Blurred Boundaries Read online

  Tam chuckled. She and Marc made short work of her dinner. She was glad Charmagne’s portions erred on the generous side. Otherwise, she’d have one heck of a time trying to explain how one of the show’s stars ended up dead from a fork stabbing in a dispute over some garlic mashed potatoes.

  The festive atmosphere continued while they watched the dailies and long after the bloopers were over. And dare she say, they got a little rowdy laughing and just having a good time with one another in general. Tam took a moment to be grateful that this show is where she’d landed. If only for a brief time.

  In the few days she’d been around, she’d noticed a few rivalries, but for the most part, everyone got along great and enjoyed each other. That was not always the case with a production.

  Tam glanced Audra’s way. She was laughing with Angelisa and Evan. Realization dawned. That’s what that wardrobe test had been about earlier. The woman was good friends with Audra and saw Tam as an outside threat. Angelisa caught Tam’s look and gave her a tentative smile. So. Audra was the final nut for Tam to crack. She longed to stick around tomorrow afternoon to watch Evan film his scene, but there was no way she was going to miss the bar outing with Audra.

  Someone plugged an iPhone in the hotel-provided speaker and really got the party started. Marc introduced Tam to Paul, who was the hair department head. Kyle joined them. Thus far, she’d only seen the man in passing since they’d both been running around. It was cool to finally get to chat with some of the folks who were making the impossible happen so she could see her work on the screen.

  Just when Tam felt like she was getting a second wind, the music abruptly cut off. All chatter ceased and everyone’s eyes swung to Gavin who had managed to make his way in without too many people noticing. Once they had, they couldn’t wait to leave. The festive atmosphere turned strained and oppressive in seconds.

  Gavin cast a disapproving look around the room over the wire rims of his glasses. Even in the warm and humid city of Atlanta, he stuck to his usual outfit of a tweed jacket complete with leather elbow patches over a sweater vest and button down shirt. His slacks were baggy on his slight frame and his loafers had seen better days. The only thing missing was the bow tie that he even wore while in the writer’s room.

  Tam glanced around the room. The people who hadn’t been lucky enough to escape before he’d made his presence known all had extremely guilty or sheepish looks on their faces. Audra, Evan and Rock were the exceptions.

  Despite an immediate urge to throttle the man, Tam smiled her welcome. “Gavin. You’re back. We’ve been wondering where you’ve been?”

  “Where I’ve been?” He shoved his glasses back into position with an angry finger and glared at her. “What are you doing here? Alan did not inform me that you were coming.”

  Tam felt the weight of everyone’s gaze on her. On the one hand, Gavin was still her boss. On the other, he’d actively tried to screw her and a whole lot of other people over. Many of those people were here in the room witnessing this little showdown. She’d gone to great lengths to gain their respect. She wasn’t about to lose it now.

  Besides, she hadn’t heard Gavin’s side of the story. Perhaps switching the scripts really had been an accident. Of course if she truly believed that he’d also have a bridge to sell her. Still, she wasn’t sure who knew what at this point and didn’t want to throw him under the bus. She also didn’t want to give him the opportunity to derail what they had going here.

  “There were some last minute changes. They sent me out with them.” Tam was quite proud of how reasonable, friendly and non committal she sounded.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Evan turn to look at her. He looked impressed that she hadn’t thrown him under the Gavin bus since he was the one who’d thrown the fit.

  “What changes would those be?” Gavin’s question might have been quietly spoken, but the reddening of his pasty white face was a dead giveaway that he was furious. Not just at Tam, but apparently at everyone in the room. No matter. She’d taken this on and was not about to back down.

  “The network wanted a page one rewrite. They got it,” Tam informed him.

  This time Evan added, “At my request. The script was horrendous. I’m the one who demanded that the no-talent hack responsible for that mess be sent here at once to fix what was broken.”

  Tam cringed. Not because she for one minute thought that Evan’s insults were directed at her. But because she knew they’d been aimed straight at Gavin’s soft heart. Judging by the way his mouth puckered, they’d hit their target.

