Page 46 of Touch in the Dark

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if it was his dad she moved on to, but he’s not volunteering so I won’t open that can of worms.

“Safe, yeah. For you, not me so much. I wouldn’t mind, but we haven’t even…”

“Even what?” his smile shows.

“Stop it,” I nudge him with my elbow.

“Ow,” he takes a step back but he’s grinning. His smirk drops off quickly. “Shit, I can’t believe she got you kicked off the movie. What a bitch.”

“It’s okay, it’s not the end of the world.”

“It isn’t right. Let me speak to my dad, or Harry, the producer, he’s sensible.”

“Don’t bother,” I reach for the handle of my trolley. “I’ve already told Reggie not to come here. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t having fun on this job, like, at all. I enjoyed the other night, watching the stunts.” He grins at that. “Half the time I was too scared to move, the rest I was either getting the stink eye or leered at.”

“Who leered at you?” he frowns.

“Doesn’t matter. Look, I appreciate the thought, I do, but I would never go back to work with people like that. People who can just get rid of someone on the whim of another person’s insecurities, who sees things that aren’t there.”

“I’m absolutely not interested in her,” he mutters. “Shit, though. This is bad. I feel bad.”

“Honestly,” I tell him, looking at my phone. “Don’t. I’m good.”

Thomas sent a message to say he is arriving up front. I’m actually kind of bummed now, the more I think about it. Not about the job, I meant what I said to Joel. I’d never work for these people again, even if they offered me a million dollars. It’s the thought that my work wasn’t good enough for them to overlook her petty feelings about me. I try not to let it bother me. Movie work is nothing like the other work I’ve done. And working on Remi’s movie was an anomaly I guess because we’re friends.

This has just been an icky experience all around. And her bullshit reason for getting rid of me isn’t even a real thing. Joel is leaving, we aren’t going anywhere.

“I’m gonna kick someone’s ass regardless,” Joel tells me. He looks at my bags. “Here, at least let me help get you away from these bloodsuckers.”

He takes the handle. We head out, and I see Remi’s car across the street. I point it out to him and after waiting for the walk sign, we cross and head to the car.

“What are you gonna do?” Joel asks, shoving his hands in his pockets.

I shrug. I don’t know but I have options. I hadn’t been planning on heading back to L.A. so soon, but my studio is there, my clients, who actually love me, would welcome me back with open arms. I am kind of enjoying being in New York though, especially at Remi’s place. Shit, what am I gonna tell Remi? This is the last thing he needs to hear. I’ll have to just keep it from him. For now.

“I might be able to help,” Joel says hopefully.

“I’ve told you, you don’t need to do anything, besides, you’re leaving soon yourself anyway, right?”

“Sooner than I thought.”

“Your shoot got brought forward?”

“No. That still isn’t until next week. But these bastards treated someone I care about like a piece of shit, so I’m about to do the same.”

“Don’t they need you?” I gloss over the ‘care about’ comment.

“Do you really care?” he lifts his brow.

“Well… No,” I laugh. “But what will you do?”

“I’m not short on cash,” he touches my arm. “Or self-respect. Just like you. Only reason I stuck around was because I liked you. So, if you’re not there, they can go fuck themselves. In fact,” he checks his pockets. “I got everything, I’m not even gonna go back up there.”

“What about your dad?”

It’s his turn to laugh. “He won’t care, not about me at least, he’ll be pissed he’s short a cameraman, but he already believes my sole reason for existing is to piss him off, so why deviate from that script.”

“Joel, that is a horrible way to live,” I say sadly.

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