5. Audrey
5
AUDREY
My trailer door swung open and Grouper, the cameraman, let himself inside without so much as a knock.
“Hey, the boss wants to see you out front in five.”
Thankfully, I had just pulled on my skintight black leather pants that left very little to the imagination. Which Grouper made perfectly clear as he let his eyes roam over my body as if he had every right to blatantly stare at me.
“Thanks.”
When he didn’t move, I turned and crossed my arms over my chest, raising a brow at him. I was used to men staring at me like this. When you were a kickass action star who always dressed in tight clothing, men tended to stare at you like an object instead of a person.
“Grouper. Did you need something else?”
“What? Uh?—”
Spencer stepped into the trailer behind him, his large frame dominating Grouper’s smaller one, immediately casting a shadow over him and threatening to swallow him whole. The look on Spencer’s face was pure malice, the complete opposite of what I knew to be true. There wasn’t a single mean bone in Spencer’s body—not that he would allow anyone on set to know that. When it came to me, he was a tad overprotective. We’d been working on films together for the past ten years, and in every single one of them, some douche tried to cop a feel. Just Spencer’s presence made men scurry. Only his true friends knew just how much of a softy he was.
Grouper turned to Spencer, swallowing hard as he faced the man’s chest and then slowly looked up into Spencer’s green eyes. “I uh…no. There was nothing else.”
“You should run along,” Spencer grumbled in a low voice.
He didn’t budge as Grouper shuffled around him, scrambling down the steps and slamming the door behind him.
I smiled as Spencer breathed a sigh of relief and walked further into my trailer, plopping down on my chair with a sigh. “You know, you don’t have to keep doing that. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”
“I have to keep up my image,” he grumbled. “What would the world think if they found out their beloved action star was actually someone who hated guns, action, and violence in general?”
“They would think the same thing as me,” I grinned, walking up behind him and swallowing him in a hug. “That you’re a kind man with a big heart.”
We both knew that he would do anything for anyone, especially me. He’d proven that time and time again.
He huffed in annoyance. “Can’t we do a love story next?”
I grimaced at the thought of it. “We’re doing love stories now.”
“Blowing people up with a kiss thrown in here and there is not a love story.”
“It’s the most romantic thing I can think of,” I grinned, walking around to the chair opposite him and flopping down with a sigh.
“Not ready to hang up your hat yet?” he asked, shooting me a knowing look.
“Don’t start,” I said, pursing my lips.
“Don’t you ever get tired of it all?”
I knew Spencer was not like me. He wasn’t into all of this. Yes, he was an actor at heart, but he was more of a theater actor than an action star. However, with his dashing good looks and the body of a God, he was immediately shuffled into the stereotypical role paired with me. The chemistry was an instant hit, and we’d been making movies together ever since. We liked working together, and the audience loved us.
“Tired of making movies that allow me to take out my frustrations on puny men like Grouper and blow stuff up? Not at all.”
Spencer ran his thumb across his lower lip, staring off into space. I knew he was exhausted by the schedule, by the constant work that he got no enjoyment out of. He wanted to do something different. I couldn’t blame him for it. Not to mention the constant hours working with me on lines. It was a lot to take.
“Hey, we’ll go for something different after this,” I promised, leaning forward to pat him on the knee.
“Yeah?”
We would have to. There was no way around it, and we both knew it.
When his eyes lit with excitement, I was relieved for the first time ever that this was coming to an end. The studio wanted us to do another big blockbuster action movie, but they wouldn’t get another out of us. Besides, I knew of another film that was right up Spencer’s alley, and the producers were desperate for him. If we could wrap this film in time, he’d get exactly what he wanted. I would give him at least that much before we stopped doing movies together.
“Who knows, it might not be that bad,” I grinned.
“You’d look great in a period costume.”
“I would, wouldn’t I? I bet I could even pull off a British accent.”
He cringed at that. “I’ve heard you try. Trust me, it needs a lot of work.”
I grabbed a water bottle off the table and whipped it at him, but he caught it and chuckled, cracking the seal to take a drink. “So, what’s this about the boss wanting to see us?”
He shrugged casually. “Probably another scene adjustment. Another late night to redo a scene to make it just perfect.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Have you heard from Ginger?”
“Only in a letter,” I said, grabbing the most recent communication from the desk and handing it over. His eyebrows shot up as he read through it.
“Wow. She’s starring in a musical.”
“With Tony Stewart,” I muttered, sighing heavily.
“And how do you feel about that?” he hedged.
“You mean, other than the fact that she was supposed to be here with me?” I shrugged like it made no difference. “She can do whatever she wants. It’s her life and her career.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“But nothing. She made her choice.” I snatched the letter out of his hands and tossed it on the desk. I’d probably burn it later for fun, secretly hoping it would bring her bad luck for seven years, which it wouldn’t. It never did.
“Audrey—”
“It’s fine, Spencer.”
