Three men in their twenties, all as blonde as my dad and his twin, look at me. They’re echoes of a younger time. Picking up the sign-in sheet to see who arrived when, I lead the first actor in. Caden watches me audition the first two. When they leave, he agrees with me and Natalie that neither one nailed it. Just like all the guys before them.
By the time I go out to bring the third guy in, three others have joined him. He’s leaned back in his chair, confident. They’re reviewing their scripts and don’t look up as I read his name.
“Dan Clark?”
He stands, comfortable in his own skin. “That’s me.” He extends his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Max, the director.” We go inside and I motion to my partner. “This is Natalie, she’s producing the film. And that’s my brother. He has a good eye for what I’m looking for so I asked him to sit in.”
Dan nods, takes his mark, and I cross to the camera. The actor’s pale green eyes drop to the floor as he prepares. I’m playing Marnie this time, which isn’t easy for a male actor to play against. There’s nothing feminine about me. But when Dan looks up, he’s tired, hurt, and locked on the girl of his dreams.
“Marnie,” he whispers, barely audible. “I followed you last night.”
I try my best to sound softer. “You did? Why?!”
Haunted, he confesses “I knew what you were doing. Having sex for money. To feed your addiction.”
“Jaden,” I rasp.
“I had to make sure you were safe.”
“Nooooo.”
“I’m not judging you! Don’t turn away.” He takes a step toward me then thinks better of it, shoving his hands in his pockets and gritting his teeth at the floor, a man’s struggle to remain strong when he feels anything but.
“Jaden…”
“I’m going to keep watching over you, Marnie. I’m going to be there. If you need me or if you don’t. I can’t stay at home when I know you’re with some guy who doesn’t even know you, doesn’t care. You don’t know who’s out there. The kind of guys who would do that aren’t good guys and I just...I can’t stay home when that’s going on.”
“I wasn’t doing anything with them. We were just talking!”
He stares at me like he’s looking through my soul. I blink, stunned by how wrecked he is and how well he tries to cover it, to be brave for her, for himself.
“Marnie,” he whispers, eyes filling up. “If you want me to believe that, fine. I’ll pretend I believe it.”
“It’s true. We didn’t do anything! I’m totally sober right now!” In the script there’s powder under her nose.
“Okay,” he nods, blinking to the ceiling and grimacing as he fights back tears. “I’m going to be in my car, parked outside your place tonight. So if you need me, scream.” He locks eyes with me. “I’ll come running, I promise.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Stop being silly and come here.”
“No,” he shakes his head and rasps, “No.”
“Jaden, I’m serious, get over here right now!”
He drags his hands from his pockets and takes a step forward like he wants to gather me in his arms and take me somewhere this will never happen to me again. But he stops himself. “Just shout, okay? I’ll be there. I love you.” Turning on his heel and rubbing his face, he walks out of my loft. All the way out. For real. And softly closes the door.
I glance to Natalie, then to my brother whose frozen in shock.
He meets my eyes.
“Holy fuck. That’s Dad.”
“You see why I have to do this film?”
Quietly nodding, my brother’s eyes travel to the door as Dan strolls back into the room, comfortable again, his smile movie-star-charismatic. “Hey uh, sorry I left like that. Mood just felt right. I was kinda in it.”
“No, that’s fine!” Walking to shake his hand I peer at him. I just found my hero. “Look, I didn’t get a chance to ask, but are you cool with the dates, the pay-scale? Did your agents fill you in on everything?”
“Yeah, they gave me the low-down. I’m cool with all of it.”
“Awesome. I’ve got some more people to see, but can you come back tomorrow and read with my lead actress?”
“Sure, yeah, love to.”
CHAPTER 22
N ATALIE
“Y ou’re in a good mood,” Candy Land smiles as I walk to Paul’s office.
I pause, “No, I’m not.”
“See these.” She points to my eyes. “They’re happy.”
“Huh, don’t have any reason to be,” I mutter, and tone it down. We’ve locked in our cast, and rehearsals have begun. I’m having so much fun being a part of the creative process that life seems a bit easier lately. But I don’t want Paul to get wise to any changes in me.
Remember to be cold.
Distant.
Act normal.
Knocking on his door his low voice grumbles, “Come in.”
“Have a business plan for the holidays, Paul,” I blankly tell him as I push the door closed.
Typing at his keypad he swipes his hand through the hologram screen to put it to sleep-mode. “Sit.”
With my laptop ready I take the seat opposite him, noting as I always do how much shorter it is than his chair. He towers over his visitors on purpose. With a cool head trained from years of being miserable and closed off, I show him the presentation I put together late last night. A little investment into keeping him off my scent.
“The holidays are a lonely time for people, as we all know. Business is high for you normally but I found a way to increase that.”
Leaning back in his office chair he asks, “How?”
“You normally don’t decorate much. But what if this year you did? You have the funds now to make the clubs incredible. Wait,” I smirk, holding
