Chapter 6
Chapter 6
POV: *Adelaide
“What are you two doing on my set?” I snapped at the two full-grown men acting like squabbling children. “You’re causing a ruckus and scaring my team!”
“I need to talk to you.” Ashton demanded before Damon could even open his mouth. He shot a glare at Damon. “Alone.”
“Oh?” I said calmly. “I’m afraid I have nothing to discuss with you.”
“Adelaide!” Ashton’s face turned red as he clenched his fists in fury.
Damon grinned, looking like he was enjoying the scene.
“You know what I want to talk to you about,” Ashton said through gritted teeth. “You and that man-” “And why should my engagement concern you?” I asked him, pointedly. “You’re simply my childhood friend, nothing more. Isn’t that right, Ashton?”
I smirked, standing firm with my head raised high as Ashton’s mouth flopped open and closed like a fish. He turned red and then purple, stewing in silent anger. Then, with one last venomous look at
he spun on his heel and made his way back to his car.
1.
“See you at the next family dinner!” I couldn’t resist calling out to him.
Once he was out of sight, my shoulders slumped under the pressure of my brewing emotions. I sighed, rubbing the headache I could feel coming on.
Some part of me felt victorious. The rest of me just felt exhausted.
I turned to the other annoyance standing by my side. I crossed my arms, feeling like I needed a long nap after this.
“And what’s your excuse?” I said grumpily. “Are you stalking me now? How’d you even find out where I worked?”
Damon smirked. “I have my ways.”
“This isn’t a show and tell,” I snapped, “Don’t you have your own job, or is the great Damon Steyn too busy for regular work?”
Damon just smiled, looking around at the set as he let me rant.
“Not even listening to me. Typical Steyn,” 1 huffed as the rest of my frustration drained out of me. My emotions settled as I calmed down. Usually, Damon would be happy to argue back with me, but not today, it seemed. I was the tiniest bit grateful for that. I didn’t have the energy to keep up with his
wits.
Once I relaxed, Damon took a step toward me, wrapping an arm around my waist as he led me onto
my own set.
The gall of this man.
I allowed him to maneuver me towards the director’s tent, not even questioning it anymore.
“Why are you really here?” I asked, curiously.
“Shouldn’t your new man meet your coworkers and see what you do for a living? I’m only curious about you, Addie,” Damon flashed me a charming grin.
Ah, so this was a publicity stunt. Look at how much Damon cares for his new lady, visiting her at work.
“Addie!” Jenna called as we approached. “Did you get it all sorted out?”
“Not quite,” I huffed as I broke away from Damon to collapse into my chair. “We’ve got a visitor.”
Jenna’s eyes fell upon Damon, who hovered behind me, his hands laid on the back of my chair. His body heat was not helping the hot desert sun as it beat down on me.
“Wait, you’re-” Jenna gasped, and Damon flashed her a smile.
“Damon Steyn,” he held out his hand.
Jenna wasted no time shaking it, looking rattled herself. She eyed Damon up and down, and I knew that look on her face.
“Thank you for taking care of Addie,” Damon said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “It’s a wonderful job you’ve done here.”
Jenna smiled, but I could tell she was skeptical of him.
“No problem,” she laughed, “Addie’s the one who’s been taking care of us. We’d be absolutely lost without her.”
My cheeks turned pink at her praise, and I could feel Damon’s eyes on me. I coughed into my hand to escape the embarrassment.
“Why don’t we take him on a tour around, Addie?” Jenna suggested with a scheming glint in her eye.
She had something planned.
“I doubt he’d-” I tried to refute, but Damon was quicker.
“I’d love to,” he sent her a grin.
…Traitors.
Outnumbered, I reluctantly got to my feet. “Fine, but just a quick one.”
I led the way to the main area where we’d constructed the town area. A run-down town was surprisingly hard to make considering the safety precautions we had to take.
“Here it is,” I said, pointing out the various buildings set around us. “Took us weeks to make considering the budget we had.”
“We went through two contractors,” Jenna huffed, “but they assured us that, despite how it looks, it’s
safe.”
Damon looked around with a critical eye, an impassive look on his face as he surveyed the set. He seemed to be inspecting everything with an intensity that caught me by surprise.
Hesitantly, I waited for his judgment, a small bit of me wanting his approval.
