by G S Binkley
Chapter Twelve
Lacy and Koda lounged on the bed while waiting for some last minute adjustments by the lighting crew. Just as Ryan called ‘action’, Tony Kussler slipped quietly on set behind the tall man allowing him access.
After a couple of takes, the director yelled. “Cut. Great job.” Ryan searched the set for Michael Jessop. “Let’s set-up for the next scene.” He called to no one in particular. When he couldn’t find Jessop, the director spoke to Griff. “Are we set for this afternoon over on stage 38? Where’s Michael anyway?”
“My father sent him on an errand. And, yes, 38 is ready to go.” Griff diligently avoided Lacy as she walked past Ryan, heading toward her trailer.
“Lacy, five minutes…..that’s all.” Ryan said to the back of a retreating nodding head. “Where’s Ron?”
“Right here.” Ron Griffen’s pronounced his presence loudly.
Swinging around, the director faced the big man. “Good. Griff, could you see if Koda needs anything? Thanks.” Both men scrutinized the redhead’s interaction with the male star but for entirely different reasons. Finally, the director turned back around to his boss. “You sent Michael somewhere?”
Ron nodded not knowing what to do with his hand, which usually sported a cigar so he hooked his thumb in his vest pocket. That was one reason he rarely visited the ‘no smoking’ set. “Sent him to root out a rat. I saw Kussler sliming around this morning.”
“Why do you allow him on the lot?” Irritated, Ryan asked.
“Free publicity.” Ron spat out his no-nonsense answer. “Why pay for it when you can get it free?”
“Not that kind.” The director disputed Ron’s argument.
Clasping a firm hand on the slightly shorter man’s shoulder. “Any kind is good. Don’t worry about it. I have Michael…. oh, here he is.”
The young assistant approached them out of breath, concerned eyes still searching. “He’s here somewhere. I lost him……” The shadow casting against the wall across the set gave away Kussler’s hiding place. “Found him.” Michael pointed.
************************
“Derek, now sit still and……” Gage quickly held up a finger when Derek opened his mouth.
The young boy then mimicked her sealing a tiny finger to his own lips. “Shhhh.” He hushed giggling all the while with gray eyes sparkling at the game he loved to play with his hero.
Shaking her blonde head at Derek’s display, Gage continued. “Shhhh….okay, now…. where was I? Yeah, here’s the deal…I was thinking about that new screenplay. You know, the one about Africa……the white elephant.” Gage jacked her arm up pretending it was a large trunk then let out a screeching elephant call.
Derek smiled but remained quiet.
“However….” Gage moved around the coffee table and sat in front of the young boy. “I got this idea to do a story…. well, several stories about the woman I…….” Her last word was cut off at the sound of the door opening.
Lacy stepped in. “Busy?”
The blonde jumped up embracing her lover. “Not for you. Everything go okay?” Gage kept her mind off her partner’s love scene with Koda Kannon by going over several writing projects with her young charge.
Lacy wiped any vagrant jealous thoughts from her lover’s mind with a deep, soulful kiss. As usual, Gage’s nimble hands found their way past the loosely tied robe. “Mmmmm….God, I love you.”
“Me, too, momma. I want kiss, too.” Derek pouted.
Reluctantly, Gage let go then Lacy plopped down on the couch next to her son. He quickly pounced on her. “I love you, too, momma.” He kissed her lips then squirmed in closer for a hug.
The young mother held him tightly brushing her mouth against the side of his head. “And, I love you.”
Gage sat back down on the coffee table, leaning forward; she placed both her hands on the star’s bare legs. “Is that the last one?”
“Yes.” Understanding the question referred to the love scenes. “God, it’s been a long week.”
“I know. We’ve hardly seen you at all. But, it’s Friday and no filming on the weekend, right?”
Lacy couldn’t miss the lascivious smile Gage sprouted. “Right.”
Gage nodded. “That gives us tonight and all day Saturday and Sunday. Just you and me…..”
