by Loki Renard
“So you understand that this is set at the height of a civil war,” Roger said, moving his hands in emphatic circular gestures. “You’re playing a Red Cross nurse who is caught between enemy lines and is rescued by a military doctor who becomes separated from his unit. Together they survive ninety-nine grueling days in the wild, running from enemy units, guerilla fighters, and from ferocious wild animals like crocodiles and lions. Through it all, the couple not only survives, but finds love.”
“So this is a real story? It’s a biopic, right?”
“It’s based on real events,” Roger nodded.
“So there was a real nurse?”
“Mhm.”
Her stomach sank at the notion that Paul might already be spoken for. If he’d fallen in love with this nurse, then he was probably with her now. She turned to him with a smile far brighter than her feelings.
“So, you are married to this woman now? That’s so romantic!”
Paul shook his head. “The script takes a few liberties with the romantic aspects of the story. In real life, the woman I was with was already married. Once we got out of there, she went back to her husband. We were never together.”
Chloe searched his face as he spoke, trying to tell if that made him sad or not. It was hard to tell; he had a kindly, but somewhat inscrutable demeanor that didn’t give much away. She wondered how good of an actor he’d be given that he didn’t seem to emote much.
“Thank god,” she sighed. “I mean…” She was suddenly aware of a series of curious eyes on her. “I mean, thank god you both got out of there safely and she was able to go home to her husband, I mean, they must have been really worried about one another. And your wife must have been so worried too…”
“I’m not married,” he said, his lips twisting ever so slightly, his cheek dimpling at her as his dark brow rose a fraction.
“Well, your girlfriend… or boyfriend must have…” She wasn’t fooling anyone in the room, but she was fooling him the least. She began to squirm in her chair, her face hot as she blushed. Chloe wasn’t used to having to work to flirt with men. Usually they were the ones desperate to know if she was seeing anyone. It felt very strange to be the one asking clumsy questions.
“I was single at the time,” Paul said, leaving her still very much in the dark as to his current relationship status.
“Oh, so at the time…”
“Chloe!” Chase snapped at her. “We’re here to talk about the movie.”
“I know,” she scowled. “I’m just getting to know Paul. It’s part of acting, Chase. God!” She rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, trying to hide her embarrassment. She was actually quite glad Chase had cut in there; the questioning was starting to sound kind of awkward, and Chloe was never awkward. But her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry. She reached into her purse, searching for some gum.
“Right,” Roger, the director said. “So we’re going to need to do a script reading ASAP. But before we do that… Chloe… are you paying attention?”
Chloe frowned. They were talking to her like she was some teenage brat, totally unfair as she was well into her twenties. Being twenty-one should get her some kind of respect, she figured. Apparently not.
“Yeah,” she said, her head still down as she fiddled between tubes of lip gloss and mascara. “I’m listening.”
“We’ve talked with our backing studio into signing you,” he said. “Getting them to agree wasn’t easy, for obvious reasons. The head of the studio is one of the men you had something to say about in your recent video…”
“So?” Chloe scowled more furiously and slumped in her chair. God. Would they ever stop referring to that damn video and those stupid tweets and that blog post and all the rest of it?
“They’ve agreed with some restrictions.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“This is an intense picture. It’s outside the scope of your usual material. So we’d like you to use the method acting principles and live your life as close to your character’s as possible.”
“So, what? Go find somewhere war-torn? Get rebels to live in my trailer?” She was being sarcastic and kind of bitchy, but she didn’t care. Having her recent scandals thrown in her face was totally unnecessary. Everyone knew what had happened. No need to bring it up in front of one of the hottest guys she’d ever met.
“No, we want you to live with Paul, like your character Jodie did when she was caught in Rwanda. We want you to do as he says, obey him the way she had to for survival.”
Chloe glanced across at Paul and felt her stomach do back flips. “You want me to… what now?”
“You need to embody Jodie. You need to get inside the skin of the character, to really know what it’s like to be a woman totally dependent on one man for her survival.”
“Yeah… that doesn’t sound like me.”
“It’s going to,” Roger said firmly. “This film is about realism. There’s no bubble-gum pop saccharine sweetness. This is about life, real life, and passion and true grit…”
As he went off on his tear, Chloe tried to digest what she’d just been told. She was going to live with Paul. Hot as he was, he was a total stranger. And method acting? How much method was going to be involved? Would they expect her to sleep with Paul? Like, for the film?
“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. “I mean, this film, or lived with a man…”
The one thing Chloe had never been accused of was promiscuity. Her image had not been tarnished by dating Hollywood bad boys, because she rarely dated. Having been famous since she was fourteen, she’d grown up figuring that boys were only interested in her because of the fame. Nobody was real in Hollywood. There was a veneer over everybody, like they were perpetually coated in plastic like her grandma’s old couches. Sometimes she wondered if she was real either.
“That’s the point,” the director said. “You’re going to have to shed all the… commercial success…”
“Done,” Chloe smirked. “Done and done. Didn’t you catch my Periscope?”
