Page 49 of Touch in the Dark

“Oh my God, shut up!” I whisper shout at her, my face flushing. She cackles and winks at the guys at the table, who are also laughing at my expense. “Why did I arrange to meet you today?”

“Because you know I won’t lie to you, babe. You don’t need someone patting your arm and telling you it will all work out. You need a dose of reality. You’ll get that from me. What is it that’s stopping you pulling the trigger? Is it because you actually do want to fuck Remi?”

“No, of course not,” I cringe.

“Everyone on the planet wants to fuck Remi, including these guys,” she thumbs back at them. The two men have stopped laughing now. “Remi Molyneaux,” she says to them. “The superhot movie star, they’re best friends and he has offered to give her one if she can’t find a guy in the next three months. And he’s gay,” she mock whispers behind her hand.

“I hate you.”

“I’d do him,” one of the guys says. His friend looks horrified. “What? He’s hot,” he grins.

“Jesus Cal, you think you know a guy,” the other man looks disturbed, but he’s laughing too.

Cal shrugs nonchalantly, but he’s eye fucking Brooke. He has game, I’ll give him that. He knows how to play this. Brooke is eye fucking him right back. Jesus.

“So, Joel is an option?” Brooke suddenly asks me.

I shrug, I’m still not sure.

“Okay,” she turns to the men. “So, Cal, who’s your friend? Are you both single? And if so, would you like to buy us some drinks?”

Cal and Tristan, the other guy, quickly vacate their table and join ours. I already know Tristan and I aren’t going anywhere but I’m pretty sure Cal is on to a sure thing tonight.

It’s just what I need though, and we have a good time, another couple of cocktails and then Brooke tells them she has to go back to work. The guys are bummed but when we leave Cal and Tristan a couple of hours later, I’ve had a great time and forgot about getting fired. And Brooke has Cal’s phone number.

My phone rings after I drop her back at work.

“I got a job for you, if you want it?” Joel says without so much as a hello.

“What kind of job?” I ask in surprise.

“The guy I’m crashing with, his girlfriend’s company are shooting some commercials in a couple of days. They need a make-up artist. One of theirs had to drop out last minute because of a family emergency. I told them I know one. Jobs yours if you want it. It’s for a company called Instinct.”

“Instinct?” I ask with a frown. “Is that a cologne?”

“Close,” he laughs. “It’s an underwear brand.”

“How do you get cologne and underwear together?”

“On a sexy hot body after a few drinks,” he laughs. “You interested? Scratch that, I already told them you are. I have the details, all you gotta do is show up. They’re good people. It’s nothing like the movies. Louis won’t treat you like shit and I told her you’re good. They’re in a bind, you’re free… What do you say, El? It’s good money too. The shoot will be for four days, they’re making six commercials and there will be photoshoots too. I forget which way around it is, but you can talk to her if I give Louis your number. It’s perfect.”

“Wow, it does sound amazing.”

“It is, but I gotta tell her now before they find someone else. You in?”

“Absolutely.”

Chapter Twelve

I grab my gym bag, shove my phone and keys in my jacket pocket and head out of the apartment. They want me there for six-thirty. I check my watch and see its five forty-five, the car they sent should be here by now. I don’t mind getting up early and I’m actually looking forward to seeing what they’ve done with the set they want me in. I chatted with Louis a little bit yesterday just to clarify some things. We ended up talking about different book series and authors we’ve both read. Besides Jenna, I’ve never met anyone who enjoys these kinds of books.

She warned me the shoot is taking place in Jersey City, a little further out than they hoped for, but the studio space is amazing, and they got a good deal for the rest of the week so they could get everything done there, including the commercials. I told her it was fine, I’m easy, I’ll go where people want me to be.

I walk straight out into the freezing cold grey morning and the driver greets me with a handshake, introducing himself as Max, then goes to open the car door for me. I tell him I’ve got it and he heads round to the driver’s side. Just then, the first flakes of snow I’ve seen in I don’t know how long, begin to fall on my hand. I stop and look up at the sky. It’s pretty light snow and I doubt it will stick, but I keep my head back, eyes closed as the flakes land on my skin.

Then I realise what a dick I must look like and get in the car. It’s going to be at least a half hours drive out to Jersey City where the studios are based. The snow starts to come down a little bit faster as we emerge through the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel. I can’t remember the last time I had a white Christmas.

I catch up on a few emails, then read the daily news on my phone as we make our way to the studio. Arch has sent me some photos through a Dropbox, and I download and shuffle through them with a smile. There are a lot of pictures of him with people dressed as Disney characters. I don’t see his nieces or nephews in any of the ones with the Princesses. I shake my head. He’s smiling broadly in every photograph, especially the ones of him with his dad and two brothers in a bar, holding up huge beers while wearing Mickey Mouse ears. They’re indoors in a lot of the pictures and in some, they are all laughing hysterically while soaked to the bone. There have been some storms there, but the kids are having too much fun to worry about a little bit of wind and rain. Either way, it’s good to see that smile on his face.

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