37. Audrey
37
AUDREY
I walked through the doors of the studio with Spencer, taking careful steps. I had played this part well, worrying about my next move, wondering if someone was here to kill me. Only this time, someone might actually try to.
“Ready for this?” I asked.
“Sure. Just like another action movie, right?”
“Exactly.”
He scowled. “I hate action movies.”
“I know, but you’re so good at them.”
The further we moved onto the set, the more my spine stiffened. There was something odd about knowing you were walking into a trap and being perfectly okay with it. I just hoped everyone had my back.
A door slammed at the back and I looked at Spencer, giving him a nod. “Woody?” I called out, hurrying forward. If only this was a movie.
“Audrey? Spencer?”
I hid my snarl, knowing he was trying to trap us. He was an asshole like that. The moment I found out he was trying to kill us, my opinion of him dropped to nothing. Yes, I had lied to him about my condition, but he was planning on killing us because of something as stupid as money. Who did that?
“Psychopaths,” Spencer muttered as if he read my mind. “Be careful.”
I nodded in agreement as we rounded the corner to where I knew Woody would be waiting. Except, it wasn’t just him on the set. Nope, he had the producer with him too. Dick Marshall was just as bad as Woody, but he’d never showed up on set before. He liked to stay in the background.
“Audrey,” he said, holding out his hands to me. “My dear, when I heard about your condition…well, my heart goes out to you.”
“Is that why you tried to have me killed?”
“What?” he barked out a laugh. “Darling, you’re our biggest star. You’re?—”
“Worth more dead than alive,” Spencer finished. “Which you know since you handle the money. And when Woody went to you and told you that not only did we get out of our contract after the next film, but that we also wouldn’t be able to do another because of Audrey’s condition, you thought you’d find a different way to make that money back.”
He chuckled, shaking his head at us. “That’s absurd. I think you’ve spent too much time in Hollywood.”
“Actually, we have proof,” I said, pulling the sheet from my back pocket that Rae gave us. “It turns out, you weren’t so smart about keeping the paper trail hidden. You should always cover your tracks, Woody.”
Dick spun and faced Woody with mock hatred. “You did what?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t know anything,” I sighed. “I have another with your name all over it.” I pulled out the second, holding it up in the air for him to see. Not that he could read it from that far away. Hell, with my poor vision, I wasn’t sure I was even holding up the right pieces of paper, but it did the job.
He narrowed his eyes on me, shooting me what I was sure was supposed to be a death glare. “You stupid bitch.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“Just last week, I think,” Spencer nodded.
“Probably from you.”
Spencer scoffed, affronted by my statement. “You know I love you. I would never say something like that. Not even in jest.”
“I think it was after I tripped you and pulled you down in the mud.”
“Oh, well, that was a different story. I don’t like being dirty.”
“And you wonder why someone would take out a hit on you!” Dick shouted. “Christ, the two of you are impossible to work with!”
I barked out a laugh. “That’s rich, considering how much money we’ve made you.”
“Hey, missy,” Woody snapped. “Not everything is because of you.”
“No, that’s true,” I acknowledged, “but it sure as shit isn’t your ugly mug on the big screen. Though, I am going blind, so maybe your looks have improved.”
“They haven’t,” Spencer muttered.
“I was trying to be nice.”
“Why? They tried to kill us.”
He was right, but still…This was very unlike Spencer to be so bloodthirsty. Either way, it was time to move things along.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to turn in this evidence to the police and you’re going down for attempted murder.” I looked between the two of them and grinned. “Both of you.”
Spencer picked up where I left off. “The police should be arriving any minute now.” He looked at his watch, grinning at both of them. “I’d say you have five minutes.”
Woody growled at us, but it was Dick I knew we had to watch out for. And I was right. As predicted, he saw the guns left on set from the last film. Yes, we’d purposely put them there, just hoping to tempt him.
“Don’t do it,” I warned him. “You’ll only get in more trouble.”
Spencer watched him carefully, shaking his head. “He’s not brave enough. He knows there’s no way out for him.”
“Cornered men do stupid things,” I muttered. My fingers twitched at my sides and as soon as he turned and ran, I pulled the gun from the small of my back. I held my weapon exactly as Slider taught me. Apparently, I’d been doing it wrong all those years during filming. So much for the professionals we hired to teach us properly.
Dick held the gun in front of him, his arm shaking as he stared at both of us. “I will not go down for this. Do you think I’m stupid? That I wouldn’t have a way out?”
“Well, you went for a gun, so I’m guessing you didn’t,” I said, taking a step closer to him.
He whimpered out a laugh, turning his weapon on Woody. “This is all your fault. You couldn’t keep them under control. All you had to do was get them to finish the fucking movie!”
“I had it covered!” Woody shouted.
“Clearly,” Spencer nodded.
“Think about this, Dick. You don’t want to shoot anyone. The police are going to be here any minute. The last thing you want is for them to walk in on you holding three people hostage.”
