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Autumn’s mouth quirks up. “I love Sydney. I keep waiting for Cara to do a spin-off with her and Mason. I might love their will they/won’t they romance even more than Camilla and Nick’s. That scene where Mason kidnaps her… I love that scene. I have it memorized.”
The way her eyes light up, I swear that’s the first spark of true excitement I’ve seen in her eyes regarding this audition in days.
“Audition for Sydney.”
“What?”
“Do the kidnap scene as an audition for Sydney.”
She blinks a few times then takes off the glasses. “You want me to do that instead?”
“No, I’m saying audition for both. If this is your chance to be seen, then show them all you’ve got.”
She tilts her head as if to consider it, but Tom calls her over, now ready. They spend about twenty minutes taking pictures and they’re all great as far as I’m concerned. She looks sexy as fuck, totally encompassing the dark seductiveness of Camilla.
After they’re done, she asks Tom about filming another audition and he immediately agrees. Autumn looks through his clothing and accessory options before disappearing into the bathroom. When she emerges, she’s wearing a tangle of necklaces over a T-shirt that says, Sarcasm Loading, on top of a loading bar.
Her hair is fixed in quirky half up buns on each side of her head, a modern Princess Leia look. She simplified her make-up and is wearing the big glasses from earlier. She looks like the perfect Sydney. “Will you read the Mason part for me off camera?” she asks me.
I nod, there’s no way I’m denying her anything. We find the chapter in the book where the scene is. She looks over it then hands it to me. For the scene, she’s in a chair, her arms behind her back as if they’re bound together.
As soon as Tom says action, Autumn immediately transforms. She looks around as if taking her surroundings then at me, a contemplative look on her face before she says her line.
“You’re wasting your time. Camilla doesn’t care about me.”
“Then I guess I’ll waste my time and find out. At least the view is nice,” I read, doing my best to inject the right tone.
She rolls her eyes as she gives off a small scoff. “Wow. Wasn’t expecting flattery. You think I’m such a pathetic shut-in that I’ll melt at your pretty words? Give away all my secrets?”
“Maybe. But it’s still true.”
My words make her expression sober from her earlier sarcasm. She seems to contemplate me again. “I have to say, this charming side of you is a surprise. Your approach comes off a little cut and dry, I was expecting more of a stilted personality.”
“My approach is cut and dry?”
“Yeah, you calculate and execute. I’m not saying it isn’t impressive, but you certainly don’t win any style points.”
“Style points get you caught.”
She shrugs, almost seeming bored with the conversation. “Maybe. Maybe not. But it also makes you merely a trigger boy.”
“You think I don’t research my marks?”
She raises a brow. “Do you?” She pauses as she lets this jab sink in for Mason’s character. “Why is Camilla a threat for you? Are you only wanting to get the competition out of the way? Are her style points winning over clients? Or is it something else? She’s in the same profession as you and you’ve been hired to kill a colleague. Think about that.”
“She’s not my colleague. We’re not fucking co-workers. We’re hired killers. This is what we do. You think she would hesitate to take me out for the right price?”
“She already has.”
This is where she catches Mason off-guard, and she knows it. Autumn leans in, as far as her restrained arms will let her, a knowing smirk on her lips. And I believe it. “You think you’re so good that I haven’t already found you? Before here, you were in Lisbon then London. Cairo. New York. She could have killed you ten times over by now.”
She’s encompassed the character so well that I almost forget to read my line. “You think I don’t know you track me?”
“I believe that of all the cities I listed, you only knew of two.”
“Maybe I should just kill you and leave your body for Camilla to find.”
She leans back, seemingly unconcerned. “Go ahead. You’ll regret it though and I have a feeling you’re not a man who likes to live with regrets. It’s why you don’t question your mark. It’s why you don’t get personal.”
