SAUL

by Claire St. Rose

  Pedro’s face exploded in blood and he went to the ground like a sack of potatoes. From the moment Pedro lunged in until he was on the ground, barely more than five seconds had passed. Saul stood over him a moment, then spat on him.

  “Tough enough for you, asshole?” He looked around at Pedro’s stunned friends. “Anyone else?” When nobody said anything he nodded. “Pick this piece of shit up and get out of here,” he said calmly as he stepped back. Andy held out a pair of knives and Saul nodded at the car. Moments later there were two more knives sticking out of the hood. “The next time a Pagan tells you to do something, I suggest you do it. If you think about going to cops, I’ll remind you he pulled the knife in front of all these witnesses. That’ll get him a minimum of two years in prison. Think about it. Now get out of here.”

  The Pagans stepped back and watched as Pedro’s friends got him up. He was already coming around, but was woozy as shit with his face covered in blood as they stuffed him into passenger seat of his Camaro. Saul saw Andy take a step toward one of the guys, as if he was going to give him a dose of what Pedro got, but the kid backed off and got into his own car.

  The three cars left, one of the men hurling a defiant “Fuck you!” out of his window before racing away, the three knives still sticking out of the hood of Pedro’s car.

  The Pagans turned back to the crowd, the men and woman clapping politely as they parted to make a path for them.

  ***

  “Looks like there was some excitement tonight,” Bradley said as he stepped up behind Saul two hours later.

  “Nah, not much.”

  “Bradley Hoffman,” he said, extending his hand.

  He took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Saul Houston. You’re one of the cast, right?”

  “That’s right,” Bradley said, stepping past Saul toward the barricade. “I’m playing Andre Cowen, Tanya’s love interest.” He began to shake hands and talk with the crowd, signing slips of paper as they were handed to him. “I can’t thank you enough for the difference you’ve made in production. Not one stop because of the crowd. Are you going to be in charge of crowd control for the rest of the shoot?”

  “Unless they fire me.”

  Bradley chuckled and handed a book back to the woman before taking a DVD box with his face and a roaring forest fire on the cover, and scrawled his name on it. “I don’t see that happening. Not after tonight.”

  Saul shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

  “Modest, too. I like that,” Bradley said before handing the DVD back and shaking the man’s hand.

  “You just have to know how to talk to people.”

  Bradley chuckled as he signed. “Yeah. Like breaking some dude’s nose and sticking his knife into his car.”

  Saul grinned. “That was to make sure I had his attention.”

  Bradley chuckled again. “Oh, I see.” He handed a scrap of paper back to someone in the crowd. “Kind of like my mother. First the slap on the head, then the discussion about what I did wrong.”

  Saul nodded with a grin. “Yeah, something like that.”

  They moved down the line together, Bradley signing and shaking hands, murmuring his thanks for the fans turning out to watch. Saul couldn’t believe the difference between him and Angela. Bradley seemed to actually enjoy talking with the crowd and shaking their hands.

  Saul smiled as the women ogled Bradley. He was no expert in male beauty, but judging by their reactions, he was making their panties wet. Whether it was because he was a big movie star or the way he looked, he didn’t know.

  They continued down the line until a PA arrived. “Bradley, you’re needed on set,” the man said.

  Bradley nodded, signed a few more items, then stepped back. “Thank you, everyone,” he said, then faced Saul. “And thank you for getting this entire messed up production back on track.” He gave Saul a slap on the shoulder then turned and followed the PA back to the crew area.

  Chapter Four

  Saul mopped his face, wiping away the sweat before it could run into his eyes. It was September, but it was still hotter than hell, with temperatures climbing into the nineties during the hottest part of the day. There was a nine o’clock call this morning, which meant he’d only had three hours sleep last night by the time production wrapped, and he was feeling it.

  He wandered over to the craft services table where a selection of snacks, fruit, and, most importantly, water was available for cast and crew. He reached into a bucket of ice with large bottles of water, pulling one out.

  “I’m sorry. Those are Angela Moncrief’s water. Water for the crew is in the cooler over there,” the woman tending the food said, pointing to the large cooler at the far end of the tent.

  “Then tell her I said thanks,” he replied as he cracked the lid.

  “You don’t understand,” the woman said, as she waved her hands frantically, trying to prevent him from opening the bottle. “The Rain water is for Angela exclusively. The regular bottles are for everyone else.”

  Saul hoisted the bottle in silent thanks and walked away, taking a deep pull.

  “Didn’t craft services tell you the Rain water was mine?” Angela demanded as she stomped up a few minutes later while he stood under a tree. It was quiet at the moment and the Pagans were seeking what shade they could find.

  “Yeah. Thanks for sharing,” Saul replied.