A merciless laugh left his lips as sweat beaded on his forehead. “That’s where you’re wrong. I won’t be here when the police arrive.” He readjusted his hands on the weapon, backing up slightly. “You don’t have what it takes to pull the trigger, but I do!”
His eyes had barely left mine when he pulled the trigger, only to find that nothing happened. “What?—”
“It’s a prop gun, Dick,” I chuckled. “You’d know that if you were on set more often.” I took a few more steps forward, heeding Slider’s words about making sure I was in control before making my move.
“Careful, Audrey.”
I knew Spencer was worried. Yes, a half blind woman was not the best person to be holding a gun, but Spencer absolutely hated firearms.
“Dick, don’t make me shoot you. If you run, I will pull the trigger.”
Woody’s nervous eyes bounced back and forth between the two of us. I could see him inching toward the door, hoping for an escape. I swung my weapon toward him, shaking my head at him.
“Spencer, grab the handcuffs from the prop closet.”
“Audrey, I’m not leaving you.”
“Spencer, just do as I say. I’ve got this,” I said confidently.
I heard his sigh of frustration, but didn’t take my eyes off Woody. “You know, it’s really a shame you couldn’t work with us on the scheduling. I enjoyed making movies with you. Why did you have to go and try to kill us? You ruined everything.”
“I ruined everything?” he laughed. “You didn’t even tell the studio you were going fucking blind!”
“Yes, and I do feel bad about that. It was possibly a poor choice, but if you look at things from my perspective, I wanted to continue to make action movies for as long as possible. I knew once word got out that I wouldn’t be able to see, you’d find someone better to fill my shoes.”
“Exactly!”
“That’s still no reason to kill someone,” I pointed out. “I may have been wrong, but wanting to live a full life is not a crime.”
“Deceiving your employers is,” he snapped. “You know, I wasn’t even going to kill you at first. I just wanted you to disappear.”
“Well, you didn’t need to go to all the trouble. We were going to leave all on our own. We deserved a vacation.”
“Thankfully, I beat you to it,” he smirked. “If only those men I’d hired were competent enough to actually get the job done.”
“It’s not their fault someone better came along,” I said, smiling as I thought of the day I met Slider. I pressed my finger to my ear. “Slider, is that enough?”
“Should be. Got them both confessing to attempted murder.”
Woody’s jaw dropped as he stared at me. “Who were you talking to?”
“Oh, that? That was my security detail. You didn’t really think I’d go anywhere without them, did you? They’re coming in right now. I’d be scared, if I were you.”
But like the stupid man he was, he turned and ran. I rolled my eyes and chased after him, tripping over a piece of the set that I didn’t see in front of me. The gun went sprawling across the floor, and with my horrible eyesight, I couldn’t find it.
I got to my knees scrambling for the weapon when something pierced my arm. Crying out, I fell back on my ass, gripping my arm. “What the hell?”
“Audrey!” Slider called out, running into the building.
Someone grabbed me from behind by my hair, yanking me off the ground. I felt the cold barrel of my own weapon pressed to my head as I was pulled away from my security detail that was rushing inside the building, fanning out around us.
“Put it down!” Slider shouted. “Put the fucking weapon down!”
Blood trickled down my throbbing arm. I saw Woody in the distance when I looked just the right way. He was holding a gun.
“You fucking shot me!” I shouted, ignoring the fact that someone else was holding my own gun to my head.
“Put it down right now, asshole,” Slider shouted.
“If I put this down, I’m dead!” Woody retorted.
“You’re dead anyway after you shot my girl.”
“I can’t believe you fucking shot me!” I said, still unable to believe any of this.
“You were going to shoot me,” he snarled.
I heard footsteps pounding on the ground and then heard Spencer’s strangled gasp. “What the hell? I leave you alone for two minutes and you got yourself shot? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Can we discuss this later?” I snapped. “I’m sort of in the middle of something.”
“Yeah, why don’t you pull out those fancy moves,” he muttered.
“Do not do that,” Slider growled. “You’re not as good as you think.”
“Oh, thanks for that.” I felt Dick’s hot breath on my shoulder and cringed. “Would you mind not breathing on me like that? It’s so disgusting.”
“Woody, I’m giving you to the count of three, and then I’m pulling the fucking trigger and putting a bullet in your head.”
I sighed longingly. “You know, it’s really unfair that I can’t actually see you when you’re being all hot and action-heroish.”
“One!”
“I’m not going out this way!” Woody shouted.
“I would really put that down, if I were you,” I warned him.
“You selfish bitch! All I wanted was one more fucking movie! You couldn’t give that to me!”
“Well, I’m sort of blind. Sorry about that,” I retorted, turning slightly to face Dick. “Seriously, a little less breathing on my neck. What part of that did you not understand?”
“Two!”
“Just put the gun down,” I shouted. “I promise you, he will kill you!”
“I’m not going to jail!”
I didn’t see exactly what happened. I heard a scuffle and saw movement, but who did what, I was unsure. I heard a pained cry and then a loud crunch.
“Ooh, that did not sound good. What happened?”
“He just broke his fucking arm!”
