I'd done a few films when I was younger. They'd been crap. I mean, no one ever pretended otherwise. Well, not so much crap but lightweight stuff. Sweet love stories. I thought I'd done a decent job. No one else seemed to think so, though. Especially the critics.
"Come on. It's not even that many scenes. I'll be finished by lunchtime."
"There's no way you'll be done by then," Gary said. "I'm worried that you'll even get the filming done before four."
There was a glint in Alice's eyes but she didn't say anything.
"I'll be done by lunchtime and then both of you will have to admit that I'm the most awesome ever."
Alice's coughing fit wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in me.
We got to the studio. Gary had booked this guy because he was supposed to be one of the best. He wanted a few scenes of me being all lovelorn and heartbroken to cut in with the song. The new single was being released in a month and, obviously, was a love ballad. I thought it was a waste of the guy's talent to use him for something this simple but Gary wanted to go full-scale with the third single. This would just be a build up to that.
I met with Ari, the video production guy. It was a curt introduction. He seemed all business, no mucking around. Fine by me. Then he glanced at Alice.
"No girlfriends and hangers-on," he said. "They just get in the way."
"She stays," I said. "This is Alice Cain, she's my photographer."
He raised his eyebrows. "Sorry. I thought you were just a groupie. I've seen your work."
Not only had he seen her work, he'd been impressed. You could see that written all over him.
Alice just nodded.
"If you have a few moments, I'd like your ideas on framing some of the shots," he said to her.
"Of course. I'd be only too happy."
Hey, they could stop ignoring me, the star of this thing.
Ari sent me off to get changed while he chatted with Alice. The first outfit was pretty similar to what I was wearing. So similar it didn't really make sense to swap one pair of jeans and t-shirt for another, but I did it. My aim was to get out of here in record time, and questioning the producer would just delay things. He'd just argue that the t-shirt was a slightly different shade of black or something like that anyway.
I got my hair and makeup done, then got on set.
In the first scene I was making an angsty meal-for-one after being dumped. Later, there'd be a flashback scene in the same kitchen, with me cooking for the woman who dumped me.
I'd rock this. Cooking was something I did well. Some fake chopped tomatoes sat on a chopping board. I played around, pretending to chop them. I don't know why people said I couldn't act. I chopped the fuck out of those fake tomatoes.
Ari walked onto the set and everything started. It was a pretty simple set-up. A couple of cameras mounted on tracks and only one real camera man.
He came over and told me what to do. Basically, just chopping the fake tomatoes while looking wistfully at the empty seat.
A woman in full makeup sat in a chair to the side. She had to be the model for the flashback scene.
We got started and I chopped while staring wistfully. If I wasn't in such a hurry to get finished, I'd have mentioned that staring wistfully while using a sharp knife was a safety concern.
We did one take. I thought it'd gone well.
"Okay, let's do that again. Maybe tone it back a bit this time," Ari said.
I sighed. Then did a practice stare.
"Like that?"
"That's better," he told me.
A few takes later and we were done. There were a couple more scenes like that, just simple everyday things that I was now doing alone. Watching a movie, eating breakfast.
Then I had to change my clothes and hairstyle for the flashbacks.
I hadn't seen Alice while we were filming but she came over to talk to Ari while I changed. The two of them seemed to be getting on well. Not that I was jealous. I mean, Ari was short and bald and over 40 years old. And I was me. No comparison, really.
I got changed into another t-shirt and had my hair restyled. Now it'd just be same shots but with more happiness and less angst. And so far, it'd only taken an hour. No one could say I sucked at acting. I'd killed this. We'd be out even before lunch.
The model came onto set. I was supposed to look at her with true love in my eyes. She so wasn't my type though. Maybe she would've been once but now I had one specific type and that was the Alice type.
We went again with the tomato chopping scene.
"Cut," Ari yelled.
"What's wrong?"
