AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No, I suppose I did consent to it, but I didn’t want to, so I don’t know how that works. I hate it anyway; this is really winding me up. I can’t be sexy like this. It feels utterly horrible.
“I need that top further down,” the director cries out. “This isn’t sexy enough. Zoe you need to stop trying to cover yourself up. Let him see you, you want Chris to really see you. This is the first time you’re finally getting your hands on one another after all this time.”
I can’t stop myself from being all tense. Pointing it out isn’t going to help, and I’m sure the director knows that. He’s trying to make this worse for me now. He’s trying to upset me. It’s almost like he’s on Chris’s side, and they both want to break me.
I never had to deal with anything like this in London. I never got sent on jobs that made me feel like shit. I never had to deal with actors who got aggressive with me because I didn’t want to go on a date with them. I didn’t have to have my boundaries shattered.
“No, I don’t want this…” All of a sudden, it gets way too much for me. I don’t know what it is that tips me over the edge, but I snap backwards, absolutely needing to create distance between me and Chris. The director, too. I can’t be near any of them. The heat is too much, I’ve become like a pressure cooker about to explode. This is for everyone’s safety. “I don’t think I can.”
“Zoe, I thought that we were past this.” Both the director and Chris roll their eyes at me. “I thought we were going to stop causing trouble, and just get on with it now.”
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” Chris laughs while making a lewd gesture with his hands, making me even more certain that I don’t want him anywhere near my body. Ever. “You’re boring. We need someone way sexier to play this role. You’re wooden. Too stiff. Maybe that’s what old guys enjoy, but that doesn’t work in the real world.”
“Fuck you.” I can’t hold myself back any longer. He’s pushed me way too far now. I can’t stand here and tolerate this. Maybe I planned to take him down, but you can’t beat a man like this. “Fuck you, both of you. I didn’t agree to this, and I don’t want it.”
They call out after me as I spin on my heels and run, reminding me that by risking this job, I risk way too much, but that doesn’t stop me. My life was supposed to be so much better in New York, I was looking forward to having a great time in my home city, but nothing is working out.
It doesn’t matter what I do, I seem to keep attracting trouble. What the hell will happen next?
Chapter 16
Remy
Ring,ring…Ring,ring…Ring, ring…
Since I don’t recognize the number calling me, I feel compelled to answer. There’s only so much I can hide away from. If it’s business, then I need to be ready for it. Just in case.
“Hello?” I answer in my most professional tone. “Who’s calling?”
“Is that Remy?” a vaguely familiar voice asks. “It’s Bill, the director ofWolf Street.”
The project Zoe is working on? Shit, I sit up a little straighter now that I know who this is and what it might be about. “Oh, Bill, hi, is everything alright?”
“Your fiancée just fucked me, Remy!” he snaps angrily. “She’s walked off the set leaving me with no actress for this role. I don’t know what got in her knickers.”
“What happened? I can’t imagine Zoe doing that. She was so excited for the job!”
I narrow my eyes, furrowing my brows in confusion. I know I haven’t been in her life so much recently because of everything that’s happened, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know her. She was thrilled to get that role, and to finally have a decent job in New York City.
“I changed things up a little bit, and I think Chris upset her. The guy she was acting opposite. He said he asked her out on a date, and she started being a bitch.”
A tight knot of jealousy forms in my chest. I don’t have any right to feel that way, Zoe is more than capable of dating whoever she wants, but that doesn’t make this any easier to hear. I don’t want her going out with someone else, I don’t want some other man making her laugh and having a hold over her heart. I want to be the one sharing those emotions with her. But I can’t. I messed up and now I can’t make things work out. I can’t get things back, and because of my best friend, I shouldn’t even try. I have to just suffer in this pain and jealousy.
“So, she left?” I ask Bill tautly, now starting to resent him for whatever him and his asshole actors did to upset Zoe. “She walked out and went where?”
“I thought she’d come to you, which is why I’m calling. She isn’t answering any of my calls, but I need her back right now. I don’t have the time to find someone else.”
“She isn’t with me, Bill, but for a professional actress to walk out on you, leaving you in the lurch like that, you must have done something bad. You must have pushed her boundaries.”
“She needs to do a little bit of nudity, that’s all. Not too much to ask for someone in her position. Zoe certainly isn’t famous enough to start making demands.”
I huff with irritation. “Everyone is allowed to have boundaries, Bill, and you need to learn to respect that, do you hear me? I know Zoe didn’t agree to nudity when she signed up for the movie, so you need to be more careful when it comes to pushing people like that.”
“The scene needed nudity, Remy. Are you going to help me or not?”
I shake my head, knowing the answer before I say it aloud. “No, I’m not going to help you. If you fucked things up with my fiancée, and if you can’t hire actors who can keep it in their pants, then you should expect more drama like this in the future.”
Bill mutters something about me under his breath, but I don’t give a shit. I end the call in an instant and I immediately call Zoe. I haven’t had any reason to reach out to her like this, especially since she didn’t respond to my text message, but now I do. Now I need to check that she’s okay.
