“Maybe he’s just shy?” I offered.
“Shy? Leo Knight?! Ha,” she said, crossing her legs. “He’s an actor. He’s paid the big bucks to not be shy.”
“Alright, alright,” I said, releasing my reins on the conversation. “What do you think it is, then?”
She looked at my eyes in the mirror and shrugged. “Maybe he’s just weird? I don’t know. But I can’t let these thoughts leak into my head a few minutes before I shoot this scene with him. If there’s any hesitation between the two of us, any sort of wall at all, the audience will pick up on it.”
“I’m sure you’ll carry the scene,” I said. “You have enough charisma for both of you, and he seemed pretty passionate about delivering a good performance.”
She was staring off into the distance, and I could tell there was something on her mind; something she was holding back.
“Care to share?” I probed, curling the very last straight strand.
“No, it’s nothing,” she insisted.
“Come on Alina, you can tell me anything!” I said as I fluffed her hair, giving it the illusion that she had been windswept by the beach breeze.
“Well,” she started, keeping her voice down.
I had to lean in closer to hear.
“There’s some drama that I’ve been hearing about…” she said.
I felt like my ears turned towards her. “Drama?” I asked.
Though I prided myself on not being a gossip, I couldn’t resist.
“Oh yes,” she said slyly.
I was drying to tell her about my upcoming sex scene with Mason now that we were spilling tea to each other, but I had to let her have this. I had to let her tell me what she knew first.
“Someone’s marriage is on the rocks…” she said, her eyes sliding over to the cast and crew nearby.
I stopped weaving my fingers through her hair, Mason’s words from earlier were echoing in my memory. He said that someone was about to get divorced, too. He also said that shit was about to hit the fan, but didn’t give me any other hints.
My knees went weak remembering how he kissed me. The way it made me feel enveloped in the glow of stardom.
“Who is it?” I asked, pushing the thought down as I felt a stirring in my pants. I didn’t know who was married and who wasn’t, so I wasn’t able to draw any connections.
“I’ll… it’s hard to say. I don’t know if I can admit it…” she said, glancing around to see if anyone was listening.
“You can always tell me later,” I offered, though I was chomping at the bit to get this bit of juicy gossip right now.
“No, I’ll just tell you now,” she said, “gets my mind off of my nerves…”
Then she said the name of a fellow actress in the show that I didn’t recognize.
“Huh? I don’t know who that is,” I said.
She rolled her eyes and said, “She plays Princess Valentine, you know, Prince Valentine’s wife?”
“Oh!” I said, thinking of her character in the books. Slowly but surely, the beautiful blonde woman’s face swam to the forefront of my mind. In the previous season of The Black Castle, she probably got three minutes of screen time, tops.
“Yeah, that Princess Valentine,” she said, re-crossing her legs.
I narrowed my eyes. There was something here I was missing. Though, everything in my gut told me that this was the type of situation where I needed to wait.
So I did, finishing up her big white mane with a layer of hairspray.
“All done!” I said triumphantly, admiring my work.
Alina smiled big and bright, said “Thanks! You are so good at what you do…” then her eyes fell to the floor and she suddenly looked sad.
I knew with every fiber of my being that I was about to hear whatever thing she was keeping to herself. Then she finally said it:
“The girl who plays Princess Valentine… she’s been having an affair,” she said, the muscles in her face tightening just a little.
“Oh? And she just told you about it?” I guessed, keeping my voice down.
Alina went pale and shook her head.
“Me and her… we’ve been… we’ve been having an affair.”
Chapter Eight
“What?!” I whisper-shouted.
“Shh! Keep your voice down!” she urged, looking around.
I took a step backward as Alina stood up from the chair. There was some rummaging in the background noise as the crew began to move their equipment into the castle.
We were running out of time before Alina had to shoot her scene.
“What do you mean?” I demanded, looking into her eyes, unable to believe it. I had no idea she’d been bisexual this entire time.
“I mean exactly what I said!” she insisted in a hushed tone. “We met at this launch party, and then we exchanged numbers, and I thought it was just, you know, a friendship thing because we were going to be costars.”
I raised my eyebrow at her, still trying to wrap my mind around it.
“And then we kept talking on the phone every day, since she isn’t on the set yet. And we got closer and closer quickly, and then… it sorta happened.”
“Alina…” I said, my eyebrows coming together. I wanted to be there for her to support her, but there was also a part of me that wanted to lecture her and tell her that cheating was never okay.
“Her husband… he beats her,” Alina said, looking up at me with wide green eyes.
My grip tightened around the hairspray bottle and I was lost for words.
“Alina! It’s time!” called Reese from the entrance to the castle.
She looked back at me, something pleading there behind her eyes.
“We can talk more about this later,” she said. Then she reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Please don’t tell anyone…”
I put my hand on top of hers. “Your secret is safe with me,” I reassured her.
Then her actress face was back on and it was as if our conversation never happened. She smiled big and bright, then moved her hand down my shoulder to weave her fingers in
