Melina

I was ready to drop by the time I finished the rewrites and walking everyone through the scenes involving Lindsey. In that time, my anger at Lindsey had shifted to concern. There was no denying she was a crazy bitch who’d probably wished I’d die on the spot when she’d seen me with Trevor, and I could definitely see her entertaining some nasty revenge schemes. Still, I was having a hard time imagining her blowing off the show and jeopardizing her career over Trevor, no matter how obsessed she was with him. That would take a special kind of crazy. I’d been there the day Lindsey had auditioned for the show, and I’d heard her speech to our casting director, so I knew how much she wanted to be a successful actress. Working on Night High wasn’t her dream job—a fact she’d been very upfront about. Lindsey wanted to be in movies, and she figured this was a good place to start. Then, I got to wondering if maybe I’d been wrong about her devotion to the show. It was possible she figured she’d gotten what she needed out of Night High and could easily blow us off now.

“Tasha!” I called out to one of the witch actresses who’d seemed to be good friends with Lindsey.

“Hey, Mel!” she greeted me with a warm smile. Tasha was the only witch actress who didn’t talk about me behind my back, to the best of my knowledge. She had told me I was being mean a couple of times, and she’d been right both times. I couldn’t complain since she’d brought chocolate for her confrontation. Natasha Spelling, known to me as Tasha, was friendly and sweet with everyone. Best of all, she thought my portrayal of witches on the show was funny as hell. She reminded me a lot of my sisters, and I kind of hated her for being pretty, talented, intelligent, and incredibly nice. The witch seriously needed a flaw.

“Can I talk to you about Lindsey?” I asked her.

“Sure,” she replied. “I’m still having trouble believing she disappeared like this when she knew how big her role was tonight.”

“Did she say anything to lead you to believe she was quitting the show?” I asked. “I mean, after she had her melt down over me being with Trevor?”

Tasha considered her answer before shaking her head. “She was seriously pissed about Trevor turning her down, and she went on some long rant about finding another job. Still, I seriously doubt she’d walk off the show. I know for a fact she couldn’t have gotten a new job this soon. Then again, she’s been totally obsessed with Trevor lately. The way she was talking last week, I thought they were getting back together. She even told us that if she didn’t show up again, it would mean Trevor had whisked her away for a romantic getaway. Those were her words, not mine.”

That was creepy, and it had me wondering if I’d been wrong in thinking Lindsey valued her career as an actress. Maybe she’d gone off the deep end where Trevor was concerned, which still had me concerned. That kind of obsession could easily become dangerous.

“Have you talked to her since last night?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Lindsey only talks to us here. I don’t even have her number.”

“You never spent any time together outside of work?” I asked, surprised to hear that Lindsey didn’t hang out with the other witch actresses. It seemed like a good way to network and make more connections. Some of them had actually been in movies, and Tasha had an uncle who was a famous producer.

Tasha shook her head. “I hope you don’t think less of me for admitting this, but I try to avoid her,” she admitted, a blush staining her cheeks. “She can be really mean sometimes.”

I almost laughed at the way Tasha was apologizing for not wanting to hang out with Lindsey, as if she had to be friends with everyone. Even my sisters weren’t that nice.

“Do you know if she has any friends from the show? Is there anyone she spends time with outside of work?” I asked, because I wanted to find out what was up with Lindsey. I was beginning to wonder if it had been a mistake to keep her lines for next week’s filming.

“No one,” Tasha replied. “You have to understand that Lindsey is from a much higher-ranking family than any of us. Also, most of us live in this area, while Lindsey lives up north, closer to you.” After letting out a sigh, Tasha continued. “She’s also very unpleasant with most of us, so no one wants to hang out with her.”

I nodded. “Would you do me a favor and let me know if you hear from her? I know it’s unlikely with what you’ve said, but I’m kind of worried something might have happened to her. After talking to you, I’m willing to admit that she might have decided to flake on tonight, but I’m still worried.”

“You’re so sweet, Mel,” she cooed. “That’s why we all love you so much.”

I snorted. “I know I’m a bitch, so you don’t need to pretend you all love me.”

Tasha giggled. “We all know you act tough, but in the end you look out for all of us, even when you’re having an extra mean day. That’s why everyone is always going to you with their problems. Even though you might grumble and complain about us bugging you, you still help us.”

On those words, Tasha walked away, and I headed out to the parking lot with some of the actors. The vampires had already left, so it was me, four witches, and three werewolves. When we got to the parking lot, the werewolves started scenting the air. I’d spent enough time around werewolves to know not to ask what they were doing. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to know what a werewolf smells most of the time.

One of the werewolves growled and looked around. “There’s someone watching us.”

The other werewolves nodded their agreement. Looking around, I saw that there were plenty of humans in the parking lot already, along with two demon security guards, so there were definitely people watching us.

“There are several people around,” I reminded them, trying not to sound condescending. It was best to avoid challenging any werewolf’s dominance. The werewolves on the show knew I outranked them when we were on the set, but they had trouble accepting my dominance outside. When it came to magic, I was stronger, but I had nothing on them physically.

None of the werewolves seemed satisfied with my answer, so I decided to remind them of the importance of getting home. “Don’t you have a pack meeting tonight? If so, we should leave, so you can get some rest before then.”

They all nodded and hurried to their cars. The wolves shouldn’t have had to work this late before a pack meeting. With any luck, they’d go home and get some sleep. Otherwise, we’d hear from their pack leader. It was a pain in the ass employing werewolves because you also had to negotiate with their pack, but we refused to turn away good actors and crew members simply because they came with an added complication. We could legally get away with it. Unlike humans, the preternatural community didn’t have any laws in place to prevent discrimination, but the network still avoided it.

Sliding behind the wheel, I wished for a spell to make my car drive itself home. I hurried out of the lot before Claude figured out I’d left. He’d stayed behind to talk about some edits he wanted made to the filming tonight, and I’d gotten the impression he wanted me to stay as well. At this point, nothing could keep me from sliding into bed for a few hours of sleep before my morning meeting with the other writers. I’d already messaged them to let them know we were meeting in the San Francisco office. I’d been the one up late cleaning up this mess, so they could come to me. It was a good thing I loved my job, or I might be tempted to hunt Lindsey down and kick her ass. She’d better have a damn good reason for making me come in tonight.