“Jacinta has recovered quicker than expected. She’ll be at work tomorrow.” With that, he turned on his heels and headed back to wherever the hell he came from.
Trudy threw her an apologetic look and mouthed, “Sorry,” before scuttling after him. It wasn’t her fault she was trying to stop a brawl on the verge of erupting.
Shaun sauntered closer with a sly smirk. “What a shame.” There was no sincerity in his tone, in fact, she could tell how much he’d loved his performance especially the ending.
Not able to look at him a moment longer, or she might slap his dirtbag face and then most likely get arrested for assault, she hurried off the set. The sound of Shaun’s laughter ringing in her ears.
Chapter 23
Ethan buzzed with excitement as he drove into the studio car park even though he wasn’t needed on set. After his meeting with Chloe, he couldn’t wait to tell Holly the good news. For all Chloe’s complaining about not wanting to work with family, and after he’d told her about the movie that Ralph had lined up for him that read like a porno, she’d scored him an audition for a role he’d been dreaming of. She’d made it clear she’d only help this one-time; he had a feeling he’d eventually win her over and they’d have a working relationship.
He wanted Holly to be the first person he’d share the news with. Less than two weeks ago, Ethan would’ve quietly celebrated with a drink, now he wanted to share everything with her. Was Chloe right? Was this love? Whatever it was, it felt good.
When he walked into makeup, his mother raced between three actors. “Where’s Holly? Is she on set?” he asked.
His mother paused. A deep frown creased her forehead. “No, she’s not.”
“Where is she?” Something about his mother’s sombre expression told him he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.
She rubbed a hand across her cheek, like wiping away invisible tears. Actually, her eyes looked red and puffy like she’d been crying. The pit of his stomach dropped. He asked again, “Where’s Holly?”
“She got fired this morning.” She sniffed and her eyes started to water.
“What the fuck for?” Whose arse did he need to kick?
“Sally, you’re done,” she said and the actress got up to leave. Sally didn’t stop to have a quick chat like she normally did. She hurried from the room. His mother held a hand up to him and said, “Hang on a minute.” She gave a few more swipes of the brush on the remaining actors and waited for them to leave, then she fell into a chair like she was exhausted. “It’s my fault,” she said sadly.
“What? I’ve been away from work a few hours, what the hell happened?”
“I walked in on Shaun giving Holly a hard time while she was doing his makeup. I told him I wouldn’t let him talk to her like that. He didn’t listen.” She drew in a deep breath.
Anything involving Shaun wouldn’t be good. Ethan’s hands clenched into fists.
“I had an appointment. When I got back, she was gone. Trudy told me Shaun accused her of being sexually inappropriate towards him. They argued, Trudy called Duncan and he fired her.”
“The fucking piece of shit. I’m going to kill Shaun!” Rage boiled like hot acid through his veins and he spun on his heels.
His mother sprang from the chair and wrapped her arms around his arm trying to stop him from leaving, he easily shook her off.
He barged onto set and found Shaun in the middle of a scene. He propelled himself toward him, shoved his forearm against his neck and crushed him against the wall. The wooden prop shook with the force.
The crew gasped in surprise and paused in what they were doing.
Victoria ran to him and wrapped her hands around his arm. “What are you doing? Stop!”
Ethan shrugged her off.
“I’m going to tear you a part,” Ethan growled.
Shaun’s eyes bulged and his face turned red. Someone called for security and he could hear feet shuffling behind him.
The director raced up to him and yelled, “Let him go, Ethan.”
Ethan pressed harder. Stan pulled at his arm, but he didn’t budge.
Then, two security guards hooked their arms through his and pulled. He put up a fight but he was up against two beefy guys and eventually his grasp on Shaun gave way.
Shaun doubled over clutching his throat, drawing deep breaths into his lungs. The colour in his face slowly returned to normal. “You’re fucking crazy,” he wheezed.
