Chapter 5
Chapter Five
SHAW
Ellie: So, your boy Alec is lowkey kind of scary.
That was the first thing I saw when I dragged my wrist in front of my eyes—the buzz of a notification had jolted me from unintended sleep.
I raised an eyebrow.
Had something happened?
I would’ve guessed she hadn’t actually seen Alec anywhere—he was on set for the rest of the day like I was. Which was why I’d been halfway—all the way—passed out on my couch. A long-ass day of intense shooting and reshooting, trying to make the intense scenes hit the right note.
Which…was probably what she was referring to.
Her scene with “Jude” that morning had been intense, and it was only the beginning of what was to come. A lot of today’s filming had surrounded tough conversations with the Moss family, around custody, and honestly, control of Shannon.
Both sides saw the opportunity to use her as leverage over the other.
There was unfortunate beef between the families.
Her mother—mine and Jude’s sister—and her father—whose sister was a bit of an aggressive character that already clashed with Jude—had managed to find love with each other, on some Romeo and Juliet shit. But now that both were gone, the families wanted to pull rank and not allow the other side to see her.
Which, for obvious reasons, nobody was agreeing to without a fight.
My people believed that being her mother’s side meant some kind of superior claim, but so far the courts hadn’t agreed, demanding a joint custody agreement for a child none of us had even known existed.
Neither side was simply backing down.
That’s why Jude was going at Luna so hard, trying to intimidate her into giving us little favors—like not allowing the other side of her family to pick her up from school.
Petty shit, that clearly wasn’t working.
My character didn’t share their opinion on keeping Shannon away from her father’s family, so they called themselves pissed, even going as far as implying some sort of betrayal.
Intense.
But…
Dude is a damn teddy bear I texted back, because it was true. Not in the sense of him being weak or anything like that; he just had one of those easygoing personalities that often came through in his work, to the point that people loved to call him fake, saying he was just living a certain role.
This role was a serious departure from the nice-guy thing, which was exactly what he wanted—something to give him some disambiguation, and hopefully some respect on his name.
The fact that he already had people talking was good.
That’s what I thought too! was the response Ellie sent back.
She was newer to all this industry than I was, which meant she wasn’t as familiar with everybody. Our new little corner of Black “Hollywood”…I wouldn’t necessarily say we were close- knit , but we definitely looked out for each other, and made a concentrated effort to keep potential weirdness at a minimum.
Ellie was still getting integrated into it.
Before I could respond to her text, another one came through from a different contact.
Stella: You feeling up to some company?
I closed my eyes, knowing my answer was “no” but not wanting to offend.
I truly didn’t have the energy for what “company” would undoubtedly be if she came over.
And honestly…I wasn’t really in the mood for it either.
It was a long-ass day on set I told her, which was the truth . I’m damn near sleep right now.
Stella: I can take you the rest of the way.
Shit.
Definitely should have known that was coming.
I shook my head as I texted right back. You know how much I appreciate the offer, but my call time tomorrow is early as hell too. Gotta rest up.
She knew mewell enough by now to know I took rest seriously, and if she came over here, rest was the last thing I’d be getting. I’d be groggy as hell in the morning, and if I didn’t want that reflected in my face and performance, I would have to ingest an IV drip worth of caffeine, which I’d just pay for in other ways.
Cascading failures.
I understand she sent back with a heart emoji.
And then, a few spaces down, a sad frown emoji, a crying emoji, and a broken heart.
All of which she followed up with jk, get some rest. You can make it up to me later .
I shook my head, chuckling at her antics as I typed out and sent a reply promising I would do exactly that. I started to toss the phone back onto the couch beside me, then remembered I still hadn’t responded to Ellie yet. I had the phone in my hand, ready to type something out when another one came through from her.
Don’t mind me it read. #insomnia thoughts.
I raised an eyebrow. You having trouble sleeping again? I asked. You know what the remedy for that usually is. In the bed, lights low, no phone. Did you take your melatonin?
Damn, Dad. LOL. Not even home right now.
I frowned at the time represented in tiny white numbers in the corner of my screen. Seriously? I asked. Where are you?
Out for a drive. I’m out by you in the desert getting a big-ass box of fries. Good thing Luna is always in those a-line dresses. A bitch is gonna be bloated af tomorrow .
I chuckled at first, but then a thought occurred to me.
Wait, you’re not texting and driving are you?
NO she texted back.
A moment later, my phone was ringing with a video call.
When I answered, Ellie’s face was a good distance from the screen, hidden behind oversized shades. Her hair was tucked under a hat—no jewelry.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her she’d be less conspicuous if she lost the shades since she was indoors, and it was night, but that wouldn’t do much good now. She grinned at the camera as she stuffed more fries in her mouth than she probably should.
“See?” she asked. I could see the bright neon lights from the fast-food restaurant she was seated in reflected in the window behind her.