“And the kids.” Lacy finished, smiling. She covered Gage’s roaming hand. “We’ll find some time. I promise.” Twisting her son around and sitting him on her lap, Lacy kissed him again. “Now, what have you been up to, huh?”
“Stories….lots of stories. Jage…..” Derek started.
“Gage.” The blonde corrected him.
Derek frowned and twisted his lips thoughtfully. “Jage.” He repeated stubbornly.
“I don’t get it. He can say ‘cage’…..” Derek frowned again. “Oh, yes, you can. I’ve heard you. It was on the list. And, he can say ‘get’. Get…ge…cage….Ge….age.” The writer tried again and again to no avail. “But, he refuses to say my name right.”
Lacy fussed his short dark hair as he buried his head against her. “He probably thinks it’s a game, Gage.”
The self-appointed speech instructor sighed then jacked her fist under her chin. “At least you say it right.”
A knock at the door offered a prelude to. “Five minutes, Miss Levine.”
Lacy leaned forward, kissed her partner then her son. Placing Derek on the blonde’s lap, she stood erect. “I need to get changed.” Lacy hurried across the trailer as she dropped her robe to the floor.
Gage’s green eyes magnetically followed her nearly naked lover soaking in every succulent move as Lacy dressed. The writer was careful to shield Derek from what Gage considered a very provocative exhibition. Of course, I think every move she makes is….sexy, sensual. Lacy ran her hand up her propped up leg, covertly glancing at her lover. Did I say…sexy? God, is it hot in here or what?
Finished, Lacy stopped at the door. Turning to Gage, she asked. “Should I button it or leave it?” Lacy flipped back her collar revealing a nice view of her cleavage.
Gage swallowed then licked her lips lost in a seductive haze.
“Leave it I guess.” Lacy laughed then walked out the door.
Yelling, Gage flew off the table with Derek in her arms. “Button it….I think you should button it.” When the blonde opened the trailer door, Lacy was well out of view. Closing it, she sighed. “You know, your mother does that just to get to me.”
“Momma?”
“And she did too.” Gage carefully sat Derek back down on the couch. She paced around the room attempting to clear her thoughts of the beautiful woman still dancing in her head from the earlier display. “Okay, let’s get back to that story….there’s lots of animals.”
“Elephant.” Derek offered.
“Yeah, lots of elephants.” But, Gage couldn’t shake those vivid images Lacy so seductively etched in her mind. Returning to an earlier thought, Gage said out loud. “No, I’m going to write a series…. a tribute…. sorta. Yes.” The writer finalized her plans.
************************
Livid. “And, just who the hell said you could be here?” Ryan screamed.
Tony Kussler slyly glanced toward two figures a few feet away revealing his accomplice. However, both David and Griff jumped into action before the trespasser could say another word.
“Michael!” David and Griff roared. David drove a hard look into the woman next to him. Still looking at Griff yet speaking to Michael, David commanded. “Escort Mr. Kussler off the set.” The ad exec pulled his gray eyes away from the irritating young woman to rest on Tony. “It’s a closed set. Perhaps, you’d like to visit some other movie we’re shooting. That’s okay with you, isn’t Ron?”
“Absolutely. As a matter of fact…. just across the way. We’ve got this nice little film that is sure to be a……” Ron’s words trailed off as he led Kussler and the young assistant away from a fuming director.
“David, can I have a word with
you?” Ryan said through gritted teeth. Everyone within hearing distance disbursed.
Acting completely innocent, David asked. “Sure. What is it?”
“Are you deliberately trying to…..” Censoring himself. “Screw up this film or…..just your own life? Because either way, I’m not going down with you.”
Well aware that even though cast and crew were out of hearing distance, they could still see the two men talking. “Whatever do you mean?” David made a show of gesturing off-handedly attaching a beaming smile to it for everyone to see. “Would you calm down, Ryan?”
“You gave that jerk access and don’t deny it.” Before David could protest, Ryan continued. “Maybe it was actually Griff that did your bidding but you were still behind it. What is it with you and Griff? You know she tried to come between Lacy and Gage?”
