22. Audrey
22
AUDREY
“Are you really leaving me here with them?”
Craig smirked at me. “Like you’re really having a hard time with this.”
“You have no idea what this is like for me. I was supposed to be on vacation right now.”
“I know it’s not the beach, but you are surrounded by hot men.”
“Hot men who are married,” I stressed.
He held up two fingers. “Two of them aren’t.”
“Spencer is my oldest friend and Baldy is…” Hot. Insanely attractive. Sexy. Has a huge dick…”Bald.”
“Hey, that’s just mean. Don’t hate on the bald dude. He seems to really like you.”
“He tolerates me.”
“He’s trying not to fuck you,” he corrected.
I thought of last night and clenched my thighs. Hell, what I wouldn’t give for him to give in and do the things I was only dreaming about. It wasn’t like I wanted to date him or anything. But it had been a long time since I’d had a man between my legs, and he happened to be a very sexy, very muscular man. The only man I’d dated who even came close was Spencer, and we never made it past a kiss.
“I need a good fuck,” I muttered.
“Maybe try the other one.”
I sighed heavily. “It won’t do. He’s like my brother.”
“Well, I’m off the market.”
“I know. You and your Reese’s pieces. I swear, if you tell me one more thing about her, I’ll gag.”
“You’re just jealous because you want what I have.”
Was he right? I hadn’t really thought about it before. I’d always been so busy with work that I hadn’t considered settling down with anyone. That always seemed like something that would happen in the future. The very distant future.
“Maybe, but now’s not the time to think about it.”
“Right. In twenty years, you’ll remember this conversation and say You know, Craig was right. I should have settled down when I had the chance.”
“Are you saying I’m going to end up a spinster?”
“If the shoe fits,” he teased.
“Yo!” Alec called out, coming into the room. “Let’s hit the road. Cap has been asking for the last hour about our flight details.”
“So, why didn’t you tell him?”
“Because I wasn’t entirely sure you weren’t going to change your mind.”
“You could,” I said hopefully.
“Not if I want to have any more kids,” he grinned. He pulled me in for a hug, wincing when I hugged him a little too tight. “Careful with the ribs.”
“Sorry,” I cringed, stepping back. “I really am sorry about the accident. And the bruising. And the broken ribs. And the?—”
“Let me stop you right there before you have to write a list.”
“Well, thank you for coming for me.”
“Anytime.” He turned around, but then stopped, looking back at me. “You know, forget I said that. I’m not sure we should meet again like this.”
“With me jumping out of the back of a van onto the hood of your vehicle?”
“No, that part was fun,” he grinned. “We should definitely do that again.”
“I’ll pencil you in.”
He winked at me, and then he was gone. I walked over to the window, watching as he got in his vehicle and pulled out of the drive. I hated to see him go—not because I was attached to Craig or anything, but because I knew I couldn’t have anything with him, so the boundaries were clear.
And then there was Slider.
He wouldn’t fuck me last night when I was spread out on the bed for him. When I did exactly as he asked and shoved my fingers in my pussy and came all from him looking at me. God, I have such morning-after regret. I never should have let him get to me.
“Need anything?”
I spun around, wincing when I stubbed my toe on the foot of the chair. “Nope,” I smiled at Thumper. “I just said goodbye to Craig.”
He nodded. “That wasn’t the smartest idea.”
“Saying goodbye?” I said cheekily.
“You know what I mean. Your director is breathing down my boss’s neck. He wants to know your whereabouts.”
“And?” I asked curiously.
He walked further into the room, shoving his hands in his pockets. I was all too aware of all the weapons attached to every part of his body. These guys made it look like every day they were entering a war zone. It was a little hot.
“Nobody knows where you are. We follow protocols until we figure out who’s behind the attacks. That’s the way it has to be.”
“That’s actually a relief. He can’t send me a new script if he can’t find me,” I joked. “So…what do we do in the meantime? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“We need permission to go into your place and dig through everything.”
“Do you really think you’ll find something?” I didn’t really like the idea of someone tearing my place apart, but if it helped to end this, I wouldn’t say no.
