Page 43 of Agony

“Sorry,” I replied with a shrug.

“I didn’t want to, but you didn’t show up and there was nothing I could do. Production couldn’t be halted. But, I do have another offer for you,” he said.

I sighed. I didn’t know if I wanted anymore offers from anyone here. I wanted to go home and at the end of the month, I planned on breaking my lease and leaving.

It would be nice to have some money when I get back though.

“What is it?” I asked quietly, finally turning my attention to him.

“Max and I are working on a couple of side projects and were wondering if you wanted to help out. We’ll pay you double,” he said with a kind smile.

“What is it?” I asked again.

“Arsen will be there too. He’s agreed to help out.”

“What is it?” I all but screamed at him.

“It’s kind of a secret project, but it’ll rake in a shit ton of money,” he replied, crossing his hands behind his head. “We’ve done a couple of joint projects before and it’s definitely good income.”

“What kind of project would you and Max do together? You work on totally different spectrums of the film world,” I said, raising a curious eyebrow.

“A secret one. Anyway, do you want in? We’d start tonight, only because I need to take a break from the motion picture I’m shooting. Left in the hands of my assistant director and praying he doesn’t fuck it up,” he said with grin.

“Is it going to take long? I plan on going back to New York at the end of the month.”

“Nope. Couple of nights at the most,” he replied.

“How much money are we talking about, Jareth?” I could feel myself breaking down slowly and if he said the right amount, I knew I would be there in a heartbeat.

His kind smile returned as he reached into his right pants pocket and pulled out a folded check. He put it down and slid it toward me, which I promptly made a grab for. Jareth used his forefinger to hold onto it for a moment, and a small game of tug of war ensued, before I slapped his hand away and he laughed, relenting.

A chuckle escaped me as I opened the check and let my eyes wander over to the amount it was made out for.Fifty thousand dollars?

“This can’t be right,” I said, looking up at him in shock.

“Oh, it’s right,” he replied, draping one arm on the kitchen table. “I told you these special projects bring in a ton of money.”

“What exactly would I be doing?” I asked, looking down at the amount again.Fifty fucking thousand dollars?!

“You’d be in front of the camera this time. With Arsen.”

“Doing what?” I asked incredulously.

“Helping,” he replied with a mysterious smile. “Up for it?”

“I’m not fucking him on camera, am I?” I asked, feeling a little sick.

“No. I promise it won’t get that far. So I’ll see you tonight. This is the address,” he said getting to his feet, and dropping another small piece of paper on his desk.

After Jareth left, I got up from the table and went to my room to retrieve my cell phone. I double tapped it to bring the screen to life, and went into my messages. I scrolled through to find the last message I sent to Arsen and hit compose.

Me: You there?

Not even five seconds passed before he responded.

Arsen: Hey stranger!

Me: What’s this special project about?

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