Filthy Beast(59)

After a quick cry, I finish my meal, and I get my shit together. I might as well be ready to go when she gets me thrown off the set.

But Lionel calls everyone back to action, and I don’t hear a peep from Holly. The rest of the day passes and I’m just waiting for the axe to fall, but it never does.

Holly doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t acknowledge me. In fact, it feels like she’s a little afraid of me. And I don’t get fired, which seems like a damn miracle.

When the day finally ends, I’m starting to feel like maybe Holly isn’t going to get me thrown off this movie. Maybe everything is going to be okay, or at least I’ll dodge one more disaster.

I lock the script up and get my things to head home. I’m not looking forward to sitting on the couch and moping all night again, but I don’t know what else to do. Maybe I’ll go out somewhere, try and forget about all this.

As I pass back through the trailers, I hear someone call my name. I look up and spot Holly waving at me.

My stomach fucking sinks. I hesitate a second, and I think I might just run away. I think I might just get the hell out of there and never look back. Maybe I can disappear like Jackson did.

Instead, I start walking toward my fate. I’m going to face it, whatever it may be.

“What’s up?” I ask her, knowing full well what’s happening.

But she doesn’t seem angry. “Come in here,” she says. “Someone wants to see you.”

She steps back into the development trailer. There’s a little conference room in there, so I have to figure that she called in Human Resources or something, and I’m about to get fired.

I follow her inside, taking a deep breath. No more running. No more hiding.

I’m facing what’s next.





29





Jackson





The plane lands, and although I’m exhausted, I can’t stop smiling.

I turn my phone on and find a ton of messages. I guess people were pretty pissed when I left, but I didn’t expect to be gone for that long. I figured I’d fly out to Cancun, meet with Harold, convince him to back this film, and fly back. But instead, he was fucking stubborn, and it took me longer than I wanted.

I frown at the calls from Tara. She must have been pretty upset. I call her back, but this time her phone goes to voicemail, which makes sense. They have to turn their phones off and store them during filming to fight against leaks.

I get off the plane, grab a taxi, and head toward the set. I check my watch and it’s close to the end of the day, so they should be shutting down filming soon. I bet Lionel and the whole crew are pissed as hell about all this, but I know it’ll be okay.

I get to set and head inside. A few of the crew guys seem surprised to see me, but that’s okay. They probably thought I was dead or something.

“So you’re back.”

I turn around and spot Holly standing by a vending machine. She crosses her arms and walks toward me.

I’m surprised but I’m actually happy to see her. “I’m back,” I say to her. “Is everyone mad?”

She shrugs. “Pretty much. Your girlfriend slapped me in the face.”

“Tara?” I ask.

“That’s right. Went nuts for no reason.” She grins. “I kind of like her.”

I can’t help but grin back. I don’t know what happened but I wish I could have seen it. Seems crazy that Holly would like her more for slapping her in the face, but that’s just Holly. She doesn’t make sense and I’m sick of trying to figure it all out.

“Listen, we should talk,” I say to her. “It’s about your movie.”

She perks up. “Really?”

“Really,” I say. “Come on.”

I walk quickly over toward the development trailer with Holly in tow. It’s empty, which is good. Holly sits while I grab an extra laptop and open it up.

I dial the number in Skype that Harold gave me, and a minute later he answers.

“Jackson?” he asks. “You there already?”

“I’m here,” I say. “Holly’s in the room.”

“Okay. Let me see her too.”

I put the laptop down and move around to sit next to Holly. Harold is still in Cancun, a little sunburnt and wearing a large floppy hat. He’s inside his hotel room, and probably annoyed that I’m interrupting his vacation yet again.

It took me half a day to find him, and when I did, Harold was pissed. He was not happy that I was ambushing him about work, and he basically blew me off.

I had to be persistent. It took another day to finally see him again, and then I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Not the mafia-style kind, but the kind that makes him a lot of money.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” he says. “I’m making this quick because I want to get back to drinking tequila and trying to fuck my wife. You two listening?”