"Where's the emotion? You're supposed to be in love with her. You seem more in love with that tomato."
I shrugged. I wasn't sure how to fake love and I'd never had to fake lust before.
We did a couple more takes but it still wasn't right.
"I'm not sure about this," I said. "Maybe Alice should stand just off camera."
That totally worked. I just had to gaze over at Alice and the love beamed out of me.
"Perfect," Ari said.
We did the rest of the shots, the breakfast and the watching movies. The movie scene wasn't so easy but I just buried my face in the model's hair. The chemical smell of hair product threatened to make me sneeze but I held that in, hoping my chest didn't heave.
"Okay, I think we've got enough," Ari said.
Oh yeah, I did it. All the doubters could eat my jocks. It wasn't even noon and I'd finished the shoot.
Then I realized that the doubters I could gloat to were only Alice and Gary. That put a dampener on my gloating. I'd post about it for sure on my social media accounts but I wasn't sure my fans would realize the triumph.
Still, gloating to Alice and Gary would be enough.
I washed off the makeup and put my own clothes back on. I wondered if we'd be able to make it back to the hotel for the afternoon. That'd be a fitting reward for my efforts.
Unfortunately, Gary came back to pick me up. He wanted me to go straight to the stadium for set-up. Bastard.
"You and Ari seemed to get on well," I said to Alice when we were on our way.
"He offered me a job," she said.
I didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow. I wasn't sure if Alice intended moving cities for work. I didn't want her to but I wouldn't say anything. Her eyes glowed with a real satisfaction. I hadn't really considered how much the Molloy thing might shake her confidence in her work. She was a gun, the most fantastic photographer I'd ever worked with. And I wasn't just saying that because I was sleeping with her.
But that bitch editor screwing her over didn't help. Even if Alice didn't take the video job, just being offered it obviously made her happy. I'd keep my mouth shut about what I wanted, for the first time ever, and let her think it through for herself.
Savage
DAMN PHONE, RINGING before I could even have morning sex. I didn't want to deal with that. I picked the phone up to block the call but it was from my manager, Gary. He'd be damn angry if I didn't answer it.
"What the fuck have you been up to now?"
No hello, no good morning, nothing. Just that.
"Huh?"
It was too early in the morning to play guessing games. He could just spit it out.
"I got a call from Kit Molloy's manager. He wants to press charges against you. If you're going off half-cocked, getting into fights, you tell me straight away so I can go into damage control. But really, you could just try a bit of self-control."
I'd meant to tell Gary but other things had intervened. Like sex with Alice. And just hanging out with Alice and looking at Alice.
"I punched the guy. He deserved it. And if he wants to press charges, we have shit on him too."
"We need to talk, seriously talk."
I knew that.
"I'll call you a bit later in the day. I need to wake up first. What time is it anyway?"
Damn. Who calls someone at 8AM? No matter how urgent.
I couldn't g
et back to sleep after that though and I sure wasn't going to wake Alice up for sex. She'd sprawled herself over the bed with the sheet barely covering her. I pulled on some clothes and went out, down to the hotel gym. I needed to burn up energy after that. Fucking Molloy. He knew why I'd hit him and he should know he deserved it. If he was any kind of man, he'd take his beating. But then if he was any kind of man, he'd have not done it in the first place.
Luckily, the gym was empty. I wasn't in the mood to deal with people. The weights were pretty low level but I could adapt my workout for that. I wanted to exhaust myself before I had smoke coming out of my ears.
I'd get the best lawyers and I'd fight him but the angle he was going for was damaging my reputation. I'd look like a maniac. I couldn't even explain why I was there. Not without getting Alice involved. And she obviously wanted to put this all behind her, not have it all over the media.
I grunted as I lifted. That didn't even help.
Last night, life had seemed so perfect. Now that had come crashing down.
If I had to wear this, I would. I wasn't sure I could keep it from Alice, not if it got in the press, but I'd hide it from her for as long as possible. I wouldn't have her feel pressured into doing anything that hurt her.
