Page 59 of Best Served Hot
Speaking of which, she didn’t think it would be too hard to get Ethan’s phone away from him so she could get rid of that recording and carry on like none of this had ever happened. Except for securing a divorce, of course.
She wanted her life to start. She didn’t want to waste another minute on Ethan. She had better things to do—like falling in love with Alex.
Thirty-Four
‘AND I WAS NEVER PREGNANT!’
‘OK, cut there,’ Nicole called.
Laura, the actor spilling the beans about her lack of fertilisation, took a breath and then groaned. ‘Jesus, people never tell you how much shouting hurts your back.’
‘You alright, Laura?’ Nicole asked.
‘Nothing some ibuprofen won’t fix,’ Laura assured her.
‘Let us know if it’s still an issue tomorrow, and we’ll have you checked out,’ Nicole said.
Alex knew that she meant it. She was big on caretaking actors. Alex thought that she could have benefited from knowing her back in the day, before the breaking of ribs and the puncturing of lungs.
She could have benefited from knowing her in just about every way possible, come to think of it. Well, at least Alex knew her now. Better late than never.
‘Great, let’s wrap there for the day. Good work, everyone!’ Alex called, off Nicole’s nod.
The crew began to take down equipment while the actors left the set.
‘Are you ready?’ Nicole muttered to Alex, who nodded.
They were just waiting for everyone to disperse to commence the plan. They needed to make sure one person hadn’t buggered off, though.
‘Lena, can I check something with you?’ Alex asked.
Lena turned to her, instantly annoyed. ‘What?’
Alex could very faintly hear the sound of a small splat out of their eye line.
‘I just wanted to check if you had those pages for, umm…’ Alex noted the last person leaving. It was just her, Lena, and Nicole. Alex turned as though to pick up her iPad to check something. There it was, right behind her—a small puddle of water, almost unnoticeable. Unless you were looking for it. With your foot.
Alex thought back to the previous night. She’d been practising this on a piece of cardboard all evening. She didn’t mind getting a bump on the head. She was practically expecting it. But cracking her skull open like a cantaloupe was another thing altogether. She had to hope her technique was on point.
She braced herself, pushing her foot forward, and whoosh! She was up, she was horizontal, and she was back down again with a thud. No skull thump. Though her coccyx was gonna feel it later.
‘Aaaahhh!!!!’ she cried out. She was no actor, but she didn’t have to be. Her back had slapped the floor quite mightily. She looked up to see Lena looking down at her with something that was near concern. ‘CHRIST!’ Lena yelled.
Nicole was over quickly. She looked down at Alex, and the concern was big, even though they’d planned this. Alex had vowed to her fifty times that she could do this, and it would be minimal pain. It was a little more than that, but survivable.
‘Alex!’ Nicole exclaimed. ‘Are you OK?’
Alex looked up and blinked three times. That was code for, ‘I’m all good,’ while her mouth told a different tale. ‘I don’t know!’ she exclaimed. ‘I can’t move.’
Lena looked faint. ‘I need to fetch Ethan.’ She legged it.
As soon as the door banged shut, Nicole looked down at Alex. ‘Seriously, are you OK?’
‘I’m a bit sore, but I think it went pretty well,’ Alex assured her.
‘I don’t think we should have done it like this,’ Nicole said. ‘It should have been me.’
‘It’s done now. So focus up and make it count,’ Alex told her firmly. Though it was hard not to feel touched by how worried Nicole was.