  “Don’t drink it anymore. Drink the regular water.”

  “Did you pay for it?”

  “What?” Angela asked.

  “The water, did you buy it yourself?”

  “None of your business!”

  Saul smiled at her. “Since you didn’t pay for it, my agreement with Ryan was we had access to what food and water we needed. If you don’t like it, buy your own damn water.” He finished the bottle and sighed as if it was the most refreshing thing he’d ever tasted.

  She stared at him a moment then her face hardened and she turned and walked away. He didn’t give a shit what she wanted, but that didn’t prevent him from watching her ass swing as she stomped away.

  A few minutes later a PA appeared. “The Rain water bottles are reserved for Angela’s use. Don’t drink those.” She handed him another bottle of the regular water.

  Saul looked down at the woman. She looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Can you give Angela a message for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “If she wants her Rain water back, tell her to come find me about twenty minutes and I’ll piss in her mouth.”

  The woman gaped at him. “I…can’t tell her that!”

  He smiled at her. “Then have her come over here and I’ll tell her myself.” He chuckled as the woman looked around as if she were trapped. “Don’t worry about it. Tell her you told me.”

  The woman smiled, nodded in gratitude, then scurried away. He shook his head, then opened the water the PA brought him and poured it into the Rain bottle, just to piss Angela off.

  ***

  “Cut! Good take, everyone!” Johnny said as a tone sounded to let everyone know they were between takes, then turned to his PA. “I’m going to break for lunch, then I want to setup for the close ups. We’ll start with Bradley.”

  Patricia nodded and made a note. “What time?”

  Johnny thought about it. Now that the Pagans were on crowd control and they didn’t have problems with the gawkers, they were actually ahead of schedule today. “Make it an hour.”

  “Twelve-thirty? That’s fifty-five minutes from now.”

  Johnny nodded and rose from his chair and grimaced as he straightened out his kinks.

  “We’re breaking for lunch until twelve thirty,” Patricia said into her walkie.

  Bradley walked up behind Saul as they picked over the items for lunch. “Tom told me about you and Angela’s water.”

  “Tom?” Saul asked.

  “My PA. They gossip among themselves. I also heard what you told Eva.”

  “Was that the girl Angela sent over to slap my hands?”


  Bradley chuckled. “Yeah. I don’t envy her being attached to Angela.”

  They reached the end of the line. Saul noticed the Rain bottles were set on the ground and behind the table, out of easy reach. He started to reach into the big cooler, then noticed Angela glaring at him, so he stepped around the table and picked up a Rain bottle, holding it up in thanks as Bradley chuckled again.

  “You’re going out of your way to piss her off, aren’t you?”

  “Yep,” Saul confirmed as Angela’s face hardened even more as she glared at him. “What’s up with her? Johnny and Ryan said she starred in a hit movie and television show that gave her the big head. Is that all there is to it?”

  Bradley nodded as they moved to a table under an umbrella. “She’s had it easy. That’s not to say she doesn’t have acting chops, because she does, but very few people are fortunate enough to land their first role in a hit television series, become the star even though they were cast as a secondary character, then transition into film and have their first movie be a monster mega hit. She did.”

  Saul grunted in understanding. “What about you?”

  Bradley grinned. “I’m one of the less fortunate. I’ve been acting for more than twenty years, since I was twelve, playing bit parts here and there on television and in bad low budget movies. I got my break with Smokejumpers a few years ago. I’ve done a couple of action movies since, but Smokejumpers was my big hit. Have you seen it?”

  Saul grinned. “Sorry, can’t say I have. I’ll check it out. What part did you play?”

  Bradley puffed out his chest and struck a heroic poise with his fists on his hips. “I was Danny McKay, heroic fireman and savior of women and kittens!”

  Saul snickered. “Women and kittens, huh?”

  “Well, woman. You know the type of movie. Boy meets girl, boy risks life to save girl but is too late, boy is heartbroken and blames himself for her death, boy finds another girl later and saves the day in a daring rescue to make up for his past sins, and everyone lives happily ever after. Still, it made a lot of money, over four hundred million, and put me on the map. The sequel is hung up in preproduction because of the script, but I’ve agreed to come back if they can get it green lit.” He grinned as he picked at his food. “I have to tell you, though, after filming that movie and talking to the guys who fight forest fires for real, I’ll never look at a camp fire the same way again. Those guys have balls dees big,” he said, affecting a stereotypical Mexican accent and holding his hands two feet apart. “Big brass ones.”

  Saul laughed. He really liked Bradley. “From firefighter to cop.”

  Bradley sighed dramatically. “I’m cursed to pay heroes. What about you? What do you do when you’re not running security on a movie location?”

  “I build houses.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I own a framing company with a half-dozen crews.”

