“Yes, it’s been a badly kept secret.”
“As most things are in this industry.”
After another beat, I had the strange feeling he was waiting for me to say something like it was my line, but we were reading off two different scripts.
Addison slowly exhaled. “Jackson, why do you think I’ve called you?”
I decided to drop the charade. “Well, considering you’ve cast the role I wanted, I’m not really sure.”
Another sighed, and I could almost picture him pinching his nose in frustration. He likely thought me a complete idiot, and to be honest, right now, I would probably agree with him.
“I have cast the role of Parker. With you. That is if you’re still interested.”
“Absolutely.” I sounded as eager as I felt, and I did not give a damn.
“Good. It’ll be a three-month shoot, mostly on location, but with some studio work in New York. Now that we’ve spoken, I’ll start to work out the details with your agent.”
“Not a problem.” At some point, I should probably check that the scheduling wouldn’t conflict with the show, but for now, I was way too excited to think about silly little details. Terry could work them out anyway.
Shit, I had better call Terry. And Sarah. And Audrey.
“I’ll be honest, Jackson, I’m not one hundred percent convinced yet that you are Parker, but your insight into the character shows me you’re trying to understand him. It’s important to me to work with people who are invested in the material.”
“Thank you.”
He continued, voice firm. “I want you to know I’m not interested in stunt casting. This hasn’t anything to do with putting a hyper-masculine actor into a non-typical role. The truth of it is, you’re one of the only people to recognize that his journey has nothing to do with power or confidence or breaking away from his submissive needs. This is a story about trust and betrayal and how we can be pushed to act against our interests in the act of self-preservation.”
“I appreciate that.”
After telling Terry the good news, I texted Sarah, who congratulated me and agreed we’d celebrate at brunch on the weekend—although she very unsubtly added that I was welcome to postpone if I was going to be too busy “celebrating” with Audrey.
And I did plan on celebrating with Audrey, although I wasn’t about to get into that with Sarah.
The plan, as far as there was any sort of plan considering I didn’t know where the hell to start and was just making this up as I went along, was to do something special. Something outside of our normal dates, if you could call them that. Dinner would be a good start.
Unfortunately, I was ill-prepared to know where we could go that would offer us some semblance of privacy, but I was hoping Wes or Liv might have some options. Liv would likely be the better choice.
I came to set early to get in some time to practice with the bow, so It was fortuitous that Naomi said she’d seen Liv entering the gym.
Borrowing the gear from Felix, I made my way there, but as I entered, it was obvious no one else was expecting me here this early because I found Olivia and Bryson kissing against a stack of foam blocks lining the wall.
Stunned, a choked sound escaped me, and they tore apart.
Forced to awkwardly back out of the room, I grasped the bow and arrows in a death grip until I remembered I was meant to be gentle with them and loosened my hold.
As I was debating my next move, Bryson exited the room, brushing past me with a curt nod and nothing else, although I suspected that a conversation would come later.
Tentatively, I stepped back into the gym and found Liv waiting, hesitant.
“So …” I had no idea how to end this sentence. I wanted to lighten the mood with a joke, but I genuinely couldn’t think of one. It would be easy enough to pretend I hadn’t seen them. My surprise aside, it wasn’t uncommon to come across in our line of work. And I could hardly judge two consenting adults from doing whatever they wanted to do.
Liv, I should have known, was not one for holding back. “Yes, we’re together, and no, we’re not telling anyone. Please don’t say anything.” She pleaded.
“How long have you two …”
“About six months.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