Nobody else smiled. “The trappings of commercial success,” Roger said. “The squeaky clean wholesome shtick. Even when you’re ranting, you sound like a girl who just heard her first curse word. The nurse in this movie is a woman who has seen the world. She’s vulnerable, but she’s also strong. She has a spine.”
“I have a spine,” Chloe frowned. She had never been spoken to in such a way. Most of the time all directors cared about was that her top was tighter and her skirt was shorter and her smile a little brighter.
“Good, you’re going to need it, because for the duration of this film, when he tells you to jump, you jump.”
“Oh, my god, are you serious?” Her tone dipped into serious valley girl territory, but she couldn’t help it. This was not movie making as she’d known it.
“We’re very serious,” Roger nodded.
Her jaw dropped and her head spun. She’d figured the meeting would be a little greeting party where they’d say nice things to her and make her feel better about her little faux pas and then treat her like a queen. That was a far cry from what was actually happening.
A week earlier, she would never had thought she could be in such a position. She’d had it all. She’d been the darling of the movie industry. And now she was trading her freedom for three months for five hundred thousand dollars.
Chase had showed her the bills. He’d pointed out just how screwed she was if she didn’t at least get on top of some of her bigger debts. She was at risk of losing everything if she didn’t get her career back on track. This movie was artistic, serious. It had gravitas. It would establish her as more than another Hollywood brat, and she desperately needed that.
If there were stories done on her commitment to the role, if she could tell reporters how she had truly embodied the character, suffered in some ways as the character had, that would go a long way to restoring her professional reputation as well.
“No trailers. No smart phones.
Definitely nothing internet capable. You’ve done your dash online for the moment,” Chase added. “This is the perfect opportunity to do damage control and advance your career. If you agree to take this role, you’ll start with a two-week intensive with Paul that will get you up to speed before we start filming.”
Chloe glanced over at Paul, who seemed to be in the know about everything, but didn’t have much to say about it. The meeting had turned into a three on one, with him just sitting there, watching, taking everything in.
She wished the others weren’t there. She wished she could just talk to Paul. Get to know him a little, try to understand what it was she was really getting herself into. But there wasn’t time. Chase would be furious with her if she didn’t take the role. He’d probably drop her as a client and she didn’t want that. It was Chase who had engineered her ascent. Sure, she was famous now, but it was easier to fall in Hollywood than it was to climb and she did want Chase on her side.
“Okay,” she nodded. “I’m in.”
Smiles broke out around the table—except for Paul. While everyone else beamed and started talking about contracts and dates, Paul stood up and beckoned for Chloe to join him next to the water cooler at the far end of the room. It wasn’t exactly a private audience, but it was about the best she was going to get.
“Before you agree to this and sign your life away, I want to give you fair warning,” he said.
An ominous little trickle of fear and excitement ran through Chloe’s body. He was much taller when he stood up; he towered over her and made her feel even smaller and daintier than she was.
“Uhm, okay.”
“If we do this, it’s going to be intense,” Paul said. “The experiences Jodie and I had can’t really be recreated outside a war zone, but these guys are going to do their best. We’ve talked about it at length, this training period. It won’t be comfortable, I can promise you that much.”
As he spoke, Chloe was falling into his gaze, his words barely penetrating her consciousness. She’d never seen eyes quite that shade before. They were icy and yet enchanting, warm and knowing.
“You’ll be under my command,” he explained. “Like a military boot camp recruit. The concepts of rights and choice goes out the window. You do as you’re told, when you’re told to do it.”
She’d be under him. That wouldn’t be so bad. Being under Paul sounded like a good time to Chloe. The rest of what he was saying sort of flowed past her, barely entering her consciousness.
“I’ll do it,” she agreed, looking into his eyes the whole time.
“Okay,” he said, his handsome face breaking into a smile that made her fizz with excitement. “Let’s do this thing.”
Chapter Three
A week later, Chloe found herself heading into Northern California with serious doubts. The moment she’d left Paul’s presence, the world had flooded in again with its cruel headlines, gross speculations, and social media blowing up about her. Chase had forbidden her to make a single post anywhere, which to Chloe was like being forced to walk around gagged for a week. But it wasn’t just Chase being an ass. It was part of her contract that she wasn’t allowed to post on social media until the film came out. That was one of a whole bunch of incredibly restrictive terms she hadn’t bothered reading, but which Chase had informed her of after the fact.
Much of the filming documentation had amounted to a good behavior bond. She wasn’t allowed to smoke, drink, or take drugs of any kind, recreational or otherwise, that weren’t approved by Paul. She’d almost forgotten he was a doctor until Chase read her that part back.
She was nervous, and for a lot of reasons. She was nervous because this was her first ‘proper’ movie. The big budget projects she worked on had been easygoing. This wasn’t going to be easy. She was nervous because there was a lot riding on the project going well. If it flopped, her career might be over. And she was nervous because Chase was effectively delivering her into the custody of a man she barely knew. Paul seemed nice enough, but maybe that was just for the producer and director. Maybe he’d be really mean once he had her in his grasp. There was no way of knowing.
