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“Wyatt,” I said, stepping between them, blocking their view of each other’s hair. “What do you need?”
He gave me a sympathetic look. “Preston wants to see you.”
My heart sank. Was this the end of my acting career? Had he finally realized that hiring me was a mistake? Was I attracting too much negative press? Were they going to reshoot the whole thing with Brooke?
I trudged back to the set with heavy feet and a heavier heart. Now that I wasn’t turned on anymore, Dean’s words came back to me with a new, ominous tone:things like this happen all the time on movie sets. Did that mean that all three men would find someone else to have fun with on their next movie set, and forget I existed?
I didn’t expect anything to happen after we finished shooting the movie — they lived in Hollywood and I lived in Australia, after all — but I wanted to believe that what we’d done wasn’t completely forgettable.
After we finished shooting the movie.
I wasn’t even sure that would happen now.
Preston’s office had been the manager’s office when the resort was open, but since it closed, the space had been used for storage. The oak desk was surrounded by filing boxes and broken furniture. Preston sat behind it all with paperwork spread out in front of him and there were more papers stuck to the walls, covered with drawings done in black ink.
A storyboard, I realized, as I hovered at the door, waiting for Preston’s permission to enter.
“Sit,” he said simply, gesturing to the mismatched chairs on the other side of his desk. I chose the closest one and felt like a kid who’d been called into the principal’s office. “I’m sure you’ve already seen some articles circulating about you online.”
“Yes.” I felt sick and my mouth tasted like metal. I waited for the hammer to drop; the inevitable moment ofyou’re fired.
“I thought, given your inexperience in this industry, I should give you some friendly advice.”
Preston’s tone sounded anything but friendly and I said nothing. Wyatt and Isaac’s suggestion — to avoid reacting and wait for everything to blow over — hadn’t brought any negative consequences so far, and as far as I knew, the gossip hadn’t escalated.
Preston stood up and walked around the table until he was next to me, and perched one butt cheek on the wooden surface.
And then I remembered all the news segments I’d ever seen about movie directors taking advantage of female actors and felt sick. Was that happening to me? Was Preston about to offer to let me keep my role on in exchange for sexual favors?
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea.” I stood up and backed away until the chair was between him and I.
“Sit.”
Still feeling unsure about the situation, I pulled the chair away from him and obeyed. Thankfully, he didn’t move closer.
“This kind of thing happens all the time,” Preston said, unknowingly paraphrasing Dean’s words, and it made my spine prickle with fear as I watched Preston’s hands. “Paparazzos pap. Gossip magazines gossip. It’s how the industry works, and if we allowed every rumor to derail our movies, we would never make any.”
I blinked. Despite Preston’s impatient tone, his words were almost comforting. Did this mean Iwasn’tgoing to be fired or sexually propositioned?
“So…?”
“You’ve been distracted lately,” Preston said. “I get it. But you can’t let these dickheads,” he held up his phone, “get in the way of your work. Time is money, remember?”
I didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t asked me whether the rumors were true, and I didn’t think I should volunteer the information that some of them were.
He stared at me and gestured at the door.
“Time is money, Kyla.”
Shit. He wanted me to leave.
“T-t-thank you,” I stuttered, and made my way back to the set, where I was due in twenty minutes, anyway. All thoughts of a nap were behind me now and I gave the next scene everything I had, without letting anything distract me.
Not even Dean, and not even when he walked away with Brooke instead of me after we finished filming.
37
KYLA
