It's My Life (Filming Rhiannon. Book 1) (33 page)

“I don't like you doing this.” he says stroking my hair as I relax against him.

“I don't like doing this either, but as soon as its done, we can move on. Kaleb this isn't all his fault, we need to act like professionals, and do the work. You wouldn't like it if a different employee refused to work with someone because of personal issues, especially after they had filmed the movie together, then refused to do the promotional work. Once this shoot is done with, we can go and have some fun.” I try to reason with him. I know working with Jase will be hard, but I don't want special preference just because I have started sleeping with him. I am still in this building to work, so that's what I will do. I will suck up all the negative energy, get this over with, then look forward to some more filming movies.

“Come on Kaleb, I have to go now. What are you doing?” I ask him, hoping he won’t be sat brooding.

“I will come and walk with you. Do you know where you're going?” he asks as he gets to his feet and grabs my hand.

He starts walking towards the door as I answer him, “All I know is we are going outside. It can’t be that hard to find.”

“The grounds are quite big. I will take you.” together we leave his office, and he walks me to the back entrance of the building.

When we are out on the grass, the chill hits me, and I give an involuntary shiver. Kaleb notices and shrugs of his suit jacket, “Here, this will keep you warm” he says as he drapes it over my shoulders. I smile up at him, and wrap it around me tighter. “Thank you.”

Kaleb leads me over to the far end of the grounds where I have never been before, and we come to a stop in front of a beautiful water fountain.

A few people have already gathered, and Scarlett sees us and makes her way over to us.

“Mr. Braxton, Rhiannon, it’s good to see you both. We will be ready to go in a minute. We are just waiting on Jase.” she informs us. I feel Kalebs hand get tighter around mine. I look up at him, and he blanks me. He gives a tight, forced smile to Scarlett before he takes us to sit on the wall in front of the fountain. The water spraying out from the fountain, and hitting the water below sounds beautiful, but I am not paying much attention to that. Kaleb is brooding, and I need to pull him out of it.

“Hey, are you okay?” I ask him.

He doesn't respond, he just gives me a what-do-you-think look.

“Look, you go back in side and I will come and see you when I'm done.”

“I don't want to leave you.”

I blow out my breath, “Kaleb, it’s my job. I can be professional with him. Nothing is going to happen. It is just a photo shoot, and we have people around us. Please just go and do some work.” I plead with him.

“Alright.” he finally agrees with me. He gets to his feet and looks around.

“If he gives you any bother, let me know.” he bends to give me a kiss on the head before he turns and walks away.

Once Scarlett notices Kaleb has gone, she comes and sits with me.

“Are you ready for this?” she asks me.

“I guess so.” I respond with a smile.

“It will be done with soon, I bet you're cold in that aren't you?” she asks looking at my outfit under Kalebs jacket.

“It is a bit chilly.” I laugh at her.

“We were hoping the sun would be warmer today, but once we get going, you should warm up. We're just waiting on Jase, who is running a bit late. I better go see where he is.” she says as she gets up. She pulls her phone out, and walks a few feet away.

After another five minutes of waiting, we finally see Jase walking across the grass. Scarlett goes to greet him, then they both walk over to where I am still seated.

“Right Rhiannon, are you ready?” Scarlett asks.

I jump to my feet and take Kalebs jacket from my shoulders, and drape it over my arm. “Yep, let’s get this done.”

We all gather around Scarlett and the photographer, but Jase keeps his distance from me, for which I am thankful. Scarlett runs through the ideas she has, and soon enough, it is time to get back in front of the camera.

“Rhiannon, we need you to stand in front of the fountain wall, and Jase has to stand beside you. I will need you to wrap one leg around him, while he supports you with both hands.” Scarlett explains. Without hesitation, I get in to position, and Jase quickly follows.