His eyes fixed on a small point of the nearby saloon, looking at one of the beams holding up ceiling of the awning.
the
“That beam isn’t secured properly,” he said with a frown, “It could collapse with enough force. A windstorm comes, and it’ll take the whole building down.”
I frowned, turning to look at the beam he was pointing out. Jenna patted the beam and it wobbled underneath her hand.
“Oh.” Jenna stepped back, surprised as the entire awning shook along with the wobbling beam. I could see the irritation that passed over her features as she looked at Damon. Clearly, she wasn’t a fan of him.
“Huh,” I frowned, “We’ll have to get that fixed. Luckily, we aren’t using this building until next week’s shoots. How much would it cost to get it fixed?”
“Not much,” Damon replied casually, eyes already wandering to the other buildings, “The wood’s sturdy, just some extra reinforcement, and it’ll be good to go.”
I shrugged. “We’ll have to put in an order. Ugh, more work.” I was glad he had noticed and saved me from a possible disaster, but I was also irritated that he’d found something wrong. Why did I even
care?
I frowned when Damon brought his ringing cell phone out, flipping it open with a cool. “Yes?”
I sighed at the thought when Jenna leaned over to whisper in my ear without Damon hearing.
“I thought he was supposed to be a stupid playboy who couldn’t even pass the college exam. Everyone said his father bought him his degree, so why does he seem to be nothing like the rumors say? That was like actual advice.”
Yeah, that’s how others, my family including Corrina, even Damon’s own family, viewed him. But this tricky, foxy, jerk could never fool my eyes.
I snorted, crossing my arms. “I wish he was just a stupid playboy. That would make my life so much easier. He’s too smart for his own good sometimes.”
Your enemies know you best.
“Red roof, Cassidy,” Damon said into his phone, chuckling. “I’m sure you can figure it out.”
Jenna gave me a look, raising her eyebrows at the mention of the girl’s name. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.
Of course, he’s on the phone with another girl. That’s just how playboys work. He probably dumped Corinna for this Cassidy person. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but now, reporters were lining up at the fence, snapping quick photos.
We had a ‘troop’ of them outside the set now.
“No–”
Before he could say another word, I stormed up and grabbed the phone from his hand, hitting the red icon to hang it up and smiling at him innocently.
“I assume that wasn’t important,” I said through gritted teeth, knowing it wasn’t. “You’re with me now, honey. You shouldn’t be on the phone with other girls.” I finished with a wink.
“Of course, not,” Damon responded immediately as I flickered my eyes to the reporters behind the fence. He followed my gaze and smiled.
“Are you jealous, dear?” Damon smirked, placing his hands on my hips as he pulled me into him. Despite how I felt about him, hardly being able to tolerate him. I couldn’t help but notice how wonderful
he smelled. His cologne was a crisp and clean scent, and I found myself enjoying the fragrance of him.
I sneered at the thought of me being jealous, but Jenna stared at us with a massive grin, and I winced at the gossip that would be going around after this. There’s no way she’d keep any of this to herself.
“Yes, babe,” My fake smile was back up for the press. His arms circled my waist, and I reminded myself not to punch him in his smug face, instead, wrapping my arms around his neck.
We were working together for a common goal, nothing more.
“I have to leave now, dear,” Damon whispered teasingly into my ear, sending goosebumps down my skin. He let me go, taking his phone from my hand in the same movement as I stepped back.
Like a whirlwind, he said, “Call me when you’re done with work. I’m taking you to dinner.”
Dinner?
“I’m afraid I’ve got other plans with Jenna, isn’t that right?” I looked at Jenna with wide eyes, begging her to get me out of this.
“Uh, nope,” Jenna shook her head, firmly.
Traitors!
Damon chuckled, waving his hand over his shoulder as he left. “One of my guys will be coming out tomorrow to start fixing up your set!”
“Thank you! Nice to meet you,” Jenna waved goodbye, but I sulked, crossing my arms.
Coming here without warning me, starting a fight at the gate, interrupting my set, and forcing me to go to dinner with him….
Who the hell does he think he is?
“Well, I don’t like him,” Jenna said, watching him walk away. “But running away
“But running away is not the way. I don’t want him to hurt you, if he really is a playboy. You deserve someone that will actually love you, not just want to use you.”
I sighed. “As long as he and I know that we are both just using each other, that’s fine with me.”
Jenna nodded and smirked.
“Lucas is right about one thing though,” Jenna said. “He does have a nice *ss.”
“Jenna!”