Breaking Free

by Cara Dee

  "He's early," Claire said irritably. "Excuse me, ladies."

  As she stood up from the couch, Chris pushed the door open and entered the house. "I found Anna," he muttered, barely giving their guests a glance. "She takes after her mother more and more every day."

  "Cut!" Tennyson had the entrance he wanted, and they'd run it from Chris's first line after dinner. "We'll continue here in an hour."

  *

  Pizza boxes and salads filled the picnic tables outside the set, and Tennyson ate with Noah, Claire, and Chris. Plans were made for the actors to watch the dailies with Tennyson and the crew later tonight, and he did his best to listen to opinions and suggestions, but it wasn’t easy.

  Firstly, because he could see this film in his head. It was going to be dark and suffocating. There would be a few redeeming qualities, but this wasn’t a happy-go-lucky movie. They wouldn’t fix all their issues and ride off into the sunset as a family, and the film wasn’t titled Unrecovered for nothing.

  Tennyson wanted to keep that image in his head—keep it raw and unforgiving. Chris suggesting that he show more sadness over what was happening to his daughters would break his character.

  Secondly, it was difficult to listen when Tennyson's gaze kept shifting over to Sophie. Sitting at another table with Daniel, Steph, and Brooklyn, she was quietly reading her script, and of course her salad was untouched.

  Tennyson made a mental note to speak to her later because this couldn’t go on.

  He wanted to reply to her text as well, but he didn’t know what to write. He'd seen it this morning, right after he'd gotten off to thoughts of her, and it had caused a stirring in his chest he wasn’t comfortable with.

  *

  Tennyson was pushing it, but he wanted everything finished for tomorrow's pivotal scene. It was nearing midnight, and they had finally wrapped the girlfriends' leaving, Sophie's character coming in from the car and running up to her room, and now they only had one small scene before Claire and Chris would learn about Kelly.

  As they prepared the living room set, Tennyson glanced over at Sophie several times. She looked tired, and not like the rest of the actors. This wasn’t merely about being sleepy. She was pale and appeared to zone out.

  Tennyson walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right, Sophie?"

  She looked up at him and nodded quickly. "Yeah—just tired, sorry."

  "We still have about ten minutes before we're ready," he murmured. "Why don’t you sit down for a bit." It wasn’t a question. "You should get something to eat, too." He gestured to the craft services table that was always filled with everything from sandwiches and salads to cookies and candy bars.

  She reluctantly agreed and walked off the set, but Tennyson wasn’t satisfied with her choice of snack. A bottle of water wouldn’t give her any energy whatsoever.

  Tennyson approached Noah and waited until the younger man was done speaking to the script supervisor. Noah faced Tennyson, who said they'd only do one more take.

  "Are you that confident, boss?" Noah chuckled.

  "No, but—" There was some ruckus behind him, and he looked over his shoulder, seeing a group of crew members gathering around something. And when he saw Daniel running over, Tennyson's stomach dropped.

  "Fuck, she's not waking up."

  "We need an ambulance here!"

  Everything slowed down. Tennyson stalked closer, but it felt like it took him an eternity. The crew was standing around Sophie's lifeless form, someone was calling 911, and Daniel was trying to get a response from Sophie.

  "What the fuck happened?" Noah asked worriedly.

  Tennyson pushed past the last few people and sank to his knees next to Sophie.

  "I don’t know, she just collapsed," someone said.

  "Sophie, can you hear me?" Daniel had gathered Sophie in his arms, and he smoothed a hand over her forehead. "Sophie, darling? Wake up."

  Tennyson leaned close and checked her pulse. "She's barely breathing—we have to get her to a hospital."

  "The ambulance is on its way," a cameraman told them.

  "Wake up, Sophie," Tennyson whispered, nauseated with worry. "Sophie, can you hear me?"

  No response.

  *

  Tennyson spent that night in the emergency room, his only connection to Sophie being Daniel.

  By the time the sun rose, they wheeled Sophie off to another building, and if it weren't for the fact that Tennyson knew she was out of harm's way now, he'd be going insane.

