by Haley Weir
“If our secret gets out, we will end up dead...or worse…” Archer said, trailing off.
“I know, I know, we could end up as lab rats,” Keaton rolled his eyes. It was a story he had heard a million times before. Archer hated repeating himself, but it seemed like the only way to get his brother to listen.
“We are safer as we are, brother,” Archer insisted. He placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze of comfort.
“I just…I had hoped that there might be a few females out there like us,” Keaton said. He shrugged his shoulders and Archer’s hand dropped down to his side. “You know, it would be nice if we could have someone to share our secrets with instead of hiding them.”
Archer sighed at that. He had once hoped for the same thing, although he had given up on that search a long time ago.
“Believe me, I know how you feel,” he admitted, with his thoughts on Vanessa. What he wouldn’t give to have a woman like that know everything about him. She would be strong, willing to shoulder half the burden. But he would never be able to trust her. It was more than his personal burden. It was his brother’s secret as well, and therefore too dangerous to tell anyone else. “The truth is, I don’t know if there is anyone else out there like us. I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking.”
“We could follow the rumors,” Keaton suggested. “There’s always some story or another going around somewhere.”
“I said no. That’s my final say on the matter,” he said firmly. Archer began to shift and change then. “I am going home because it’s starting to rain, and I have things to do.”
“You know, I have never met a wolf who hates the rain,” Keaton laughed.
“That’s because you’ve never met another wolf,” Archer reminded him just before he fully transformed. He gave his brother a bow of his head before he charged off in the direction of the cabin. As he drew closer, the rain grew heavier. It soaked through his fur down to the skin. By the time he reached the garden, he had to shake off the water along with his wolf form.
Archer’s skin crawled as it always did after a shift. He found himself wishing that he could return to his wolf form, his most natural state. But he knew he had things to do. He couldn’t afford to let his human life go downhill, even if he did prefer to be running in the woods.
***
One Week Later
Filming day in and day out was hard enough without Archer’s antics, but Vanessa found that by the end of the week she was growing to the end of her tether. However, she kept her composure. It wasn’t until she saw the great monstrosity that was being removed from the back of one of the trucks that she really began to flip her lid.
“Payne! What the hell is that?” she demanded as she saw the intimidatingly handsome man overseeing the other workers pulling piece after piece of what seemed to be a shower cubicle from the truck bed.
“A ‘good morning’ would do just fine, sweetheart,” Archer replied with a smirk. Vanessa barely managed to stop herself from reaching out and slapping some sense into him. Sometimes she loathed that familiar smug, handsome face. It wasn’t fair. He should have been scarred, overly sinewy, with construction dust all over him. Instead, he managed to look even hotter, if that was possible.
My god, he’s so arrogant, she thought to herself. She hated arrogant men at the best of times, but Archer Payne seemed to be the worst of the worst. Perhaps that was just because he was so damned attractive, not that she’d ever let him know that. His head might explode if it got any bigger than it already was.
“Archer, what the hell is it? I didn’t authorize that thing on my set!” she said, pointing at the parts that were being piled up beside the truck.
“It’s the new shower I ordered for the project,” Archer explained. “The last one just didn’t work for me. It wasn’t big enough, if you know what I mean.”
When he raised his eyebrow at her, Vanessa struggled not to explode. Stay calm. You’re calm. Her hands tightened into fists at her sides and her teeth clenched into a snarl.
“Archer! I have about had it up to here with you,” she hissed, gesturing with a hand above her head.
“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing you only come up to my shoulder then or we would be in trouble,” Archer laughed, and he placed his hands on his hips. “Aren’t you the one always going on about us using our own initiative?”
“On set! Not spending company money to buy yourself fancy new toys!” Vanessa couldn’t stop herself from yelling then. “Besides, not everyone has a Neanderthal taking showers in their master suite!”
“If it was just me, I’d say it was fine. But this Neanderthal needs help washing his…back. Come here, let’s try this on for size.” He reached out, attempting to grab her from a few feet away. She mentally winced. If he grabbed her, she knew that sparks would fly. Nothing good would come of it.
“Don’t,” she warned, taking a step back as he gave her a devastatingly charming grin. When the cameras swung around to her, she was suddenly all too aware that they were being watched. She cursed herself for letting go of her anger as something nagged her in the back of her mind, and she remembered that the cameras were filming live.
Goddamn it! A voice was screaming in her head and she barely managed to stop herself from muttering the words out loud. In a measured, calm voice, she stated, “no new toys. Not on my set. Not without my approval.”
“Oh, honey, I don’t need toys to get the job done,” Archer said, winking at her. There would be no way to fan the flames of her anger..
“Hey, you two! I think you better cool it for a minute and come look at this!” one of the set supervisors yelled over.
“In a minute!” Vanessa and Archer yelled in unison, without taking their eyes off each other. Their gazes were connected with such intense fury that Vanessa found herself drawn to him as though a magnet was pulling them closer.
