Page 44 of Catch Me (Townsend Legacy #4)
A ndreas
“Green or purple?” I hold first the green, then the purple sweaters against my chest with my phone resting against the stand next to my hotel’s bed.
“Both would bring out your eyes, but I personally like you in purple. You pull it off so well,” Ivy explains. “The pants are black, right?”
“Sure are,” I answer before tossing the green sweater on the bed to put on the white T-shirt before covering it with the purple sweater.
“Perfect,” she says. “I thought you had a stylist there.”
I’m getting ready for one of the first pressers for Late Nights.
In the two months since returning from Williamsport, Michael Keith has managed to complete post-production on the film and schedule the release for early summer.
While it’s not quite a Fourth of July release, it is during a typically heavy movie audience time. Which means the studio is placing a high level of faith in this film to do well.
“We do,” I tell her. “But I trust your judgment more.”
She laughs, which makes my heart squeeze.
“Did you sleep well last night?” she asks, her concern going straight to my heart.
“You weren’t next to me … so, no.”
I’m in New York for the presser since the director of the film had a prior engagement in the city already.
And less than twenty-four hours ago I was in Canada, wrapping up the filming of my next movie. It’s been a busy few months which has led to me not seeing Ivy as much as I’d like, but I fly her out as much as her schedule lets me.
“You’ll be home tomorrow.”
“Tonight,” I correct. “I bumped up my flight. Once the presser’s over and my meeting with one of my sponsors, I’m going to the airport.”
Her smile lights up the screen, and I’m tempted to cancel everything and hop my ass on the plane now.
“Don’t you dare,” she warns.
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“That wicked look in your eyes. You get it right before you—” She stops herself.
“Before I what, Ivy?” I taunt. I want to hear her say it, though I know I’m playing with fire because I really just might get on the next fucking flight out of here if she says the words I want to hear.
Her lips part, but before anything comes out there’s a knock on my hotel room door.
“Mr. Knight, we’re ready for you to start heading down,” one of the assistants from the studio says through the door.
Ivy pushes out a breath. “Good luck. I’ll be watching.”
“Love you,” I say easily.
She smiles. “I love you, too.”
“Wait up for me tonight.” My voice comes out deeper than normal.
“Like I can sleep without you either,” she scoffs, then blows me a kiss. “Now go. I have to get back to work, too.”
My silly, in love ass stares at the blank screen for a few beats, a goofy ass grin on my lips.
“Mr. Knight?”
“Yeah, coming.”
About twenty minutes later I’m sitting in the hotel’s event room with Michael Keith and the other two main actors from Late Nights.
“Andreas, critics are saying that this is your finest performance yet. What do you say to that?” a journalist from the number one entertainment magazine in the country asks.
I glance to my left toward Michael Keith, then to the other actors of the film who sit on my right.
I’ve been able to see the final edited version of Late Nights and I know that everyone involved in this project stepped up and delivered to the highest level of their abilities.
“That’s truly a compliment,” I say. “Our goal in making this film was to tell a complete story and make sure we brought these characters’ stories to life in a very real way. I’ll leave it up to the audience to decide if I played my part well.”
“Very diplomatic answers,” he says, making the rest of the room chuckle.
Another reporter goes on to ask Michael about his strategy for this film. I listen intently as he talks about the direction he saw for the film from the beginning.
“At the end of the day, this isn’t a huge action film. My technique had to differ from projects that I’ve done in the past. Which is why I took great efforts to ensure everything was right, down from the camera lenses to the cast.”
Michael looks over at me and then the other cast members.
“I know we’ve done exactly what we set out to do,” he says as if he’s answering my earlier comment.
The rest of the presser goes off without much fanfare. The journalists seem to be enjoying themselves and excited about the movie, which is all we can ask for.
Inevitably, though, the questions start to take a different direction.
“Andreas?” one of the female reporters in the back calls out.
I do my best to keep the frown off of my face once I see who it is. Charlotte Simpson, the reporter for one of the largest gossip blogs in the country. And I’m using the word reporter very lightly.
She’s also the one who wrote that post about Amber and me after that picture of us at the restaurant came out.
“We at Entertainment Wise were surprised that you would take on a role with such depth and emotion. Did you feel like it was time to leave the lighter, more … shall we say, immature roles behind?”
Her tone is full of fake niceness that does nothing to hide the snark that belies the question.
I know something about Charlotte that no one else in this room is aware of.
“That was an inappropriate question,” Michael Keith defends. “Andreas Knight is the consummate professional and a fine actor. If anything, his previous roles?—”
“Thank you, Michael, for saying that,” I say with a nod. “It’s quite the compliment hearing that come from a man with such a fine eye for talent.” I turn to face Charlotte, who still wears a smug look on her face.
“As for the question, the beauty of my career is that I get the opportunities to play a range of characters. All with unique personalities and characteristics that display the vast range of the human experience. After all, isn’t emotional depth and range what we all want to see when we’re looking to be entertained? ”
Charlotte’s face reddens and a pinch between her brows appears. When Charlotte tried out for a part in the series I starred in, one of the harshest critiques of her was that her acting lacked emotional range.
Amber was the actress who the role eventually went to.
Charlotte managed to get a job writing for gossip blogs because she never had the talent to make it as an actress.
The visibly angered expression on her face reveals that she knows exactly why I worded my answer the way I did.
I sit back in my chair, smirking.
“As I stated earlier, we’ll allow the audience to make the final decision on whether or not I was ready for this role.”
A few reporters nod their head and jot notes down in their notebooks.
“Well, I think that’s all of the time we ha?—”
“One more question.”
My eyes narrow on Charlotte as she remains standing, microphone in her hand.
“Far be it from me to be a nuisance,” she says, shooting daggers my way. “But I wonder if you all would be so quick to defend Andreas if you saw proof that he’s a loose cannon who goes about assaulting people in restaurants?”
A gasp sounds around the room.
I level her with a look, though she’s no longer looking at me.
“I have video footage of Andreas Knight assaulting YouTuber and podcaster, Dennis James,” she claims while holding up her phone, playing a video from that day in the restaurant.
“This was a result of a personal vendetta against James, who had a relationship with Andreas’ current girlfriend, Ivy Sterling. ”
I spring to my feet, fists at my side. “What the hell did you just say?”
“Is that the type of person you want representing your film, Mr. Keith?” Charlotte continues.
“This is beyond inappropriate,” Michael says beside me.
“We’ll end the presser here. Thank you everyone for coming today,” the MC tells the crowd in a hurry.
All I see is red. Did that bitch just claim Ivy had a relationship with Dennis James?
My phone’s ringing before I even exit the stage.
“I want that bitch’s job and anything else she has of value,” I tell Stan. “And then I want?—”
“Andreas, calm down.”
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. Did you hear what she said about Ivy? Ivy has never even met that motherfucker!” I insist as I barge into my room, slamming the door behind me.
“What about you? This is?—”
“That’s what I pay PR for, isn’t it?”
“We’ll handle it on our end. Expect a call from Rachel in about twenty minutes.”
“By then I expect to hear that Charlotte’s unemployed and has retracted her statement.”
I hang up the phone and toss it on the bed instead of at the wall like I want. I need to calm down before calling Ivy, I don’t want her to hear about this bullshit from anyone but me.