They’d turned off the main highway a few miles back, and now they were driving on a dirt track that led up into some national park. She knew it was real when they stopped at and then were waved past a small roadblock that declared the park closed for filming.
“They have the whole park?”
“They have a part of it,” Chase said. “The studio increased the budget once you were signed. Gave the director and producer more to play with. They’re happy right now, so that’s a good thing. Let’s not fuck this up, alright?”
His warning made her stomach twist into a knot, which was not helped by the way the car was bumping over rougher and rougher terrain. Half an hour later, the car stopped and Chloe found herself sitting in the middle of a rough, scrubby wilderness that turned to mountains in the distance. It was pretty. Probably.
She wasn’t much interested in taking in the view; she was far too wrapped up in her nervousness and annoyance, and most of all, regret. It had seemed like a great idea when they were in the meeting and Paul was sitting right next to her. Now it just seemed insane. Why had she agreed to this method acting trip? There had to have been another way. On the way up Chase kept telling her that two weeks wasn’t really any time at all and it would be over before she knew it, but Chloe had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to be that simple.
She hadn’t seen Paul since the meeting with the director and producer. That had been a week ago, but his face had stayed etched in her memory. Every night she’d gone to sleep thinking about him, wondering what he’d be like to live with. There was something about Paul that told her he really wasn’t like most men. He was an original in a world full of copies, someone who stood out even when he was trying to fit in.
“There’s the camp,” Chase said, pointing over her shoulder.
Chloe turned her head and saw that the ‘camp’ was made up of one fairly large single khaki tent. Aside from that there was nothing but sand, rocks, and scrubby bush here and there. It was one of the bleakest landscapes Chloe had ever laid eyes on, and it instantly kicked off a new round of nervous complaining.
“We are in the middle of nowhere,” she whined. “I’m supposed to live alone with this man for two weeks before we even start shooting? I can’t believe you got me into this, Chase. What happens if I fall off a mountain or something?”
“You got yourself into this,” Chase replied bluntly, putting the car into park. “Good luck, you spoiled brat.”
He wasn’t pretending to be sympathetic anymore. Having his income threatened had turned him from a charming yes man into a very unpleasant no man, and she’d used up the last of his pretend goodwill on the drive up there. He’d insisted on driving her, of course, making sure that she got there according to the terms of her contract, and making sure she didn’t have a car to leave in if she changed her mind five minutes in.
Chloe shot a cutting look at him. “I’ll fire you if you’re not careful,” she said. “The gossip people might call me that, but…”
“Everyone is calling you that,” Chase shot back without any kind of shame. “When you feel like pitching a fit in about five minutes, remember why you’re here.”
She didn’t really have a response to that. What could she possibly say? She’d fucked up and now every fawning sycophant who had ridden her coattails to success figured she was fair game.
“I’m not getting out of the car,” she said, putting her seatbelt on. She hadn’t worn it for any of the drive, but now it might actually have some use, she figured.
“Get out of the damn car, Chloe,” Chase growled, slamming the driver’s side door. He came around the car looking thoroughly furious. They’d bickered on and off the whole way up and Chloe didn’t care if he was angry. There was some satisfaction in seeing how frustrated he was. It made her feel a bit better about her own frustrations.
“No,” she said,
crossing her arms over her chest. “I won’t and you can’t make me.”
Chase narrowed his eyes at her.
“Chloe, get the hell out of the car or I’ll…”
What Chase was about to do was lost because Chase shut his mouth promptly as the flap of the tent opened and a male figure emerged from within. Like whining kids caught sniping at one another, they both stopped and instead did their best to look good, or at least normal.
Chloe smirked, realizing that Chase was just as keen for Paul not to see him acting like a jerk as she was. Chase was probably a bit jealous of her. He’d have leaped at the chance of spending two weeks in rugged land with a handsome military doctor. Her constant complaining about it was probably what had made him so damn grumpy on the way up.
Paul was wearing combat trousers and a khaki shirt with the sleeves rolled up, shirt tucked into his pants in a way that showed the hard lines of his body. He strolled toward the car with a casually powerful gait. Everything about him was raw and masculine. Chloe felt her pulse start to quicken as he closed the distance between them.
She took the seatbelt off and slid out of the car in a graceful fashion, knees together out of habit to prevent unintentional up-skirt pictures, not that it mattered because she was wearing tight black leggings that showed off every curve of her bottom and thighs, and a camo crop tank top that left her midriff bare. Her feet were clad in the heavy hiking boots that Paul had sent a message telling her to buy and break in over the week. They were the only part of her outfit she didn’t like. Her blond hair had been tied back behind her head and she wore big sunglasses, which she pulled off so as to get a better look at Paul.
“Chloe,” he said, shaking her hand and making her knees melt. “Good to see you.”
God. Had he always been that tall? Sunglasses were pushed up into his hair, which was tousled and sexy in a rugged sort of way, just like the rest of him.