We’re not talking about me.”

“Maybe we should be.”

“I don’t think so.” Scarlett’s chest was rising and falling rapidly as Eliza honed in on her with renewed, hawk-like interest.

“Listen, it happens all the time,” Eliza said. “It’s like me showing my tits to the crew because the script has an obligatory nude scene. It’s the way this business works.”

“Maybe that’s true, but I’m just here to do a job.”