Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
But weren’t we?
Anxiety set in as the double doors closed behind me in the trailer and I made my way to the beach. For a second, I blankly stared at my reflection in the mirror, trying to find that girl.
My character.
Why did I feel like I was her?
With new thoughts of Aires beating the hell out of my mind, I walked out onto the beach. With one foot in front of the other, I found Aires and B. Night talking by the shoreline where we were about to shoot.
“There you are,” B. Night announced once he saw me.
Aires smiled, winking at me.
“So, let’s address the elephant in the room, so to speak, shall we?”
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea the press was going to—”
B. Night lifted his hand, interrupting me. “There is no need to apologize. I don’t give a shit about what you decide to do with your personal life. I care about how it affects your work, and it hasn’t been an issue. If anything, like I said before, I think it’s worked to our benefit, and I continue to think it will.”
I nodded. “It won’t.”
“Great.” He clapped his hands. “Now for this scene, I want you to take all the anger and frustration you felt this morning with the press, and I want you to use it. I want you to capture it in this moment where all you want is to feel the skin of one another. I want passion. I want resentment. I want to see your souls pouring into each other like destiny has brought you back together because you belong that way.”
Aires and I locked eyes.
“I want Bailey’s body to shine in this scene, Aires. I need you to make sure you place your hands erotically down her body like you’re touching her for the first time, and this is what you’ve been dreaming of. Do you understand me?’
“Yes,” Aires agreed.
“Perfection.” B. Night smiled. “Just pretend the cameras aren’t here. It’s only us and the intimacy coordinator, so it’s a closed set. You’ll have as much privacy as we can.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
B. Night grabbed our shoulders. “Let’s make magic.”
We both nodded, watching him turn to walk back to the camera.
Aires was first to break the silence. “Bay, I tried to tell you—”
“I know.”
“Are you mad?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll talk about it later, okay? I need to focus on this scene. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a whirlwind this morning, and all I want to do is take a second to scream. Until I can do that, I’m Quinn, and she’s about to make love to Samual after all these years.”
He leaned in close to my ear, whispering, “Don’t worry, gorgeous. I know what I’m doing.”
“Trust me, I’m fully aware that you do, but I’m the one who’s about to show all these men my breasts, so…”
He grinned against my cheek. “Right.”
With that, he spun and walked over to his mark. I followed his lead.
B. Night yelled, “On three!”
Just breathe.
“Two!”
You got this.
“One!”
Relax.
“And action!”
Except reality set in.
chapter twenty-one
Bailey
Usually, when I heard the word action, I immersed myself in whatever character I was playing. It was actually quite crazy how easy and quick it was for me to become a totally different person. For the first time in my entire career, I didn’t snap into character.
Instead, I stayed in my own body and said my line, “How can you do this to me?”
If there was one thing I knew about Aires, it was his ability to effortlessly transform into whoever he was playing. But that morning, it was as if we were both too consumed with what was happening in the present time that we couldn’t escape it anymore.
It was there.
Us.
“There’s so much I want to tell you, so much I want to say…”
I shook my head. “Why did you wait so long? Why didn’t you fight for me?”
“I need you to trust me, yeah?”
The camera was rolling, and it still felt like we were the only two people in the world.
“Trust you? You can’t be serious.”
“Love, I’m sor—”
“Don’t, Samuel.” I may have said Samuel, but I was speaking to Aires. “Nothing you can say will make anything okay between us. You lied to me. You fucking lied to me.”
“Can you please come here?”
“No.”
“Quinn, please… I’m hanging on by a thread here.”
I didn’t hear Quinn; I heard him say Bailey.
“Whose fault was that?”
He was over to her in three long strides.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Love—”
“I mean it, Sam. Stay away from me. I can’t do this again.”
“You know that’s bullshit. I fucked up, alright? I should have fought for you and not let everyone get in my way. I was young. If I could go back and change things, I would in a heartbeat.”
“Just go. It’s what you’re best at anyway.”
“What did you just say to me?”