Me:Hades and Persephone are done on this shoot, so I’m clearing out later tonight.
Keye:No shit? I’m really sorry I’ll miss you.
Me:It’s better for H&P. Plus, Ariel just had her baby. I’m an uncle! I can’t wait to see her. Artemis is the baby’s name.
Keye:I understand. Congrats!
Me:We’ll have dinner when you come to visit the sanctuary. On me.
Keye:Promise?
Me:Cross my heart.
I was disappointed there’d be no awesome story to tell. And I really was curious about what made Sebastian tick. He’d been preternaturally cool with Deacon the night he’d arrived. He’d seemed bloodless then and sort of lonely when we talked after he took Maddie’s place, but he had a belly full of fire with the camera trained on him.
How did he burn so hot on film?
I packed up the RV. That way, as soon as Deacon gave us permission to leave, we could go.
My rig was technically a toy hauler, which made it possible to put Hades and Persephone’s large crates inside, as well as all the equipment I’d needed for the two of them. Since the large kennels belonged to the production company, Deacon told me to leave them, along with the rental van I’d used for short trips. He’d have those collected when it was convenient.
There was only the matter of lashing down the gear, rolling up the awnings, and bringing the slide outs into the body of the rig. As soon as I had that done, we’d be ready to roll.
Morrigan and I spent some of the long wait to hear from Deacon exploring the area near the RV on foot—which was what I was doing when I got Sebastian’s second text.
Keye:Have you left yet? Change of plans. Mads got poison oak, so I’m free after all.
Wilder:Poor Mads. Bad?
Keye:Bad enough to swap out tonight’s scheduled scene. Shall we try dinner after all? I’m free now.
Wilder:Sure.Need a map?
Keye:I’ll get it from Deacon. Arranging food now. See you in an hour?
Wilder:Sounds good.
I didn’t question my luck. I was grateful Sebastian and I could share a meal and that I’d still be able to leave that night, until my phone rang again. I assumed it was Sebastian with food questions. Instead, Deacon’s contact was on the screen.
“Hey, D. Did the scene with Hades and Seph look okay?”
“Are you and Sebastian Keye hooking up tonight?” He sounded angry.
“What? No. He’s stopping by with takeout.”
“I knew it. That spoiled, goddamned—”
“Whoa. Tell me what’s going on?”
“I knew he wasn’t happy when he learned we’d rescheduled the scene with Madison for tonight, I just didn’t know why. Then Mads and her friend come back from lunch with Sebastian Keye, covered in poison oak. That fucking cunt. I will personally deck his ass when I see him.”
“Wait. You think Sebastian gave a girl poison oak so he could bring me dinner? Are you high?”
“I’m not. That’s exactly the kind of underhanded thing I was told to expect from Keye. What are you thinking, getting mixed up with him? Didn’t I tell you he was trouble?”
“You said something…I don’t know. He seemed like a nice kid—”
“He’s not a nice kid. Eight years ago, thatkidtold some vicious lies that put a talented director on an unofficial blacklist for life. The dude killed himself. I told you he was trouble. Why didn’t you just take my word for it?”