  “Framing. That’s the guys who build the walls and stuff, right?”

  “Yeah. We come in after the foundation is laid and put up the walls, ceilings, floors, and roof. All the rough carpentry to dry the house in.”

  “You still swing a hammer?”

  “Sometimes, if we get in a pinch, but not much anymore. Too busy arguing with contractors, inspectors, and shit like that. Nothing is ever done fast enough or cheap enough to suit the contractors, and the inspectors are even worse. We had one inspector try to fail a house because we had gaps on the subflooring panels. That guy was a real piece of work. I made him show me where in the code the ⅛-inch gap we leave to prevent the floor from bucking wasn’t allowed, and he couldn’t do it. Another example of someone educated beyond their intelligence.”

  Bradley chuckled. “I know some guys like that. The movie industry is full of them.”

  Saul was about to respond the building industry was, too, when he noticed a man walking around and peering into the prop car. There was something about the way he was acting that didn’t feel right. “Excuse me a second,” he said as he rose.

  Bradley rose and followed Saul as he approached the pudgy man. He wasn’t wearing a pass. “You’re not supposed to be here,” Saul said.

  “I know,” the man said, smiling at Saul. “I figured since filming had stopped, nobody would care if I wandered around so long as I didn’t touch anything.”

  “You can’t be on the set, location, whatever. You need to step back behind the barricades.”

  “Okay,” the man agreed. “But can I get Angela’s autograph? I run her biggest fan site and I’m her number one fan.”

  “I’m sorry, she’s busy.”

  “I don’t have to talk to her! If you could just give her this to sign, I—”

  “No, I’m sorry. Wait behind the barricade and if she decides to sign autographs, you’ll get your chance then. How did you get past the barricade anyway?”

  The man smiled. “I got here early and slipped through before the barricades were set up then waited over there out of the way. All I want to do is have a chance to talk to Angela and tell her—”

  “I’m sorry,” Saul said talking the man’s arm. He didn’t resist and Saul led him back to the barricade.

  “But you don’t understand,” the man protested as Saul led him along. “I have to see her! I need to tell her how much I appreciate her movies. I’ve seen every episode of Pool and I’ve seen Fallen Petals about a hundred times! She was fantastic in that. She should have been nominated for an Oscar. I drove down from Colorado to watch her work and maybe have a chance to talk to her. Please, if I could just speak to her for one moment! I have something to give her!”

  “Step behind the barricade, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do. What’s your name?”

  “Charlie. Charlie Harton.”

  “Okay, Charlie. I’ll let her know you’re here, okay? That’s the best I can do.”

  “Okay! Thanks! That’ll be great! Be sure to tell her I’m her biggest fan and I run allaboutpoppy.com.”

  Saul nodded. “Don’t cross the barricades again and don’t try sneaking in. We’ll be watching for you the next time.”

  Chrlie nodded as Saul turned away.

  “Very well done,” Bradley said.

  Saul grinned as they walked away. “That guy needs to get a life.”

  “Are you going to tell Angela?”

  Saul grinned at him. “What do you think?”

  Bradley smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

  “We’re not supposed to speak to the talent unless we’re spoken to first, right?”

  As they began to sit down, Bradley barked out a laugh and pointed. The Rain bottle Saul had left at his place was gone, replaced by a regular bottle of water.

  Saul chuckled as he sat and cracked open the bottle. “She’d determined, I’ll give her that,” he grinned.

  Bradley and Saul finished their lunches, talking about this and that, Bradley explaining some of the common terms Saul had heard as the crew went about the business of shooting a movie.

  “Bradley, you’re needed,” Tom said as he paused behind him.

  “Work, work, work,” Bradley said with a grin as he rose from the table. “It’s been nice talking to you, Saul.”

  “Same here. I’ve got this,” he said when Bradley began to collect his trash. Bradley nodded in thanks, then turned and followed his PA. Saul watched the two men walk away, finished his water, then rose, gathering up the trash and tossed it into the nearby can. He walked back to the caterer’s table and stepped around and hefted the smaller cooler of ice and water.

  “Where are you going with that?” the woman asked as he turned to walk away.

  “My men need water.”

  “That’s Angela’s water! Take the other!”

  Saul paused and looked at the large cooler. “Nah, that’s too big to carry. This’ll do. Thanks.”

  “Wait! Wait, you can’t take that!”

  Saul ignored her as he walked away then down the line, allowing his brothers to pull bottles out until it
was empty. He returned, put ten more bottles into the cooler from the larger one, and carried it back to the barricades, making sure everyone who wanted water had some. After everyone had water he returned the cooler, loaded it with bottles from the larger one, and placed it back where he found it.

  “Thanks,” he said to the woman with a smile and a nod before walking away again.

  Chapter Five