After a few poses, we take a quick five-minute break. Scarlett sent someone for a warm drink for us all. Once I'm handed my mocha, I take a sip, and it instantly warms me up. I am left to my own devices for a few minutes. While I am sat on my own, I notice Jase hasn't actually said anything to me yet, and for that I am grateful. I just hope it continues till the end. I am pulled out of my thoughts when Scarlett calls us all back. I place my now empty cup on the wall beside Kalebs jacket, and go join the crowd.

“Rhiannon, we need you to stand beside Jase, and we need you to lift your leg up and rest it on his shoulder, so you are doing vertical splits. Are you okay with that?”

I look at Jase, and as much as I don't want to do that, I want to get this over and done with.

“Yeah,” I respond with a forced smile. Scarlett smiles back at me, and directs me and Jase to our position.

I avoid eye contact for as long as possible. I'm not sure what I'm going to get when I look at him. I keep my head looking down, even when I have to raise my leg and rest it on his shoulder.

“Jase, I want one of your hands around her waist, and the other holding her foot.” Scarlett directs. Jase quickly follows through on his order. We still avoid eye contact, that is till Scarlett pulls us up on it, and directs us to look at each other.

Slowly, and carefully, I raise my eyes up to Jase, and see he has a scowl on his face, his brown eyes looking bright. He has a smug smile, and he makes me feel uncomfortable. I never expected this to go smoothly, but I was hoping it wouldn't feel like this. The atmosphere is strong and heavy. I feel awkward, and the longer I look at Jase, the more his eyes sparkle, and his grin gets bigger.

“Rhi, smile please. The sooner this is done; the sooner we can go. This is the last lot we need.” Scarlett shouts to me from behind the camera. I look towards the camera, and take a deep breath of air to fill my straining lungs.

I turn back to Jase, and fake my famous smile on my face. I look into his eyes, and he flexes his hips into my groin, which given my current pose, is wide open for him. I buck back, and he repeats the process.

He looks back at me with a nasty smile. “Come on Rhi, I thought you would be up for it.” he leans forward and whispers in my ear.

I try to hide my shock at his word, so we can get the shoot over and done with, but I do snarl two words at him, “Fuck off!”

“Oh, now that wasn't very nice.” he acts hurt as he flexes his damn hips again.

I quickly flash my eyes back to Scarlett and the team, but notice they have their eyes down looking at the camera screen.

“Just give over Jase.” I plead with him. It falls on deaf ears.

“Come on, I'm sure Kaleb won’t mind, after all you did cheat on me with him.” he says smugly.

I am fast to correct him, “Firstly, I didn't sleep with Kaleb while I was with you. Secondly, you are the one who slept with someone else. Thirdly, after what you have done, I wouldn't go with you again, even if I wasn't in a relationship Jase.” I inform him as I try to pull away.

“You really don't think Kaleb will keep it with one person do you? He probably has one in his office now.” he goads me.

However, he isn't leaving it there, “Come on, I know how much of a slut you are. You're easy, so why don't you just give in?” he asks me with another flex of his hips.

At this point, I lose my rag with him. I pull my leg away from him, and I raise my hand to his face, and slap him before my brain realizes what I'm doing.

After my palm has connected with his face, I turn and collect Kalebs jacket before I run from Jase.

I sprint past Scarlett and the camera crew. I hear my name being called, but I just carry on with my run, struggling to throw put the jacket on.

As I run across the beautifully groomed grass, the wind is blowing my blonde hair across my face, and its only now I register the tears running down my face. I whip my head from side to side to try and get the hair out of my face, but my tears are making it cling to my drenched face. I finally get the jacket on, but I don't want to stop to button it up, so the fabric is flapping against my arms as I run.

I run till I reach the back entrance to the building, and come to a stop when the door won’t open.

I push and pull at the door, with absolutely no look. It takes me a few moments to register the intercom at the side of the door.

