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“I won’t look so great if you keep veering into the oncoming lanes, genius. Eyes on the road.”
“We could go home. Turn around and spend the night in bed together.”
“I don’t say this often, Noah, but have you seen me tonight? I feel like that would be a waste.” I stopped for a moment and reconsidered. “Okay, not a waste because I know you would appreciate it, but you have to impress Macie Rayne, and you can’t do that from our bed in Hollywood.”
Noah looked distraught for a moment before he nodded in agreement and reached for my hand, pressing his lips to the back of it after he’d linked our fingers together. For the first time since I’d met him, Noah Jennings appeared to be nervous.
“She’s going to love you, you know.”
“You what?” he asked, a frown furrowing his brow.
“Macie. She’s going to love you.”
Noah smiled at the road and sighed reluctantly. “I’m not worried about Macie. I think she’s going to jump at the chance to be in the movie and on the soundtrack. We’re on track to become one of the biggest hits, and she’d be crazy not to.”
“Then, what’s bothering you?”
“We only have fifteen months to get Reckless Redeemer out into the world. Films of this caliber normally have at least two years. Action films, more still... almost three years. We have to refine the script, find distributors in other countries. We have to think of the pyrotechnics and CGI scenes. Fifteen months is what we need to film the goddamn thing.”
“Who told you it has to be out there that quickly?”
He stayed silent for a moment, his eyes turning on me. I felt like I should have already had the answer, but I didn’t know enough even to make a guess.
“Who?”
“Moreno.”
“I thought he wanted to be silent?”
“He also wants a quick return. Filming telenovelas is a daily thing. Like the soap operas here, they film daily, and they go into post once they have what they need. It’s like a conveyor belt, from what I understand. Writers write, actors act, filmers film, editors edit. They get approval, and the episode is lined up to air with a few scenes pulled for promotions. Films aren’t shot like that. Even during editing, some shots have to be re-filmed, and then the score has to be produced…” he tapered off, trying to gather a breath. “If anyone can do it, it’s Rothman, but even he’s worried.”
“You can’t ask for more time?”
“I could, but I wouldn’t get it.”
“Why?”
“It was one of the conditions: a quick return on his investment.”
“And no one else would back you?”
“Maybe with time, Marcus and I could find someone, but we want to get this made.”
“Seems like a shame to rush it.”
“It just means we have to get the best of the best. Rothman has the sway to get that done. I’ll relax once I see more of that coming into play. That’s why we’re going tonight, to please some of these masters of the industry.”
Noah fell into silence for a while, and I left him alone with his thoughts, the frown now making much more sense. By the time we arrived in San Diego, it was almost six. I thought we would be late, and an email had set the party to start at seven. Noah stated that no one showed up at these parties on time. Seven just meant that they would be prepared by that time; that the people trying to climb the success ladder would arrive in that first hour, executives in the second, and everyone else, in the third or fourth.
So, he checked us into a hotel, we changed, and he took me out to dinner.
It would have been idyllic if there hadn’t been a couple of photographers waiting outside like vultures lining the sides of the road. The moment they saw Noah’s car pull up, they raised their lenses and fought for the best position to see who would appear from behind the tinted windows. The flashes were blinding when Noah unfolded himself from the driver’s seat, and the questions flew when he held his hand out to me once the valet opened my door.
“Noah! Noah! Who’s your friend?”
“Jennings! Is this the same redhead from the boat, or do you have a fetish?”
“Are you in town for the Rayne party?”
