25. Cole
Chapter twenty-five
Cole
I won’t lie, I expected Jenna to fight it more than she did. I expected her to ignore me for a month or more because she’s stubborn.
Maybe I even expected her to not give in at all, and I’d never see her again.
While she may be stubborn, she surprised me by showing up at my apartment looking like something ripped straight from my fantasies, and took me for exactly what she wanted.
Her pink little toy?
In the trash.
No longer fucking existent, because she doesn’t need it. Not when she has my hands, my mouth and my cock to use freely for whenever she craves that release.
So far, she’s taken advantage of that fact, and I’ve happily obliged, because I don’t foresee me ever being able to turn her down.
Should I be worried about it? Maybe.
But am I allowing myself to focus on it? Not even a little bit.
We’d fallen asleep next to each other, four limbs intertwined completely, but when I’d woken up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, there wasn’t a trace of her anywhere. Not even a loose strand of blonde hair or a bobby pin left on my nightstand. I realized right then that she wasn’t the type of girl who spent the night with the guy she was sleeping with.
I did, however, notice the lump in Tate’s bed, and I knew she must’ve sent him home when she got back to her apartment.
The conversation he and I had when we both woke up a few hours later to head to set confirmed that she ordered him to leave when she found him curled up in her bed.
Something feels different this morning, though.
I got to work a little later than I usually would because both Tate and I slept through our alarms, but there was a freshly baked cupcake with a warm coffee waiting for me with a smiley face scribbled on the front of it. I involuntarily mimicked the image with a smile of my own.
I didn’t have to be told who it was from to know—especially with her brand new mixer—but when I looked up and saw her holding an identical cup to mine while deep in conversation with Tahnee; I knew all I needed to.
She’s growing a soft spot for me.
One that she’s no longer bothering to fight, and I fucking love that I was able to put a crack in the solid walls that she built up around herself. Even if the crack was tiny and temporary, it’s better than no breakthrough at all.
We both know what this is, which means we haven’t needed to have the ‘what are we?’ conversation. It’d just make shit awkward and harder than it needs to be.
She said it herself; what we are has an expiration date. She isn’t the type of girl who expected me to fall in love with her and ride off into the sunset together, or put a ring on her finger so we could live happily ever after.
She’s never once given me the impression that she wants any of those things, and I’m certainly not the type of guy to give it to her.
Not now, and probably not ever.
“Cole.” My brother’s voice pulls me from my daze, and my eyes snap up to meet his.
“What’s up?” I ask, sipping my plain black coffee that tastes better than it should. He looks like he’s had about as much sleep as I have, but going by the dark circles under his eyes, I seem to wear it better.
“The break in filming next week isn’t really a break. Not for you, anyway. You and Mara are required to be in New York next week for interviews to talk about the movie,” he says, taking the seat next to mine, and I turn in my chair to face him. I know what he’s playing at, forcing Mara and me to be in each other’s company with no one else. Hoping some sort of connection sparks between us to sell the movie.
He wants to make it look like our on screen romance has been taken off screen, too.
It’s Hollywood, I get it. But it’s not me.
“Oh, yeah? Isn’t it a bit early to promote a movie that’s still shooting?” I ask through another sip, and he shakes his head before pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“You’re the new kid on the block, Cole. Everyone wants to know who you are. So while you’re out there to promote the movie, you’re out there to promote yourself, too. You can’t be Hollywood’s new heartthrob if you lead a private life,” he tells me, tapping away at his screen. “I’ve booked our flights, and Mara’s agent has booked theirs. We leave first thing Saturday.” He walks away, snatching my cupcake off the table.
“Hey!” I protest, but he waves me off.
“You have the shirtless scene at the creek coming up. You need to be in top shape,” he says without another thought, and somehow, in the midst of my brother’s dismissal of my want for the baked goods, my eyes find hers. But this time she’s smiling at me, tilting her coffee cup in my direction, and I do the same while mouthing my thanks.
Her cheeks are rosy, her blonde hair in a loose braid over her shoulder, wispy bits falling in front of her face while she sports an oversize t-shirt and black bike shorts with sneakers.
I walk closer to her, and she meets me halfway, batting her thick eyelashes at me, and my stomach flutters.
This is just sex, I remind myself, because apparently even after last night and this morning, the reminder is necessary.
“Hi,” she says breathlessly, and I cup her cheek in my hand like the time I did after she’d received my flowers. Only this time she isn’t upset with red, puffy eyes. She seems…happy.
“Hey, Snow.” I lean down and kiss the corner of her lips. “Thanks for the cupcake and the coffee.” I tilt my cup toward hers, unable to pull my eyes away from her ice blue ones.
“There are more cupcakes in my trailer. I saw Tate take yours,” she tells me, and I love that she unknowingly came prepared. “Your place or mine tonight?”
“Are you sure you’re able to go again?” I sip my coffee, and her cheeks turn from a soft pink to an outright red.
“You said every night, right? I’m holding you to it.” There are no visible signs that she barely slept once she got home from my place, and yet, somehow she found the time to bake somewhere in between, and still wants to go again?
Don’t question it, I remind myself.
“Every. Fucking. Night, Snow. And I mean it.” She’s breathtaking, and all I want to do right now is throw her over my shoulder and claim her as mine until the sun rises and we go back to being two working professionals who have jobs to do.
Everyone already thinks we’re together, anyway, so it wouldn’t be the strangest thing if I scooped her up and… “Places, people!” Laurel shouts and the loud chatter dies down, everyone heading in all directions and away from the lens of the camera.
