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Eric’s eyes blazed with some fleeting emotion, there and gone too quick to give it a name. His brows drew together. His voice dropped to a growl. “What didyouever sacrifice? What didyouever lose? You think you know what it is to struggle, to fight? You know what your problem is?”
I trembled, white-knuckled, a scream in my throat. He was talking tome, not to Kate, but to Lacey. And maybe I’d started it, but I didn’t care. All I wanted in that moment was to make him feel how I felt, small and exposed, stupid, embarrassed.
“You’re just average,” I whispered. “You’re nothing special.”
“And you’re too thin-skinned. You need to grow up.”
“Right,cut,” said Berg. “What the hell was that?”
I stared at Eric. He stared at me. Berg flipped through his script, then slapped it shut.
“The ad-lib was good, up until it wasn’t. What was that crap about Lock being average?”
“She meant me,” said Eric. “The real me, not Lock.”
My anger spiked fresh. “I can speak for myself.”
“Not over my script you can’t, if you’re going to spout nonsense.” Berg pushed his chair back and got to his feet. “You two, with me. Everyone else can take five.”
I stood, feeling sheepish, and followed Berg out the door. He let it swing shut, then he let us have it.
“You know how that scene ends? With two broken hearts. Kate and Lock with their heads pressed to that door, that massive steel door and that distance between them. It doesn’t end with her shooting him dead through the food slot. You know why I cast you two? I know you’re not stupid. Come on, who can tell me? Why did I cast you?”
I glanced at Eric. He was glowering at Berg. An awful suspicion roiled in my gut, but I swallowed it back. I didn’t want to believe it.
“I hired you for your drama. For that tension between you. But it needs tostaytension. It can never blow up. You need to ride that cliff’s edge, but you can’t go over. You can’t drive my movie over a cliff.”
Eric made a strangled sound. I balled my fists at my sides.
“You have what I need,” said Berg. “Love curdled to hate.”
“I never loved him,” I said, but Berg ignored me.
“I need that raw pain, but there are limits.Professionallimits. Can you keep it in check?”
Eric shot me a look of pure loathing, the mirror of the one twisting my face.
“Shake hands,” said Berg. “Show me you want this.”
I clenched my fists tighter.DidI want this? Badly enough to put up with Eric? The man pushed my buttons like nobody else, every last one of them at the same time. But, an Anders Berg film! My breakthrough role. Ihadfought for this, too hard to give up.
“I’m in,” I said, and stuck out my hand.
Eric left me hanging, four seconds, five. So long Berg hissed at him, loud through his teeth. Then he gave my hand two quick, firm pumps. I thought he’d drop it right after, like he’d touched something gross, but he squeezed it instead and his dark eyes met mine.
“Thatwassome nice ad-lib. At least at the start.”
“Yours too,” I said, grudging. I squeezed his hand back. Then, Berg grabbed both our hands and shook them up and down.
“That’s a verbal contract. And I’m your witness. Now, are we ready to get back to work?”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for Eric Harper. But for my big break? Yeah. Yeah, I was.
CHAPTER 2
ERIC
My manager, Sam, had two big pet peeves. One was corporate speak. He hated that with a passion. The other was clients barging into his office.
