by Tijan
“Thanks for that.”
Fuck’s sake. Morgan’s sister was covering for me.
I was such a fuck up.
“You wanted a favor?”
“Yeah.” She sat at the edge of her seat, her posture was perfect and her hands were folded in her lap again. “I know you said last night that I should just go out there, try to find Morgan, or have her find me, but I was wondering . . .” Some sweat beads formed on her forehead. “Would you take me with you? Matt said you saw her at the river. I was thinking we could go there. That doesn’t seem too far away.”
I frowned. She was talking as if she didn’t know. “You guys don’t go through the lands?”
Her head dipped again for a second and then she looked back up. She shook her head. “No. I know we should, but as we got older, it just started to feel more like Morgan’s area. Her horses lived there, and then the whole fear factor kicked in. We could die out there. I don’t know how Morgan does it.” Her sister kept on, “If you take me out there, she’ll come. I know she will.”
“Just you and me?”
She nodded, her chin tightening. “Just us. No Matt. No Finn. I want to see my sister again.”
Shit.
I was going to do this.
I was going to get involved, and hearing Shanna’s voice from the hallway, I knew I was stuck anyway.
I said, “I’ll do it if you do me a favor.”
“What?”
My eyes cut to the door. We could both hear Shanna saying, “He’s awake in there?” Someone replied, but the words were muffled. I didn’t have long until she barged in, regardless of whatever they were saying out there.
“Cover for me with Shanna.”
“I did.” Her attention was skirting from the door to me, the impending arrival of Shanna making her shrink in size. “I told her you weren’t to be fired.”
“No, I know.” I shook my head. Shanna wouldn’t be able to find another A-list actor for the salary I was getting, not unless they wanted to put off shooting the movie, which would cost even more money. She knew it. I knew it. I wasn’t worried about that. “She’s going to think we’re sleeping together. You have to set her straight. She’s already watching Kara like a hawk. She doesn’t want any bedroom shit to land on the movie set. If she thinks we’re sleeping together, she won’t be happy about that. At all.”
The more I talked, the bigger her eyes got.
Then the door burst open.
Shanna came storming in.
Abigail gulped and then jumped up. “We’re not sleeping together!”
Yep. That wasn’t embarrassing.
Shanna looked from Abigail to me and then back again. A dry chuckle came out. “Well, too bad for you. I’ve heard he’s amazing.”
“Not funny, Shanna.”
She fixed those eagle-like eyes on me. “I wasn’t trying to be funny, but you were. Apparently. Drinking Captain Morgan all night. Then going off on your boss.” She gestured to Abigail. “What the hell were you thinking?”
I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “I wasn’t.”
She was looking me over, lingering on the bruises and then on the IV, which was still in me. “Shit, Brody. What did you do?”
Fucked up. Again.
Exhaustion hit me. I could feel it in every inch of my body. “I’m a mess, Shan.”
A ghost of a smile graced her face, but she let the nickname go. If Gayle had nickname status, then so did I.
She jerked her head up and down, briskly. “Okay. Right. Listen, you are going to a brief stay in a rehab.”
“What?” I started to stand.
“I talked to Gayle about it. She’s got your bags packed already. There’s a car waiting outside. We’re going to shoot as much as we can without you, so some of the schedule is getting shuffled around, but it’ll be fine. As long as you come back in top shape and sober, I think we can finish the movie on time.”
I’d be gone.
Morgan wouldn’t know.
I shared a pleading look with Abigail. If she was going to step in and save my skin, it was a good time to do it.
I waited.
She was quiet.
I shot her another meaningful look. Right now, Abigail. Cover for me. Right now!
“Um!” Her wide eyes were locked on mine. “Uh . . . he doesn’t need rehab.”
Shanna turned to her, an eyebrow raised. “He doesn’t?”
“No.” Abigail swallowed, her face scrunching and then clearing again. Light bulb. “He already told me he wasn’t going to drink anymore. I really think he just needs to sleep, rest. You guys have been shooting at all hours of the day. And you know, what better place to detox than here?” She waved a hand around the room. “It’s beautiful here. All the scenery. Crisp mountain air. I mean, we have horses too.” She snapped her fingers. “They use equine therapy for rehab. They used to bring patients here when we had domestic horses. We can use the ones they’re using for movie. How about that? We can bring in a therapist to work with Brody.”
Shanna slowly folded her arms over her chest, leveling Abigail with a hard stare. “Why are you so eager to keep him here?”
Abigail backed up, shrinking even more under Shanna’s scrutiny. “I’m not sleeping with him. I’m really not. The—uh—” She shot me a look.
She was struggling.
Good thing I could lie with the best of them. “Because I know things about her family.”
Shanna’s expression went from mild amusement to sharp alert. “What do you mean you know things about her family?”
I sighed, looking for all the world to be relaxed and unfazed. “Things I can’t talk about, and that’s why Abigail—”
“Call me, Abby.”
“—Abby was in my cabin last night. I’ve been trying to find out more about Peter Kellerman, so I can better identify with him. I uncovered a secret in the process.”
