by N J Adel
I arched a brow, the blinding sun irritating my eyes. “What fuckin’ changes? I didn’t make any changes.”
He stuttered some incoherent words, his eyes darting from one trailer to another. “Let’s get you inside.” He climbed the steps into the trailer, and I slammed the door shut when we were both in. “Can I have some water?”
I yanked the minibar open, grabbed a bottle, and tossed it to him. “What changes, Raoul? And who sent you the text?”
He took an incredible amount of time to drink. Definitely hiding something from me.
“Give me your phone,” I ordered, glaring at him.
He finally stopped drinking. “No!”
I patted the pockets of his jeans. “Give me your fuckin’ phone now.”
“Get off me, loca,” he squeaked. “It was Gennaro. He sent me the text.”
My back jerked straight. “Mike?”
“Duh!”
My tongue twisted inside my mouth, anger and suspicion swelling through me. “Call him.”
“Okay.” He fished his cell out of his pocket and tapped on the screen.
“Speaker,” I commanded. “But don’t tell him I’m here.”
He shook his head, but he opened the speaker.
“Garcia. You here yet?” Mike’s voice was rough, like he’d recently woken up and hadn’t yet spoken.
“I’m in Maggie’s trailer. She’s here already and mad about the changes you said you wanted to make.”
My eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. Raoul cringed in response.
There was a long pause before Mike spoke again. “Maggie?”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m…in the screening room.”
I yanked the phone out of Raoul’s hand and turned off the speaker. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Nothing. I thought you weren’t gonna be here till ten,” Mike replied.
“So you thought you’d have a meeting with one of the writers alone to make script changes?” I might have chosen not to officially take any credit for co-writing this movie, but I was still one of the writers. And the fucking director. Any changes had to be run by me.
“Carolina—”
“I’m coming over.” I hung up and shoved the phone in Raoul’s hand. “You’re coming with.”
I stormed inside the screening room, but only the 1st AD, Nadine was there. “Where the hell is he?”
Her beady eyes widened with fear. “He said to meet him in the conference room.”
“Fuck.” My fists clenched.
“Calm down, Mags.” Raoul trailed behind me as I stalked away.
I pushed the metal handle of the door and blew into the conference room—
“Surprise!” The voices of a hundred people boomed the word at once.
I flinched, my feet slowing to a halt, taking in the grinning faces of the movie team, the festive banners, and the breakfast buffet on the table. “Oh my God, you crazy bastards,” I murmured, laughing.
“Congratulations, you wacko,” Raoul said through the loud claps and cheers.
“Fucking changes, huh?” I slugged him on the back, eyeing Mike’s face in the crowd as he winked at me.
“You caught me by surprise. I didn’t know what to say,” Raoul replied, ushering me to the table as I thanked the friendly faces congratulating me. Everyone was there, Amanda, Samantha, Lahey, Bailey, even Dad, celebrating my success.
Cassidy hopped on the table, holding a megaphone, while Mike elbowed his way through the crowd to reach me. “This was your idea, of course,” I told Mike. “You and your surprises.”
“Me?” He shook his head. “It was them. I just helped keep you in the dark.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I motioned for Dad to come closer. When he arrived, I jumped into his embrace. “Thank you so much for coming, Daddy.”
“I’m so proud of you, baby.” He kissed my cheek. “I saw the pictures of the festival. You were amazing.”
“Our beautiful Maggie Dawson has won her first award. Woohoo,” Cassidy shouted in the megaphone, and the crowd broke into a roar. “The only one in Hollywood who can take a week off and stays ahead of schedule.”
Raoul rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me.” He scoffed through a loud hum of laughter from the surrounding companies.
“The only director who’s younger than all of the cast, beautiful as hell, swears like a man, screams in megaphones, and still manages to earn our respect before our love,” Cassidy said.
I laughed with the amused crowd, Mike and Dad each on either side of me.
“On behalf of everyone here,” Cassidy continued, “I’d like to say that your team loves you, Kid.”
