21. Oliver
OLIVER
Davis was all business when he picked me up. “I’ve been on the phone with legal, PR, and the reporter I spoke with last night. We’re getting ahead of this shit.”
“Annie’s on her way.”
“I heard.” He flashed me a small smile. “I knew I felt a disturbance in the force.”
I had to chuckle. Annie was a force unto herself.
The rest of the drive was quiet on my part as Davis spoke to several people, fully in charge and calm. I envied him that. I felt as if I had a hurricane inside me about to burst forth. I was angry, upset, livid on Kassie’s behalf. Furious for Davis.
A few reporters were hanging around the entrance to the set but not allowed to enter with the security Davis had added. I kept my head up, refusing to let them see me cower. I had done nothing wrong. I recognized a couple of them from LA. Lowlifes like Flynn, always ready to pounce.
“The vultures are gathering,” I muttered. “Waiting for my body to be exposed so they can pick me apart.”
“Too bad they won’t get the satisfaction,” he replied.
Once we arrived, he headed to his office after informing me he still wanted to film that morning. “I won’t let everyone suffer because of this.”
“Of course,” I agreed. As long as I didn’t have to share screen time with Sheri right now, I was fine. I would rather work than sit around my trailer and stew about all this shit.
But for the first time, I noticed an atmosphere of anxiety on the set. An air of disquiet permeated the entire area. Davis finally stood and clapped his hands, yelling for attention.
“Listen up, everyone. There is a bunch of BS going on outside this set. I refuse to let it affect morale here. None—and I mean, none—of it is true. We have all worked with Oliver these past weeks without incident.”
Some yelled, “Well, aside from the horse!”
Davis grinned. “Aside from the horse, yes. But I think we can all agree he has been nothing but professional. He might be a little high on manure fumes, but then again, we all are. He is not drinking, rude, or any of the lies printed in that garbage article. The only thing it is good for is lining the bottom of a birdcage. Oliver is here. Prepared to work. So if he can put aside all of it, I expect you to do so as well. Now, can we get back to making a movie?”
There was some applause and laughter, which helped to lighten the mood. I moved to my mark, accepting the coiled rope I needed from one of the set handlers. I took a deep breath, dropping my head, letting everything go, and zeroing in on what I needed to do.
I became Colton.
Later, I sat in a room with Davis and Annie.
She had arrived without fanfare, striding onto the set and immediately sweeping the area with her shrewd gaze.
I was shocked when I went to greet her and she hugged me.
Annie wasn’t much for touching unless it was to smack my head when I was annoying her.
“Holding up?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Good. Let’s get a handle on this nonsense.”
My lawyer was on-screen via Zoom. The PR people were waiting. A few other gossip sites in the States had picked up the story, but there had been nothing on any major news stations or papers so far. The Canadian papers and news seemed to be ignoring it.
Davis had already issued statements calling the entire thing “a sham” and a “personal vendetta against Oliver Hart.” The interview he had arranged had been taped and was being released this afternoon. Annie’s team was backing it up with lots of our own PR.
One by one, the cast had spoken to me today, offering their support, denying any knowledge of the article. Many of them expressed their disgust at the entire thing.
The only one missing was Sheri. A fact noticed by everyone, despite Davis’s tight-lipped explanation that she was under the weather.
I had just expressed my thoughts on the source of the article. Davis didn’t look surprised, but he wasn’t ready to jump on board quite yet.
He scrubbed his face. “Those are strong allegations, Oliver.”
I shrugged. “It makes sense. When I was hurt and she arrived in her lingerie, pretending to be so worried—it was all fixed. He was already here. He followed me to Kassie’s.
Got the other pictures. Set it all up. He even trailed me to the hospital.
” I tugged on my hair. “I got lazy. I wasn’t watching anymore.
I stopped being vigilant and looking over my shoulder.
I should have listened to those little tugs on my neck. ”
He smiled grimly. “Richton isn’t known for pap appearances. As a rule, reporters here are a little more, ah, respectful.”
I snorted at the same time Annie did. “Let’s not insult true reporters with Flynn,” she said, a plume of vapor hanging around her. “He’s worse than an ambulance chaser. The lowest of the lows.”
I swallowed a mouthful of coffee, the taste bitter and cold.
“We’ll slap them with a cease and desist,” Malcolm said. “And slander. We’ll sue for emotional trauma, mental anguish, and whatever else we come up with.”
“Get on it,” Annie instructed.
“Done,” he replied and signed off.
