Page 68 of Best Served Hot
‘Well, I’m already aroundyourfinger,’ Nicole told her. ‘So that could work. Intertwined fingers.’
Alex sighed. ‘See? You’re too good.’
‘I’m serious. I can’t think of a thing I wouldn’t do for you,’ Nicole told her.
Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Murder?’
Nicole thought about it. ‘It’s not an outright no,’ she laughed. Then she thought of something that made her rather nervous, and she began to chew the inside of her mouth. ‘Umm, there’s something I need to tell you. And I realise how much I’m risking by saying this, but… I’ve been looking for the right time to bring this up. I hope this is it.’
Alex frowned again. ‘Oh Christ,what?’
‘It’s about the actress. The one who…’ She mimed choking.
Alex’s eyes blazed. ‘Nicole, that’s not funny.’
‘That’s the thing. I think it might beaboutto be,’ Nicole said, her hands in the air in surrender. ‘Just let me tell you this, OK?’
Alex glared at her silently. It wasn’t exactly a yes, but it wasn’t a no either, so Nicole kept going, hoping she wasn’t about to piss Alex off in the worst way. ‘I was wondering about that young actress, how it worked out for her. You didn’t give me a name, so I had to dig to find her, this mystery woman. Because the video was abandoned and re-shot with a new cast and crew, so no credits to check. I had to go through court records of civil suits from around five years ago. It took a while, but I found her. Charlotte Early, right?’
Thirty-Eight
Alex was trying her best to stay mad at Nicole, but it was too hard. Impossible, in fact. Nicole was telling her she was good, and that meant something to Alex. It was pretty hard to stay angry in the face of that.
She’d believed in herself once and missed it. Though she wasn’t sure about going back to directing. There was still so much damn guilt.
But then Nicole said that name. Charlotte Early. Alex had never told Nicole her name for this exact reason. She didn’t want her to google her. Because Alex had never dared. She didn’t want to hear about how her life had been ruined as a result of that bloody shoot.
‘Nicole, please—’
‘Have you heard what she’s up to?’ Nicole asked.
Alex shook her head. ‘No, and I don’t want to know what you found. So whatever you know, please just—’
‘She’s on frickin Broadway!’ Nicole exploded.
Alex blinked. ‘Do you mean some street called Broadway that has an underpass where homeless people live?’
Nicole tutted. ‘I know musicals aren’t your thing, so it makes sense you missed it. And I mean, she’s not a lead or anything. Not yet. But she’s currently in an adaptation ofBeauty and the Beast. She’s playing the teapot.’
Alex’s mouth felt dry. ‘The teapot? But that means she’s got her own…’
‘Solo? Yup.’
Alex was floored, but Nicole wasn’t done. ‘And guess what else?’ She opened her phone, tapped around and found what she was looking for. She handed the phone to Alex. ‘Read that article.’
Alex read a little of it. It was an interview in a local English paper, Charlotte’s hometown rag. They were celebrating their homegrown starlet with an interview. It was true. She was doing well.
Alex stopped reading and tried to give Nicole back her phone. ‘Wait, did you get to the bit about…’ Nicole tutted. ‘I can tell you didn’t.’ She took the phone, scrolled down, and handed it back.
‘What is it?’ Alex asked.
‘Read,’ Nicole said firmly.
Alex looked at a highlighted quote.
No, I didn’t initially train as a singer, although I always wanted to be in musical theatre. I was told my voice wasn’t strong enough by teachers when I was young, so I stuck to acting. But then I had an accident just out of drama school, broke several ribs and punctured my lung. The ribs healed, but my lungs took much longer, and I was struggling to breathe properly. But my therapist was a big fan of using singing to strengthen damaged lungs. After months of singing, hours a day and once I could breathe well again, I realised that I had developed a range and depth of sound I hadn’t had before, and I had a much larger lung capacity, too. I felt more confident about it, so I took singing lessons and now, here I am. So, if that accident hadn’t happened, I don’t know if I’d have gotten to Broadway. Actually, I know I wouldn’t. Thank God I broke my ribs.
If someone had blown on Alex, she’d have fallen over.