Right now, I had never felt more proud, confident, beautiful and loved. A stupid grin wouldn’t leave my face, and my soul was dancing. Then I heard it. The ugly voice that wouldn’t let me be.
No. No, please. Just let me have this. For once.
Just before the invisible monster could snatch me from my happy moment, Mike lowered his mouth to my ear. “You’re the most beautiful everything in the world.”
I focused on his smile to silence the voice creeping into my head.
“Look around you. Capture the moment in your head, and stay there because you, my love, deserve it.” The look in his eyes banished my self-doubt thoughts. “And I love you,” he whispered. “Everybody does. Is it enough?”
Touching my scar, I nodded, assuring myself before him. “It will be.” My eyes took in the scene before me one more time. “It has to be.”
Scene 59
Maggie
SCENE 24: CHUCK AND CAMMIE LOVE SCENE
2nd AC clapped the third take of the shot, and the camera operator said, “Set.” I took one last glance at Mike’s tense face and then looked at him through the camera lens. “Action!”
“Stop crying, little girl.” Mike, sitting on a couch, hugged Celine, the only actress in the movie. Twenty-six. Blonde. Big tits for her petite figure. Wearing only an oversized, white T-shirt. Playing nineteen-year-old Cammie.
“I hate him,” she said, crying.
“You can’t hate your Papa. He’s looking after you.”
Celine broke the hug and left the couch, staggering. “Well, yeah, he’s your friend. What else you’re gonna say?”
“When it comes to you, you know I don’t always take his side.” He went after her. “But not this time.”
“Fuck you, Chuck.” She bumped her shoulder against his as she moved away, then staggered again and almost fell.
“Easy.” He caught her before she hit the floor and laid her back on the couch. He walked to grab a blanket but she caught his wrist and asked him not to leave.
I held my breath. The last two takes had gone fine until this point.
Mike sat on the floor, tucking Celine’s hair behind her ear. “You’re drunk. Get some sleep.”
She shook her head, bracing herself on her elbows, and pulled him into a kiss.
“What are you doing?” He acted taken aback, but his eyes were void of emotion.
She put her hands on his face. “I love you, Chuck.” She leaned in for another kiss.
He was supposed to tremble, show the struggle, leer at her lips, but his blank eyes weren’t even looking.
“Cut.” I rested my hand on the top of a camera, looking at Mike. “What’s the problem, Gennaro? Talk to me.”
He stood. “There’s no problem.”
I scratched behind my ear, breathing in patiently. “Do you need a break?”
“No. I’m good to go.”
Good to go my ass. “Okay. Let’s see it. Nadine, get here! I want this on camera.” I stepped in front of him as the 1st AD came up behind me. “Look at me,” I told him.
He glared, his jaw set.
Looking past his disguise, I gazed at Mike, not Chuck. “I’m Cammie. Your friend’s daughter. Young. Hot. Always had a crush on me. Give me that look.”
He breathed in and gave me a familiar look I’d misinterpreted for
years. I smiled in response. “Good.” Taking a step closer, I looked at him with desire. “Now I want you, too.” My hands touched his chest. “I kiss you. How do you feel? Look at my lips.”
He swallowed, his eyes darkening with need and struggle, his lips shivering.
“Excellent. My kiss gives you an erection. You want to bang me on that couch, but you can’t. It’s taboo, which makes it even hotter. I’m drunk and wet for you, telling you I love you. You’re struggling. Give it to me.”
His breath caught, his eyes dangerous.
I moved so close to him I felt his hard-on. “I’m wearing nothing under that T-shirt. I kiss you again, my legs spreading. What the fuck you do?”
I saw the burn in his cheeks, the swallow of his throat as he leaned in, his hand running down my shirt. The lust. Raw animal lust. “Wonderful. Perfect.” I moved his hand off me, stepping backward.
He cleared his throat, rubbing his eyes. “Shit. Sorry about the hand.”
