Chapter 4
Chapter Four
SHAW
I missed the hell out of Ellie.
An unfortunate feeling to find myself mired in, considering I’d initiated the breakup.
Even with us being in the same space together, close enough to speak, close enough to touch, there was just this… gap.
Proximity was no competition for the distance between us now, and I hated that shit to my core.
But, again.
I initiated the breakup.
I broke her heart.
“Hey, you need to be ready to start in five,” a production assistant told me in passing, already rushing off to complete some other task. I’d been sitting off to the side, watching my costars go through their takes—often, actors didn’t sit on set for this, and understandably so. Depending on complexity, it could take hours to get the scene to a place where it was time for you to enter, which could be a waste of valuable downtime.
There wasn’t anything I’d rather be doing though.
Aside from my personal preference of picking up on the energy already in the room to inform my performance, I just…enjoyed watching Ellie work. When she took a role, she stepped into it fully, and elementary teacher Luna was no exception. I’d watched her exude such warmth and joy when she interacted with the students in Shannon’s class, heartbreaking empathy alone with Shannon on the realization that she’d been the one to find her deceased parents.
And now, a dangerous sort of patience with Jude, Shannon’s other uncle.
It was no surprise to me that Alec and Ellie both were killing this scene, one that’d had me holding my breath when I read it.
Jude
You’re outside your place, Ms. Maxfield.
Luna
Maxwell. And I beg to differ. Advocating for Shannon is exactly my place, and I’m baffled as to why it’s a problem. When I spoke to Silas, he ? —
Jude
Well, Silas ain’t here, I am. And I’m saying I don’t want those motherfuckers around her.
Luna
You can watch your language or watch your volume. I’d prefer both, but you will do one or the other.
Jude
Who the fuck you think you are?
Luna
The person in charge of this classroom. Who the fuck do you think you are?
Jude
He’s shocked her quiet demeanor allowed for a response like this—and angry that she dared.
You need to watch yourself.
Luna
I’m not afraid of you. I grew up in a house full of you, went to school with a hundred of you, walk past you on the street every day, and on, and on, and on. You have tried to bend me, beat me, break me, and I have refused at every turn, and I will not start now—especially considering what your niece has been through. You show me some legal document stating that she can’t be picked up by her aunt, and I will happily make sure it’s followed. Otherwise, you are wasting my planning period.
Jude
Look, bitch ? —
Silas
Jude.
That was where I—Silas—came in, confused about why Jude was there, trying to intimidate his way into a desired outcome.
An approach I’d already warned him wouldn’t get the result he wanted, but that didn’t work for him. From the time I came into the scene, a good portion of it was spent with Silas playing mediator between the two—or rather, attempting to wrangle his brother before he turned things into something they didn’t have to be.
Obviously, we ended up getting put out.
But not before this moment between me and Luna—Ellie—where I had to make sure this incident didn’t make her write me off.
As an advocate for Shannon, or a potential suitor.
“Hey,” I said, stopping in the doorway of the classroom to grab her hand after I’d glanced to make sure Jude was out of earshot. “We good?”
There was nothing but pure frustration on her face as she looked at my hand holding hers and tried to pull it away.
I held it tighter.
“I will talk to him,” I promised, pulling her closer, not breaking our gaze. “And…anything else you want me to do.”
A smirk broke over her face, which she quickly tried to hide, but had to drop her sightline to the floor. “This is incredibly inappropriate.”
“Not yet,” I countered, making her blush.
This time when she tried to pull away, I let her, fully amused watching her rush to tuck them behind her back. “Silas…”
“Don’t say it,” I insisted. “Technically, I’m not a parent.”
“It’s a gray area at best.”
“A light gray. Or would it be dark…which is better?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Get out of here.”
I didn’t budge. “Answer my question.”
“What question?”
“ Are we good ?” I asked, stepping closer—enough that she had to tip her head back a little to meet my gaze again before offering the slightest nod.
“Yeah.”
“ Cut. ”
Ellie wasted no time taking a step back, a sheepish grin on her face as Charlotte came rushing up to us.
“You guyyyys ,” she gushed, clearly pleased with the performance—which we’d actually gone a little off-script for. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Only twice today,” Ellie answered with a laugh that hit me right in the chest, warming me. “We did good?”
“ Phenomenal. We’re gonna call it a wrap for you today—Shaw, you and Alec have some tough scenes I want to start on so take an hour, get your head together, and we’ll get started, okay?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my agreement before she moved on, going back to her directing huddle off to the side of the set. Ellie tried to sneak off without saying anything, but I quickly caught up to her before she could get too far.
She turned in response to my voice and smiled at me.
Pretty as hell.