Abby groaned. “Oh God.”
“And don’t think you can get it out of me. It’s a secret I gave them my word I would keep.”
“They?”
Shit. Slip up. Still, I stayed in my role, trying to be nonchalant. “Yeah, Matt and Abig—Abby.”
I was dangling a carrot in front of Shanna, one of the best directors I’d ever be able to work with, but there was a reason she was one of the best. She was smart, and she was a bloodhound. If there were something out there, something she should know to make the movie better, she would find it out. I just confirmed to her there was something for her to seek.
And she would.
She’d be doing all sorts of her own research.
Maybe I should’ve done the rehab stint?
No.
If I were shipped away for six weeks, I didn’t know if Morgan would seek me out again. That would mean that Abby would never get the meeting with her sister that she so desperately wanted.
I had to stay.
It was the only way.
“I’ll meet with a counselor. I’ll do the equine therapy, but it has to be here.”
“No drinking?”
I nodded. “No drinking.”
“You get eight to ten hours of rest a night.”
Another nod. “I’ll sleep like a baby.”
“You take herb supplements if you need help falling asleep. No pills. No prescriptions.”
“Yes. All natural. Healthy.”
She fixed me with another one of those eagle-stares. Her eyes narrowed to slits, and I could feel she was assessing my bullshit meter. After a full minute, she sighed. “Fine.” Her arms uncrossed from her chest, falling to her side. “I’ll have Gayle set everything up. We’ll be here to shoot in a few days. You can come and watch if you want.”
“I will.” And I would. Working was not my problem. It was the downtime that was.
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Abby clapped her hands together. “Great!”
Shanna and I turned to her, neither of us excited.
With her che
eks turning red, she exclaimed, “I’m excited for the equine therapy. Jennifer’s coming soon too.”
She almost bounced from the room, and Shanna turned back to me. She cocked her head to the side. “The same Jennifer that’s engaged to Kellerman Junior Junior? The same one that I remember you having an affair with?”
Oh . . .
Fuck.
Brody
“I can’t believe how you lucked out.”
I was sorting through the food Gayle brought for me before she headed to the hotel for the night. Really, it was nothing more than a stall tactic. Even after she and Shanna had gone through the cabin, top to bottom, she was still worried. I wasn’t hiding anything.
I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I got it. I did. I hadn’t been acting like a normal person with normal problems for the last eight months.
I patted her arm. “I will be fine. I promise.” I saw her disbelief. Her lips pressed together. “This was a wake-up call.” As much as I hated to admit it, it was. “It’s time to work through some of my grief about Kyle.”
Her eyes clouded over. “You never talk about him, you know?”
“I know.”
When I did, I wanted to hurt something. I wanted to punch holes in walls, demolish hotel rooms, shatter glasses. Anything to take it from the inside and put it on the outside.
“I didn’t know Kyle, but maybe you should reach out to his wife? See your nieces?”
The man-eating, metal-chewing manager was gone. The mother she must’ve been for her kids was talking.
I was softening, but I didn’t want that. That brought feelings.
Morgan.
I’d focus on her.
I saw her horse beyond the fencing. If that horse was there, so was Morgan.
“I’ll be fine, Gayle. I mean it.”
She quieted, but I still felt her concern.
“I’ll give them a call tonight.”
“Good.” She perked up. “Good. That’s so good.” She grasped my arm with both her hands and squeezed. “I’m happy to hear that.” She was almost shaking me.
“And I’ll be fine. I’m going to go on a run, wear myself out, and then sleep. That’s it.”
“No visitors.”
Technically, I was going to Morgan, or hoping to.
“No visitors here tonight.” I nodded firmly.
“I mean it, Brody. I know you said you weren’t sleeping with Kellerman, but that would be very, very bad if you got mixed up with her. Her brother’s protective.”
Didn’t I know it? I saw the look Matthew Kellerman gave me during the crew dinner the first night. If he could’ve speared me with a pitchfork, he would’ve.
“Okay.”
Her phone started buzzing, and she looked to read the text. “That’s Shanna. They’re waiting for me in a car.”
“I’ll be fine. I promise.”
She nodded, going to the door before looking back.
I held my hands in the air. “I’m making you a promise. Once I do that, I always follow through. I will be fine tonight.”
Her lips twisted into a half-grimace. “I’m aware you aren’t promising other than tonight.”
I went to the door and held it for her. She paused there, raking her gaze over me again. Head to toe. She said curtly, “You still look damn good.”
I barked out a laugh. “Shanna said if the bruises don’t heal by the time I start shooting, they’ll work it into a scene.”
She grunted. “I’m sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s in your bed the minute the last scene is wrapped.”
That’d be interesting. She’d have a rude awakening.
Her phone buzzed again.
I said lightly, “Go, Gayle. I’m just going for a run tonight, and I’ll call my nieces later.”
Her shoulders relaxed. Finally.
She began moving down the stairs, waving once over her shoulder once she got to the ground.
Shanna was driving and rolled her window down. She pointed at me, her eyebrows fixed fiercely together. “Rest and healing. Got it?”
