“Hey, do you want me to ask—see if he’ll give you an autograph or something? Now’s your chance before he leaves.” Aiden was too busy watching Ryan’s approach to see my eyes roll.
Ryan offered a handshake to Aiden and gave him a firm, manly pat on the shoulder.
“Hey man. That was some pretty awesome shit you just did. You going to be all right?
That one hit looked pretty painful.”
Aiden rocked on his feet from Ryan’s “friendly” pat and then got all puffy-chested, shirking off with a roll of his neck the mere thought that anything could cause him pain.
“Nah, I do this sort of stuff all the time. I’m good. Hey, um, Ryan? I take it you’ve sort of met this lovely lady already. Her name is Karen. Karen, Ryan Christensen,” Aiden said smugly, as if he and Ryan were best buds.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Karen?” I shrugged my whatever. What was the point in correcting him? I knew Ryan was wrapped for the night and that we could leave.
It didn’t take long for Mike to come into the fold. My faithful human Rottweiler.
Attack!
“I was just asking Karen if she wanted to go out for a few drinks. There’s some pretty great clubs downtown, but I’m having trouble tearing her away from here.” Aiden gave me a nudge.
“Oh really?” Ryan questioned me.
I hoped he could see I was annoyed. “I tried to tell him no but he—” Keeps interrupting me.
“Ahh,” Aiden groaned. “You’re just afraid of having a good time.”
See what I mean?
He turned to Ryan. “Hey, before you take off . . . I don’t want to embarrass her and she’s probably too shy to ask, but do you think maybe she could get a picture with you?” Aiden fumbled and dropped his cell, mumbling how he would text it to me later.
I wrapped my arms around Ryan’s waist, ready to go back to our condo. Ryan’s shirt was damp with sweat. It had been another long day and I could tell he was exhausted. I also had a pile of clean laundry for Mike to take with him since the on-set laundry service was only offered to the talent, not the keepers of the talent.
“I can’t turn my back for one minute,” Ry-an groaned in my ear, letting his restrained irritation be known. Even though he was acting jealous, I decided that this emotional flare of his was going to be rewarded handsomely in the shower later.
“Believe me, I did nothing to encourage it.”
“I know, babe.” Ryan squeezed me, brushing some of my hair back. He cupped my face in his hand and kissed me wickedly.
I heard Aiden scoff. “Dude! What the fuck?”
Slightly embarrassed, I took a step back when Ryan ended his territorial display.
Aiden’s mouth hung open, totally abashed.
He also appeared to want to take a swing at Ryan.
Ryan stared him down for a few seconds, then tried to play off his level of anger as if he were teasing. “This one’s mine. Apparently you haven’t been properly introduced to my fiancée, Taryn. I’d appreciate it if you stopped hitting on her. We clear?” The following day, Aiden avoided me like the plague. I sort of expected that. He apparently had moved on from me, flooding Nicole with his attentions. His flirting was over-the-top.
Aiden tried like hell to be extra chummy with Ryan, which I could have called as well.
Ryan was as friendly as he had to be, not taking too kindly to another wolf sniffing around his mate. It was things like that that made me question whether it was a good idea for me to be around him when he worked.
Nicole, however, appeared to be quite jittery.
I presumed it was because she and Ryan had to do a kissing scene again, which seemed to have him slightly agitated as well, but I wasn’t sure. Ryan was usually so aloof, but this time he was eyeing Nicole warily.
I watched the scene get set up, cameras in place, actors on their marks, and direction given. I couldn’t turn my eyes away no matter what my heart told my mind to do. Seeing the man I love kiss another, even though I knew it was pretend, twisted my heart in ways no words could ever describe.
Confusion tore through me when Ryan abruptly broke from the kiss. His face puckered like he had just swallowed a nasty bug coated in sour dirt instead of kissing a cute actress. His grip around her arm became less than friendly.
Jonathan pulled his headset off when Ry-an started to curse at her.
Ryan spat onto the ground twice, right there where they stood. “Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”
“You don’t understand. Things have been really hectic and I—”
“I warned you!” Ryan cast her off with great offense.
“Ryan, wait,” Nicole pleaded. She looked crushed by his rejection.
“Where’s Parker? I want a fucking meeting, in my rig, now,” Ryan barked as he stormed away.
The second we climbed into Ryan’s RV, he grabbed his toothbrush and started scrubbing his teeth, spitting and rinsing his mouth repeatedly into the small kitchen sink. I didn’t say a word.
There was a loud rap on Ryan’s door and I jumped up quickly to answer it. Parker Shay and Jonathan Follweiler were on the other side.
“Ryan, what’s going on? You wanted to see me?” Parker asked.
Ryan was livid. “I want her gone. This is bullshit, Parker.” He wiped his face with a small towel. “I can still taste the fucking crank in my mouth.”
Parker appeared just as lost as I was. “The what?”
“Nicole,” Ryan growled. “She’s a fucking meth head.”
Parker rested his hands on his hips, taking this new information in. “Meth? As in methamphetamines?”
Ryan nodded. “She’s snorting the shit.” Jonathan looked like he’d just been struck. “Are you sure? Did you see her using or something?”
“No, but I just had her spit in my mouth a few minutes ago. Believe me, I know what the shit tastes like and I can tell you that I’m not going to put up with it. I tasted it on her before when we did the bedroom scene and I warned her about it, but that drip I just caught was fresh.”
I felt my knees start to become unsteady, so I sat down in one of the chairs before I’d keel over from this revelation. I didn’t know which news shocked me more—Nicole doing illegal drugs or my fiancé knowing what illegal drugs taste like.
Ryan spat in the sink. “What the hell, Parker? This is our second film together. I thought you had my back.”
“I do, Ryan. Believe me. I had no idea she had drug issues.”