  Desperate to save face, Gavin straightened his back and jabbed a finger at Rock. “You. Come with me. You need to bring me up to speed on this new script.” Without another word or even waiting to see if Rock followed or not, Gavin strutted from the room. The people between him and the door parted like the Red Sea to facilitate his exit.

  Rock gathered the dailies and handed them to Kyle. “You will keep them safe, yes?” Kyle nodded and Rock trudged after Gavin. When he walked by Evan, the actor squeezed his shoulder in solidarity and they exchanged nods. With that little bit of encouragement, Rock strode from the room with more confidence in his step.

  Talk about a party killer. Everyone just stood in Gavin’s wake in stunned silence. Suzie, the script supervisor, spoke up from a corner near the bathroom.

  “So, how many of ya’ll knew Gavin switched the scripts on us before right this minute?”

  Tam’s gaze swung to the woman in surprise. So much for keeping the whole mess a secret. There were shocked gasps and stunned, “Whats?” from all around the room. She couldn’t help glancing at Evan, Audra and Tanzi to see how they wanted to handle this. They all had equally guilty looks on their faces.

  “That can’t be true.” Marc studied all of them with a naive eye. “Can it?”

  “Okay. So what do we do? Gavin’s back in the mix now. Surely, he’s not going to let us keep going,” Suzie gave voice to exactly what Tam had been thinking. She knew that switching the scripts back had only gone as well as it had simply because there was no one present to object. Those ideal conditions were a thing of the past now that Gavin had resurfaced. Beyond that, she had no idea who on the crew might be loyal to him and assist in his sabotage.

  Evan put his foot down. “We’re continuing with the new script.”

  Suzie nodded, accepting Evan’s word as law. “New script it is. See ya’ll bright and early in the morning.” With that, she made her way out of the room, taking some more crew members with her.

  Kyle squeezed Tam’s elbow. “I might’ve come across some nooks around the stage that can be padlocked from the outside if need be.”

  She chuckled at his unexpected offer to lock Gavin up somewhere. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but thanks.” He nodded and exited with the dailies.

  When she was done with Kyle, she turned to see Audra comforting Marc. The man looked to be an inch from passing out. Now she understood why Evan hadn’t let him in on what they’d been up to. She sincerely hoped Audra could talk him off the ledge because the last thing she needed was one of her actors to be off his game. Tam bit back a sigh. Nothing like having her fate rest in the hands of the one person who still outwardly distrusted her.

  “How could he do such a thing?” Marc asked.

  Audra sat next to him and draped her arm around his shoulders. “I don’t know, sweetheart. Some people are just downright mean.”

  Tam was surprised that Audra didn’t shoot a withering look her way along with the insult. She took it as a good sign that Audra didn’t consider her to be mean. To be fair, she wasn’t sure what the woman’s problem was with her. Evan moved closer to Tam just as Audra looked up. Her gaze lasered in on Evan’s hand that squeezed her shoulder. Tam finally caught a clue. So that was the basis of Audra’s continued hostility. Evan was showing Tam too much attention.

  “Come on, hon. I still have my suite with the Jacuzzi. You’ll feel better after a nice long soak.”

 
; “With bubbles?”

  “Is there any other kind?” Audra urged Marc to his feet. “We’ll see you guys in the morning.”

  The door closed behind them, leaving Tam alone with Evan in the room. With an unconvinced nod, she said, “That went well.”

  Evan shot her an incredulous look. “Did you and I witness the same conversation?”

  She slumped down on her bed. “Hey. Let me indulge in my delusions for a few more minutes. Okay?”

  “Deal.” He rubbed his temples then stretched out beside her like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Poor Rock. I hope he’s surviving. He and Gavin have butted heads in the past, but this… I don’t know.”

  “You think he’ll be okay?”

  “Rock is tough. He’ll need some space for tonight, though.” He looked at her. “Which brings me to… Do you mind if I crash here tonight? Rock is my roommate.”

