***
"I got you a whiskey and Sprite." Deza nodded toward the glass sitting beside her on the bar.
"Trying to liquor me up so I'll stop denying you?" I sat down and pressed my shoulder against hers. Where most people might have stayed mad at me for the shenanigans I pulled over the weekend, Deza acted like it was water under the bridge. She had to... we needed room for the next stunt in my pocket, or at least she did.
"You've been denying me?" She snorted and took a drink of her dark liquid.
"Yeah, but you've been so persistent that I think it's about time I give in, but only a little."
"What's you giving in a little? Do I wanna know?"
"It means you can play with the tip. Only a little, but the monster has an ego that could fill this room. His head is seriously swollen." I winked and lifted my glass to my lips as she groaned.
"I walked right into that, didn't I?"
"Yep." I set the drink down and glanced to my right as Paul walked up. The guy had been off and on with Eon for years. His personality was my favorite part about him. Laid back, funny and didn't seem to be bothered by much. He had a few years on me, which left me with hope that I could eventually be more relaxed myself.
"What did you walk into? Do I want to know?" Paul smiled and turned as the bartender walked up. "Crown and Coke."
"No. You don't." Deza leaned forward and shook her head. "He's been his normal cocky self, so at least there's that."
"And this is a good thing?" Paul reached back and patted me on the back of my shoulder.
"Don't be jealous. There's plenty to go around, big boy." I winked at him and enjoyed his laugh as well as Deza's. "Where's Riley? Did you see her get up to her room and shit?"
Paul nodded. "Yeah. I think Clayton helped her."
"Hell’s bells. I knew I should have stuck around. I turn my head for one minute, and the vampire crawls out of his crypt and tries to steal my girl." I picked up my glass and took a big gulp of the cool liquid inside. I let my tone say I was kidding, and yet, I wasn't at all.
"Your girl?" Paul glanced my way. "Does Riley know that's her new title?"
"No, but she's going to love it." I dragged my fingers across my chest. "I'm getting her a white banner thingy made up. You know, like the Miss America girls. Ethan Lewis' girl."
"Oh brother. Where do you come up with this crap?" Deza shook her head, but the smile playing at the side of her mouth spoke volumes.
"What? You love this stuff." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "How about you stop fooling around with that guy from your past and come spend the afternoon in my bed? I got a white stallion you can ride."
Paul spit out his mouthful of drink. "Oh my God. Did you seriously just say that?"
Deza leaned forward. "You see what I deal with? This shit is all the time."
"Not all the time." I released her. "You're being a little dramatic. You women do this shit all the time."
Clayton's voice caused my mood to shrivel like my nuts when I decided that skinny dipping in the winter as a teenager would be fun. It would have been a great episode of Honey I Shrunk the Cock and Balls. I snorted. Sounded like a good name for a porn, or maybe not.
"Let's go, guys. Or at least Ethan." The ugly bastard clamped his hands down on my shoulders.
Deza glanced back at him. "Does that mean that me and Paul can just hang out and drink ourselves silly?"
"Yep. Have a blast. Make magic." He squeezed my shoulders once more before releasing me. "Fifteen minutes, Ethan. Out back by the beach. Riley is already there."
"Make magic?" I mumbled and turned to Deza as Clayton walked off. "What the fuck kind of phrase is that?"
"A clean one. You wouldn't get it." She wagged her eyebrows.
"Oh, of course you want to flirt now." I got up, finished my drink and glanced over at Paul. "She's warmed up for you, buddy. Just make sure to pull her hair and call her momma when the action starts, all right? Gets her real nice and-"
"Get out!" She popped me in the chest. "Jeez."
The shocked stare on Paul's face had me laughing as I walked through the hotel in search of my nemesis and the girl that would eventually steal my name the way she'd stolen my heart. It was nice to have D acting a little more like herself. Maybe if I could find a way to tame my desire to live a little more, she'd have an easier time keeping up with me.
"No, it was good..." Clayton had his hands on Riley's shoulders as I walked out. "You just need to make sure you block everything else. Remember how we talked about visualizing the moment first being on a stage and the curtains being pulled almost closed, but not all the way?"