“Really, you need to see this!” the man repeated, and Vanessa finally relented. She whipped around, suddenly realizing just how close she had gotten to Archer. It was too close for comfort. She didn’t turn quick enough to miss the smirk that spread across Archer’s face, and she found herself ready to yell at him all over again.
“What is it, Robbie?” Vanessa asked as she turned her attention to the tablet device that was shoved into her hands.
“You have got to look at this,” he told her as Archer wandered over. Vanessa was hyper aware of how close he was to her, and the way he sidled up behind her to look over her shoulder.
“What is it?” he asked, and the soft warmth of his breath almost overwhelmed her. She fought a shiver, trying to focus on the screen in front of her.
Vanessa watched, amazed, as the tweets began to roll in. One after another, they popped upon the screen with #hardhats and Vanessa couldn’t believe her eyes.
Are Vanessa and Archer a thing? #hardhats
I want to see some more of that Vanessa chick. She’s got a nice ass #hardhats
Those two are on fire #hardhats
Whew it’s like a chemical fire onset and it’s HOT HOT HOT #hardhats
I want her to rip off his shirt – do it V, do it #hardhats
This show just got SO BAD. And it’s SO GOOD. Cannot stop watching! #hardhats
Just then, Vanessa’s phone began to ring in her jacket pocket. Her heart hammered in her chest as she pulled out the device. Her heart dropped when she saw that it was her boss calling. A lump formed in her throat as she imagined the kind of shit storm she was going to receive from him the moment she answered. Taking a deep breath, she pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers and answered the call in a calm voice. “Hello Simon. Is everything alright?”
She had to play it cool, not letting on that she’d already seen the tweets. He would go even more bonkers if he knew that anybody was on social media while they were on set. The kinds of things that could be leaked with the simple press of a button were all too damaging.
“Everything is wonderfu
l, Vanessa! Simply wonderful!” Simon sounded awfully chipper, and Vanessa couldn’t decide whether it was too good to be true.
“What can I do for you?” she asked calmly. If he was going go postal, she wanted to avoid it as long as possible, although she knew she would have to rip the band aid off sooner rather than later.
“The powers that be have been talking, and they want to see more of you,” Simon explained. “We here at CW30 have been talking, and we’d like you to get some more behind the scenes shots with our main man, Archer.”
Vanessa found herself glancing at the infuriating man who still stood too close, and she wasn’t sure whether or not he could hear every word that Simon was saying on the other end of the phone. She quickly stepped away from him in the hopes that she might keep the conversation a little more private.
“What are you asking me to do?” she questioned.
“We want you to follow Archer around, see where he goes after filming, and give the public a little of the real Archer,” Simon explained in an overly excited voice. Vanessa felt her stomach tighten with concern.
“You want me to spend more time with him?” she gaped into the phone, unable to believe what she was hearing. The time she spent with him was already enough for her. She couldn’t stand the thought of having to follow him around like a little lost puppy.
“Yes, and the best thing is that the bosses want to see you on screen too,” Simon continued, and Vanessa really began to feel anxious. She had never been in front of the camera before, at least not before now. She knew from the tweets that at least one camera must have gotten the tail end of their argument, if not the whole thing. “You guys have chemistry and the public clearly want to see some more of it.”
“If by chemistry, you mean I want to rip his eyes out of his skull sometimes, then yes, I guess you are right.” Vanessa glared at Archer, hoping that he could now hear every word she was saying.
“Right back at you, sweetheart,” he called over, smirking again. So he had heard her.
“Get the job done and CW30 will consider bringing ‘Hard Hats’ back for a second season,” Simon said into her ear. That was the bombshell that sealed the deal.
“I’m on it, sir,” Vanessa sighed, although she was sure she felt her soul suck right out of her body the moment she agreed. She had just sold her soul to the devil and she could never get it back, no matter how hard she tried.
Hanging up the phone, she turned back to Archer and gave him a wiggle of her finger. “My trailer, now. We need to talk.”
“Oh, looky here boys,” Archer joked. “It looks like she wants me all to herself now.”
With that, he began to stalk over to her and Vanessa barely managed to stop herself from sucker punching him in the arm.
“Stop it, Payne. You’ve gotten us into enough mess as it is,” she insisted as she turned and led him over to her small trailer on the outskirts of the set.
The second the door closed behind them, she felt a little more relieved, She hoped that the camera crew had not thought to bug her trailer while she’d been on set.
“What’s up, babe?” he asked as he dropped down onto the nearest seat.
“You can cut the crap, Payne. There are no cameras around now,” Vanessa said as she pulled open the nearest cupboard to grab a bottle of water and some painkillers. The headache that had begun forming in her temples was going to be debilitating if she didn’t get a handle on it.
“Like I told you before, this is all me, baby,” Archer said, opened his arms wide, as if to indicate she should take a good look at him. Little did he know, she already was…she was always looking at him. The man demanded attention; because everything about him screamed confidence.
“Ugh, why the hell did I have to go and cast someone as arrogant and self-confident as you?” she snapped at him, trying to take out her ire on not being able to resist him. “You really do get on my nerves.”
