Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity)

by Alexander, Monica

  I was grateful for the dark tinted windows of the SUV as Charlie drove us behind the house to what looked like an outside staging area. Under a giant tent, there were a dozen people in various stages of movie making. I noticed a girl a few years older than me earnestly approaching the SUV with a wide smile on her face. She was pretty with long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she looked sharp in jeans, a white tee and a black blazer.

  “Hey Charlie,” she said cheerfully, sounding just this side of flirty.

  “Hey Sloane,” he said, flirting right back but in a more reserved and bashful way. I wondered if something was going on with them as I hoped out of the car.

  The girl, Sloane, turned to me and suddenly embraced me. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said, as she hugged me tightly. Then she pulled back and looked at me. “Welcome to the Sons of Sovereignty set.”

  I thought I sensed pride in her voice as she said that, and I wondered who she was.

  “Thanks,” I said with a slight question in my tone. She seemed to know who I was.

  “Logan, this is Sloane Anderson. She wrote the books the movies are based on,” Charlie explained, and I instantly recognized her name. “She’s incredibly talented.”

  I looked at Sloane and raised my eyebrows in awe and respect. I couldn’t help it. She was so young, and she had a successful series that had been turned into a movie. Her books were fantastic.

  Sloane rolled her eyes as she elbowed Charlie in the ribs. “He’s just saying that because he’s trying to impress me,” she said, completely calling him out. “We went out last night, and it was quite a date.”

  I saw Charlie blush just a little, and I had to wonder if Sloane’s mind, that had written these graphic, no-holds-barred, sex-filled books, was only dirty on the pages she wrote or if it splashed over into her personal life.

  “Quite,” Charlie echoed. “But I thought she was pretty talented before I asked her out.”

  “Charlie, did you read Sons of Sovereignty?” I teased him, not able to imagine him getting into the sexy plotline.

  “No!” Charlie said instantly, but then he looked at Sloan apologetically. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but I, uh, just haven’t gotten around to reading them yet.”

  Sloane laughed out loud. I noticed she had a smattering of freckles across her face that suited her and gave her a welcoming, real world appearance.

  “Charlie, you don’t have to read my books. I know they’re all girly and mushy. Trust me, I won’t feel bad.” Then she turned back to me. “He’s referring to seeing me work my magic in other ways. We actually met for the first time when he was with Jase in New York last fall. We were courting him to play the role of Griffin, so Charlie witnessed how passionate and aggressive I can get when I’m fighting for something I really want.”

  “She was ruthless,” Charlie said, and I could hear the admiration in his voice. “And she was sexy as hell while doing it. I was stoked when Jase hired me to work for him, since I knew I’d get to see her again and ask her out.”

  Sloane shook her head. “It only took him about two hours to do it too. I’d just gotten on set, and there he was, and I recognized him, so I said hi. He asked me out at lunch, and even though it was really sudden, I totally said yes, because I thought he was so cute the night I met him.”

  She grinned at him, and he brushed the back of her hand with his, making her giggle. They were actually really sweet together, but I noticed they weren’t physically open about what was going on with them. To the casual observer, we were just three people talking.

  “She made me nervous,” Charlie explained, which was funny for a guy as huge as him, who was always so in control. You wouldn’t expect him to be nervous. “I saw her throw everything on the table to get our boy cast in this role. You would have been impressed with how she was fighting for Jase and convincing him that this was the best role for him to take. It was impressive.”

  Sloane smiled as she shook her head at Charlie and turned to me. “I was lucky enough to get a clause in my contract that said I could have input into who would play the characters in the movies when they optioned my books. And I fought like hell for Jase to play the part of Griffin, because I knew he’d be perfect for the role. But he was so hesitant at first. I think it was you who talked him into eventually taking the role, right?”

  I hesitated before answering. “I’m not sure I was that much of an influence on him. I just told him to follow his heart. I didn’t tell him to outright take the role, but I knew he wanted to do it.”