That was actually one of the first things that came to mind the first time I saw her in person, on our first set together. I’d heard so much about her, seen so many social media gossip headlines about wild behavior—often accompanied by pictures of said behavior—that I’d formed what I could admit was a premature opinion.
So when I saw her walk into the audition, all kinds of shit ran through my head.
She’s pretty as hell in real life.
That was a good thing, at least, if what I thought was about to happen was really about to happen. As far as I knew, she wasn’t an actor—she didn’t have any kind of training or experience. Based on what I’d heard, I just knew she would come on set entitled and obnoxious, and no one would say anything about it because her brother was the writer and the director, and her aunt was one of the studio heads.
Shit.
I’d been excited about this role as soon as my agent put it in front of me, and now I had to worry about this? While Pierre had debated with his little team about whether or not she could actually audition—since he didn’t seem to be expecting her—I was already formulating the text I’d send to my agent as soon as I got a chance, to see if I could get out of this.
But then they told us to run through the lines.
Ellie met my gaze, gave me this little smile, and then…proceeded to blow her audition out of the water.
Like…nobody else was even close.
Hell, I had to tamp down my ego enough to admit her audition was honestly better than mine—and I told her that too a few weeks later, once we’d been around each other enough to start developing a friendship.
And then…more.
She was bad as fuck in the photos and viral clips online, sure.
Then I met her.
And she was pretty as hell—gorgeous, actually, done zero justice by photos. She was somewhat quiet—not in a shy way though, it was more like…she was observing.
Absorbing.
It was just one of the things I loved about her—she defied any unfair snap judgments someone might be inclined to make based off her appearance.
Or history.
Or family reputation.
It was so much deeper than some hot girl facade, which…I had admittedly subscribed to her as well. Not on purpose, though.
In this industry, probably seventy percent of the people you met were only where they were because someone called somebody. I didn’t care enough to take up a banner as some kind of anti-nepotism proponent, but I noticed when there was actually talent to go with the “luck” and when there wasn’t…which was more often the case.
Just…not with Ellie.
She had it , in droves, and was absolutely intent on proving it, to everybody.
The work ethic was sexy as hell, which made my commitment to on-set professionalism, especially with my female coworkers, just a little harder. As we developed a friendship…it got even worse, but I was committed to respecting the boundaries— that was the reputation I wanted, not the guy who dated a new person with every script.
And yet…it was a relief when she made the move to let me know she’d been feeling the same things.
By that time…I wanted her bad.
“Shaw, what ?” Ellie said— repeated , actually, laughing at the fact that I’d been too immersed in my little trip down memory lane to realize I was just staring at her.
“Oh, my bad,” I recovered. “I was asking what you were about to get into?”
“My trailer, to change, then my car.” She smirked. “I’ve been set loose.”
“Loose enough to catch a very late lunch with me?”
Her eyes widened in surprise, but she shook her head. “Unfortunately not—today is PJ’s birthday,” she said, referring to her nephew who was actually the Fourth , not a Junior, but since he and his father were the living Pierres…
“Already?” I asked. “Wow.”
“Well, one and a half years old—remember, the half-birthday thing my family does,” she explained. “The party isn’t until the full birthday, but today they’re doing cake, so I want to go love on him a bit.”
“Definitely understand that, Auntie Ellie,” I teased her. “Please tell him I said happy half-birthday.”
“I am not telling him that,” she countered. “Cause then my little half-birthday wishes won’t mean shit compared to one from Shadow Wolf himself.”
My eyes went big. “ Wow ,” I chuckled. “Don’t do that.”
“Right—no one is supposed to know the secret identity.”
“Quit playing.”
“I’m not playing . If I was playing, I’d tell you what everybody said about your shoulders in those leaked set pictures.”
I put a reflexive hand up to one. “What was said?”
“I’m not playing, so…”
“I see how you do,” I called after her as she walked away with a grin. I had to force myself not to watch her—the entire exchange had likely caught enough attention to be the source of gossip fodder.
I didn’t need that, and neither did she.
Not anymore.
It had been one of the most surprising things about her—she wasn’t shy by any means, but she didn’t want or need a bunch of stuff happening around her. Really, she craved peace. I’d noticed it on that first set with her, how much more observing she did than speaking, and it had actually been the catalyst for me striking up conversation outside of our characters.
I wanted to know what she was seeing.
That answer had been…everything.
The loss of her mother as a very young girl, her father and brother both battling with addiction, her attraction to people leading a pretty risky lifestyle…it all led to a unique sort of exhaustion she was trying to claw her way out of at the time we met.
I wasn’t sure Pierre even knew she swore getting that role had saved her life.
But she’d definitely been on the rise ever since.
I didn’t want to see anything get in the way of that—especially not anything related to me , not when I’d already done direct damage too.
We were in a good place.
I’d do whatever I had to do to keep us there.