“It’s the first place to start. We could miss something major by skipping that step.”
“Then I guess you’d better do it,” I sighed.
“We also need you to write out a list of anyone who might try to use you for money.”
“That would be a very short list. I mean, I’m sure there are people out there, but it’s not like anyone has ever come up to me and asked me for money.”
“What about hinting at it?” he asked.
I thought it over, but it just wasn’t like that in my life. “No, not that I can think of.”
“Family? Distant relatives?”
I sank down in the nearest chair, still a little lightheaded from the concussion. The light streaming in from the window was bothering me more than I wanted to admit. As if Thumper knew exactly what I was feeling, he strode over and pulled the blinds, dimming the light immediately.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Family?” he asked again.
“I doubt it. My mom is on husband number five. I think.”
“Wow. That many?”
I smiled at him despite the depressing facts. “Ginger Taylor? Old Hollywood legend. Don’t you know her?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Sorry. Don’t watch much TV.”
“Well, you’re lucky. I was, unfortunately, raised by her. I mean, as much as one can be raised by a woman who chases one man to the next and bounces from movies to theater as the wind blows.”
He gave a sympathetic nod, but didn’t say anything else.
“Right, so, would she do it? No,” I shook my head. “She doesn’t need the money. Too many divorces with too many payouts.”
“Okay. We’ll look into all relatives just to be certain there are no skeletons, but if we have names and dates of birth, it’ll be faster. It just narrows the pool of suspects for us.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“What about Spencer? Anyone that might be after him?”
“You’d have to ask him that. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like Spencer. He’s just not the type of person to make enemies.”
“Sometimes that’s worse. If you’re an easy target, people will walk all over you. And if everyone knows how much you mean to him, they’d go after you because they would know he’d do anything for you.”
“Including giving any amount of money,” I surmised.
“Exactly.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“In the meantime, get me that list.”
I nodded just as Baldy walked into the room. He quickly averted his eyes, giving a chin lift to Thumper. “Did Rae find anything last night?”
Thumper looked from him to me and then back. “Uh…not yet.”
“Right. I’ll do a perimeter sweep.”
“I’ll go with you,” I spoke up, needing to get out of the house.
“Clients don’t come with,” Baldy snapped, giving me the cold shoulder.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like anything’s going to happen.” I spun and gave Thumper a pointed look. “Tell him nothing’s going to happen.”
He chuckled, holding up his hands. “I’m not getting in the middle of a marital spat.”
“It’s not a marital spat,” I argued. “I just want to get some fresh air.”
“And it’s against the rules,” Baldy argued.
“He’s right,” Thumper grinned. “But this is cute,” he said, pointing between the two of us. “I never really thought I’d see the day when Slider would trade in his wings.”
“His what?”
“His wings. His flight wings,” he reiterated.
I still didn’t get it.
“Because single men fly solo. So, he traded in his wings and— never mind.”
I was about to ask Baldy what the hell Thumper was talking about, but he was already out the door. I growled in frustration, stamping my foot. “He is so frustrating!”
“Yeah, it’s such a pain when someone won’t listen,” Thumper nodded.
I spun around and narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you implying I don’t listen?”
“Me? No, I would never do such a thing.” He smirked at me as he backed away. “Don’t forget that list.”
That stupid list. I walked over to the window and looked outside. Baldy was walking along the edge of the property, looking around. Hell, I could do that. It didn’t look that hard. I cocked my head to the side as I studied him, and then an idea sprang to mind. I looked over my shoulder and grinned.
Woody did want a live-action film.
“This is stupid,” Spencer hissed.
“It’s the opposite of stupid. This is what Woody wants and we’re going to give it to him.”
“Bullshit,” he muttered as we opened the door and snuck outside. “The only thing you want to do is cause trouble.”
I crept along the side of the house, careful not to let anyone see me. When I got to the edge, I lowered my sunglasses and peeked around the corner, spotting Baldy on the far end of the property near some trees. He was just a small blob from here, which was perfect because it gave us enough time to get over to him and get some good shots.
