Page 26 of Lights, Camera, Love

‘He’ll be here any minute,’ I mutter, and pull my phone out of my bomber jacket. I try Austin again, but as usual he doesn’t answer the damn phone, so I type out an irate message telling him to get his ass here, pronto.

Marco’s frowning eyes bounce between me and Evie. ‘I have another shoot right after this, so Jai, could you please step in with Evie for test shots? You’re not much shorter than Austin.’

‘Actually, I’m two inches taller,’ I amend. ‘And it’s Kye .’

If Marco apologises, I don’t hear it over the deafening panic sounding in my head at the realisation that, to help Marco get his lighting right, I’m going to have to adopt the same racy poses with Evie that I asked him to capture between her and Austin.

Marco presses his palms to my shoulders and pushes me down on one of the stools. ‘You sit here. Evie, you come up and sit on his thigh.’

‘A bit early in the morning for a ride, isn’t it?’ she jokes with a nervous chuckle as she turns her back to me and climbs onto my lap. She slides her perfectly rounded ass backwards until it’s nestled snugly in my crotch.

Oh, I’ll give you a ride, all right.

My fingers curl lightly around her waist, and I rest one of my white trainers against the bottom rung of the stool to keep us steady. I hope to god she can’t feel how fast my heart is beating against her back.

One of the assistants presses play on a Travis Scott song, and immediately Evie begins to subtly groove and gyrate, like she can’t help herself. Shit, not there, Firefly. You’re going to give me a semi. I shift beneath her.

‘All right, looking good, you two,’ Marco says from behind his camera. ‘Evie, you lean against his chest and put one arm around his neck. Kye, you drape an arm across her abdomen. Let’s go.’

Evie leans back to set the full, warm weight of her body against my torso. I manage to focus enough to wrap an arm around her stomach, tugging her firmly against me so that she doesn’t slip off. I hear her breath snag.

Oh, you like that? I dig my fingers a little harder into her side, my lips turning in to her trembling neck as Marco clicks his camera.

‘Wow, you two are fire ,’ he says, taking a few more snaps. ‘Who needs Austin Reynolds, you know what I’m saying?’

Marco sets down his camera to fiddle with one of the free-standing lights, but Evie doesn’t loosen her posture, or even move at all.

She stays right where she is as I lightly trace my fingertips up and down the inside curve of her waist, her breaths quickening and her thighs becoming heavier on mine as she sinks further back.

Yeah, you like that.

You like me underneath you.

Marco scoops up his camera and brushes past us in his silky black trousers, which end three inches above his ankles. ‘Now, Evie, I’d like you to turn around so that you’re facing Kye. Make it look like you’re just about to kiss.’

Jesus. Fuck.

I watch the gulp travel down Evie’s throat as she shifts around in my lap to face me.

A sweet look of shyness swims in her eyes as she stares at me at close range, our uneven breaths mingling together.

Marco calls out, ‘Now, bring your mouths close together like you’re about to kiss.’

Send me strength.

Her heavy gaze lands on my lips, and I reach out to cup the side of her face, my fingers trembling. Marco’s camera clicks while I stare into Evie’s eyes, attempting to communicate what I can’t say aloud.

I want to kiss you so badly that everything hurts.

Her eyes burn into mine, and I gently clasp her chin between two fingers and bring her mouth close. Our lips fall together and brush with the faintest whisper of a kiss as a helpless groan rises in me.

The bar door blasts open, and Evie and I break apart. Austin paces into the room with the subtlety of a tornado, his polished dress shoes clomping against the floorboards. He halts a few feet behind Marco and narrows his gaze on Evie and me, our bodies still entwined.

‘Hey,’ I say as I quickly let go of her.

Marco trudges over to Austin and grips him in a tight handshake while I carefully guide Evie off my hips.

I watch as she walks over to Austin to say hello; his mouth remains etched into a hard line.

A memory of one of the worst times in my life dives into my mind.

I try to meet Austin’s eyes—I want to reassure him that I have no more interest in reliving that scenario than he does.

But Austin keeps his gaze fixed on Marco.

The rest of the shoot goes smoothly, and Austin looks every bit the movie star in the black suit and thin charcoal tie I picked out.

When Marco finally calls it a day, I hang back at one end of the bar while Austin murmurs words to Evie that I can’t hear. He wraps her in a hug as he says goodbye, then strolls past me towards the exit door, without a single glance in my direction.

‘Austin, wait up,’ I call out, adding a tsk of annoyance because what’s his deal? I was only standing in for him because he was late, and besides, we have lunch plans. I chase after him and he stops at the door, turning to face me.

