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The bright lights of the makeup trailer had left me with a blinding headache. After four hours of working/slouching in a chair for Alanis, I was officially ready to head home and fall into a lavender-scented bubble bath and wash all of my tension down the drain. It was becoming more than clear that working for her was going to be something just short of a nightmare. The woman was not only amazingly harsh, but most of the people in the crew also seemed to hate her. And by extension, it seemed like that distrust was extended to me.
When she finally allowed me to take a mini break to run to the craft table for a bite to eat, everyone kept a six-feet radius around me as if I were a walking plague. And whenever I had to find someone on her list, it was like going on a wild goose hunt. I was starting to think people were hiding from me. Or Alanis’ makeup brush.
Either way, today had been completely exhausting.
And it was only day one.
But none of that compared to the agonizing few minutes I’d spent avoiding Zane’s eye contact in the makeup trailer. I’d felt his eyes on me the whole time, while I pretended to scribble lines in my notebook. When he finally left, I’d expected to feel a weight lift off of my shoulders, but it only made the room seem darker.
“There better be some Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer waiting,” I grumbled to myself as I walked toward the set exit, which was now unmanned and totally abandoned by the burly guard from earlier.
Mom had recently decided we were going to try to be healthier and ice cream had become as rare as finding a sparkly purple unicorn in the wild. Still, a girl could hope. I pulled my ID lanyard over my head and rolled my sore shoulders as I left the set to head toward the parking lot.
It was late enough in the evening that all of the athletes had already finished their practices and gone home. The sun had set over the horizon and thrown shades of purple and orange into the sky that I would’ve liked to try and encapsulate in an eyeshadow pallet. I was memorizing the colors as I turned the corner of the building when a hand shot out and grabbed my elbow.
My first gut reaction was to screech hysterically, but then I came to my senses. The set was practically abandoned. No one was coming to my rescue. This was the scene from any girl’s nightmare. But if there was one thing I knew, no one was taking me alive—at least not without a fight. Audrey had made me watch enough Forensics Files with her to make me sure enough of that.
I put the weight of my body into the motion of my attacker and landed the sharp point of my elbow directly into his gut, rewarding me with a muttered swear. The hand dropped from my arm. Mission accomplished! But when I looked over my shoulder and saw the pain glinting in Zane’s eyes as he rubbed his stomach, I instantly cursed my self-defense instincts.
It was a good thing I hadn’t gone straight for the pepper spray.
“Crud! I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know that was you.” Before I knew what I was doing, I reached for his abdomen and splayed my hand over his stomach where I’d elbowed him. “I didn’t mean to...”
“I think you meant to.” He coughed slightly and winced, his stomach tightening beneath my fingers. “But I don’t blame you. I shouldn’t have scared you. I just wanted to talk to you before you left, so I was waiting for you to walk by.”
Sucking in my bottom lip, I couldn’t help but admire the hardness of his abs under my hand. It seemed that my hand was stuck to him. I couldn’t move away. It was like wrapping my fingers around a live wire. His stomach was flat and hard and everything drool-worthy. I supposed it had to be, for an actor playing the role of a soccer player. Zane watched me, his brows arching as the awkward silence between us grew. I laughed nervously and swallowed, finally dropping my hand to my side.
“Looks like you’re still in one piece,” I said with a forced smile. “One rock-hard piece.”
He chuckled and rubbed a hand once more over his stomach. “Yeah, I think I’ll survive.”
“You should get insurance on those things.”
I couldn’t help but throw him a legitimate smile this time. Despite the frustration and hurt I still felt around him, I couldn’t fight my flirtatious nature. It was so much easier than fighting.
Tilting back his head, he let out a deep and throaty chuckle. The sound of it made me laugh, too. And when he was done, he smiled at me in a way that I hadn’t seen since we’d hid under the shelter together. There was no false charm or manipulation in it. It was real and lit up his blue eyes in a mesmerizing way that nothing else did.
“Can we talk?” The smile faded as sincere hope washed over his features. He nodded over toward the bush where I’d found Freddy and Janelle just yesterday. “Over there?”
“Um...okay.”
I took a deep breath, willing myself to be strong. Whatever he had to say, it wouldn’t knock down my defenses again. Been there, done that. I was ready to move on. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t give the boy a minute of my time.
He led the way, circling the bush until we stood behind it, hidden from any prying eyes. I leaned against the limestone exterior of the school, my fingers digging into the curves of the stone behind me. Zane paced a few feet away, kicking at the landscaping rocks beneath our feet. He was doing that thing again, where he avoided my gaze and instead, stared at the ground. It was hard to get a reading on him when he did that.
“Thanks for covering with Alanis for me today,” I said, watching him closely. “I’m not sure I could’ve taken it if she’d fired me on the first day. I didn’t even get the chance to prove myself to her.”
He nodded at the ground. “She wasn’t exactly being fair to you. You didn’t deserve that.”
I leaned my head back against the limestone. “I have the feeling Alanis doesn’t care what I deserve. Honestly, I don’t even know why she hired me. She’s already decided she hates me. It’s going to be a battle to get her to even tolerate me.”
“I’m really sorry.” He glanced out of the corner of his eye at me and then went back to kicking rocks.
Silence stretched between us. I thought about the words I’d wanted to say to him last night. The stinging lines that would’ve put him in his place for being such a jerk. But I couldn’t seem to get them out. Every time I looked at his face, I went all mooshy inside.
I seriously needed to get him out of my system.
“Well...if that’s all, I’m going to head out. I’ve had a long day.”
