Angela groaned as her phone chirped her awake. She flipped the phone over to stop the damnable noise, and groaned again. It was six, a few minutes before first light, and they had to hit the road in the next hour to make the ten am call. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to lie there, snug, warm and relaxed in Saul’s arms.

 

She’d checked the time when she finished dressing and was shocked to discover they had been on the beach over three hours. Assuming they had walked for around an hour, that meant they’d spent between two and a half and three hours fucking their brains out. She smiled at the pleasant soreness between her legs. She fucking loved Texas, and was becoming very fond of one particular motorcycle-riding cowboy in it. Not because of the way he could fuck, though that was part of it, she admitted to herself with a smile, but more because of who he was. He’d shown he cared for others, which had surprised her. He’d proven it in the way he’d shielded her and Arnold during the shooting and had given his all to get Tony out of the car, not to mention the surprising romantic streak he’s shown last night. She smiled. She hadn’t expected that from him either. Then there was the fucking. Last night he’d—”

 

“Good morning,” he whispered. He kissed her slowly then lay back with a deep breath. Last night had been one to remember. Making love to Angela on the beach was an experience he would likely never equal. She’d worn him out unlike any other woman. He’d been so used up that when they had arrived back at the motel and showered together, he didn’t even get an erection, something that had never happened before. They had tumbled into the bed and he wasn’t sure who went to sleep first.

 

“It would be if I didn’t have to go back to work,” she mumbled.

 

“You could play hooky,” he suggested.

 

“I can’t. To many people depend on me.” She sighed, then grinned, her eyes still closed. “It’s tempting, though.”

 

They lay still and quiet for several long moments. “Get up. We have to get going,” he finally said, though he made no move to encourage her.

 

She groaned and stretched so hard she expected to hear her bones creak. “Shit.”

 

***

 

“Where did you take her?” Bradley demanded.

 

Saul casually looked up from his phone. He’d delivered her to the location thirty minutes early, and he was waiting around while she was in makeup and wardrobe. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Angela! She disappeared for an entire day and night, and nobody knew where she went! She wasn’t answering her phone. You can’t do shit like that, Saul.”

 

“I had nothing to do with her not answering her phone. If she doesn’t want to answer her phone, I don’t see what concern it is of yours.”

 

“That’s not the point! You can’t drag her off like that and not tell anyone where she’s gone!”

 

“I didn’t have anything to do with that, either. Maybe she just wanted some time away.”

 

“You’re a bad influence on her. She wasn’t like this before you showed up. She has responsibilities.”

 

“She’s here now. Did someone need her for some reason while she was gone?”

 

“No, but that’s not the point.”

 

“Then what is the point, Bradley? You’re not her father. She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.”

 

“This isn’t some high school play in Hicksville, Saul! This is a major Hollywood production. The stars can’t just disappear like that!”

 

“So long as she’s where she’s supposed to be, when she’s supposed to be there, ready to work, what she does in her off time is nobody’s business but hers.”

 

“That’s not how it works!”

 

“Then there’s something wrong with the system.”

 

Bradley glared at him. “You’re going to fuck this entire production up.”

 

“How?”

 

“You’re a distraction. She needs to focus on her job.”

 

Saul smiled. “When she tells me I’m a distraction, then I’ll worry about it. Until then, you should be more worried about yourself and less about Angela.”

 

“Is that a threat?” Bradley growled, his hands clenching into fists. “I’m wise to you. I know what you’re doing.”

 

“What am I doing, Bradley? Explain it to me.”

 

“You’re toying with her, using her for your own ends. She doesn’t—”

 

“I think you have me confused with you. Weren’t you the one who was telling me how you were trying to create some buzz about a shomance?”

 

Bradley’s face hardened. “That’s business. That’s how the game’s played.”

 

Saul grunted and nodded. “That’s why you’re confused. I’m not playing any stupid games. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said as his phone began to ring. He rose from his chair and walked away as he stared at the number, wondering why Saw was calling him.

 

“Houston.”

 

“Houston, you fuck! I’ll kill you and your entire club for this!”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Don’t play innocent with me! My fucking club! You hit us last night!”