“And that would be a problem because…..” The viperous smile sprayed, striking the last nerve of the usually calm director.
“You son-of-a-bitch…..”
“Leave my mother out of this.”
“You’re right. You rotten bast…. nasty, evil little man.” Ryan finally concluded without having to refer to David’s mother. Ryan White actually liked David’s mother. She’s the only decent one in that family.
“Ouch. That hurt.” David clutched his chest. “Come on, Ryan, you can do better than that.”
“Okay, I will. You’re on your own. White Horse Productions is yours. I want none of it.”
Shocked momentarily. “You actually mean that, don’t you?”
Ryan nodded. “Every word.”
Michael Jessop arrived back from his escort duties. “Everything’s taken care of….. and we’re ready on the set.” He added reluctantly now sensing the open hostility between the two about to be defunct producing partners.
***************************
Lacy and Koda were in position quietly going over their lines while they waited for the director to start the next scene. But, when Koda drifted off, Lacy asked. “Koda? You heard about Hayston, right?”
The usually buoyant actor was very subdued this morning and continued to remain elusive in his thoughts. “Who hasn’t?”
“I talked with her yesterday and I thought I heard her say you’d stopped by.” Lacy tossed out a fishing line in hopes of catching a clue.
“Yeah, so? You think I have such a cold heart?” Koda quickly became annoyed with the turn in the conversation. “What about you?”
“Me and Hayston?”
“No. Your little blonde bomb.” Koda spat out sarcastically.
“What do you mean by that?” Anger sparked in Lacy’s usually cool blue eyes.
Koda snickered. “After the other day when she went off… come on. Everybody knows.”
Lacy sighed.
“I can’t believe you’re like that…. a woman like you? You’re beautiful….” Lacy felt his predatory gaze crawl over her body. “Sexy….easily the best looking woman around…and talented. I don’t get it.”
“And that’s the problem…. you don’t get it.” Lacy cut through the subtext.
Fully comprehending her meaning, Koda reluctantly agreed. “Yeah.”
“You and Hayston…. I don’t get that….. did you?” Lacy asked the thinly veiled question to her co-star.
Koda foreign indifference. “We do know each other. I did do a couple of guest shots on your show.”
“I remember.” I almost forgot about that. His last appearance was when she had to be away from the set for a publicity event and Hayston carried the show that week with Koda playing her love interest. A clue revealed itself.
“You ready?” Ryan called to the actors.
Before Lacy could respond to the director’s question, Koda stopped her. “Wait.” His curiosity got the best of him. “Why would you want to kiss another woman?”
Lacy turned to him seriously. “She’s not just a woman…. she’s the woman I love.”
To her surprise, Koda accepted the explanation resonating within the dashing male star to a place where he held that same feeling for the only and unattainable woman he truly loved. Shaking loose the lovingly held memory, Koda nodded to the director.
Seeing both actors were now ready, the director shouted. “Action.”
From a distance, Griffen and daughter watched the scene literally play out in front of them. “Kathy?”
“Mmmm.” His daughter studied the nearby man. “What?” She erupted when her father nudged her.
“He’s not for you.” Nodding toward David.
“You got that right.” Griff agreed. Not my type at all.
“And neither is he.” Ron guided his daughter’s green eyes with a shake of the head, pointing at Koda currently engaged in a dramatic scene with Lacy. “Oh, he’d be a good catch someday when he finally….. finishes sowing his wild oats.” The older Griffen remembered his early days as a young bull amongst the Hollywood beauties on his way to the top. I had my share of women….till I met you, Katie. The fifty-one year old man smiled warmly remembering his wife of fifteen years. Fondly gazing at his red haired daughter, Ron continued his stroll down memory lane. She looks just like you, love. Same hair and everything.
“I am partial to blondes.” Griff’s thoughts drifted to another blonde instead of the one she was staring at. Green eyes, sexy. Nice, very nice body.
“Jessop. Now, he’s an up and coming young man.” Her father nudged her again pulling her from her lustful musings.