  She grinned at me. “You had a big influence on him. You just didn’t realize it. So, are you okay with him playing Griffin?” she asked, suddenly seeming concerned.

  I bit my lip, wondering how to play this. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’m incredibly supportive of his career, and it’s a great role. I read the books – which I loved by the way – and I don’t think I was too concerned until the role of Serena was cast.”

  I realized after I said it that Sloane could have chosen Chloe to play Serena, and I’d basically just dogged her decision. But then she made a face.

  “Yeah, I did not have input into that decision,” she said, lowering her voice and glancing around to see if anyone was close enough to hear us. “I gave up that right to sway one of the producers who didn’t want to cast Jase. He said he’d bow out of the decision-making process for Griffin if I bowed out of the vote on who would play Serena. I think he saw a golden opportunity to sell tickets with Chloe and Jase as love interests. I’m personally not a big fan of her, but whatever. She’ll do fine in the role, and as long as the audience loves her, it’s not a big deal.”

  “It is to me,” I said, not sure why I was being so direct with this girl. Maybe I felt comfortable with her because I’d read her books or maybe it was because I knew she was from Virginia, so she wasn’t a Hollywood phony, but I felt like I could trust her. I could see what Charlie saw in her.

  “You don’t have to worry about her,” Sloane assured me. “Jase and I have spent a lot of time together since he’s been here, because he’s so interested in getting his part right, and he asks a lot of questions about who Griffin is, how he thinks, what motivates him. It’s really cool to get to work with someone who’s so dedicated to making the part great for the fans who have some very high expectations. And he talks about you non-stop, so I know where his heart is. I actually feel like I know you already. That’s why it’s so great to finally meet you, Logan.”

  Charlie stepped toward me then. “She’s right, Logan. You don’t have anything to worry about. Jase is as faithful as they come.”

  “Has Chloe been stiffing around?” I asked him, and he hesitated before nodding.

  “Yeah, of course she has,” he admitted. “But Jase hasn’t even seen her outside of filming. At the end of the day, he might go to dinner with some of the cast, but never her. He’s really steering clear of her.”

  “Not for her lack of trying, but Jase knows that,” Sloane piped in. “And please don’t think we’re telling you this because we want to freak you out. We just want you to be prepared that she’s going to have her claws out when she sees you.”

  I nodded. “Good to know. I figured as much after she cornered me at one of the Golden Globes’ after parties.”

  “What did she say?” Sloane asked, and I hesitated, not sure I should be gossiping with someone I didn’t know very well. But she helped to reassure me. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to go to the press. I might use it in one of my next books, but that’s it.” She grinned at me.

  I took a deep breath. “She just alluded to the fact that she was interested in Jase, that he was hers, and I basically needed to get out of the way.”

  “Ooh, that’s harsh,” Sloane said, shaking her head. “Nasty bitch. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure she doesn’t try anything shady, but I’m pretty sure Jase is taking care of that.”

  “Speaking of Jase,” I said, because as much as I was enjoying meeting a wr
iter I respected, who was also a really cool person, I really wanted to see my boyfriend.

  “He’s upstairs in his room,” Charlie supplied.

  “His room?” I questioned.

  Charlie gestured around the backyard with high stone walls enclosing it. “There isn’t any room for trailers on set, so the actors were all given rooms to use during downtime. I’ll take you to Jase’s room.”

  “Thanks Charlie.”

  Sloane reached out to hug me again. “Can we do dinner tonight? I know you guys have big reunion plans, but it would be so fun for the four of us to go out together.”

  I looked over at Charlie to see he was grinning at the prospect of going out with Sloane again, so I wasn’t sure I could deny him the opportunity. Jase and I would have plenty to time together after dinner, and I did want to see some of New Orleans since I would only be there for a short time.

  “Sounds good to me,” I told her, and Charlie mouthed, ‘thank you’ to me.

