Page 72 of Best Served Hot
Maybe.
She refreshed her phone, hoping against hope that something would come through from Nicole. But all her phone contained was a terrible, cold silence.
Oh, and an email from Kendall Evans.
Hey, here’s that script we talked about. I saw your showreel. You’re just the up-and-comer I’ve been hoping to find. I can’t believe you were sitting under my nose this entire time. Fingers crossed this project will be of interest to you!
The hell? Kendall wanted her to do it? She wasn’t just being polite?
Alex didn’t know how to feel about this opportunity, given what she’d learned about Charlotte Early. She hadn’t had time to process it, bookended as it had been with emotional devastation. And Nicole had been the one to give her that, as well as giving her the chance of a real directing job. Which made the whole thing even more bizarre. Why do such a huge thing for someone you didn’t care about? It was a check in the ‘This is all Ethan’ column.
Alex was exhausted from the constant Nicole discourse in her head. She needed a break if such a thing might be had. She opened the script and started reading.
***
Two hours later, she finished the script. She was doing it without question.
Not just because of the news of Charlotte’s rise in the musical theatre scene, and not just because Alex needed a job, and not just because she’d missed directing and craved to do it once more, or that the script had rocked her world. Though every last one of those things was true, they hadn’t gotten her to a yes. The reason was that she needed something to hold on to right now. She needed purpose.
Alex made her decision. She had to leave Nicole alone. If this was what she thought it was, then Nicole had a good reason to do what she’d done. And she would find her way back to her when she could. And if it wasn’t? Alex would be too busy to cry a river about it. She’d have a movie to make.
If this was Nicole’s final gift, she would take it. It was a small consolation for the loss. But it wasn’t nothing. It was something she hadn’t dared to dream about for a long time. It was good. Great, even.
It just wasn’t Nicole.
Forty-One
A couple of months later.
‘CUT! We’ve got the scene,’ Nicole called on the set ofCriminal Thoughts,a crime show in its fourth season.
It didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it was of an alright quality. Though it didn’t matter if it was utter pig shit. Nicole would have directed traffic these days.
The blood-covered actress whose turn it was to get bumped off this week, Lara, said, ‘Great, thanks.’ She turned to her murderer, Brian. ‘Good stabbing, dude.’
Brian was touched. ‘Aww, thanks.’
‘I was actually scared at one point,’ Lara said.
Brian laughed. ‘Wow.’ He paused. ‘You, err, fancy a drink after this?’
Lara’s smile faltered. ‘Umm, I’m busy, sorry.’
Nicole would never cease to be amazed at the circumstances under which men would try to pull. Then again, she was kind of thinking she was never gonna love again, so maybe she wasn’t the one to ask.
She’d been incredibly busy lately. She’d asked her agent to make sure she was always available. She wasn’t waiting for the right projects. Anything. She’d have directed porn if the script had been alright. Did they have scripts? Or did they just go in with a concept and improvise? Probably better not to find out. Unless she found herself with a quiet week.
She’d been working for twenty straight days. And thank God. Because when she had time on her hands, all she did was sit around in her new flat, in its only chair, and scheme fruitlessly. Not to get Ethan anymore. She was trying to think of one safe way to reach out to Alex. But she had no confidence in her privacy.
Ethan’s threats about having her surveilled had done what he’d hoped. Nicole was stuck. No method of communication felt safe. Every idea had an element of hazard to it. She couldn’t call or text her from her own number, of course. Could she buy a burner phone online and text Alex? Every account that was linked to her cards could be tracked. Buy a phone for cash? If she was under physical surveillance, she’d be seen.
Even googling Alex felt dangerous. She had to assume she was being comprehensively followed and tracked. No room could be left to assume otherwise. The stakes were too high.
But Nicole couldn’t stop thinking about her. Wondering how she felt, how she was doing, what she was up to. And the worst was wondering what she was thinking about Nicole.
Alex would have tried to get in touch after Nicole had left the bar. She’d have realised she’d been blocked. And then what? She wasn’t stupid. They’d been happy, but Ethan had demanded his little talk and then had come that horrible moment that would probably haunt Nicole on her deathbed.
Alex would have suspected something had happened, but she wouldn’t know what. And she’d never know for sure if it was him. Ethan was likely right. After a time, Alex would probably think exactly what he wanted her to. That Nicole had used her to get to Ethan.