  After getting a cup of crappy coffee, he sat down in a smaller waiting room and waited for Daniel's next report. So far, they only had the doctor's suspicions to go on, and all signs pointed to malnutrition. Which certainly sounded accurate to Tennyson's ears.

  The studio was waiting for the latest update too, and Tennyson hoped for Sophie's sake that her father had reached out to her.

  Tennyson's phone buzzed for the umpteenth time that night, and he saw a message from his brother.

  Sophie's hospitalization is all over the internet. Keep me posted. Are you back on the set? I saw a photo of you entering the emergency room.

  Tennyson sighed but wasn’t all that surprised about the news.

  No, I'm still at the hospital. You might as well give the studio and the other producers a heads-up about postponing production. No one's going be able to work today.

  He was pocketing his phone when Daniel walked through a set of doors.

  "How is she?" Tennyson stood up.

  Daniel yawned and scrubbed his hands down his face. "The doctor's in there with her now. She was surprised to hear you're here."

  That made two of them, though Tennyson didn’t want to read into it. "What about the tests? Is it malnutrition?"

  "Yeah." Daniel nodded grimly. "Her blood sugar was crazy low and her body's started to shut down. I don’t know the final verdict yet, but I don’t think it's a good idea for her to return to work right away."

  The production was the least of Tennyson's worries. "Can I go see her?"

  "Oh—yeah, of course." Daniel cocked his head. "You and Sophie have gotten closer, haven't you?"

  "I suppose." Tennyson didn’t wait around for Daniel's response. Already knowing which room Sophie was in, Tennyson headed down a hallway and searched for her private suite.

  The sound of Sophie's voice made Tennyson stop. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he didn’t want to interrupt the doctor, either. So he waited right outside her room.

  "And when was your last period?" the doctor asked.

  Tennyson's eyebrows rose.

  "Umm…I'm not really sure," Sophie murmured. "I'm not pregnant though, if that’s what you're thinking. I went through a health check in pre-production—insurance purposes and all—and I haven't been with anyone since."

  "That wasn’t what I was thinking, no," the doctor answered amicably. "The reason I ask is because we'd like to establish how long—approximately—your body's suffered from undernourishment. With women, typical symptoms include irregular periods. Dry skin, lifeless hair, difficulty focusing, chipped fingernails, and exhaustion are other symptoms. Would you say you recognize any of those?"

  It got quiet, and Tennyson shook his head to himself.

  "It's all right, Ms. Pierce," the doctor said soothingly. Tennyson guessed Sophie had either nodded or shaken her head. "We'll get to the bottom of this, and you'll speak to one of our dieticians on staff."

  He and Sophie spoke for another five or so minutes, and Tennyson was relieved when he heard quiet determination in Sophie's tone. She wasn’t going to brush this off; she knew now this was serious, and she wanted to get better. Healthy.

  When the doctor got ready to leave, Tennyson gave the door a knock and revealed himself.

  Sophie looked up and smiled tentatively. "Hi."

  The relief of seeing her hit him hard.

  "Hey, you. Don’t scare us like that again," he told her and then faced the doctor. "Tennyson—I'm a friend." He tucked his shades i
nto the collar of his T-shirt.

  "My son keeps me up to speed. Nice to meet you, Mr. Wright." The doctor smiled politely and shook Tennyson's hand. "Ms. Pierce needs to rest, but I have a feeling you'll make sure she follows orders."

  "You can count on it." Tennyson sent Sophie a look that guaranteed she knew he meant business.

  The doctor nodded in satisfaction and left Tennyson alone with Sophie.

  "Daniel told me you've been here all night." Sophie's gaze followed him as he sat down in the chair by her hospital bed.

  "I would've been useless on the set, anyway." He glanced over her frail form and shook his head. The girl was even hooked up to an IV, further proving how serious this was. "How're you feeling?"

  "Shell-shocked after all the lectures and pamphlets handed to me." Her mouth twisted up slightly. "I was stupid, Tennyson. I honestly didn’t think it was this bad."

  Tennyson had guessed that was the case. "So what happens now?"

  Sophie sighed softly and looked down at the plastic hospital bracelet she wore. "They wanna keep me here until tomorrow and run more tests before I'm released. Then bed rest for a few days and a strict diet. Someone's gonna come and talk to me about that."