  Then he led me into the house where we were stopped by a PA who issued me a guest pass to be on the set.

  “Charlie, does he know she’s coming?” the PA asked. “They’re going to start filming in ten minutes, so I don’t know if she can be up there then.”

  “She’s one of the only people I’ll let see me shoot,” I suddenly heard from the top of the grand staircase nearby and looked up to see Jase, in full hair and make-up, tattoos and piercings, smiling down at me.

  My face broke out into a wide grin as I bolted up the stairs, directly into his arms.

  “Oh, my God, you feel amazing,” he said, as he hugged me tightly, squeezing the air out of my chest. “The computer does not do you justice.”

  I pulled back to look at him, taking in his get-up. He was dressed in just leather pants that hugged his hips and showed off his amazing upper body that was covered in fake tattoos that looked ridiculously real. I reached out and ran my fingers over a tiger that covered his entire left pec. I shook my head as I took in the wig he was wearing that gave him shaggy dark hair to his shoulders, and then there was the lip ring, the eyebrow ring, the major amounts of guy-liner and the earrings running up both ears.

  He smiled his small smile that he only broke out when he was nervous, and I wondered why that was.

  “Do I look ridiculous?” he asked.

  I smirked at him. “No, I think you look so hot.”

  He smiled. “So, should I stay in costume for later?” he asked, lowering his voice.

  I cocked my head to the side, appraising him while drinking in the rippled muscles that covered his entire upper body. Then I leaned up and kissed him, simply because I wanted to kiss him, but also because I’d never kissed a guy with a lip ring before and I wanted to see what it was like. I can’t say I was a fan.

  I looped my arms around his neck and looked up at him. “No way, when we’re alone, I just want you,” I told him, and he grinned. Then I slid my hands down his back, over his leather pants and let them rest under his tight butt. “I do enjoy these pants, though. They might be sort of fun.”

  He smirked. “I get to keep them if I want.”

  “Keep them,” I said quickly, and he laughed.

  “Jase, you forgot this,” Gary, his assistant said, as he came out of a room down the hall. “Oh.”

  He stopped in his tracks when he saw me.

  “Hi Gary,” I offered cheerfully, but he didn’t soften at all.

  “Hello Logan,” he said formally, and I felt guilty all over again.

  Gary and I had gotten into it the day Jase saw Ethan kiss me. And I might have threatened to hit Gary when he wouldn’t let me into Jase’s house to talk to him. I wouldn’t really have hit him, but I was raging at that moment, and he’d been in my way, so he’d gotten my wrath. I’d apologized profusely after Jase and I got back together, but he still hadn’t forgiven me after all this time.

  “Thanks, Gary,” Jase said, taking some sort of leather cuff thing from him and snapping it onto his wrist.

  “Jase, five minutes,” the PA who’d given me my badge said, and I turned around to see she was right behind us, coming up the stairs.

  “You got it, Gina,” Jase said and took my hand to pull me up the stairs to the second floor.

  “Let me know if you need me,” Gary said to Jase in a clipped tone. “I’ll be in your dressing room.”

  I looked at Jase in confusion, and he just shrugged. Gary pouted from time to time, but he was as efficient as they came, and he’d never let Jase down, so Jase didn’t push him when he got moody. I hoped there would come a time when Gary and I could be friends, but it didn’t seem likely.

  “I should go after him,” I offered, looking back over my shoulder, but Jase shook his head.

  “No, I want you here. If you want to, you can tell him you’re sorry, again, after this scene, okay?”

  I nodded as he led me to a room that had a large four poster bed and a lot of black accents. I saw Chloe standing in the middle of the room talking to who I thought was the director. Her eyes darted to us for a brief moment, and she scowled at me for a second before she started to get a gleam in her eye.

  “Do you remember what I told you about this scene,” Jase asked, as he wove his arms around my waist from behind so my back was pressed against his front as we stood in the doorway.

