Page 79 of Good Enough

“Well, you’ve been doing all of this unnecessary training. We could be shooting already.”

Kai resisted the urge to sigh again. “It’s not unnecessary, Craig. We have been over this and over this. It may not appear so right now, but it will be worth it in the end. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

He hmphed and threw the invoices down on the desk. “I sincerely doubt that. I still contend that this ‘extra training’ you’re doing is a waste. And I will continue to say it so that when it proves true, I’ll enjoy the opportunity of saying ‘I told you so’ all the more.”

Counting to ten before answering, Kai laid her pencil down, closed her script, and gently set it on the coffee table.

“Well, until that day, Craig, let’s just assume I’m right.”

He grunted, casting a malevolent stare in Waters’ direction. “Clearly, you’ve too much free time on your hands as well.”

She felt Waters tighten up from across the room as she turned her head to look directly at Big Bird. Her face felt hot, and if it had been possible, she would have shot daggers at him from her eye sockets. “And how have you determined this from your lumbar-massaging, ergonomic, baby cow leather desk chair back in L.A.?”

“You obviously have time to shack up with this Neanderthal, which means that the time you’ve spent rolling around in the sheets with him is time you could have been working.” Craig was involved in a stare down with Waters, which was dangerous enough in itself. But what was worse was that it took his focus off of Kai, and that was a big mistake.

“Whom I spend my nights rolling around in the sheets with is not your business, you fuckwitch,” she hissed, “and never will be. You have no right to censor my behavior as long as it doesn’t compromise the work I’m doing, which it clearly doesn't. You’re just searching for any little reason to rattle my cage, something you’ve been doing since our first day working together.” Her eyes were glittering so bright they could have spit venom. “I strongly suggest you go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, you should get in the Jeep with one of the crew, head straight to the airport, and go home. You are not needed here, nor are you wanted. You’ll only get in the way and create the distraction and impediments to our progress that you claim you want to prevent. Hell, I’ll even drive you myself and charter a private jet to get you on a direct flight if it gets you off my set.”

Big Bird smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, Serrano. You need to be taken in hand here, and I’m going to see to it that that happens.”

Kai took her steps toward the desk slowly and carefully. Her palms came down to lay flat on its surface, and she leaned over to get eye level with the bastard who sat there smirking at her. Her voice dropped even quieter, a sure sign that she was about to let loose if he didn’t come to heel. “You couldn’t even begin to take me in hand, Stapleton. I would break you into so many pieces you’d cry like a fifteen-year-old girl who got stood up for the prom. And when I was done pulverizing your soul, even the angels couldn’t put your sorry, jigsawed ass back together. I doubt the demons from hell would, either. Don’t you dare threaten me. Ever.”

With that, she turned on her heel and headed toward the hallway door. When she pulled up even with Waters, she turned back to the producer. “I’m going to the kitchen to get some dinner. When I come back, you’d better be gone because I plan to spend the rest of the night rolling around in the sheets with my unnecessary Neanderthal. If you’re not gone, I’ll pay him from my own pocket to feed you to an extra large snake out in the jungle, which I will then personally chop into pieces and feed to the sharks.”

She opened the door, passed through without looking at Waters, and slammed it behind her.

27

MARCH 10TH

Waters

Okay, Big Bird, time we had this out.

Waters recognized the dick move of trying to intimidate him. Did this man not understand whom he was dealing with? Did he not realize the things Waters had seen and done as a SEAL that would make this baiting seem like a five-year-old having a tantrum rather than an actual threat? He couldn’t possibly be this obtuse, could he?

“I suggest you back off, soldier boy,” Big Bird warned.

Apparently, the answer is yes.

Waters said nothing. There was no point. Like Kubrick, he knew when to let the man spin his wheels to exhaustion point. No sense in getting his blood pressure up over the assclown.

When Waters didn’t answer, he pushed again. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other.” The producer went back to the paperwork in front of him. After several minutes, he looked up to find Waters still standing in the exact same place and position, just watching him.

“What is it?” Stapleton snapped. “You have something to say?”

“No.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Just trying to figure out what it is you have up your ass about Ms. Serrano.”

“My issues with Kai Serrano are just that—mine.”

“See, that’s where we disagree. My job is to make her job easier. That includes dealing with asswipes like you. You are not making it easier; therefore, it has now become my business.”

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