Page 104 of The Sun & Her Burn

I knew him well enough now to notice how it didn’t touch his eyes.

He strode forward to take Giselle by the shoulders and push a kiss into her head instead of exchanging the normal cheek kisses, probably hyperaware of the fact that his face smelled like me.

“Thank you for a lovely evening,” he told her, tucking her into his side as he reached out to shake Sinclair’s hand.

“I’m sorry if it’s ended badly,” Giselle ventured with a curious glance at me.

“Not at all,” Sebastian insisted with another blindingly bright grin. “Come, I’ll walk out with you.” He hesitated, looking over at me with a crack in his mask that spoke of yearning and frustration. “Linnea, do you need me to call you a ride home?”

“No,” I said a little woodenly. “I’ll get Rozhin to pick me up, she should just be finishing up work right now.”

He pursed his lips but nodded and, after waiting for me to thank his sister and her husband, he escorted them out, leaving me more alone than I had felt in a very long time.

21

LINNEA

Iorganized the papers in my lap with sweaty palms as the aide called my name to enter the audition room. Even though I had memorized the sides, the short scenes from the script the casting director sent to actors who were auditioning for a role, and pored over the character notes, adding my own idiosyncrasies in the margins, I was still incredibly nervous.

I had been on dozens of auditions in the last nineteen months since moving to Los Angeles, but this was the first major production I had scored an invitation to, and it was being directed by Georges Gallegos, whom I happened to adore. He had created some of the best action films of the last two decades, and as a woman who grew up in a household of all men, I had seen my fair share of action flicks, so I had a discerning eye.

The character I was auditioning for was not particularly complex. Carmen Winstead was the enemies-to-lovers paramour for the leading man, a woman who appeared on screen mostly to kick ass and, occasionally, to fight and kiss the hero. It wasn’t exactly a meaty role, but I was excited about the prospect of learning how to “play” fight with choreography,and it certainly beat the guest appearances and commercials I’d booked thus far.

The problem was, after Thursday night’s emotional roller coaster with Sebastian and Adam, I was still psychologically exhausted. Adam had texted to say he needed space before our date tomorrow to go to the Critics Choice Awards, and Sebastian had been helping Giselle and Sinclair move into their new house in the Pacific Palisades and spending most of his time with family while he wasn’t doing the media circuit to campaign for his Oscar. He had texted, agreeing that we needed to talk and that he regretted nothing, but I had the distinct feeling he was avoiding me too.

Men.

Jeeze.

I sucked in a bracing breath and headed into the audition room, shoving the two men at the center of my life into the back of my brain so I could focus onme.

I was considerably less frustrating.

Fifteen minutes later, I emerged from the room feeling slightly shaky with hope.

“Why did you play it like that?” Georges had asked, cocking his head as he considered me.

At first, the panel had seemed mostly disinterested, but when I started Carmen’s monologue about her tortured past, the four men had come alive.

“Well, I don’t think Carmen is a victim,” I explained. “Yes, she was orphaned and abused by her mentor even as he trained her to be a killer, but I don’t think she feels badly for herself even for a moment. The only reason she would bring it up is to manipulate Zachary into softening toward her. It’s all part of a game. Carmen likes games, and she’s good at them.”

“Does she?” Georges asked in a thick Spanish accent, almost to himself.

Beside him, a skinny Black man wearing glasses grinned at me. “She would. Life is a game with very high stakes for Carmen.”

I beamed at him, happy to be validated, given that he was the screenwriter, Zeke Ryan.

They’d had me read the scene again and then do another one they handed me cold from a new series of sides.

“Well done,” Georges had said when they dismissed me. “We’ll be in touch.”

Zeke had winked at me.

I’d never gotten a wink before.

I was still trembling with excitement when I got in the car. I wanted to call Sebastian and Adam to tell them the news, knowing they’d be proud of me, even if I didn’t actually get the role. However, my car didn’t have Bluetooth, so I drove home a little faster than usual, tapping on the wheel with restlessness.

The traffic was crazy trying to get onto my residential street, and I tried to remember if a block party or something was happening.