“Father. Let me take care of my love life. Okay?”
“Oh, all right. One favor though?” Getting his daughter’s full attention, he continued. “Grandchildren. Just a thought.”
Griff smiled. And that’s all it will be…. a thought.
Chapter Thirteen
Gage had everything prepared when Lacy finally arrived. Kissing Lacy, the blonde guided her to the table. Leaning over the dark haired woman’s shoulder after she sat, Gage whispered. “I love you.”
The young boy sitting next to his mother added his sentiments. “Me, too, momma. Love you.”
Tapping a finger on his nose, Lacy smiled. “I love you, too.” Then she kissed him.
“Jeez!” Dani sighed garnishing everyone’s attention, which suddenly seemed overpowering to the girl who was usually at ease being the center of attention. “What?”
“Go on, Dani. What is it?” Lacy asked. “And by the way, I love you, too.”
The fourth grader rolled blue eyes at her mother. “What is what?”
“The big news you can’t wait to tell us.” The confident mother replied.
“Oh, yeah. The school’s having a show in December…. it’s kinda a big deal.” Dani acted nonchalant. “They want me to try out for it.”
“Do you get to dance?” Gage asked.
“And sing…. a little.” Dani added.
“Honey, you’ll be great in it. When is it?”
“Christmas.” Dani hesitated. “Will we still be here then?”
Concerned, Lacy stopped eating. “Of course, why would you ask that?”
Dani pursued her lips thoughtfully. “Well….. I heard Gage talking about her movie and going away….”
Apprehension filled the blonde’s face when Lacy’s eyebrow popped up in shock. Quick to discount the innocent insinuation, Gage said. “Mark is not me.” Sparing a glance to the suddenly distraught young girl. “It’s okay, Dani.” Facing her lover again. “Mark asked me if I wanted to make a quick trip to New Orleans….check out some locations. That’s all.” Gage covered Lacy’s hand. “I said no.”
Remaining slightly aloof, Lacy offered. “Are you sure? I don’t want to stop you from….anything.”
Squeezing her hand again, Gage smiled. “I’m sure.”
“When does it start?” For some reason, Lacy still maintained a noticeable distance between them.
“He starts filming in February…..” Sensing the remoteness. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired.” Lacy admitted. It
had been an extremely long week. Every minute of her day was filled with last minute changes, re-shoots and meetings as the film came to a close.
Not wanting to pursue the subject further, Gage turned to Dani. “So…… you’re keeping busy with this show thing and swimming.”
Even Dani observed her mother’s sudden withdrawal. “Yeah, I really like the school, mom. Like you said I would.”
“That’s good honey.” The usually attentive mother said absent-mindedly.
The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence. Gage cleared the table and did the dishes while Lacy retreated into the living room where she helped Dani with some homework and Derek happily added his assistance. Gage leaned against the kitchen doorway pondering the remote demeanor in her partner. Maybe it’s because she’s pregnant.
As the evening progressed, Lacy’s mood didn’t improve at least not towards Gage. The young mother tucked her kids in before returning to the living room. “I’m going to bed.” Lacy walked past Gage without another word.
Green eyes trailed the tall woman across the room. It’s definitely because she’s pregnant. I didn’t do anything. Did I? The reluctant blonde finally followed her partner into their bedroom. Lacy had changed and was in bed. Hesitating, Gage approached the bed.
“How did it go with Dr. Charles today?” Lacy asked not looking at her partner. Due to filming, she missed another appointment her son had with his speech therapist. It grated against her tremendously.
“Good. Real good.” Gage slid down on the bed next to Lacy. “Derek’s able to pronounce all the words on the list. Actually, the doctor’s a bit confused as to why he keeps mispronouncing words when he can repeat them perfectly fine.” When Lacy refused to respond, Gage moved closer. “I’ve missed you.” Placing a soft kiss on stilled lips. The older woman sighed deeply. “I’m sorry. I was wrong and I should never have done it.”