  Tam raised an eyebrow at his question. She started giggling. It turned into a full blown laugh. He stared at her puzzled.

  “You’re not having a nervous breakdown, are you? I can crash in my trailer if you need space, too. We’re going to need at least one of you on your game tomorrow.”

  “You’re actually serious, aren’t you?” Tam caught her breath enough to ask. Evan nodded and kept staring at her with a concerned look. “You do realize that you’ve slept here every night since I arrived. And now you ask permission?”

  Evan frowned and looked to be deep in thought. “Oh, crap. You’re right. In that case, scoot over and give me room.” He smirked and nudged her with a playful elbow.

  Tam grabbed a handful of the bedding that was between them and held on for all she was worth. She finally got control of her giggles. Sort of. “Not on your life. This is my bed. You take the other one if you need so much room all of sudden.”

  “Don’t you know who I am? I’m a star, baby. You should be pandering to my every whim.”

  “How about you pander this?” She swung her feet up to brace them against his hip and shoved. She got one of his legs to slide off the bed, but the rest of him stayed put. He was a surprisingly solid and strong little bugger.

  He grabbed her foot robbing her of her leverage. She tried to pull from his grasp before he discovered the secret that would give him the advantage in this turf war. Too late. His hand brushed the bottom of her foot and she barked a laugh. His eyes opened wide when he caught her reaction a split second before his expression turned positively devilish. Time for a strategic retreat.

  Tam tried her best to extricate herself from his grip, but he held on tight. He wiggled the fingers of his free hand, to torture her. She flopped backwards off the edge of the bed hoping that her weight would be enough to work free. He looked stunned at her determination to get away. Still, he just rolled with her.

  “Just how ticklish are you?” He peered over the side at her where her torso was on the carpet, but her legs were still on the bed.

  “I’m not ticklish at all,” she lied through her teeth and hoped for the best.

  He shot her an evil grin. “Let’s test that theory, shall we?”

  “No!” His fingers lightly brushed the bottom of her foot sending her into a wild spasm of laughter.

  “Holy crap, that’s ticklish.” His tone was so delighted that she would’ve loved to smack him if her muscles would only cooperate. Instead, the only thing she could do was laugh uncontrollably.

  She gasped for air. “Stop! Stop! I have to pee!” If that didn’t get him to stop, she didn’t know what would.

  “Go ahead and pee. You do know you’re kinda upside down, right?” Evan laughed evilly, but paused in the tickling. She took the moment to catch her breath. She almost wished he hadn’t stopped because his response was so reminiscent of her late father that it was almost painful.

  She used the lull to pull her foot from his hand and did a clumsy back somersault away so he couldn’t catch her again.

  “What is this? You want to do your own stunts now, too?” He let both his arms dangle off the side of the bed.

  Her phone rang on the nightstand. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.” She checked the ID. “It’s Rock.”

  Evan got serious again real quick and nodded. She answered on speaker.

  “Hey Rock. I’m here with Evan. We were wondering if you’re okay.”

  “Yes. Yes, but I think I will see about checking out other room. I need some time to cold down.”

  Tam raised an eyebrow at Evan. Rock was so angry that he was losing his grasp of the English language.

  “Don’t worry about it. Tam has an extra bed. I’ll crash here for the night.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. Get some rest. We need you tomorrow. We have your back.”

  The was a long pause on Rock’s end. Evan and Tam shared a puzzled look. Had the phone dropped the call?

  When the man next spoke, there was deep emotion in his voice. “You have done much for me. We press forward. On schedule.” He hung up.

  Tam stared at the phone for a moment. She looked to Evan for translation.

  “Gavin must have pushed him way too far. It was one thing to go along with the correct script with no opposition. It’s something else entirely now that he’s going against someone in authority.”

  Tam nodded and rested against the nightstand. She understood. She was in the same boat as Rock with her career hanging in the balance. However, they were both rock stars and would go down swinging.

  chapter seven

  At 5:48 in the morning, the day was already off to a seriously sucky start. Evan held a cooling aloe vera cloth to the top of his ear. He didn’t dare check the spot out in the mirror. Judging by how it felt, half his skin had come off along with that prosthetic piece.