  I nodded, remembering in graphic detail what he’d described to me. At the time, it hadn’t seemed that bad, but now that we were in the room, and I could see the bed and Chloe, who was wearing a robe that covered up her ridiculously perfect body that I knew she would unleash shortly, I was starting to dread watching.

  “Are you still okay with staying?” Jase asked, his lips at my ear.

  I nodded, but I didn’t say anything. I was starting to have a mini-freak out, but that was the last thing he needed to be concerned about.

  “Just keep in mind that I’m fully covered, and so is she, and there are all these people standing around watching. Nothing is really happening. The whole scene is choreographed by that guy over there.” He gestured to a guy who was standing near the bed, holding a clipboard. “We’ve practiced this scene several times, so I know exactly where to put my hands and when to look a certain way and how to say things that the audience will believe, but none of what you’re going to see or hear is real, okay?”

  I could hear the stress in his voice and knew he was just as nervous as I was. I think we were both wishing I could have seen them shooting one of the scenes with the band, but they wouldn’t shoot those scenes until the following week. Our timing kind of sucked.

  “I know.”

  Jase turned me in his arms and looked deep into my eyes. “Lo, I love you, and I’m glad that you’re here, but if you don’t want to watch, please don’t feel like you have to. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

  I smiled at him, gathering my courage together. “I’m fine. It’s fine. I know it’s fake, and it’s not going to be the most fun thing in the world for me to witness, but I want to see you in action, so I’ll suck it up and get through it.”

  He chuckled. “You’ll ‘suck it up’?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah,” I said, smirking at him. “I will, because this is what you do, and you love it.”

  He looked at me in mock-disbelief. “I don’t love this,” he said, gesturing to the bed with his head.

  I rolled my eyes playfully. “You love acting. It’s fine. Don’t get all inside your head. You have to get in character in about two minutes, and I want you to do this scene in one take, so you’d better be on your game, mister.”

  He smiled then leaned forward and kissed my lips. “I love you,” he said against them.

  “I’m not kidding, one take,” I said earnestly, and he laughed.

  “Jase, you ready?” someone called out, and he pulled away from me.

  He pointed to a chair in the corner, out of the way, where Charlie was sitting. “You can watch from over there, okay?”

  I smiled. “Break a leg,” I said
cheerfully and smacked him playfully on his leather covered ass.

  “Damn,” he said, as I walked away. “That was hot.”

  I turned around and shrugged. “Yeah, well, I figured it fit the scene.”

  He was smirking at me when Chloe walked over to him.

  “Could you try to be professional?” she snapped at him.

  “Could you try not to be a total bitch?” he snapped back and then walked over to the director as I settled into the chair next to Charlie.

  Sloane slid in on his other side. “I told you he wasn’t friendly to her,” she said and winked at me.

  I smiled as the director said, “Places”, and then once everyone was on their marks, “Action!”

  I watched as Jase slid seamlessly into Griffin who was enamored with Chloe’s character, Serena, and you never would have known how much he detested her as he stroked her cheek, pulled her body flush against his and kissed her.

  I decided I would not be kissing him until he brushed his teeth. Yes, I realize that was bitchy, but I didn’t want her taste on him when I kissed him. I wanted only him.

  “You okay?” Sloane whispered once the director called cut for the tenth time.

  I’d been okay watching the graphic scene the first few times – or as okay as I could have been – but now I was starting to get uncomfortable. And Jase was getting pissed. Chloe kept flubbing her lines right at the end of the scene so they had to start all over, and I knew it was just to irritate me and Jase.

  But it was her reactions to him that were really getting to me. She was laying the acting on thick with her moans and cries and facial expressions. If I didn’t know better, I would have really believed she was orgasming. Jase’s character was a little bit of a dirty talker, and he normally wasn’t, so that was probably the only thing holding me together. He didn’t look like himself, and he didn’t sound like himself. I was grateful for that.