All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2)(9)
The amount of time she’d spent with her relative this week was enough to last her …
Well, forever. Longer than that, if possible.
But that wasn’t what she’d meant.
“I don’t want you to get in trouble,” she corrected. “And if you do, please don’t make me the means by which it happens.”
“Also, you don’t want to talk to him.” He grinned at her, tired eyes alight. “Admit it, Nanny Clegg. Admit it, and I’ll agree to your peace terms.”
She shouldn’t. Simple family loyalty should prevent her from saying it, and Alex could use the admission against her at some point.
Still, her cousin was such a dick.
“Fine.” She sighed. “I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Victory!” Alex crowed, raising both fists in the air.
The couple at the bar turned to glare at them, and the kitchen staff peeked out of their doorway to see what was happening.
Her cheeks went hot, and she cast him a withering glare. “Are we done here?”
“Oh, Lauren, bless your naive little heart,” he said pityingly. “We’re just getting started.”
Star Tracker: Your Favorite Celebrities Revealed
Gods of the Gates Actor Goes Wild!
Star Tracker’s international sources are getting word that Spanish authorities detained Alexander Woodroe, the actor currently portraying an oh-so-adult Cupid on Gods of the Gates, in conjunction with a late-night bar brawl. He was released hours later without charges filed.
No official word yet from the Gates camp, and Woodroe’s agent hasn’t responded to our inquiries, but looking at that mug shot, he certainly doesn’t appear to regret anything he’s done.
This isn’t the first time Woodroe has found himself in hot water. In 2013, he was famously ejected from Bruno Keene’s award-winning ensemble drama All Good Men mid-shoot, under unclear circumstances. Woodroe claimed Keene was abusive toward his cast, but Keene dismissed the accusation as the fabrication of an actor out of his depth.
“He couldn’t keep up with everyone else,” Keene said at the time. “So he lashed out. I feel sorry for him, really. I hope he finds resources to help him control his temper, or I’m afraid he’ll have trouble finding future roles in Hollywood.”
When asked to comment on the scandal, the remaining All Good Men cast members refused. The Gates cast hasn’t responded to requests for interviews this time either. Coincidence? Perhaps. But actors are famously reluctant to turn on one of their own, despite any bad behavior on or off set.
Star Tracker suggests you make this your last time lashing out, Alex, because you know the old saying: Three strikes, and you’re out–of work!
3
ALEX WAS NAPPING IN HIS TRAILER AGAIN, WHICH DIDN’T surprise her.
Since they’d met on Monday, Lauren had seen him work one fourteen-hour-plus day after another, arriving on set at dawn and leaving after sunset. Back at the hotel, he exercised and ate and talked with Marcus and—collapsed, as far as she could tell.
It was only their fifth day together, and she was exhausted just watching him. But he’d evidently been keeping much the same schedule for weeks and weeks now.
“This is it,” Alex had explained last night over dinner, his voice gravelly with fatigue. “The climactic battle of the gods. It’s meant to rage day and night for weeks, and it’s the last piece of filming for the entire series. Ron and R.J. want to make it big and immersive, and they want to make sure they get all the footage they need before we scatter to the ends of the earth, so that means long hours for everyone.”
Today was the last day of filming, and thank goodness for that. He seemed on the verge of collapse, despite all the naps he’d taken in his sleeping berth while she sat on his couch and read.
There’d been no drinking. No women. No clubs or bars. No fights.
He also got along well with his colleagues, which she considered a good gauge of character. When she and Alex ate lunch among the crew and various extras, he chatted with them easily. They clapped him on the back and teased him about his shiner, and he rolled his eyes and mocked them in return, and the group hilarity occasionally drew indignant shushing from other parts of the set.
As far as she could tell, he wasn’t the man Ron had described to her or the man she’d met on a battlefield at dawn. Disagreeable. Defiant. Careless. Out of control, or nearly so.
She stole a glance at Alex’s sleeping form. He was turned on his side and facing her, arms hugging his pillow, making little snuffling sounds and occasionally smacking his lips, and yes. Yes, he was definitely drooling, and that shouldn’t be cute. Especially since the authorities might officially deem his trailer a disaster area at any moment, despite its relatively luxurious design.
He’d been unable to locate the television remote all week. Candy wrappers and disposable coffee cups littered the table, the tiny patch of counter in the kitchen, and an unfortunate spot just short of the trash can. Books and piles of discarded clothing lay scattered across the floor. Yesterday, she’d found an abandoned, half-eaten apple on the floor of the tiny shower.
She had no good explanation for that apple.
Well, actually, she did. He openly took medication for ADHD every morning—their first breakfast together, he’d shaken the pill bottle an inch from her nose and bellowed, “I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Nanny Clegg! Imagine that!”—but it didn’t always take full effect before he got to the set, and it wasn’t a miracle drug.