“No worries.” I knew I was risking people noticing by doing what I’d just done, but there was nothing I wouldn’t do for this movie to succeed. For Mike. My own convenience was a trivial price to pay. “Can you do that to Celine, please?” I spun at Nadine. “Did you get that?”
Nadine nodded slowly, blushing, her beady eyes strangely wide. “That was really hot.”
My brows hooked. “O-kay.” I looked around at the gaping faces of the cameramen not behind their cameras. “What the fuck? Take your places.”
“Maybe we should take a break,” the DP suggested, snickering.
“Why? So you can jerk the fuck off?”
He bent his head and went behind his camera. “Sorry, boss.”
“From tucking her hair behind her ear. On your fucking marks.”
Scene 60
Maggie
Seventh take, yet he touched Celine like she was a bloody corpse. “Cut!” I growled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Mike’s eyes flicked at me. “Don’t yell.”
“Then do your fucking job.” My hands flew in the air. “This is supposed to be easy. Kiss. Touch. Take off her shirt. Get on top. Strip. Pretend to fuck. You’ve done this a thousand times before. Why the fuck can’t you do it now?”
He gritted his teeth, his index finger retracting in my face. Then his mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but he snapped it shut and stalked off set.
“Where’s he going?” My eyes darted to Nadine and the DP, and they both shrugged. “Where are you going?!” I shouted after Mike.
He continued, not answering or looking back.
“Gennaro? Get your ass back here!”
His head jerked in my direction, his eyes giving me one audacious look, as if he was giving me the finger.
Motherfucker. A tap on my shoulder set my head to whip back. Celine was in my view, in a robe over her T-shirt.
“Do you want me to go talk to him?” the blonde suggested. “It’s my first day on set, and we haven’t rehearsed this scene. Maybe we need to—”
Nadine dashed toward her, gesturing for her to stop talking.
“You need to what? Rehearse it? Alone?” My eyes narrowed, examining Celine’s expression, the ugliest thoughts crawling in my head.
Celine shrugged with a frown on her face. “Sorry. I thought I could help.”
“Just go, Celine,” Nadine said. “Get ready for 33.”
The blonde was about to turn away when I held her arm and leaned in. “I’m gonna ask you one question, and don’t you even think about lying.” My piercing gaze leveled with Celine’s. “Are you fucking him?”
“No.”
“Do you wanna fuck him?”
Celine curved her mouth in response.
The woman in me wanted to break the arm I was holding. The director had to let go of that arm and banish all the murderous ideas springing in my mind.
Yet suspicion was eating me up. I didn’t know Celine well enough to trust she was telling the truth. But I knew Mike. His word was the only one that mattered. The question was, could I take it if the truth was as horrific as the feeling in my chest right now?
“Nadine, push 24 and 25 for three hours.” I pointed at the camera. “And I want this clip sent to Gennaro’s computer, now.” My eyes rolled at the DP as I started. “Only Gennaro’s.”
“Come on, Kid,” he said.
“Shut the fuck up.” My hand patted Nadine on the shoulder. “Shoot the rest till I get back.”
Maybe I wouldn’t be able to handle what he’d tell me, and my world would tumble down. But no matter how painful the truth was, I had the right to know it.
Scene 61
Mike
Mike ignored Maggie’s banging on his door, his thumb pressing buttons on the TV remote without thought.
“Mike, it’s just me. Open up.” She banged again, her little fists doing an impressive number on the locked door.
He turned up the volume, knowing it was only a matter of time before she used her key.
His eyes dropped at the key ring dangling from his lock as the door swung open, the glare of incoming sunshine sliced by one form. Her form. The body that had Mike Gennaro incapable of even faking a lustful emotion for anyone else. “I’m really pissed right now. Please go away.”
She stood in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips, the door shutting behind her.
“Please, go away,” he repeated, his eyes back on the TV, his nerves breaking one by one.
“Are you fucking her?”