Looking behind me, I check to see if anyone has followed me, and take a cleansing breath of air when I see no-one there. Raising my hand, I press the little button, and hear a high pitched buzzing. After a few seconds, a voice comes over the intercom, but it’s a little crackly, so I can’t work out who it is. The voice just asks one simple question, “Who is it?”

I reply and tell her it’s me. “Alright Rhiannon, I will open the door for you.” the mystery voice responds. I don't care who it is, they have let me in. I hear the locking mechanism on the door release, and I push the door open.

Resuming my rush to find Kaleb, I sprint through the corridors, and turn the corner leading to his office. Sammie isn't at her desk, but there is a high pitched noise coming from behind her desk, but I ignore it and dash into Kalebs office. I slam the door behind me, then scan my eyes around his office. Its empty, he's not here.

I dash back out of his office, just as Sammie comes running to her desk, her eyes widen when she notices me. She holds a finger up to signal one minute before she answers the high pitched buzzer. “Alright Scarlett, come in”. she says over the intercom before replacing the receiver back on the cradle.

She looks over at me, and her eyes raise once again, “Rhiannon, are you okay?” she asks me, a little confusion in her voice. Its only now I realize Sammie opened the door for me, and I need to go before Scarlett come over this end of the building looking for me. “Of course, where is Kaleb?” I ask.

“The last I saw of him, he was on his way to the canteen, that was about ten minutes ago.” she kindly informs me. I quickly turn on my heels, shout a thank you over my shoulder, and make my way over to the canteen.

After running through a few more corridors, I reach the canteen, and see Kaleb slumped at a table with a cup of coffee sat between his hands. After hearing a commotion, he lifts his head, and locks his eyes on mine. When he finally takes in my frantic state, he gets to his feet and quickly makes his way over to me. In no time at all, he has his arms wrapped around me, and me pushed tightly to his chest. He looks at me with questioning eyes, and I just shake my head at him, and bury my head back into his chest. He pulls away slightly and starts to walk with me tucked into him. He leads me back to his office without saying a word. He places me on his sofa before going back to close the door behind us.

“Rhiannon, what's wrong?” he asks as he kneels down in front of me. His eyes are scanning my body, looking for any sign of what could be wrong with me.

I shake my head at him, and wrap his jacket tighter around me.

“Baby, don't tell me nothing is wrong when you have make up running down your face, you look like you have ran a marathon, and you look tortured.” he says as he picks me up, sits on the sofa where I have just been, and places me on his lap.

“I just don't feel well.” I try and fob him off, but with the snort he gives me confirms my attempts have failed.

Suddenly there is a knock on his door, and I am thankful for whoever is on the outside. They have bought me some time, and hopefully Kaleb will forget this line of questioning.

Kaleb places me on the sofa, and heads towards the door. He swings it open, and what comes out of his mouth next makes me more nervous. “Scarlett, what can I do for you?” he asks confused. I slump back down onto the sofa knowing there is no evading this.

“Sammie told me Rhiannon was here, can I come in and have a word?” she asks him. He looks towards me, gives me a critical look before opening the door to allow Scarlett entry. Kaleb comes to sit beside me while Scarlett stands in front of us.

“Rhiannon, what happened out there?” she asks me. As the question leaves her lips, I notice Kaleb stiffen beside me. He looks me straight in the eye, and starts his questioning again. “Rhi, what the fuck has Jase done?” he asks, his tone sounding deathly.

“Nothing.” I say feebly.

“Stop fucking saying nothing. I left you with him for a bit, and you come back looking like shit basically. What.... the.... fuck.... did.... he.... do?” he snarls the last five words at me between his teeth.

When I don't answer, he looks at Scarlett for answers. “I don't know sir, we were looking at the camera, and the next thing I know, Rhiannon is running away from set.” she explains to an angry looking Kaleb.

“Baby please, tell me what he did.” he pleads with me, gripping my hands in his.

I take a deep breath, and look into his troubled green eyes, “He was just inappropriate Kaleb.” I whisper to him.