Nikhil nodded. Even though he was supposed to talk about how he’d always wanted to challenge himself physically, and how he was a huge Ironis fan, and how he still couldn’t believe this was really happening.
But he couldn’t get the words out.
Your job is pretending to be someone else. If you’re not pretending, you’re nothing.
Nikhil exhaled. He couldn’t let his brother get under his skin. Not now.
Jason and Sasha were pros and somehow were able to get Nikhil to relax enough to give more than two-word answers. But when Sasha asked what he hoped to bring to the role, someone in the audience screamed, “Diversity points,” and Nikhil lost the ability to speak again.
Thankfully, this announcement wasn’t meant to be more than a few minutes. They would not be taking any audience or press questions today—those would be saved for the press junket tomorrow. Nikhil was whisked off the stage so Jasonand Sasha could talk about another Ironis project, an animated show that was premiering in a month.
He was led straight back to the little dressing room where Lydia, Kaelyn, Esther, and Harlan Green, one of the studio executives, were waiting for him. He immediately flopped onto the makeup chair, closing his eyes and willing his heart rate to go back to normal. It wasn’t working.
“Wow. You bombed that, didn’t you?” Lydia said. Direct as usual.
She was right, though. How could he have fucked that up so badly? He looked at himself in the mirror, only it wasn’t Nikhil looking back at him. It was Nik, with his slicked-back hair and green suit. He was a pawn that the studio had taken a risk on. A risk that was failing.
“Is he going to freeze at the junket tomorrow or actually answer questions?” Harlan asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Nikhil said. “I don’t like huge audiences. Plus, my brother—”
“You’re going to have to deal with audiences bigger than that one,” Lydia said. “Talk show audiences are bigger. You going to clam up on a press tour, too?”
“Give him a break,” Esther said. “You were the ones telling him everyone would hate him.”
“Checking social media feeds,” Kaelyn said, frowning. “It’s not good. What we expected about the diversity angle, but also people are calling him a grump. Saying he’s not charismatic enough to be the Shadow.” She scrolled a bit before looking up again. “The green suit is a hit, though. Someone said,Yes! We stan a superhero who knows his season!That post has over five thousand likes.”
Lydia didn’t look impressed at that. She was still scowling at Nikhil.
He tried not to look anxious. “I’ll do better tomorrow. I was just… nervous.”
“We need to do something,” Harlan said, looking at Kaelyn. “What about the pictures of him and Serena?” Serena Vox was Nikhil’s co-star in the movie. She’d been in the past two Ironis movies and was a former child star—a huge celebrity. Nikhil saw her briefly in LA a month ago, and the publicity team took about a million pictures of them.
Kaelyn nodded. “Done. We’ll release them strategically.”
“We should have flown her in for this,” Harlan said. “Will he be like this tomorrow? The press isn’t going to go easy on him.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Nikhil said. Esther smiled at him sympathetically.
Nether Harlan nor Lydia acknowledged him. “I don’t know. He’s unpredictable,” Lydia said.
“You’ll be with him, right?” Harlan asked.
Lydia snorted. “Yeah, but Nik doesn’t like me. I don’t put him at ease.”
“I like you,” Nikhil said. Weirdly, he did. Lydia was like a cactus, but a cactus who cared.
“Someone else, then,” Harlan said. “There must be someone on his team that the man likes.”
Lydia said nothing for a while. Then sighed. “The wardrobe stylist. We can also get her to bring him something colorful for tomorrow. Since the fansstan for a man in colors.”
Nikhil chuckled, still staring at the mirror. Apparently, Marley was going to save him again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Marley
Marley was almost finished with her Friday shift when her phone buzzed with a call.