For the next hour, I pushed my body so that my brain didn't go into overdrive. Then someone came into the gym and I figured it was time to leave. I'd have a shower then get Gary to meet me for breakfast, so we could figure this out. I had to push my anger with Molloy aside. No matter what it took, I'd protect Alice and keep her right out of this.
Alice
I REACHED OUT FOR SAVAGE while still half asleep but his side of the bed was empty. I reached again. Still no Savage.
Then I sat up and looked around me. Definitely no Savage. I couldn't even hear him in the bathroom. Damn it. I'd grown used to having him beside me when I woke up just a little too easily. I'd grown used to that morning sex.
It wasn't like him to go out this early. I picked up my phone. He'd sent a message to say he had a morning meeting with his manager. That seemed strange, but then again, I hadn't been with him long enough to know if it was a usual thing. Maybe they had to go through reviews of last night's show. Something like that.
Occasionally, the fact that we hadn't been together that long just slammed into me, taking me by surprise. It felt like forever. I could barely remember what my life had been like without Savage.
I had some work to do. Eleanor wanted me to edit the photos I'd taken of Molloy and send them to her. That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. Looking at his face would make me sick to the stomach.
Still, I wanted to keep on her good side. In a few days, when she'd calmed down, we might be able to discuss this rationally. I couldn't believe she'd really expect me to continue on the tour. She might've just been acting out, annoyed that she'd have to find someone else to take over. If I could keep her from muddying my name in the industry, I'd do what I could.
I decided to skip breakfast. It would make editing those photos easier if I had an empty stomach. I just had to disengage myself, look at them like colors and tones on the screen rather than the man who'd tried to rape me.
My stomach clenched as I got started, though. I took a deep breath and steeled myself.
What would I do now? I couldn't keep pushing that question to the back of my mind. I needed to work, even though Savage would be happy for me to just hang out with him as his girlfriend forever. After this tour was over, I'd have to get back to it. I could loll around doing nothing for a little while, but I had a huge part of me that needed to do something creative. I'd never feel fulfilled otherwise.
After a couple of hours, Savage hadn't returned but at least I'd got all the photo editing done. I got them ready to send to Eleanor and wrote her an email, intended to soothe any bad feelings.
Then I read it over.
That line I'd written apologizing for any inconvenience had to go. I couldn't be a total doormat. The one who'd been inconvenienced was me. I'd been abused. The more I thought about it, the more upset I got. At least with this message sent, I'd have some closure. I wanted to delete all the original photos off my laptop. Get rid of him completely. That would be unprofessional but I wanted no reminders.
I closed my laptop, happy to have that over with. The whole Kit Molloy business was in the past now. I wouldn't have to deal with him again.
Savage
THE MEETING WITH GARY had not gone well.
For starters, he'd been totally angry.
"Why did you do it?" he asked.
"I had my reasons but I can't go into them."
"Obviously it's something to do with that girl. I knew she was trouble and this just proves it. You can't be the conquering hero, not like this."
"She has a name, so quit with the 'that girl' business. And no, she's not trouble. Molloy is trouble. He's a ticking time bomb and one day that bomb will explode, taking his whole emo reputation with it."
"That might be so but, at the moment, he has that reputation and you have yours and people are only too happy to jump to the obvious conclusion. If there was a problem with the girl -- with Alice -- and you made that clear, then people would forgive you. They might even love you for it. But that would open a whole world of other issues. Like, you'd have to make your relationship public and she'd have to be willing to come forward."
The waitress came over with my breakfast. The eggs were undercooked. I hated undercooked eggs but I didn't say anything.
"Alice will be kept right out of this. She's not even to be told, get it. I don't want her throwing herself to the wolves in some spirit of self-sacrifice for me."
I ate the bacon. At least that was cooked enough.
"You should at least give her the choice."