He stood and walked over to me as I gathered my things. We had to get back on set, and no amount of brooding over things I couldn’t change would make a damn bit of difference. But just like Spencer always did, he pulled me into his strong arms and wrapped me up in a bear hug, making me feel like the most cherished person in the world.
I relished in the warmth and comfort that only he could give me and nuzzled my face into his chest. His large hand slowly ran up and down my back comfortingly, making me wish we could be more than friends. Alas, it would never happen. We’d kissed so many times that we both knew there just wasn’t anything between us. We were great at pretending and putting on a show, but in reality, there was nothing but sibling affection between us.
“Come on. Let’s go see what Woody wants this time.”
I nodded against his chest and stepped back, smoothing out the shirt I’d just wrinkled. The costume department would have a field day with me for ruining their masterpiece if they found it in anything but pristine condition.
I grabbed my sunglasses off the table and slid them on, exhaling loudly. Turning, I took Spencer’s hand as he guided me down the steps. After he locked my trailer, we headed over to the set where Woody was waiting for us, looking just as irritable as he always did.
When he turned to us, he put on a bright smile, holding his arms out like we were his star pupils. He was always sucking up to us. The man didn’t know how to be genuine with anyone.
“There they are! Now, let me tell you kids what a great job you’re doing. We’re so close to finishing this film, and when it wraps, we’re gonna have one hell of a show. Now, I know you want to take a break before starting the next film, but I have a favor to ask of you.”
He slipped between us and wrapped his arms around both our shoulders, walking with us across the set. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this.
“We have an idea for promoting the film and we’d like to get on it before you lose the feel of the movie.”
Spencer sighed heavily.
“I know, I know. Not exactly what you had in mind. I understand, but trust me on this.” He slipped his arms off our shoulders and rushed in front of us, whipping around to face us in excitement. “Now, imagine this. We’re going to send you to a real security firm where you’ll get real live experience from actual ex-military kickass men and women! They’re gonna walk you through how to clear a room, how to take down an enemy…it’s gonna be so amazing! So, what do you think?”
Excitement raced through me, but there was just one problem. “Shouldn’t this have been something we did before filming?”
“Yeah, we’re almost done. What good will it do now?” Spencer added. “If anything, it’ll make it look like we ignored all their advice.”
“Right,” Woody nodded, trying to come up with an answer.
I knew that look on his face. “You didn’t.”
Spencer took a menacing step forward. “Woody, we told you we needed a break before filming again. We haven’t agreed to anything.”
Woody backed up a step, holding up his hands as Spencer stalked toward him. “Now, just hold on a minute. You’re contracted with the studio, and I have first dibs on you. That’s just the way it is in this situation!”
“You didn’t even talk to us first!” I snapped, angry that he would go behind our backs like that. I had already promised Spencer that I would do a different kind of film with him, and now Woody had essentially screwed us over. Not to mention, it just wasn’t possible for me to do another film. I just hadn’t told the studio yet. “When my lawyer hears about this?—”
“There’s not a damn thing he’ll be able to do. Until your contract is up, the studio owns your ass,” Woody argued. “Both of your asses. Face it, this is the way it is.”
“We don’t want to do this anymore,” I argued, even though I fucking loved making action movies. I had to think of Spencer and what was best for both of us. He was getting burned out. The reality was that we couldn’t keep doing this.
But Woody just snorted at us. “Not do these? You’re action movie gold. There’s not a chance in hell the studio is gonna let either of you go. As long as you keep bringing in the money like this, there’s not a chance in hell they’re letting you out of your contract.”
That wasn’t going to happen. One way or another, our contract would be ending whether he liked it or not. I might have to pull a few strings, but in the end, I would get my way. I had to. There was no way we could do another one of these movies.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’ll see about that.”
“You’re telling me there’s nothing that can be done?”
“Not for this film,” Tom, my lawyer, sighed. “However, because of the fact that they broke the terms of the contract and already negotiated for you to start filming at the beginning of August instead of giving you an appropriate break and informing you in a timely manner, I’ve been able to get you out of the rest of the contract. All you have to do is finish this one film with them.”
I looked at Spencer and sighed. Another film would be…I swallowed hard, thinking about the amount of stress this would put on both of us, but there was nothing we could do about it. Unless…
“Should we?—”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “We can do this.” He gave my hand a firm squeeze, reassuring me this would be fine.
It wasn’t what we wanted or what we planned on, but it meant we could finally break ties with the studio.
“Alright. What about this security company?”
“You’ll still need to go through with that as planned. As soon as the movie is finished, you’ll be heading to Kansas to film a reality show. It should only be a couple of weeks.”
Spencer groaned beside me, and I made the appropriate noises to commiserate with him, though deep down inside, I was excited to get to meet some actual real-life badass men and women. This was exactly what I needed to cheer me up.
“Thank you, Tom.”
“Sure. I’ll send over the final paperwork for you to sign.”
I hung up and turned to Spencer. “Well, at least we’re done with the studio. We can do whatever we want after this next film is over.”