Davis leaned his head back. “Can we add costing me millions personally when the film isn’t finished if this is true?” he muttered.
I exchanged a glance with Annie. “You’d fire her, Davis?”
“She’s breached about ten items in her contract.
Plus, if she did put the burrs in the blankets with intent to harm?
That’s a whole other legal issue right there.
She could be charged with a serious offense if you decide to go after her.
What choice do I have? I’ll have to recast and reshoot a huge portion of the film or walk away and shelve it.
” For the first time ever, I saw Davis lose his cool.
“Fuck!” He slammed his hand on the table.
“This is what I get for ‘seeing’ something in a person on-screen. It’s my own fucking fault. ”
Annie spoke up. “Fucking nonsense. It’s Oliver’s fault.”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“If you weren’t so hot, she wouldn’t have gone after you.”
I was at a loss for words. Then she winked at me and laughed raucously. Davis grinned, and I had to chuckle, knowing she was simply stopping the blame game.
“Seriously, boys, this is on her. She didn’t get what she wanted, so she’s acting out like a child, not caring who else is hurt in the process.
She deserves to be fired, blackballed, and run out of town.
” She inhaled long and deep, then blew out the vapor slowly.
“But that fucks everyone. Myself included. And I hate being fucked. I much prefer being on the giving end.”
“Thanks for that mental image, Annie,” I muttered with a grimace.
She waved her hand, not bothered.
I looked at Davis. “You’d reshoot?”
He stood, grunting in displeasure as he paced. “I’ve soaked millions in. This is all me. If I recast and reshoot, maybe I can salvage something. I walk away, and not only do I lose everything, there’s a giant black mark against me.”
I frowned. “I’ll give up my salary.”
Annie’s head snapped in my direction, and Davis gaped at me. “What?”
“I’ll work for free.”
“We need to discuss this,” Annie hissed as Davis shook his head.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t. I offered.”
He sat down, perplexed. “Oliver, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t do this.”
“I still feel partially responsible.” I drew in a deep breath. “In fact, if you decide to go ahead, I’ll finish the film with her.”
He and Annie stared at me.
“You would do that?”
“You took a chance on me and trusted me with this character. I’d trust you to look after me with her,” I said simply.
I looked at Annie, who was studying me closely. She looked—proud?
“There would have to be stipulations,” Annie said firmly.
Davis and I exchanged a glance. “What do you have in mind, Annie?” he asked.
“Beat her at her own game. We get her to admit she was in on it. You, Oliver, be the big man and finish the film. You do the red carpet with the whole cast when it’s released. You laugh it off.”
“And?” Davis prompted.
“She has to admit to it. Privately. Signed, sealed. We take that to the owners of the rag, and they’re toast. They’ll have no choice but to fire Flynn. Hang him out to dry when they realize it’s that or court and millions.” She inhaled again with an evil smile. “Lots and lots of millions.”
“He’ll be furious,” I said with a frown.
“He’ll be finished. This was desperation on his part. A chance to get his name back on the byline and get even with you, finally. If these lowlifes won’t touch him, no one will.”
“If Sheri agrees,” Davis mused. “If, in fact, it was her.”
“It was,” Annie stated firmly and slid her phone across the table.
Davis picked it up and looked at the screen with a low whistle. He handed it to me. It held a picture of Sheri and Flynn, heads together, taken recently. She was in one of her on-screen costumes that I recognized.
“Well, well,” I muttered.
For a moment, the room was silent then Davis turned to me. “Can you do it? Would you do it? Keep working with her? Walk the red carpet and act like none of this had anything to do with her?”
The thought of even seeing her made me cringe, but I didn’t want Davis to pay for her actions. Or for my own ego. I despised the article and the lies. Even more, I loathed that it breached Kassie’s private life. Made her vulnerable.
“I need this shut down ASAP,” I replied. “Not for me. For Kassie. She doesn’t deserve this. I’m angrier about that than anything.”
Davis nodded. “I understand.”
“I want to face Sheri. I want to know why. Then, yes, if you decide to go ahead, I’ll finish the film.”
“With full payment,” Annie added. “Maybe a bonus for danger pay.”
“Will you press charges for the incident?”
“No. That will only perpetuate the animosity and cause another scandal. But she needs to take responsibility.” I sat back. “And apologize—especially to Kassie. Plus, make amends.”
“How?”
I shook my head, suddenly tired. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe she needs a salary cut. Or lesser billing,” Annie stated dryly. “Put Oliver’s name over hers.”