I saluted her.
She laughed and then flicked me off as she drove away.
Once the last of the crew left, I knew I was alone for real. The Kellermans had gone into the city for dinner. Abby had texted me to say they’d be back late and would be returning to the main lodge. Shanna said they weren’t moving the crew again. Since the EMTs took me to the house, the whole radon lie was done, but she didn’t know that. She just said she wasn’t flipping the bill to move everyone back. There was enough moving as it was.
Things were becoming a new normal, and it was starting with my changing clothes.
Sneakers.
Running shorts.
A shirt that’d keep me warm.
And headphones plugged into my phone.
I hadn’t been lying when I said I was going for a run.
I really did intend to start fixing myself, and that meant getting back to my normal training routine. I needed five miles today, but I started out slowly, turning onto the walking path I’d explored before.
Morgan was out there. Somewhere.
Morgan
I’d been trailing him for three miles.
He had no idea where he was going. He went to the river, those headphones plugged in. The music was so loud that I could hear it from fifty yards behind him. He was an idiot. He never stopped to mark where he was turning. Just blindly moving from one path to another, until we were winding through a narrow ravine. There was a trickle of water underneath him, and I eyed the cliff walls on both sides of us. A mountain lion could perch up there and jump down. I had no weapon, just Shiloh’s hooves if I called to her.
Then again, he would have no idea what was happening until it was too late.
I turned and whistled.
I heard her coming minutes later, and with him still running ahead, I dropped back until I was trailing by another thirty feet or so. I felt her coming up behind me, her hoofs clopping against the rock beneath us. When she drew next to me, I reached up and jumped, curling so I fit snugly on her in one smooth motion.
She was watching Brody ahead of us. The bass was blaring, and he was swinging his arms in rhythm. He was jogging, but he looked as if he was almost dancing at the same time.
I nudged her with my legs. I wanted her to go forward.
She didn’t. She swung those dark eyes back to me, and I read her message.
You want me to follow him? Really?
I frowned, nudging forward with my legs again. I nodded. Yes, come on.
Her nostrils flared out, but she dropped her head and started forward. This canal edged around a cut into the mountain before joining the river again behind us. Most fish didn’t travel this way, but every once in a while you might get lucky with a small one slipping through.
As we kept on, Shiloh gave up her search and lifted her head. The trees above us on one side of the ravine caught her eye. Her body tensed, and I knew she wanted to make a run for it, see if she could stand up and catch some of the leaves. There were a few branches hanging low over the side, so when Brody kept going ahead, I let her stop. She reached up, but couldn’t catch the leaves with her neck stretched out.
I knew the next step, and I shifted my weight, flattening myself on top of her.
She waited until I was anchored to her, my arms and legs completely around her, and then she slowly stood until she was on her back two hooves only.
She stretched up as far as she could reach and—success. Her giant lips caught one of the branches. Instead of nibbling some of the leaves from it, she snapped the branch off and lowered herself back down.
I started laughing. She looked like a giant dog with a large stick.
Her eyes shifted back to me.
Refusing to feel admonished by her, I nudged her forward again. Brody was almost out of eyesight.
Her entire body shook once before she began forward. She worked her way around the branch, eating the leaves as she walked an
d I laid on her like I did when she would graze. Except, I didn’t lay on my back. I was on my stomach with my feet resting on her back haunches and her head propped my head up, my chin resting in my hands.
As Brody traveled the length of the ravine, he never looked back.
I wanted to yell at him. There were animals around that could kill him, but he only kept going. His breathing started to get winded, so I wondered when he would eventually slow to a walk.
Not that I was complaining.
His shorts slipped low on his hips. He’d pulled off his shirt, knotting it through a loop on his shorts so it bounced behind him.
It was still cold at night, but apparently, he couldn’t feel it. If he kept this up, he could get sick. But then I watched his back and the slide of his sweat working its way down around his muscles.
I chewed on my lip, wanting to be the one to touch his back.
It was shaped perfectly. Broad and muscular shoulders, which flexed with every swing of his arms. The skin tightened and slid over them, forming a small ravine of its own that ran down the length of his spine. Every inch of him was strong, hard, smooth. There were bruises over him, but they only accentuated his muscles, giving him a hard and dangerous look.
I never knew the male physique could look like this. He reminded me of the herd’s stallion. His own muscles rippled under his coat, and it was the same with Brody.
A throbbing started between my legs, and I shifted uncomfortably on Shiloh.
This was the longest run I’d seen a person do in my life.
He needed to go back to the cabin, shower, and be safe. He shouldn’t be out there, and he shouldn’t be depending on me to watch over him.
I swung my legs beneath me, sitting upright on Shiloh again.
That was why he was out here and running like he didn’t care. Because he didn’t. The asshole knew I’d find him.
He was using me and torturing me all at the same time.
Shiloh glanced back to me. She sensed my anger and began shifting around on her feet. She knew I wanted to do something. She was waiting for me to decide, and then I did. I kicked my heels into her stomach, and she took off.