I gritted my teeth as he hesitated, hating how he was relishing in the power he had with the delay.
“Well? What do you think of it?” I asked feebly, uncomfortable.
“It’s par for the course. Reese always does shit like this…” he said.
“Have you worked with him before?” I asked.
“Once,” he said, and suddenly his eyes were far away.
That word came out in the shape of Pandora’s box; the single syllable hinting at a rabbit hole of secrets and history and lies.
I raised my eyebrow and waited for him to continue, but there was nothing. For some reason, I thought of how Reese’s hand was on Leo’s shoulder yesterday on the beach, and today after the scene with Alina.
“Is he going to try anything?” I asked Mason with my mouth going dry, the question hanging in the air.
“No, he won’t,” Mason replied with sincerity. “You’ve seen the way he… the way he is.”
“I’ve seen it,” I said, thinking of the way Reese was a true artist in that room, controlling the light and the angles and the perception.
“We’re just actors to him, shiny chess pieces in a game that he’s coordinating from both sides.”
I bit my lip, strangely fascinated by Mason’s perception of things. Even though he was disgustingly self-absorbed, that didn’t mean he wasn’t observant.
“What does that make me, then?” I asked.
“You’re a pawn,” Mason said with a chuckle.
I frowned, internally retracting my admiration of him.
“And what does that make you?” I said, pretending his insult wasn’t getting to me.
“I’m a bishop,” he said, his eyes glittering with arrogance. “I move diagonally, and I can see things from angles that aren’t visible to any of the other pieces.”
“Like what?” I challenged.
There was a shift in the energy of the room as he faltered; thrown off-kilter by my question. “Secrets. I collect them.”
“I don’t think you have any real secrets,” I egged him on. Something told me that if I kept denying him this power over me, the more he would try to get it, the more he would reveal.
There was temptation sparkling in his eyes, but then he narrowed them to slits. “It doesn’t matter what you think. You’re only a pawn in this game.”
I felt a surge of anger and stood up, staring down at him. I was sick and tired of people trying to make me feel less, and here was some arrogant prick trying to chip away at the confidence I’d steadily built up over the past few years.
“Even though I may be a pawn in all of this, I still see things, Vayne,” I hissed. “And bishops are just as expendable as pawns. Don’t forget that.”
For once, Mason looked lost for words.
I turned on my heel and made a beeline for the door, careful not to look back. I couldn’t afford for Mason to see tears leaking from my eyes.
As I crossed through the hallway with the suits of armor and descended the spiral staircase, I couldn’t help but fume with anger. What the hell was this guy’s problem? And why did I care so much about him calling me a pawn?
He made me feel unimportant; a feeling that was already burrowing itself into my mind on an hourly basis. It was hard enough to be surrounded by all of these beautiful, perfect movie stars knowing that I was nothing more than a simple stylist. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that I was expendable to this world; that thought already followed me around like a little black cloud.
But he had to put it to words; he had to say it out loud.
Did everyone think I was a pawn? I mean it was obvious that I wasn’t as important to this show as the actors, of course.
Suddenly, I thought of Reese. Did he think I was a pawn? If so, why did he ask me to be in this scene with Mason?
The way Alina said Reese looked at me… like he saw something in me. Like I could be a part of his vision…
And Reese didn’t seem like the type of person that would settle for anything less than his vision of perfection.
That thought gave me some strength.
By the time I reached the base of the stairs and walked out the castle doors, I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t as expendable as Mason was trying to make me feel. I’d been chosen by Reese.
The cliff was already cleaned up from the crew earlier and it was like we were never here. Not a speck of garbage was left behind from the dozens of people that were milling about just a few hours ago.
I glanced at my watch — I still had some time to kill before dinner. The only thing on my agenda was putting as much space in between me and Mason as possible.
By now, the thought of being naked with him on camera tomorrow caused an unpleasant curdling in my gut, which was somehow still laced with excitement.
I gritted my teeth at my lack of control. Was it possible to be starstruck by someone and still feel a red-hot hatred for them at once?
These thoughts circled me like bats as I walked under an ancient bridge that connected one of the towers to the main body of the castle. So many things were on my mind — Mason and his lips, Reese touching Leo’s shoulder like that, Alina admitting to hooking up with her costar and destroying a marriage…
That was the only secret I had that Mason didn’t. The scales were tipped in his favor, and with the weight of the secrets came the weight of power.
No matter what I did, he would always have the power. He was a beautiful, established movie star, and what was I? Some normal, boring person from a flyover state in the midwest who came out to L.A., tried his hand at acting and failed miserably. Now I was