“Come on, we both know you want me,” Archer said without laughing. There was something deadly serious about the way he’d said it, although the words themselves were teasing in nature. His eyes burned with intensity, and somehow she felt the trailer shrinking around him. His massive frame filled up the tiny trailer, and she could smell him. She reasoned that even after he left, there would still be remnants of that smell. She hoped that there would be. The man smelled like heaven – all sex and plywood, dust, and cologne.
“No, I really don’t. But it seems that the public want to see more of the two of us together,” Vanessa confessed. She felt bile in the back of her throat at the mere thought of what she was about to say. She knew that Archer was a private person. He might be an open book to her, but in front of the camera, he never wanted any of his personal information on display. She knew the tabloids and paparazzi had the same rules – nothing private could be shared or he’d give them nothing at all. “CW30 want me to follow you around and get a look at your daily life.”
“You already do that here on set,” Archer shrugged. “No big deal. Why do you look like that’s not all?”
“From what Simon said, they want me to see you at home. In your natural habitat, so to speak,” Vanessa admitted in a soft voice. She couldn’t help but notice the way that Archer stiffened at that, and she dove in while she could. “What’s wrong, Payne? Have you got something to hide? Because you should know from my reputation that I am excellent at finding things people don’t want to share,” she said.
“No way in hell is that happening.” Archer shook his head and pushed himself abruptly to his feet. In a firm voice he said, “I am not having you stalk me. I can’t believe you actually thought of this. You know how I feel about my private life.”
“It wasn’t my idea. But why not, exactly?” Vanessa was intrigued by his reaction. “Does Archer Payne really have something to hide? I thought you were an open book from the way you act, like you are getting a different woman in the sack every night.”
Vanessa knew that she had him on a hook. She could tell from the way that he squirmed. His face darkened immeasurably.
“You can forget it,” Archer said in a deep, sexy voice. “It is not going to happen. I have every right to keep my privacy. I didn’t sign any contract that say I have to let you into my personal life.”
“You know that what the company wants, they get. Right?” Vanessa reminded him. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Vanessa saw a flash of anger run through Archer’s dark eyes then and she had to stop herself from taking a step back. She couldn’t have him thinking that she would back down.
“Don’t push me on this, Vanessa,” Archer said, his voice one step up from a growl. “I said no, and I meant no. I am not doing it. If you want to follow some idiot around for all the juicy details of his life, go and find someone else.”
“But the company likes the idiot that we have,” Vanessa protested with a quirk of a smile.
“I said no,” Archer refused again, and this time he slipped past Vanessa, making his way from the trailer and slamming the door loudly behind him. Her phone began to buzz off the moment the door slammed, and she groaned inwardly, knowing exactly what it would be. More tweets were coming in about how Vanessa and Archer had just had the biggest row ever on live television.
“Great!” she hissed as she threw herself down into the seat where he’d been sitting only a few moments before. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
She knew what she was going to have to do if she wanted to keep her job. She would have to get Archer to change his mind. The public wanted him, and that meant that she needed him. Otherwise, she could kiss her show and her career goodbye all in one foul swoop.
Placing her head in her hands she gritted her teeth and groaned out her frustration into her palms, hoping that nobody else on set could hear her and how Archer Payne had affected her. The last thing she needed was for people to get the wrong idea about their relationship.
This is strictly professional, she told herself, altho
ugh she had a terrible feeling that the way Archer Payne had gotten under her skin was far more personal than everything that went on while they were on set.
She tried desperately to push her thoughts away and turn to how she would change Archer’s mind. She had a feeling he was a man who wasn’t easily persuaded to do something that he didn’t want to do.
***
Archer deleted the third voicemail he received from Vanessa in less than twenty-four hours. He gritted his teeth as he did so, hating having to do such a thing to her, knowing that it would piss her off, but he couldn’t help it. He had to do what he had to do. There was no way he could let her in, let her see the man behind the mask that was Archer Payne. He knew all too well the kind of woman Vanessa was, the kind of woman who would make a quick buck off a secret like his in a heartbeat.
He gritted his teeth and dropped his cell phone down onto the bed beside him. Staring up at the ceiling, he did his best to calm the rage inside him with deep, large breaths. Thoughts raced through his mind, images of what might happen if he allowed Vanessa and CW30 to discover his secret. He shivered at the thought of being a lab rat hooked up to beeping machine after beeping machine, being poked and prodded with needles and never seeing the light of day again. That wasn’t a life he would risk for any amount of money.
There was only one solution. He would have to give Vanessa the cold shoulder until she really got the hint and left the idea well alone.
They can’t film anything without my permission, he thought to himself, although he couldn’t help but wonder just how true that was. He knew well enough that it didn’t always work that way in this industry. People had been caught out before. Why should he be any different?
“What the hell have I gotten myself into?” he asked as the sound of his cell phone ringing hit his ears. He picked up the phone, rejected the call when he saw that it was Vanessa, and flicked it onto silent.