I turned back to Spencer and grinned as I pushed my glasses back up. “Okay, we’ll run over to the barn and then duck past those trees. Once I’m sure no one’s watching, I’ll run to that cluster of trees behind Baldy and then wave you in. You can run behind me, and then we’ll hop, skip, and jump behind each cluster of trees until we get to him.”
Spencer shot me a confused look. “Who taught you to give directions?”
“What’s wrong with my directions?”
“Those trees? The cluster of trees behind Baldy? That’s really informative. I’m sure nothing will go wrong with directions like that,” he scoffed.
Rolling my eyes, I chose to ignore his inane comments. “Just follow my lead.”
“Whatever you say. I’m just along for the ride anyway,” he muttered.
When I was sure no one was watching, I took off at a sprint for the barn. At first, I was running really fast, but then I realized the barn was much further away than I thought and I started to lose steam. Not to mention, the aches and pains from the accident were blooming all over again. Maybe running wasn’t such a good idea. Pretty soon, Spencer caught up and jogged alongside me.
“What are you doing? Why are we slowing down?”
I pressed my hand to the ache in my side. “I didn’t realize the barn was so far away.”
“How could you not realize that?”
I nearly collapsed as I came to a sudden stop, bending over to suck in air. Then my head swam and everything spun. “Ooh, I feel really dizzy,” I mumbled.
“No shit. You feel dizzy after getting in an accident? You had a freaking concussion!” he said, grabbing my arm and holding me.
“Well, you didn’t stop me!” I gasped, standing upright and forcing the dizziness aside. If I blinked really slowly, the world started to right itself again.
“Since when can anyone stop you from doing anything?”
“Just give me a piggyback ride to the barn.”
He scoffed, staring up at the sky. “Why? Aren’t you done injuring yourself?”
“I’m not injured. I’m recovering!” I snapped, grabbing onto his shirt. I pretended like I was trying to climb on him, but I was really holding myself up. But if I fell now, no one would let me leave the house ever again.
“This is not recovering. This is begging for another injury. Unless you want to go back to the hospital and play the part of Mrs. Baldy again.”
That didn’t sound appealing at all. “I just want to get the footage. That’s what we came here to do!” I stomped my foot.
“Actually, we came here because someone tried to kidnap us. If we were at OPS, then I could understand trying to do the live-action film. But we’re not there, and this is insanity.”
“You’re insanity.”
“Ooh, that was a good one,” he said mockingly. “I think I might have to go to the burn unit.”
“Are you going to help me or not?” I hissed.
He stared at me for a moment, but then bent over and crouched low for me. “Just so you know, I’m doing this under duress.”
“You’re doing this because you love me.”
“No, it’s because I know you’ll do it without me. And then we’ll find you passed out somewhere with birds pecking your eyes out. I can’t be responsible for that.”
I climbed on and wrapped my arms around his neck, then pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You really are the best.”
“Yeah, tell that to my mother the next time we visit,” he said as he started walking toward the barn.
“Your mother loves you.”
He scoffed at that. “My mother loves you more than me.”
“That’s because I always bring her dildos when I visit.”
He slipped in some mud at my confession and dropped me to the ground. I yelped as my ass hit hard while the rest of my body slipped and slid in the disgusting puddle. He spun and glared at me accusingly. “You do what?”
I rubbed my butt cheek, hoping I didn’t have a massive bruise tonight. Fuck, that really hurt.
“How could you give my mom dildos?” he shouted.
“Hey, your mom is a woman. She needs comfort, too!”
“My father?—”
“Died a long time ago. She has needs!” I argued, struggling to get off the ground. Mud was caked everywhere and I slipped when my shoe hit a slimy patch, falling on my face.
“See? That’s karma, right there!” he pointed at me. “That’s what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!”
I lifted my head and glared at him through mud. “This is what I get for helping your mom? She’s lonely. She needs to get a release!”
He turned away, shoving his fingers in his ears. “I’m not hearing this! I can’t believe you would talk about my mother?—”
I scrambled to my knees and reached out, snagging him around the foot. I gave a hard yank and laughed when he went down with a harsh thump. I snorted out a laugh, trying to hold it back when he pushed off the ground and looked back at me with a steely look in his eyes.