  Tennyson nodded slowly and covered Sophie's hand with his own. His eyes were glued to their hands. Her dainty fingers and the black-painted nails of her character.

  "What brought this on?" He had to know. "Is it all about trends and pressure in our business?"

  It was fucking revolting.

  Sophie hesitated. "Mostly…" She bit her lip, also looking down at their hands. "I guess it's always been there, in a way. When I was ten, my mom miscarried, and she gained a lot of weight afterward. She was depressed. And Dad divorced her." Her eyebrows pinched together, and Tennyson looked over to see her lost in thought. "He told her he couldn’t be seen with her the way she was. It was embarrassing to him." A small shrug.

  "Please tell me you know his way of thinking—and acting—is completely fucked up." Though he kept his voice level and calm, Tennyson was angrier than he could put into words.

  Christ, he wanted to track down Peter Pierce and knock him unconscious.

  "I do," Sophie replied with a single nod. "It just stuck with me." She sighed. "Dad's gonna be so pissed." Tennyson wondered if the small smirk was for show. "Am I fucking everything up now? With the production schedule, I mean."

  "That’s the last thing you should worry about." Tennyson frowned and linked their fingers together. "I haven't even thought about it." It wouldn’t be a problem, though. He could send Noah and the second unit out to do coverage on Claire's and Chris's characters' workplaces. "You focus on getting better."

  Sophie hummed, playing absently with one of his fingers, and with her lost in thought again, Tennyson could get his fill. He watched her face, searching for…fuck, just something. Something that would make sense of his absurd attraction to Sophie Pierce.

  At this point, he couldn’t blame it on simple lust—as much as he wished he could. He knew this ran deeper. He'd grown to care for her, and he was attracted to her even in this broken state.

  They were so fucking different.

  "Thank you for being here, Tennyson." Sophie's eyes closed slowly, but she didn’t fight sleep.

  And Tennyson didn’t leave.

  Chapter 10

  Sophie left the hospital the following afternoon, and she understood why Daniel had requested security. Several paparazzi crowded her as Daniel helped her into the black SUV.

  The strangers online will be sad to learn I didn’t die.

  She could only imagine the comments.

  "Your dad keeps calling, darling," Daniel said as the driver pulled away from the curb. "Your friends—don’t get me started on them."

  "What are they saying?" Sophie relaxed in her seat and flipped through one of the pamphlets the dietician had given her. It was still weird to think how much she was supposed to eat. The dietician had been horrified when he'd learned she tried to stick to eight hundred calories a day. "I bet they're brimming with genuine concern."

  Daniel snorted quietly, going through her old phone. "I think you should ignore them until they get the message. They don’t fucking deserve you."

  Not so long ago, they'd deserved each other because Sophie had been just as bad. She couldn’t really let that go. It was too recent.

  "Most of them are pissed that you're dodging their calls," Daniel murmured. "A couple said you look hot in the pictures."

  Sophie let out a breath, unmoved. Maybe Daniel was right. Maybe she could ignore them altogether. But she knew she couldn’t ignore Dad forever.

  After this movie, she'd only need one more paycheck, and then she'd be in the clear. It had taken her a year to repay the debts that were in her name; the salary for this film put her at zero.

  However, she still lived on his dime, and that had to change.

  Years of constant partying, shopping, and experimenting with drugs had cost her a lot, both in money and freedom.

  "When did Tennyson leave yesterday?" Sophie had slept most of the day, and Tennyson had been there—either dozing off or just sitting and checking his phone—every time she'd roused from sleep. Until sometime late in the afternoon, when she'd woken up alone.

  "Around four or five, I think." Daniel wore a neutral expression, which made him impossible for Sophie to read. Perhaps she was looking for things that weren't there, but…fuck, she couldn’t help it.

  She was crushing on Tennyson.

  "I think I want a dog," she said plainly.

  Daniel looked at her like she'd gone crazy. "That’s random."

  Sophie shrugged and looked out the window. She'd been bored last night, having napped so much that she couldn’t sleep any more. So she'd ended up Googling Asher Wright's work with rescue dogs.