‘Sorry, man, I don’t feel like hanging out right now,’ he says. His lips are tilted down and his eyes barely lift to mine.

‘Why not?’ I ask, a dart of alarm piercing my chest.

‘I’m just not feeling it today, bro.’ He tugs his phone out of his trouser pocket and sighs. ‘I’m gonna go find something to hit, if you catch my drift.’

I snatch the phone from his hand. ‘I don’t even want to know if you’re talking about drugs, hookers or violence. In any case— no .’ Austin may be a grown man, but as his manager and the person who’s made repeated promises to his parents to help keep him on track, I am not letting this happen.

He seizes the phone back from me. ‘Since you’re so interested, do you want to see the text that Nadia sent while I was on the way here?’ His eyes are huge and wild-looking.

‘What are you talking about?’

He taps through his phone before shoving it back in my face. I scan the text on the screen.

NADIA: I told you that if you ignored me, I’d look into your little girlfriend. It turns out that she’s been hiding things from you. Newsflash: She lives in a shithole, but guess who her daddy is? Gabriel Dean. Yes, the one and only.

Rage simmers inside me as I glare at Austin. ‘Nadia followed Evie? To her apartment?’

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he hisses.

‘This is not my fault. And that’s what you got from Nadia’s message?

Kye, Evie’s dad is Gabriel Dean . I mean—what the fuck?

’ He mimics a bomb going off beside his ear, like his mind is blown.

‘Why isn’t she name-dropping the heck out of that to get more roles? ’

‘Shhh!’ I twist to check that Evie can’t hear us, but Austin keeps going.

‘You need to jump on this, Kye, and make it part of our promo strategy for Moving .’

‘No fucking chance,’ I say quietly. ‘It’s private information that’s not ours to share.’

His face scrunches up. ‘Aren’t you a publicist? This is publicity gold. Plus, how private can it be if Nadia found out? Honestly, I bet Evie would love it if this got out. She’s probably just being humble—you know she’s not one to talk herself up.’

I lean towards him, speaking through my teeth. ‘You’re missing the point here. Nadia has been digging into Evie’s personal life and stalking her, which is taking things way too far. I told you to keep Nadia onside. To be nice to her; to call her now and then.’

‘ You call her,’ he snaps. ‘I don’t want anything to do with her.’ He points his finger at me. ‘And you’re my manager. You should be handling her, not me. Especially when this whole fuckin’ thing is your fault.’

Tension floods our gazes as we stare each other down. Austin’s eyes suddenly shift past my shoulder to Evie; I glance around to find her looking right at me.

‘You better stay in your lane, Kye,’ Austin warns, pulling back my focus.

I blink at him. ‘ Stay in my lane? ’

‘Keep your hands off Evie,’ he says under his breath. ‘I already told you that I’m into her. I’m just waiting for a chance to properly ask her out.’

So, he hasn’t been seeing her these past few days. Relief takes hold of my lungs. But what the hell is he waiting for? He’s had every chance to ask her out.

‘From now on,’ Austin continues, ‘I’m watching you like you’re a hawk.’

‘ You would be the hawk in that scenario,’ I bite back.

Austin’s shoulders tense as we stand in a deadlock. His eyes dart past my shoulder to Evie as she steps up to us, smiling, her purse slung over one arm.

‘I need to go,’ Austin cuts in. ‘I’m gonna head back to the apartment. Alone .’

I don’t get it: if he’s so into Evie, isn’t this the perfect opportunity for him to ask her if she wants to grab a coffee or a bite to eat?

He better not be planning some sort of drug- or alcohol-fuelled bender.

Like the protective prick I am, I tap on his Uber app before his phone can relock and book him a car to our beach rental.

I then share the trip with myself so I can check he gets there without any detours to a seedy part of town.

‘I’ll see you at home a bit later,’ I say, fixing him with a meaningful stare: I want him to know I’ll be checking up on him.

Without another word, Austin charges up the stairs that lead to the street level.

I step aside so that Evie can pass by me, too. ‘I’ll see you at the showcase on Saturday,’ I tell her with a small, fleeting smile. My mouth still tingles where her lips touched mine; my head is still foggy with the memory of it.

‘Are you doing anything now?’ she asks. ‘We could grab lunch?’

Such a simple question, yet it liquefies my legs. I summon the mental strength of a Buddhist monk so that I can hold my ground. ‘I can’t, Evie.’

Disappointment clouds her soft gaze. ‘Why not?’

While I could spin a story about having made plans, it’s time I closed the door on this. For a moment, I lose myself in the refuge of her eyes, my cheeks buzzing hot and my stomach whipping up. But I make myself say the words. ‘Austin’s pretty sweet on you.’