Page 81 of Camera Stays On

“You don’t want to do that.”

“Well,” Ash said, stepping forward and turning to face away from Juliet. “We all have film degrees, right? It’s all about angles. As long as we don’t show his face, we can fake it. The faster we do it, the sooner we can come back here and be with Bea.”

Ash lifted his brows. We all looked around, and it felt like we briefly shared the same thought.

Do the scene, then come back and plan our escape.

“Okay,” Darius said, shaking his head. “Who’s gonna do that then? It’d be a little obvious if I did.” He raised his hands, pointing out that his being Black would make the fake-out obvious. The room grew quiet, except for Bea’s ragged breaths and Juliet’s impatient heel taps.

No one wanted to face the wrath of the man with the gun. Ash raised his hand.

“I’ll do it.”

Chapter 35

Asher

“DON’T SCREW IT up. He’ll be furious,” Juliet snapped as she stood by the door, impatient.

“If you’re so worried, why are you letting us do this at all?” Mick snickered.

“Because she doesn’t want Sawyer to marry me,” Andi said. The room grew quiet as all gazes turned to Juliet. She turned up her nose and crossed her arms.

“You say it like it’s some secret. I’ve been pretty transparent with how I feel about all of this.” She turned away from everyone, hiding her expression.

A wave of pity fell over me and the others as we exchanged sad looks. She was in love with a man who couldn’t care less about her.

The group was grim as we filmed Andi and me signing the marriage license. From the back, there was little difference between Sawyer and me. Thankfully, the camera Gavin used was intentionally old and shitty so it helped blur things.

Andi signed first, and then I followed. Feeling bold, I signed my real, legal name. Was it wishful thinking or just plain stupidity? I had a feeling we’d find out soon enough.

I scanned the rest of the paper, and when I saw Andi’s signature, my gaze slowly rose to her. Her lips were pressed tightly together, her eyes twinkling.

Where she’d been meant to sign her character’s name, Cleo De La Rosa, she’d signed Andi Marin.

My heart began to race as I thought of just how much a simple name meant. What did this mean for us after this movie wrapped? That would be a conversation for later.

“Good?” Mick asked Gavin. He lowered his camera and frowned.

“Yeah, I—I got the shot. Let’s take a break until Sawyer and Juliet come back. Asher, can I talk to you?”

Andi eyed me, but I turned to Gavin, who looked ready to vomit.

“Yeah, of course. Let’s go to the other room.”

Gavin brushed past me, rushing to get us somewhere private. We went from the living room set to the kitchen. I closed the door behind us, and he exploded.

“What do you mean, Sawyer thinks I slept with Andi?”

I squinted and pursed my lips. “I don’t know how much clearer I can make that, Gavin. Sawyer believes you were the one caught on that video—the one that caused him to lose it at the wedding. The first one,” I added.

“That video?” Gavin threw his hands up and turned around in disbelief. He was stunned. Which, I would have been, too, considering the video was a complete fake. But I had to admit, it was nice seeing the asshole squirm.

We’d known Gavin since we were kids. He’d always been a dick. He and Sawyer had been best friends since the start, and he always had something smart to say about this or that. The fucker never shut up, and I found it quite entertaining that Sawyer turned on him with no real thought.

“And you’re sure he said he wants to kill me?” Gavin’s eyes took on a desperate look. Before, he would have laughed at my warning, but having seen how Sawyer treated Lux, Andi, and Bea, his reaction was different.

“I believe so, yeah.”