 

“Saw, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Saul said, feeling a weight settle into his stomach. “We didn’t hit anyone. Why would we hit you?”

 

“This is war, Houston. You got a lot of us, but you didn’t get us all. We’re coming for you and we’re going to fuck you in the ass!”

 

Before Saul could respond, Saw was gone. He looked at his phone a moment then tucked it into his pocket. The situation was about to spin out of control. He walked toward the crowd, then pulled Dallas aside.

 

“Abana hit the Killers last night. I just got a call from Mendel. He thinks we did it.”

 

“Shit,” Dallas muttered. “That’s all we need, a fucking war. Do you know how many Abana got?”

 

“No.”

 

“What are we going to do?”

 

“I don’t know that either. I’m going to call Abana and see if I can get an idea of where we stand. I should have known this was going to go to shit. If the Killers start hitting us, there’s going to be a lot of questions from the brothers we can’t answer.”

 

“All we can do is try to hold it together for as long as possible.”

 

“Fuck,” Saul muttered as he pulled his phone and dialed. “Saul Houston for Señor Abana.”

 

“Saul, what can I do for you my friend?” Abana asked.

 

“I received a call from Saul Mendel a few minutes ago. He thinks we paid a visit to his club and he’s planning on returning the favor. How many?”

 

“Twelve.”

 

“Just twelve?” Saul didn’t know how many members the Corpse Killers had, but the club was a hell of a lot bigger than that.

 

“Yes. We…visited…their clubhouse. There weren’t as many men there as we expected. If you could arrange a meeting, and tell us when and where, we could finish our business with them.”

 

“That might have worked before, but they’ll never trust us now.”

 

“Unfortunately, I agree with you,” Abana said. “I apologize for the problems this may cause you, but rest assured, we have not concluded our business with the Corpse Killers. We are entertaining one now. I should have some information for you later today.”

 

“Thank you, Señor Abana,” he said, then hung up. “We’re so fucked.”

 

Dallas nodded. “We need to meet, tonight, and figure out our game plan.”

 

Saul nodded. “Agreed. I’ll call the core team together and we can decide where we go from here.”

 

“Saul. That guy is back,” Andy said as he walked up.

 

“What guy?”

 

“The guy you tackled.”

 

Saul sighed. When it rained, it poured. “Let’s go.”

 

“What are you doing here?” Saul asked as he approached Charlie.

 

“I don’t want any trouble, okay? I just want to watch the movie being made with everyone else.”

 

“I should kick your ass out of here right now.”

 

“I’m not doing anything! I’ve never done anything! It’s all been you acting—”

 

“You call sneaking on set nothing?”

 

“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but I wasn’t hurting anything or anybody! I just wanted to give Angela a gift! Is that so bad? I won’t cause any more trouble, I promise. I just want to watch and take a few photos for my blog.”

 

Saul glared at Charlie. “Don’t cross the barricade.”

 

Charlie smiled. “Thank you. I won’t.”

 

***

 

“Goddamn it, Bradley! What’s wrong with you? This is what, the tenth take?” Angela yelled as Bradley blew his lines yet again.

 

“Get off my ass, Angela! Nobody bitches at you when you blow your lines!” Bradley yelled in return.

 

“Because I don’t do it ten times in a row!”

 

“What about the other day when—”

 

“You have someone take a shot at you and I’ll have a little more sympathy!”

 

“Knock it off!” Johnny yelled. “Try to act like professionals, both of you!”

 

“I need a break!” Angela cried, then turned and walked away.

 

“Hey, come here,” Saul said, catching Angela as she stormed by. “What’s wrong?”

 

“What’s wrong? Bradley’s what’s wrong!”

 

“Forget him.”

 

“How can I forget him when he’s the one standing there fucking everything up?” she snarled as she jerked her arm out of his grasp and began to walk away.

 

He followed her until they were halfway between the crowd and the crew, where he pulled her to a stop again. “You need to let it go. Why are you letting him get to you like this?”

 

“I don’t know. It’s like he’s doing it just to piss me off.”

 

“If he is, you’re giving him just what he wants. Don’t do it.”

 

“I can’t help it!”

