SIXTEEN
MYLO
I tryto look alive as Bella comes back over. Haley excuses herself, promising to stay nearby but not wanting to be in the way.
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news,” Bella says.
“Hit me.”
“Good news is, Lana’s thrilled with that take. One-and-done on a oner.”
I shake my head, impressed with Bella’s negotiating. “That’s a fucking miracle.”
“Now, the bad news is, Lana’ssoexcited she wants to film the second fight for the Thunder Stone right after. As in, thirty minutes from now.”
I give a wry laugh. “Well, I guess I won’t have to work to sell a sore shoulder.”
“You gonna be okay?”
A digital timer beeps, meaning I’m free from my ice session. I ease the packs off. “Lemme see.”
I bounce on my feet, gently moving my arms to get blood flowing through the numbness the ice left behind. I tuck and roll along the sand, leading with my good shoulder.
“It doesn’t feel great,” I report. “But as long as I don’t have to hang from it, it’ll be fine.”
Bella’s voice quiets again. So only I can hear, she says, “You gonna be okay working with Christine?”
I nod. “I won’t have any problem finding Melinoë’s headspace, let’s leave it at that.”
Bella evaluates me, then nods. “Alright. I’ll let Lana know we can go ahead.”
The shooting locationis nearby in the trees, centered on a clearing. Once the movie is stitched together, it’ll look like this is exactly where I fell. We’ll probably be coming back here in a few days to film the crash landing.
I tense as I see Electra’s silhouette—then relax as the figure turns, revealing herself as one of Christine’s body doubles. The woman is as tall as Christine, but her willowy model silhouette is no match for the alpha.
Melinoë’s body double is there too, allowing the lighting team to get everything ready-to-go without me or Haley or Christine needing to stand there.
I spot Christine over by Lana, presumably chatting about the scene. I find a tree to lean against, blocking Christine from view. The shade is nice.
I did my best to tune out Lana earlier. There’s only so much I can take of hearing Christine lauded as a genius for dislocating my shoulder and nearly killing me. That could’ve been a career-ending injury for any other performer.
It might still be a career-ender for me, but for a different reason. If anyone realizes just how bad that injury was from the playback or the sound pickup… If I get sent to a real doctor, one that might pull blood, blood that’ll be positive on a very particular marker…
I have to hope that only Bella noticed and that she trusts me enough to let it slide.
And then Christine’s little humble brag,Oh, it just seemed like something Electra would do.
We finally get a rhythm going, but that can’t stand. No, she has to remind everyone thatshe’sthe star, thatshe’sthe center of attention.
Fuck, I’m an idiot.
I had her number from the start.
But damn, I guess I should have given her more credit for her acting skills. I can’t believe I thought I was getting through to her. Seeing a real person.
Nope. I was putty in her hands. And at the end of the day, it’s the Christine Show and it always will be.
Whatever. Nothing to do now but my job. The better these takes are, the sooner I can go sink into a tub of ice water.
