Page 10 of Stunts and Sparks

Heather shook her head. She just wanted to be left alone. How had Cole managed to get to her so quickly?

It took her a second to realize she was sitting in someone’s office, and then it took her several more seconds to start asking herself why. They could have just taken her to the courtyard or something if they just wanted her to cool off. Was she getting sacked? She ground her teeth at the thought. So, they weren’t even going to give her time to resign.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Cole was brought in to sit beside her. The person who brought him just said, “Wait here,” and left.

They were left together in awkward silence until Cole decided to break the ice. “So… do you think we’ll get an award for that performance?”

“Shut up, shut up!” Heather hissed back at him. “You’ve just gotten both of us fired. Can’t you see that? They’re letting us go.”

He shook his head. “They wouldn’t do that. We’re too good.”

“I can’t believe you,” she said under her breath. “I’ve never met anyone so arrogant in my entire life. Don’t you ever question yourself or think about how your actions affect other people? Like ever?”

“All the time, but in this case, I think it was your actions that got us this result, whatever it is.”

She sat up straight in her chair. “You egged me on!”

“Your temper is yours to keep, sweet—” He stopped and corrected himself again. “Heather.”

Before she could pull herself together enough to think of a comeback, someone else entered the room. Heather recognized him as one of the senior members of the production team. He stepped around his desk and sat down with a heavy sigh. His suit looked nice, even though his hair had too much product in it, Heather thought.

“I think you both know why you’re here,” the man said. “How you both behaved today was uncalled for and unprofessional — especially you.” He looked at Heather, and she sank down in her chair.

Cole chuckled to himself, and Heather wanted to punch him all over again.

The producer guy continued. “Luckily for you, the director doesn’t want to go through the trouble of finding and training new stunt doubles just yet.” He narrowed his eyes at them both. “That doesn’t mean he won’t if he feels he has to, though. Just keep that in mind.” With that, he opened a drawer in his deskand pulled out two pamphlets, which he then handed to each of them. “This is your assignment for the next few days.”

Heather glanced down at the pamphlet in her hand. It showed a happy couple on the front, both fit and young. Above their heads was written the wordsBoot to Bondin bright yellow font.

“What the hell is this?” Cole said, clearly having a similar reaction to Heather.

“Boot camp,” the guy said. “Well, sort of. I think it’s just a marketing thing. But it’s a physical training camp to encourage bonding between people. We’d like you two to give it a shot this weekend.”

Heather opened the pamphlet and found it was full of itinerary examples with workouts, obstacle courses, and old cabins that made her think of the worst summer camp she’d ever been to. “It’s a marketing gimmick all right,” she said, “but their target audience appears to be married couples who are days away from divorce.”

“Try to look past all that,” the man behind the desk said, folding his hands in a way that made Heather’s inner high schooler want to get snarky. “It really is meant for bonding, any type of bonding.”

Heather turned the page of the pamphlet only to be met with more obviously married couples with absurdly white teeth and digitally perfected skin. “This is a load of bull,” she said. “I’m not going to marriage camp withthat.” She pointed a thumb toward Cole, who was still sitting beside her, although his normally overactive mouth seemed to have vacated the area. Of all times, now would be the perfect time for him to chime in. “Cole? Don’t you agree it’s ridiculous to ask us to do something like this?”

He hesitated, fidgeting with the pamphlet in his lap. “Actually, I think it might be a decent idea. We could use some bonding exercises.”

She gave him a look of pure horror and confusion.Thiswas where he drew the line? This was the thing he was going to do by the book rather than rebelling in some arrogant show of always knowing a better way?

“You coward,” she muttered as they left the room.

“Not a coward,” he whispered back. “Just choosing my battles. When the director asks you to practice more, no matter what that entails, you practice.”

“So you’re willing to risk your own health and dignity in order to please this director?”

He shrugged. “That’s how you get ahead in this industry.”

His willingness to sacrifice himself so thoroughly in pursuit of success in this specific job was something Heather imagined most people would find commendable. But to her, it was just depressing, and she promised herself, no matter what, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

CHAPTER 6

COLE

When Cole first arrived at the camp, all he could think was that this must be some civilian’s idea of boot camp. He chuckled to himself, watching the married couples who were trying to do exercises while being shouted at by a coach. Some of them loved it. Others had clearly been dragged by their partners into this military cosplay and were miserable.

---