  Instead, he used the mirror to keep his eyes on Marguerite who was wringing her hands and pacing behind him in the tiny trailer.

  “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

  He reached over his shoulder to grasp her arm. “I’m pretty sure I’ll live.”

  She picked up one of his werewolf ears and inspected it. He stopped himself from looking at it. Seeing a flap of his skin still stuck to it would not help anybody. She scrubbed the spirit gum away with some rubbing alcohol then met his gaze. “Yeah, but once this goes on again, you may wish you hadn’t.” She sighed. “If I hadn’t put the thing on crooked to begin with. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”

  Evan knew. It was the same thing that was wrong with everybody else. Gavin. The entire set had a completely different vibe today and the man hadn’t even arrived yet. No one even knew if he planned to show up that day or not. Still, word had gotten out about the switched scripts and how he was back in the mix. He was not happy with what they’d done the past few days. The threat of enduring Gavin’s ire had everyone jumpy.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Evan summoned enough courage to check out his ear in the mirror. It was a pretty angry shade of red, but it didn’t look like the skin was too damaged. “Hey, what about that liquid skin the medic keeps on hand for cuts? You think that would seal it up enough for you to reapply the ear?”

  Marguerite paused in her anxious scrubbing. She nodded. “Yeah. It just might.” She reached for her radio and asked an available PA to bring some to the makeup trailer.

  While they waited, Marguerite got busy on his other side. The scene didn’t call for him to go full werewolf, so she only had a bit of hair to add to his sideburns and jaw in addition to changing the shape of his ears. Even so, she fussed over every single strand. It had to be just perfect.

  “You’ve done this how many times, now?” Evan asked when she stepped back for the millionth time to inspect her work and found it lacking. “You’ve got this.”

  “I know. It’s just…” She sighed. “Are we going to be shut down?”

  Evan shrugged. “We’ve come too far. I don’t think he’d stick his neck out to do that at this point.”

  �
�But you don’t know.”

  Evan shook his head. “What I do know is that Rock is committed to moving forward. So is Tam. I figure it’s our job to back them up.”

  “You sure have made a 180 on Ms. Tamara Keller. Wasn’t so long ago you wanted to break all her fingers so she could never write another thing ever again.”

  Evan felt his face heat at the reminder of exactly how anti-Tam he’d been before she’d arrived. Now, a few short days later, he was her biggest fan. With Marguerite working on his makeup, he couldn’t actually turn away to keep her from seeing his embarrassment.

  It wasn’t because they had somehow managed to share a bed every night since he’d summoned her. Or maybe it was. Being around her as much as he had showed him how hard she worked. As someone who abhorred laziness, her work ethic had gone quite a long way toward impressing him.

  Then there was the way she’d handled everything that had been shoved at her while serving as producer in Gavin’s place. He’d either watched the way she met each challenge head on or heard tale of it. Not the least of which was the altercation with Frederico. That one, he was sorry to have missed. According to the buzz around the set, it had been legendary. It had also gained her the respect of almost everyone involved in the shoot. Almost, because Audra was still giving Tam a bit of a hard time and he wasn’t sure why.

  “Let’s just say, I might’ve been a bit hasty in my assessment.”

  “Who would blame you? That original script was a nightmare.”

  The trailer door opened. A PA brought in the liquid skin they’d requested and bolted before they could barely even say, “Thank you.”

  Marguerite and Evan exchanged puzzled looks. “What do you think that’s about?”

  “Are you really in a hurry to find out?”

  Marguerite shook her head with an exaggerated flutter then patched up his injury before taking another stab at the werewolf ear.

  “I wonder if she’s single?”

  “Who?” Evan pretended not to know even if he’d caught himself wondering the same thing on occasion. Other than her penchant for Bon Jovi, he knew next to nothing about Tam’s personal life.