 

“Of course you can. Do you get paid the same amount no matter how many times you have to do it, right? Do you have another role lined up that you have to hurry up and finish so you can start?”

 

“No, but that’s not the point.”

 

“Of course it is. Your pay’s the same no matter what, so why get all pissy? Just let it go. Do your job and let Johnny and Ryan worry about doing theirs. Right now, you’re the one who looks small because you walked off. If Johnny wants to do it a hundred times, why do you care?”

 

She looked down. “I know. Everyone screws up now and then, but this is getting ridiculous. This isn’t that hard of a scene.”

 

“Not your problem. It’s Johnny, or Ryan’s, problem. Let them worry about it.” He tipped her head up so she had to look into his eyes. “I hope he keeps fucking up. It means you’ll be around longer.”

 

She stared at him a moment, then snorted as she smiled. “When you put it that way.”

 

He kissed her. He felt her hesitation, so he held her in the kiss until she returned it, but he kept it short and G rated since they were in full view of the crowd. “Better?” he asked as he continued to look into her eyes.

 

“Yeah. I think so.”

 

He gave her a crooked grin. “If he starts getting to you again, just think of something else to take your mind off of it, like last night on the beach.”

 

She giggled. “I can’t think about that very much because then I won’t be able to concentrate.”

 

“You ready to go back?”

 

“Yeah. Thanks.”

 

“For what?”

 

“For putting it into prospective.”

 

“All part of the service.”

 

She grinned, snorted, then gave him a quick kiss. “Come on. I’d like to get through this scene before the day is over.”

 

***

 

“Cut! Do it again,” Johnny said then looked at Saul. Bradley was still struggling but Angela now seemed to be taking it in stride. “What did you say to her?”

 

“Nothing much.”

 

“Whatever it was, it worked.”

 

Saul shrugged. “I pointed out she had no control over Bradley and all she could do was take control of herself. The fact Bradley kept messing up was your problem. Or Ryan’s. I’m still not clear who does what.”

 

Johnny nodded, grinned, and turned back to his monitor. They may have to add Life Coach under Good Luck Charm on his pass. “Ready? And…action!”

 

***

 

“That’s a wrap!” Johnny said. It had been a hard day, but they had finally gotten most of their shots. Bradley was all over the place with his performance today and Johnny suspected he knew why. Bradley was a character actor, a performer who became indistinguishable from the characters they played, and they played the same basic character in every movie. Bradley was used to being the loveable, easy going, hero who always saved the day and got the girl, which was why he was having such a hard job today, he was trying to act outside his comfort zone.

 

Johnny shook his head. He much preferred to work with classical performers, people like Angela, who could simply turn the character on and off at will, unlike character actors like Bradley or, even worse, method actors, those who became the character they were playing. Both character and method actors were sometimes difficult to work with because they often thought they knew better than the director how to play their characters.

 

He watched as Saul led Angela away, smiling and talking, as Bradley glared at them. He shook his head again. Not only had Saul stepped into loveable hero role on this shoot, he’d also gotten the girl, and it was biting Bradley, hard.

 

***

 

“Take me to dinner?” Angela asked as she showered.

 

“Can’t tonight. Business.” Saul replied.

 

“What kind of business?”

 

“Club business.”

 

“That’s going to take all night?”

 

“No, probably not.”

 

The water turned off. “Are you coming back here afterwards, then?”

 

He smiled, wishing he could. “Can’t. I have to run to San Antonio to pick up a compressor for a job. It’ll be late by the time I get back.”

 

She stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around her hair but wearing nothing else. She let her eyes flood with tears. “I wanted to spend time with you tonight,” she softly.

 

He smiled. “And I wanted to, as well, but this came up and I have to deal with it.”

 

“You can’t stay?” she asked, a slight quiver in her voice as a tear rolled down her cheek.

 

“No…and I haven’t forgotten what you do for a living.”

 

She was disappointed, but she reminded herself she actually liked the fact he wasn’t impressed by her and didn’t jump at her every whim. She turned off the tears. “Asshole. Pick me up in the morning, then?” she asked, her voice returning to normal.

 

“Count on it. What time?”

 

“Seven.”

 

“I’ll be here.”