“I know, but…”
I nodded. It was going to be difficult as hell. Longer days. Longer nights. Filming this last movie had been hell. I could only imagine what the upcoming one would be like. I snuggled into his arms, trying to console him. “It’ll be alright. We’ll help each other through it.”
“You love this stuff.”
“Not when you’re unhappy.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” he huffed.
“I doubt this one will be very fun.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead and sighed. “Not exactly the way you thought you’d say goodbye to action movies, was it?”
I chuckled against his chest, inhaling his spicy scent. “No. You know what you need?”
“Preferably a kale smoothie loaded with vitamins.”
I grimaced at the disgusting image. “I was going to say a slice of pizza and a coke.”
“That stuff is terrible for your body.”
“So is kale. Who actually likes that stuff?”
“Me. It’s full of?—”
I covered my ears, not interested in hearing another rant about what my body needed to survive. “Please, do not give me another lecture. I’m not sure I can take it right now.”
“You’re going to have a heart attack in the next five years if you keep eating the way you do.”
I glared at him. “If you keep shoving kale down my throat, I’m going to throw up. That’s worse.”
“How do you figure?”
“Throwing up is much more dangerous. You could slip in it and knock yourself out. Concussion, brain damage, death…”
He chuckled at my dramatization. “That’s really pushing it.”
“Not really. I’d like to see one person who died from enjoying a slice of pizza.”
“I could probably go to the hospital and get you a death roll.”
“And I could probably get the same number of people who gagged on a smoothie.”
“Gagging isn’t the same as dying.”
“It is in my book,” I retorted. “Now, let’s finish this movie so we can get to Kansas and finish up this crap.”
“Who would actually want to go to Kansas?” he grimaced. “What could possibly be there?”
I shrugged. “Corn. Cows. Mud…I have no idea.”
“There has to be something more to it. I mean, it can’t just be farmers who live there.”
“Well, obviously not,” I retorted. “The security company is there, remember?”
“Yeah, but why Kansas? Why not Nevada or California? Wouldn’t that make more sense than the middle of nowhere?”
“Maybe they’re not very good and that’s why they’re in the middle of nowhere. No one else will hire them, so they’re guarding the corn,” I chuckled.
“Well, then we can sleep easy knowing that no bad guys will actually come after us when we’re there.”
That was actually kind of a shame, but then something else occurred to me and I stopped Spencer with a hand to his chest. “Oh God. Do you think they’re all like…fat, overweight, balding men who couldn’t get jobs anywhere else?”
He sighed, nodding in agreement. “And that’s why they work in Kansas. They’re like— mall cops.”
“Only worse because not even malls would hire them. That’s so sad,” I mumbled.
“This is gonna be really bad for the studio.”
“The studio?” I said, my eyebrows climbing high. “What about us? We have our reputations to think about. Do you really want some fat dude trying to teach you how to clear a room when he can’t even make it through the door?”
He sighed heavily, shaking his head. “This is such a fucking nightmare.”
“Tell me about it. You’re right. It’s time to move on. From now on, romantic comedies only.”
“And historical romance,” he added quickly. “I would look amazing in tights.”
“Careful, or all the ladies will think you’re gay,” I smirked at him.
“Not gay, just well aware of my body and what I would look good in.”
“Right, and while you would look amazing in tights, I think the point is that we have bigger problems right now. The studio is going to make us look really bad. We need to find a way out of this.”
He nodded, his brows furrowing slightly. “Maybe we could pretend to go out there, but not really do it. We could go to Disney World instead.”
Of course, he would want to do that. “We could or…” An idea so brilliant came to mind that it was almost too good to believe. “What if we couldn’t make it out there?”
“That’s what I just said,” he frowned.
“Right, but what if we couldn’t make it out there because we were ‘kidnapped’?”
He stared at me like I was an idiot. “You want to fake kidnap yourself?”
“What? We have enough experience with it. We could hire someone to fake kidnap us from our entourage and take us on vacation somewhere. Then we would escape from this horrible nightmare of an excuse for a security company and get to actually enjoy some time off. We could go anywhere we wanted!”
“Audrey—”
I gave him a pouty look, hoping he would give in. He knew how much I needed this. Hell, we hadn’t had a vacation in so long. “Just think of all that sun and sand. The ocean water and the warm breeze on our skin. It’ll be amazing.”
For the first time in a long time, Spencer actually looked a little excited. “Do you think it would actually work?”
“I think so,” I grinned as I started planning it out in my head. “We could stage the whole thing with a ransom and everything. And think of how amazing it would be for publicity! We could get away for a week, and then when we’re ready to go back, we stage an escape and show up in the middle of Kansas or wherever the hell we’re supposed to be, proving we’re the most awesome action stars ever. The studio will love us for it, and they’ll never know a thing!”
“Do you think it could actually work?”
Spencer always doubted me, but I had an ace up my sleeve. “I just happen to know someone who is amazing at this sort of thing.”
“At kidnapping?”
I grinned at him. “It’s sort of in his wheelhouse.”