“You’re needed, Mr. Green.” She ushers me away, and I quickly kiss Jenna goodbye, hand her my cup of coffee, and head toward my mark.
Mara and I are going toe to toe in this scene. I’m shouting while she’s throwing things that shatter on the wall behind me. Her character found a text message on my character’s phone that looks incriminating, and I can feel the eyes of fifty workers boring into the back and sides of my head.
So far, it’s only been one take, and the moment Jude shouts ‘ cut’ ,the entire cast and crew applaud our performance as though it’s the best thing they’ve ever witnessed. It’s probably the first time in the last two weeks that I feel like I actually can pull this job off and not be half bad at it.
Like I can be a serious actor, and make it somewhere far in this crazy, fucked up industry.
A little late, but better than never.
My phone vibrates in my pocket when I finally make my way off set and into my trailer. I take it out to read it, a smirk appearing on my face the moment I see her name.
Snow: I know we just discussed going two nights back to back, but do you feel like going to a gig tonight?
Me: So long as I can have my way with you after, I don’t care what we do.
Snow: It starts at 7.
Me: What do I get in return?
Snow: Whatever you want.
Snow: Apart from anal. That’s a no go.
I laugh out loud and run a hand down the front of my face. Something inside of her has switched, and it’s clear even the way she texts me now.
She went from ignoring me or constantly saying ‘ goodbye,’ to actually starting a conversation.
Me: Not even once?
Snow: Not even once. Show starts at 7.
Me: I thought you didn’t do dates winky face
Snow: This is not a date. Just a group of friends hanging out to support another friend.
Snow: Definitely not a date.
Snow: No no no nope.
Me: You trying to convince me, or yourself?
Snow: Shut it, Cole. See you at 7.
Me: When can I have that date, Snow?
I watch the gray dots appear and disappear over three times before she finally replies. I don’t want to date date her. I just want to take her on one.
Snow: I’ll think about it.
Sliding my phone back into the pocket of my jeans, my smirk turns into a wide spread grin as I sink into the black leather couch when Tate barrels through the door.
“Alright so. We need a game plan about the next time we hang out with our new friends,” he says, sitting directly beside me. Our knees touch slightly, and I shuffle over to make space. His tone has shifted almost completely from our little interaction earlier, and I know he’s switched work mode off.
“ We don’t need shit. You are the one who can’t keep it in your pants when you’re in the same room as them.” I laugh, leaning back into the cushions. “And I am seeing them later tonight at Olive’s gig.”
“Dammit,” he shouts. “I have a meeting on zoom that I can’t miss. Will you tell them I said hey?” he asks, and I shake my head in disbelief that we have the same parents. “What do you think my chances are with Bea? I reckon I have a shot.” He changes the subject, pulling his phone out of his pocket, because no matter what, he can’t seem to stay off the thing.
“She’s married, Tate. To Laney, a woman, who was at games night,” I remind him. “You met her.”
“What about Lizzie or Olive? Or even Jenna?”
“You really don’t know how to read a room, do you?” I ask him, and he turns to face me, eyebrow slightly arched. “There’s not a chance in hell that Cassandra’s sisters would be into you even if you were the last man on earth, and Jenna is…” I hesitate. Because realistically, she doesn’t belong to me, and she can do who and whatever she pleases. And Tate has made it clear that she and I shouldn’t be doing whatever it is that we’re doing.
“Jenna is what, Cole? Are you going to say it or are you going to make me?” he asks, his face deadpan. My brother knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s pushing to see what he can get out of me, and right now I need to remind myself that what I do in my personal life, is the business of nobody else.
Brother and manager included.
“She’s off limits.” I rise from my seat, rubbing the back of my neck uncomfortably. It shouldn’t be news to him. She literally shoved him out of our apartment while she looked like the devil and an angel wrapped in one. She told him to leave so she and I could do whatever the fuck we needed to do. “What do you think she and I did last night, Tate? Gossip and have a pillow fight?” I ask, frustration evident in the tone of my voice.
“So you admit it.” He locks his phone, eyes finally on mine.
“Admit what?” I shout, moving to the other side of the room to create some much needed space between us, my hip resting against the tiny kitchen countertop. My arms are crossed over my chest so he can’t see my clenched fists.
“That something is happening between the two of you.”
“If by ‘something’ you mean sex, then yes,” I say, and he sighs. “Why does that sigh sound disapproving? It’s sex. It’s something people do all the time,” I tell him, knowing whatever is about to come out of his mouth is something I don’t want to hear. “You should try it sometime.”
“I just don’t want you fucking this up, Cole. I’ve worked too damn hard to get you this job. I put you through classes, got your foot in all the right doors.” He rises, and we’re eye level now, eyes honed in on each other.
“It’s fucking sex, Tate. It won’t interfere with what we have going,” I assure him—and myself—and he nods, but I’m not sure he believes me. Hell, I don’t know if I believe me, either. “She and I have already had ‘the talk’. This ends when shooting does. She isn’t a distraction. My head is in this career, Tate. You know it is. I need this.”
“Then don’t let your heart wander, brother.” He pats me on the shoulder as he makes his way out of my trailer, leaving me alone and wishing he’d never even shown his face.
I love my brother. He’s my best friend and always has been. But he always seems to think he knows what’s best for me, that he can predict my next move. Based on what he just said, he thinks I’m going to not only let Jenna distract me from producing the best work, but he thinks I’m going to fall in love with her.
I can’t let either of those things happen.
I won’t.