"You're only saying that because you know she'll play right into your little games. And no, that is not going to happen. What is the whole big deal? Can't we offer him a bundle of money to forget it ever happened?"
"He doesn't need your money. Doesn't want it. He says you screwed up his tour, he had to go on stage with a bruised face and that upset his fans."
"His fans would be way more upset if they knew what a pig the man is. Their starry-eyed admiration would die."
I'd thought Molloy was bad enough from our one meeting but, after talking to Frankie, I realized the guy was a psychopath. He had some grand illusions of himself. Even worse, he constantly bad-mouthed his fans. He treated his groupies like dirt. The guy had a huge fall coming. I just wouldn't let Alice be part of it.
Gary sipped his coffee.
"Maybe. Maybe. But this is our immediate concern. Molloy can worry about his own career."
Even the bacon didn't taste good. Molloy ruined everything. It looked like it'd be crispy and delicious but turned to sawdust in my mouth. I put my fork down.
"Call in favors, do what you can."
"There are no favors to call in. Those favours were long used up. And it only takes one paper to run the story. Not even that. Social media, man. There's no controlling that."
I picked up my fork again but just used it to stab the egg, making the yolk run over my plate, flooding everything else. At least I could stab the defenseless egg without getting in trouble.
"I do have a Plan B," Gary said. "It's a bit crazy but it will at least get you some public sympathy."
"I don't like the sound of this but go ahead."
"First, put that fork down. You look crazy. Okay, your mother is sick. Not only is she sick but she's in a hospital near the arena Molloy played, which gives you an excuse to have flown across the country. You're distraught. That's why you had to cancel the show. That's why, when you saw Molloy, you cracked."
"Stupidest plan ever."
I didn't put my fork down. I wanted to stab Gary in his stupid face with it.
"It's worked before."
"And I suffered for it. We're not dragging my mother into this. I want her out of my life completely."
Gary s
ighed. Then he signaled the waitress for another coffee.
"We don't have many other options. She'll do it. You know that she'll do anything for your career."
"If I pay her."
"Well, she'll do anything for money. I didn't want to put it so bluntly but since you said it, yes. We can book her into a nearby hospital for plastic surgery. She'll love that. The hospital won't talk, they legally can't. So, we get you to fly back, get some photos of you at her bedside. The public will lap that up. You can even get your chick involved. She's a pro photographer."
"No way."
"Well, at least she won't blab that your mother isn't actually in the emergency ward."
I shook my head. This plan sucked donkey's balls.
"There's no other choice, Ash. Not unless you can come up with a better plan in the next hour or so. Damage control, or you might find your new album flopping so fast, you'll never recover."
Alice
"YOUR MOTHER IS IN HOSPITAL?"
Savage didn't look very upset about it.
"It's nothing serious but Gary wants some photos at her bedside. So, change of schedule. Instead of flying straight to the next show, we're spending our two days off going to see her. Well, I am and maybe you too..."
He didn't even need to add that grin. Of course I'd agree.
"Sure thing."
Savage leaned on the bench in the kitchenette of our hotel room. When he leaned like that, his forearms normally distracted me from the conversation. It'd take a pretty strong woman to focus on talk when that gorgeous bulge of muscle was in sight. But this was about his sick mother.
"Gary asked if you'd take the photos. Save crowding too many people into the hospital room."
Something really didn't ring true about this whole thing. I knew there were issues between Savage and his mother but even so, he seemed abnormally calm.
Yet, she was sick enough for this to become a media thing? Weird. Also, the coincidence that she was in a hospital so close to where Molloy's show had been?
Still, if he wanted me to go with him to see her, I wouldn't question him too hard. I had no idea what the issues with his mother were but maybe I could help them start to heal the rift. The one time I'd met her, she'd seemed rather sweet. Savage had said he'd explain things but he'd never mentioned it again.
Rock Mayhem: 8 Complete Rock Star Romance Novels Page 20