“No soda, right?” I teased, and she laughed.
“Nope, no caffeine. I got a water. And I have another big-ass thing of water out in the car, full of ice and cut lemons. So refreshing.”
“A big-ass thing of water?”
“That’s what I said.” She held up her hands next to her head. “Big as this noggin.”
I chuckled. “You know our call time is real soon, right?” I asked. “In like six hours. We’ve got things together tomorrow, co-star.”
“I know,” she whined. “But I can’t help it if I can’t sleep. And everything that’s supposed to help just makes me feel groggy and weird, so I’d rather have to get the bags under my eyes fixed in makeup then be mumbling and all that because I’m barely awake trying to recite my lines.”
“I guess that makes sense, but still. You need to at least be in the bed.”
“I know .” She rolled her eyes then stuffed a few more fries in her mouth. “What are you doing up?”
Sitting up a bit straighter, I answered, “Well, I was passed out on my couch and then I got a text from a certain someone…”
She cringed. “Oh. My bad.”
“Yeah, your bad,” I chuckled. “ Why am I awake .”
“I can let you go.”
“I didn’t say all of that,” I told her quickly, before she hurried off the line. “I’m just fucking with you.”
Just this conversation was refreshing, after the awkwardness that lingered between us all summer.
The look on her face at that award show that night?
Haunted me.
There I was thinking we were good, that the breakup was this thing we mutually agreed was best for both of us.
We’d be friends.
Not cordial, but friends , the same way we’ve been before romance was in the equation.
Although…if I was honest, romance had always been in the equation.
But friendship definitely was too.
Ellie and I got along on that level amazingly well, which was part of why we clicked. Yes, we were attracted to each other, absolutely, but the chemistry between us wasn’t only sexual.
We laughed for real, talked for real, related to each other for real, before I was ever actually invited inside her.
That’s why we both thought we’d be able to go back.
And then I saw her face.
I’d just wanted to congratulate her on the award, a major milestone that was absolutely well deserved. I wasn’t trying to hurt her by approaching her, which was precisely why I had left Stella at our seats.
It wasn’t about rubbing anything in her face.
I wasn’t even like that with Stella for there to be anything to rub in her face.
My PR said I needed to take a date, and since she worked for Stella too, it was an easy recommendation. Publicly, I hadn’t been in any serious relationships, but the industry machine preferred their heroes coupled off.
As much as fans wanted to see me as romantically attainable, being single wasn’t actually working in favor of that image.
Having a woman meant I was stable, relationship material.
Being single meant I just wanted to hoe—that’s what the narrative was.
There wasn’t anything wrong with Stella by any means, but at the time, it was just…a mutually beneficial agreement. Really, I wanted to ask Ellie, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea.
Considering the way she reacted to me, maybe I was right.
And it was a reaction she didn’t even remember having.
“Shit, I think I just got spotted,” she said, pulling my attention back to present. She was already getting up to leave, but not fast enough to avoid being approached.
It was a quick interaction—they just wanted pictures they could put on social media. Ellie took her glasses off just long enough for her pretty face to be seen then popped them right back on to hurry out, with the rest of her fries in hand.
“So that was pretty painless,” she mused, presumably heading to her car. “I really should let you go though. So both of us aren’t a mess tomorrow.”
Right after she said that, I frowned. “Hey, who is that?” I asked, peering at the screen. She wasn’t actually looking at the camera—she was looking down, probably digging for her keys.
“Who is who?” she asked.
“Behind you. Ellie, get to your car!”
She didn’t even look back, she just listened.
She took off running, and I hopped up too, stressed at what was unfolding on the other end of the line. Somebody had been lurking just a few feet behind her— following her. If I hadn’t noticed it in her camera…
“Get the fuck off of me!” she screamed, clearly struggling.
I already had my keys in my hand.
It was the only thing I could think to do, especially with chaos being the only thing showing on the screen, just an occasional flash of a picture, accompanied by Ellie’s screams, the man’s yells.
And then his screams.
“Ellie, what’s happening?!”
She didn’t answer.
I heard the chime of her door opening, the slam of it closing, the mechanical sound of her locks engaging.
Quick thinking that maybe saved her life, ‘cause the next thing I heard was another scream from her, then somebody banging at the window.
“Ellie, pull off. Now,” I urged, still staring at the screen, waiting on it to show me something other than the roof of her car. I heard the motor fire up, muffling the sound of the man outside her window yelling her name.
She still didn’t say anything, but she did pull off.
It was quiet as fuck.
I hated how quiet it was.
“Hey. Say something. Let me know you’re okay.”
It took another few moments, but after a bit there was activity on the phone screen again, and then she must’ve put the phone on her dash mount.
Her glasses and hat were both gone, and what I could assume had been a neat bun underneath was all over the place. She met my gaze in the camera with red-rimmed eyes and told the most obvious lie.
“I’m fine.”