"Yeah." Her voice was soft... too soft.
I moved up beside the two of them and put my hands on my hips. "Is he hypnotizing you? It's what he does to everyone before he feeds them to a pool of angry sharks."
"What?" Riley chuckled and turned her attention on me. And the world faded. The woman had far too much power.
Clayton brought real life back into focus for us. I'd have to kick him in the dick later as a thank you for jacking up the moment.
"Sharks? Jeez." He smiled and ran his hands up my girl's shoulders, causing my stomach to tighten. Don't overreact. Don't overreact.
Frank walked up and clapped a few times. "Best stage ever, right?"
"The hotel?" I glanced around, taking in the majestic beauty of the old hotel. "Yeah. It's one of my favorites."
"No, knucklehead. Life." Frank rolled his eyes and pointed toward the beach. "We're over here. Let's get rolling."
"I thought we were doing a little bit of improv to warm up." I followed him and figured Clayton and Riley would join us. Me acting like a jealous prick would end badly. I'd seen the script a million times and lived it a couple.
"No. You're a pro. You don't need no stinking improv." He smiled and pointed to the film crew. "Let's just take this scene a few times and we'll grab a late lunch or dinner and chill for the rest of the night."
"You say that shit every time, and we end up out there for eight hours for a five-minute scene." I pulled my shirt over my head.
"Hot," Riley whispered as she walked by me.
"Tease," I called after her and let my eyes move from Frank to the pretty girl who I hoped would be dancing in my lap later that night. Her dress barely hit her thighs, and thankfully the wind blew at the right moment and fluttered the thin white material, showing me the high-cut white bathing suit bottoms she had on underneath.
The sound of her cute little yelp had me smiling, my cock pulsing. She didn't have to do much and I'd be salivating and hitting my knees for her. It was so wrong. All of it.
"All right. We're doing the beach scene-" I cut Frank off.
"Really? Here? On the beach?"
"Fuck you, Ethan. Get in your places. It's one of the intro scenes to the film. Remember... you guys don't know each other yet. Or you don't believe you do." He glanced between us.
I was playing an international spy. I knew everyone and everything. As if that was believable. I kept asking them for a voice modulator so I'd sound more like God, but Frank seemed to be over my antics for the day. Shame. I wasn't willing to stop having fun just yet.
"Cut!" He lifted his hands in the air and dropped his head down. "Just follow the script, Ethan. No ad-lib needed. All right?"
"This is the most boring, dry conversation ever. It's the first time I'm meeting Riley's character. There's no fucking way I'd have a conversation like this... no one with a dick would." I snatched the packet of papers from his hand and smacked him in the chest with it. "Would you?"
"I'm not the writer. I'm just the director."
"And I'm not the puppet." I handed it back to him and glanced up at the sky. "I'm not sounding like a drone. Fuck you very much, Frank."
"Someone get a beer and grab a hooker to help Ethan release some of the tension he's obviously holding on to." He turned and walked back toward the film crew.
Damn if Clayton didn't offer to help. "Improv time? It's a great way to warm up your chops and get yourself ready for anything."
"Yes." Frank glanced back at me with victory in his eyes. "Improv time."
"Aw... fuck." I turned as Riley walked back toward me, the woman pretty enough to be the next Marilyn Monroe.
"What's up?" She stopped a few feet from me and put her hands on her hips. Her breasts jutted out a little and the beast in my pants lifted its head and growled.
"You're waking me up, but it's nothing new." I winked and cupped myself as Clayton moved past me.
"Let's go. We're going to tear down the walls you're building around yourself, Ethan. Acting is giving... not taking."
"How about I take you into the ocean and stand on your shoulders for a few hours? Sounds like fun. You can pick out seashells until you run out of air." I wagged my eyebrows as Riley rolled her eyes.
"What is it about him that turns you into a child?" She looped her arm into mine as we walked away from the crew.
"He's good looking. He's an acting god, and you seem to have a thing for him."
"Are you describing yourself or Clayton?" She smiled and released me to jog toward him.
Cheeky bitch that I love.