  Merely reading about it had given Sophie a sense of closeness to Tennyson, but more than that, she wanted to help. She wanted to be a good person and give back, and damn it, she wanted company she could trust.

  "Can you look it up for me?" she asked. "I'll only do it if the dog won't suffer from traveling with me." She was done jet-setting between New York, LA, and various exotic resorts, but she would still be traveling for shoots and PR.

  "You're serious," Daniel said.

  "Do you want it in another language, or…?" Thanks to one of her old nannies, she was almost fluent in Spanish, and she'd studied French in high school.

  Daniel could take his pick.

  "There's the Sophie I know." He grinned. "All right, I'll look into it."

  "Thank you." She smiled to herself and traced invisible patterns on her yoga pants. "And give me the damn phone. It's time to be yelled at."

  Daniel gave her a sympathetic look and handed over her phone.

  She didn’t even miss the pink, sparkly thing. Hell, she was pretty sure she could get it back now, but she didn’t want it anymore.

  Scrolling down to her dad's cell number, she pressed Call and didn’t have to wait long. For once.

  "About fucking time, Sophie." Nice greeting.

  "Hi to you too, Dad," Sophie said dryly.

  "Don’t give me attitude," he warned. "I was worried sick, and then I learned that you had to be brought in by ambulance because you forgot to fucking eat. Toddlers know when they're hungry! How is it that it takes a hospital stay for you to get it? Are you that fucking stupid?"

  That was like a slap in the face, but Sophie refused to show how easily he could hurt her. "It won't happen again," she replied numbly.

  "Damn right, it won't." He paused. "Listen to me now, Sophie. I only want what's best for you. You asked for a serious role, and I gave it to you, but it's obviously not working. You'll finish your job in Vancouver, and then I want you home. You're happier here, anyway—" He broke off to shout something to someone in the background. His assistant or, hell, even his wife? "Okay, I'm back. So what do you say? Aren't you happier here where you can shop whenever you want, go out with your friends, and
leave work to the grown-ups?"

  There it was. Grown-ups. Dad would never see her as one, and not because of her age but because he thought she was too dumb. His wife got the same treatment.

  No one had been more furious than Dad to learn about her partying ways, but he preferred that over her breaking free. Scandals for rich girls were a dime a dozen, so it wasn’t like Dad got very embarrassed. He worked with plenty of men who were in the same position.

  "You're right." The lie tasted like acid, but she wanted to get away from him before he could do anything to stop it. "Can I go shopping tomorrow? It might make me feel better." She ignored Daniel's what-are-you-playing-at? look.

  "Of course," Dad replied. And thing was, he enjoyed this. When she used his credit cards, he owned more of her. "Go buy shoes or whatever. You're good at that."

  Sophie wrapped up the call, though not before Dad had ensured she knew what her little spectacle had cost in delaying the production two days.

  *

  "You've made some good friends here," Daniel said.

  Sophie nodded dazedly as she looked around her trailer. The set had been oddly quiet when they'd rolled in, no one there to greet her. She'd at least hoped for a simple hello and how're-yous from Noah and Brooklyn—even Tennyson—but now she got it. Daniel had likely asked for privacy, and instead they'd welcomed her back in their own way.

  There was a bouquet of colorful flowers from the film crew on her little dining table. Noah had bought her a teddy bear and taped—actually taped—candy bars to it, which was totally funny. Brooklyn had dropped off a stack of magazines and a fruit arrangement from her and the makeup team. Claire, an actress Sophie had really come to look up to, had given her an e-reader and a gift card to fill it with books.

  Sophie was blown away by their kindness, and it helped ease some of the embarrassment for collapsing right before a scene.

  There were other items—notes, cards, more flowers—and Sophie sprang into action by asking Daniel to write a list of everyone who'd been so nice to her. She had to thank them properly.

  Once she felt better, Daniel was quick to remind her.

  She grudgingly changed into a top and a pair of pajama shorts, then got under the covers with several of her homecoming gifts. She'd never had an e-reader before because…well, because reading was for nerds. God, she'd been filled with more air than a blow-up doll.