Chapter 17
LEVI
Normally, the rocking of the boat wouldn’t distract me. Normally nothing would distract me. Not the cameras that feel too close. Not the lights that are way too fucking bright. Not the pound of make up the artist put on my face. Normally, this would all be second nature, but not tonight. Tonight, it feels like a prison. Tonight, it is a prison.
“Let’s roll it again!” Francesco shouts, clearly seething. “Stone!”
I tear my attention away from the shore I keep praying Kady has returned to, but doubt she has.
She’s probably already headed back home, which is why I told Andre to start checking around for the first available flight for me to get back to South Haven on. I don’t give a shit if it’s private or commercial or a fucking farm plane. I’m going after her. She thought halting production on a T.V. show was a big deal? Wait until I stop it for a fucking movie.
“Stone!” He screams again.
Two of my fingers fly to rub my temple.
He’s been yelling at me for the past two hours, easy. He wants from this scene what I won’t deliver. What I can’t deliver without seeing the heartbroken look of my girlfriend’s face floating around my mind.
“Give me a minute with him,” Lynn pleads to the director.
She hustles from her end of the boat towards me, and I follow my instinct to move away. She follows me around to the other side where there’s nothing but peaceful waters calling my attention.
“Levi-”
“No.” I growl in a low volume. “This shit is your fault.”
“I-”
“You could’ve waited. We could’ve worked this scene out here. In front of the entire crew. In front of the director, but no. You just had to come into my trailer. You just had to kiss me.”
“I made a character judgment call!”
“You cost me my wife!” The word leaps off my tongue like it is the most natural thing I can ever say. I force my attention back out into the water. “Or the woman I was planning to make my wife….” My grip harshens. “Tell me the truth, Lynn. The God’s honest truth. Do that for me now and I’ll walk over there and do the scene the way we rehearsed. Lie to me and I walk off this set possibly costing you your first major role because Francesco doesn’t do casting replacements this far in.”
Her breathing seems to cease.
“Who kissed me in my trailer?” I slowly drag my eyes her direction. “Rainne or you?”
She doesn’t hesitate to reply, “Rainne.”
Do you believe her? Because I want to. I wanna think she has more respect for me than that. Because I wanna believe not every woman I come across in this industry is tarnished and tainted. I wanna believe there are still actresses who are here to just do their job the same way I am.
“It was just a decision made in the heat of the scene, Levi. It wasn’t meant to be misconstrued as anything else and if Kady were here for me to explain that to, I would do it until I was blue in the face.” Lynn takes a step towards me and softly says, “You’re not my type. You’re more like the big brother I never got to have. If anything, Marlz is my level. Easy. Casual. Fun. Not looking for anything but the couple hours he has to kill. My career is everything to me, Levi. I wouldn’t jeopardize that even if you were my type and I had a crush on you.” She makes the gap slightly smaller. “I’m sorry Kadence is hurt by what she witnessed. I really am. But no matter how hurt she was it doesn’t change the fact what we let happen was perfect for the scene.”
I turn away to give my face a hard scrub.
It was. It was the little extra umph we both felt was missing. I didn’t wanna kiss Lynn, but Ike did wanna kiss Rainne. He needed to kiss Rainne goodbye. The same way I would want to kiss Kadence if I thought there was a possibility I would never see her again. Fuck, is that a real possibility now?
“Let’s film it.” My body spins on its heels and I motion my head for her to get moving.
The second we’re in Francesco’s sights he tosses his hands in the air. “Well!?”
“I’m ready.”
He huffs at the announcement from the small boat he’s standing in. There’s a brief mumbling under his breath before he starts yelling at the film crew. We each get a small touch up in makeup proceeded promptly by the word “action”.
Our bodies start heading for the same spot, eyes stealing glances of the ship waiting for me in the distance.
“Ike….” Her voice quietly croaks.
“Nah, baby,” I scold with a cocky grin. “None of that shit.”
She presses her lips together. Looks down at the ground. Shakes her head.
Rainne hesitates to inch her body closer, and I can’t stomach the distance. I know what’s at stake. I’m not a complete fucking moron. Every score comes with the same roll of the fucking dice. Death. It’s what comes with the territory. But she’s gotta know I’m gonna do everything fucking possible to get back to her.
“Look at me.”
“Something’s off, Ike. I know it. I can feel it. I-”
I reach out and yank her body to me by the wrist.
Her chest hits mine with a heavy thud, but her eyes are still pinned on the floor.
“Fucking look at me, Rainne.” My fingers force her chin up so our eyes can connect. “Everything’s gonna be fine, baby. Trust me.” She places a hand on my chest and my forehead drops to rest against hers. “I’m coming back to you. I’ll always fucking come back to you.”
The words threaten to turn the Ike switch back off and the Levi Loving Kadence one back on. A knot expands in my throat, and I tighten my grip on Rainne’s ass, desperate to stay anchored to the moment.
There’s shakiness in her voice. “You fucking better.”
A small smirk crosses my lips before hers are pressed firmly against mine. I drop my hand to her other ass cheek, clinging to the performance, cementing my own simple truth about the situation.
This is nothing more than a fucking job to me.
“Cut!” Francesco yells with joy jumping in his voice.
Lynn and I part automatically.
“Oh that was brilliant!” His glee glows. “The chemistry was remarkable! And the added kiss at the end….” He folds his hands together and shakes them in praise. “Perfection.”
My co-star offers me a supportive smile that I ignore.
“Where was this performance hiding all night?”
I deny him his answer by countering with a question, “Can we move onto the diving scene now?”
Francesco purses his lips in brief contemplation. Thankfully he concedes and the crew begins preparation for the next shoot.
Swimming is second nature to me. Somedays I’m convinced it’s actually first. And this scene is so easy I almost wanna fuck it up on purpose just to spend more time in the water. Just to have a few minutes of serenity that I haven’t been able to feel in weeks.
“Are you ready to start rolling?” Brad, head cameraman asks into his radio. There’s a garbled reply from the other end proceeded with him nodding. “We’re green.”
“Now remember,” Francesco begins sternly, “you are to do this swim as stealthily as fucking possible. Just like you practiced. Just like you trained.”
“Yes sir.”
Lynn takes her position near the railing where she is supposed to be waiting and gives me an encouraging grin.
Which I don’t need. I can do this dive and quick swim in my sleep. It wasn’t what I had to be trained on. Proper breathing, agility, and taking the prepared routes to avoid the camera catching me were what the majority of my lessons were focused on. You can relax. Swimming, day or night, is easy shit for me.
After he yells the magic word, I tilt my head at Rainne, wink, and dive in.
The cold water caresses my skin immediately sending a sense of tranquility flooding through my veins. Surrounded by the only happiness that’s never betrayed me, I gracefully start to cover the short distance I am expected to in the speed I’ve spent weeks building up to. Just as my hands wrap around the ladder on the backside of the boat, a sharp pain knocks me backwards into the water. The burning soars to excruciating levels in seconds and the struggle to reach the surface becomes even harder. Knowing better than to panic, I dedicate all of my effort into getting back to the top of the water. Getting to a much needed gulp of air. I force my arms to move harder and my legs to fight past the agony. Nothing seems to make a difference. All of a sudden there’s a throbbing in my head to match the one in my lower extremity. Misery rapidly continues to spread until the only thing I can do is surrender to the sinking. Millions of thoughts sprint to the front of my mind desperate to be the last one to ever exist. However, the winner is blatantly obvious without a true contender.
Kadence….