“That wasn’t funny,” he snarled.
“It was a little funny.”
He shoved to his feet and tried to brush off the mud, but it only smeared on his clothes. “Great! This is never going to come out! This is all your fault. I’m not even supposed to be here. I should be on set somewhere, but you just had to go on vacation instead.”
“Hey, you wanted to go, too!” I shouted, pushing to my feet, slipping just a little.
“I agreed because you always bully me into everything.”
“Bully?” I laughed. “I was trying to help you!”
“Help me into an early grave! How many times have we almost died?”
I barked out a laugh at that. “Excuse me, but it’s only me that almost died. You’ve barely faced down death. Hell, you’ve had more dangerous scenes while doing stunts!”
“And that makes this okay?” he shouted. “I was happy! I was living the dream! I was?—”
“Completely fucking miserable,” I reminded him. “You don’t even want to do action movies anymore.”
“And yet, you dragged me into a live one!” he shouted, shoving his fingers through his hair.
“I was just trying to help!”
“Well, stop doing that. You’re going to get us both killed.”
“Stop being so dramatic. You always get like this when you’re stressed. You start whining about everything and pretending the world is about to end.”
“I do not,” he pouted.
“Remember two years ago when that film ran over? You blamed me for the store being out of your favorite protein powder.”
“Because you insisted we go to a different hotel,” he argued.
“Yes, because the one we were at had bed bugs. Bed bugs! Did you really want to stay there?” I moved quickly, pressing my hands to his cheeks. “This will be fine. You will be fine. You just have to calm down and relax. Just keep reminding yourself that you can do this. We’re safe. Nothing is going to happen to us.”
He stared at me with squished lips and blew out a long breath. “Promise?”
“Of course I do. When have I ever let you down?”
“You want a list?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and he sighed. “Fine. It’ll all be fine.”
“See? I told you,” I beamed. “Now, how about we go get the rest of this movie taken care of.”
“We’re covered in mud,” he grumbled.
“Yes, but if we leave now, this will all have been for nothing.”
I could see the hesitation in his eyes, but I knew I had him. “Fine, but when we get inside, I get the shower first.”
“You have my word.”
I grabbed his hand and laced it with mine. Finally, we were getting somewhere.
“Good, now let’s—ah!” My shoe slipped and the ache in my side made it impossible for me to move fast enough to catch myself. My arms whirled for some kind of balance, but it was too late. I was going down. I snatched Spencer at the last second and pulled on him, taking him with me. I fell to my back, yanking him down on top of me.
I groaned as we both laid in the mud, my pride injured more than anything else.
“God, I really hope they don’t have cameras around here,” Spencer muttered.
“We do,” a male voice said.
I swiveled my head so I could see who was walking up behind us. But it wasn’t just one person. Thumper was there, along with IRIS. Then Spencer started hitting me and I followed his line of sight, where Baldy and Rae walked over, smirking at the sight of us.
“We…were just out for a stroll,” I said, clearing my throat.
Thumper nodded. “That’s why you crept out the front and hid along the side of the house?”
“Or ran toward the barn?” Baldy asked.
“You saw that?” I asked, glaring at him.
He grinned at me. “You’re not exactly quiet.”
“And there are sensors all over the place,” Thumper added. “As soon as you opened the door, we knew what you were doing.”
“Wait, so, we didn’t sneak out?” I asked.
“Nope,” Rae grinned.
“And you watched us the whole time? Just waiting for us to…what?”
They all looked at each other and shrugged. “Just to see what you would do,” IRIS answered. “It was quite entertaining.”
“I personally liked the first time you went down in the mud,” Thumper chuckled.
“Not as much as the last time,” Baldy said, his eyes narrowing on me.
I swiped mud from my body and threw it at him. Of course, it landed at his feet instead of on him, which totally ruined the statement I was trying to make.
Spencer sighed. “So, all of this was for nothing?”
“Not nothing,” Rae said. “At least we know all the sensors work.”