“And I missed it?”
“Your boyfriend is psychotic,” he snapped, pulling me backward. “I can’t believe this fucking shit.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let me guess, you’re not going to jail either.”
“You’re my ticket out of here. He won’t shoot as long as you’re in my arms.”
“You know, every movie in the history of movies has some scene similar to this. I’ll clue you in. It never ends well for the bad guy.”
It looked like I was going to have to put a stop to this. I thrust his hand away from my head, then kicked my foot back, ramming it into his stomach. He stumbled back a step and then turned the gun on me. I saw the intent in his eyes and dared him to do it.
He pulled the trigger.
A little white flag popped out of the end saying Bang!
“Well, this is awkward,” I chuckled. “Did I forget to mention that wasn’t a real gun?”
Dick’s face drained of color and threw the gun at me, missing me completely, before turning to run. Thumper went racing after him, tackling him to the ground.
“Does he realize the whole place is surrounded?” Slider asked, strolling up beside me.
I shrugged. “Not sure. How’d we do?”
“Could have gone better. You didn’t tell me Woody had an actual gun.”
“Didn’t know.”
He slid his arm around my waist and turned me toward him. My lips were just inches from his, and up this close, I could see one of his eyes properly. I brushed my thumb along his cheekbone, memorizing it all while I still could.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered.
“So romantic,” I grinned, leaning in to press my lips to his. My eyes fluttered shut and our electricity shot through me.
Just as our lips were about to touch, an explosion ripped through the building, rocking the walls and caving in the ceiling. Slider tossed me to the ground, covering my body with his. The whole building was going to come tumbling down around us. Hadn’t we already done this before?
“Goddamnit, IRIS! It’s over already,” Slider snapped, dragging me to my feet. “We didn’t need a fucking explosion!”
Fox came marching in wearing a band costume while playing an invisible trombone as he sang “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man.
FNG followed, using his umbrella as some kind of marching baton and Max pulled up the rear with a cigar and drink in hand. He was not singing or dancing, thankfully. That would have been too much to take.
Fox finished off his song and held his arms out wide, waiting for an applause that never came. As he looked around, he frowned, “Wait, what’s going on? Did I miss my entrance?”
A loud bell rang throughout the studio and Zoe rushed onto the set, followed by her crew and several other members of OPS. “Cut! That’s a wrap!”
“A wrap?” Fox frowned. “But I didn’t get to perform my musical number. There was no singing and dancing. How the hell are you going to turn in that film to a producer when none of the good stuff is on there?”
“I’ve got explosions and threats,” Zoe countered. “I think we’re good.”
“Sure, if you don’t want the heart of the show to be in the film,” Fox muttered.
“I’m not arguing about this,” Zoe snapped. “You guys always take over filming, but it’s not happening this time. I’m in charge. I say what’s going in the film!”
Fox scowled at her, his fingers twitching at his sides. “We’ll see about that.”
Then he stomped off stage right and started yelling orders at anyone who would listen, which I was pretty sure was nobody.
I smiled at Slider, happy it all turned out the way it was supposed to. “So, that’s it?”
“That’s it,” he answered. “Bad guys are caught. My team will turn over the evidence to the police and this whole nightmare will be over.”
I bit my lip, wondering if he still felt the same about taking me home with him. “And…what do we do now?”
His hand slid down my back, cupping my ass. “Now, I take you home and show you what a real fucking vacation is like.”
I was just about to kiss him when I pulled back, frowning at him. “You’re not going to make me practice throwing knives, are you?”
“Trust me, Fox will not be anywhere near this vacation.”
“Thank God. I get the feeling he’s not exactly my biggest fan.”
“That’s because he’s used to women falling at his feet. I can’t believe you messed that up.”
I shrugged. “He was too much fun to mess with.”
“If you thought waking up with him in your bed while eating Funyuns was bad, just wait until we get home. I can guarantee you haven’t seen the worst of it yet.”
I tossed my head back, laughing hysterically. “You’re right, and I never will, considering I’m losing my vision.”
“Blind jokes?” he snapped. “Really?”
“What? If I can get used to it, so can you.”
“Baby, the only thing I’m gonna get used to is having you wrapped around my cock first thing every morning.”
Spencer walked past and sighed. “Oh, good. And here I was, worried that our relationship wasn’t awkward enough. Glad to see we can still improve on that.”
I grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him in for a hug. Spencer and Baldy both wiggled in my arms, struggling to get free. “Come on, guys! It’s just a hug!”
“We shared a bed once, and that’s not happening again,” Baldy argued.
I saw Thumper walking over and grinned, speaking loudly. “I heard you slept in your underwear. I had no idea it was that kind of friendship.”
Thumper grinned, slapping Baldy on the shoulder. He spun and glared at his friend. “Dude, you slept with another guy in your underwear?” He sighed heavily. “And all this time I thought I knew you.”
I snorted out a laugh and Slider whipped his head in my direction. “You’ll pay for that.”
I bit my lip, leaning in close so only he could hear. “I can’t wait.”