Page 34 of Camera Stays On

Juliet glared at Ash. “Yes he is. I’ve read them.”

“Yeah, I’ve been dabbling for years,” Sawyer admitted. Pushing Juliet away, he stood and went to the table where he’d left his laptop earlier and opened it. “I might have something workable.”

The room grew quiet as he typed on his computer, all of us waiting to hear some good news. He and Juliet whispered to each other, and frustration began to brew in me. First, the funding, then a crew full of people who weren’t in the industry, and now we didn’t even have a script?

“What about that one?” She pointed to the screen. “It’s your best work, in my opinion.”

Sawyer stiffened and shook his head.

“No, that’s... No.”

Juliet huffed. “Why not? It’s a good script. Honestly, it’s kind of perfect.”

“What’s the script? Maybe we can decide together?” I asked, growing impatient. If we didn’t have a solid script to work with, I was going home.

“ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT!” I screamed as I stomped down the stairs of the house, heading into the darkness.

“Purdy, come on, it’s not—”

I whipped around and glared at him, standing at the top of the stairs. “It’s not what, Sawyer? It’s a movie about murdering me. No thanks, you dick!”

The script Juliet raved about was a found footage slasher where the entire friend group turned on a newlywed couple, with the bride as the main focus of the attack—and why? Because she’d cheated on the groom.

“It’s not... Look, I was going through something when I wrote it.” He sighed. “And that emotion must have really paid off on page, I don’t know. We don’t have to do this. I’ll go back inside right now and tell them you’re not interested. We can call it quits.”

“Oh, sure. Blame it on me. Thanks, Sawyer.” I wrapped my arms around myself. This all seemed too coincidental. He got me here, then magically lost the rights to the original script, leaving the only other option to torture me on film?

“And let me guess? You’d play the groom?” I stared at him until he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. I knew him all too well. He really was considering it. This was unbelievable. Truly fucking unbelievable.

“What if I did?” The suggestion came from the shadows, startling us both. Asher stepped into the light. “If I play the husband, would you do it?”

Chapter 15

Asher

“YOU FUCKING DICK. You never had any intention to do the original script, did you?” I clutched Sawyer’s shirt and shoved him back. His body hit the ground with a loud thump, and he sat up to laugh as the dogs barked wildly and tugged on their leashes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, big brother. Why are you so mad?” He scrambled up, brushing dirt off his jeans. “We’re still making a movie. I got Purdy back.”

Ignoring that last alarming sentence, I kept pacing the yard.

“When did you plan this?” I shook my head, trying to grasp what was happening. Just this morning things seemed to be going well. The haunt house was fully ready for filming, and I had somehow kept my feelings for Andi under the radar. I’d hoped that slowly, over the course of our filming, Sawyer would finally get the closure he needed and move on. And, in him getting over Andi for good this time, she and I could have a conversation about that night at the hotel, and the almost kiss the night she came back.

“We’ll be lucky if Andi is still here in the morning. You know that, right?” I snapped.

She hadn’t said yes when I’d offered to play her husband. Instead, she’d run past us and up to the second floor, where the wing of rooms was.

“Andi?” Sawyer scrunched his nose up, like he’d just tasted a lemon. “It’s Purdy, and she’s not going anywhere.” He smirked. “And you’re not playing Ethan.”

Ethan was the husband in this script. Cleo was the bride he wanted Andi to play. I hadn’t seen details yet, but Juliet had given us the bullet points.

“See, I fucking knew this was just some giant ploy to try to win her back.” I shook my head.

“So what if it is?” he asked. “Wouldn’t that impress a girl? Orchestrate an entire movie, so I could properly make her my wife?”

“What?” I asked quietly. The truth of it all was sinking in, much slower than it should have, and I suddenly felt stupid. Of course, he’d planned it all this way.

“It doesn’t matter. None of this matters,” he snapped. “It’s nothing to switch things up.”