Her voice, her accusation made him madder than a raging bull. Burning with something dark inside, he rose from the couch and held both her arms. “You think I’m cheating on you?”
She glared at him with eyes made of fire and not a speck of fear. “Answer the fucking question.”
A jolt of desire went straight to his cock. Madre di Dio. Even when she infuriated me! His feet pushed forward until he pressed her to the opposite wall.
He gripped on his rage and used it as a shield, for all he wanted was to rip off her clothes and fuck her against that wall. “I already answered you the first morning we were together. I made you a promise that I’ll keep for the rest of my life. If you ask me that motherfucking question again, Maggie—”
“What?” She pushed against him, her expression different. Not angry anymore. Relieved, yet defiant. “You’ll spank me?”
Another shot of desire. Fuck. “Stop it!” He forced her back against the wall. “Is this a game to you? Why are you trying to drive me nuts?”
“Why can’t you touch her?” she challenged.
“Because I can’t touch anyone else like that.” The veins in his neck throbbed. “Not when you’re right in front of me, especially when you’re the one holding a camera, asking me to grab some girl’s tits and show you how much I like it.”
“It’s acting. Not real.”
“You’re not the slightest bit jealous that Celine’s lips are kissing mine, that her hands will be all over my ass, that she’ll be naked beneath me?”
“No.”
He winced, his grip tightening around her arms. “If you love me like I love you, Maggie, you won’t say that, ‘cause I know if the roles were reversed, I’d flip.”
“Like I said, it’s not real.” She leaned forward. “But you don’t know the vile things I wanted to do to that puttanella when she insinuated she wanted to fuck you, Mike, not Chuck.”
Something wild roiled inside him. It was hard enough resisting her when she swore in Italian out of jealousy. So she was worried he had eyes for anyone else? Well, he’d make damn sure she left here knowing she was the only one he wanted.
He smashed his lips against hers. Then he ripped her shirt off her, his mouth sucking her neck, giving her a hickey.
He traveled down her heaving chest, feasting on the scorching skin. His teeth bit her nipple against the sheer lace of her bra, and she moaned, her fingers wandering down to his belt.
He stopped her, pinning her hands to the wa
ll. “How bad do you want it? How bad do you want my cock?”
She rolled her bottom lip against her teeth, her hazel eyes smoldering.
“I wanna hear it.”
She shook her head teasingly.
“Fine. I’ll find out myself.” He shifted his weight forward, popping her jeans open with a tug. No panties. Sheer bra and no panties. Fuck. She knew how to make him lose control.
No. Not this time.
He eased two fingers inside her pussy, and she moaned harder. “Oh, you want it.” He exhaled. “You need it.” He needed her, too; his dick was aching inside his jeans.
He pushed his fingers in and out, watching her shudder. “Say it.”
“No.” Her pussy got wetter.
“Say it.”
“No!”
Her stubbornness made whatever game this was even hotter. He undid his belt and the zipper with his free hand, giving his cock some freedom. “Pull my cock out.”
Her eyes dropped to his ridged dick inside his boxers. “You want this as much as I do. You get it out.”
“No.” His boxers got wet from her as he teased her pussy with his still-covered dick.
She bit her lip so hard her teeth left marks when she stopped. Her hands gripped his ass, squeezing. “Fuck me. Now.”
He’d always loved the authority in her tone, but in this moment he needed to stay in control. “My cock is right in front of you. Pull it out.”
She groaned. “You’re an asshole.”
“I’ll show you how much of an asshole I am.” His thumb teased at her clit as he shoved his fingers deeper.
She squirmed, moaning. “Fuck it.” Her hand lowered his boxers and jeans, her fist wrapping around his shaft. “You gonna fuck me or what?”
He spun her around, lifted her hands and pressed them against the wall. “Bend.”
She flipped her hair, tilting her head to the side, her eyes narrowing at him as she spread her feet and pushed up on her toes, a position that flattered her beautiful ass. He brought his cock to her entrance and slid inside in one, swift stroke.