Action, p.6
Action, page 6
Davina’s heart beat so ferociously she was sure it was trying to break out of her chest. Don’t ask. Just don’t ask.
“What other questions?” she said.
He gave her a bemused smile.
“Right now I’m seriously wondering what’s keeping your dress up.”
She looked down at her strapless dress, then looked up to find her cleavage had his full attention. The spell was broken. Men.
“Take your gardening gear and leave.”
Jack sauntered down the steps to the garden.
“I’ve decided that I like it here.”
“You need to spend some time in your own life, at your own house.”
“This is my house, princess.”
Davina made a little strangling noise, when what she really wanted to do was throw a full blown tantrum.
“You know,” he said over his shoulder, “you were a lot friendlier when we first met.”
Against her will her cheeks burned.
“And you were a lot more cooperative.”
“If you want that sort of cooperation again, just say the word. But this time I’ll be the one tying the scarves.”
With that he disappeared into the overgrown garden. With a frustrated grunt Davina let herself into the house, making sure she locked the door behind her. He was messing with her head. She peeked out the window and clenched her fist. She thumped the glass. When Jack looked around she shouted at him.
“Put some clothes on!”
His smug little smile made her want to pummel him.
Or throw herself at him. Instead she dropped the curtain and gently pounded her head against the wall. Maybe that way she could knock some sense into herself.
The house was suspiciously quiet for the rest of the afternoon. Jack wandered around and tried to look like he was gardening. He had no idea what he was doing. He’d lived in a concrete apartment block his whole adult life. His outdoor space consisted of a balcony big enough for a treadmill. He randomly pulled up plants hoping they were weeds and listened to Davina’s activity through the device in his ear. So far it had mainly consisted of banging doors and cursing him. He smiled against his will. That woman did funny things to his brain. When she was around logic left him and he found himself thinking with Mr Big. Mr Big didn’t care that she was growing drugs. Mr Big only wondered how she managed not to fall out of her dress. He looked down at Mr Big in disgust.
It was getting dark. So far there was no sign of the visitors she’d mentioned. Now and then the net curtains would twitch and he knew she was watching him. He wondered if she’d called and cancelled. Either way it didn’t matter, he couldn’t garden in the dark. So he pretended to pack up and made a big deal out of driving away. As soon as he was out of sight from the house, he parked behind a bush and waited. Wishing he’d brought a snack.
It wasn’t long before three cars passed. Jack wrote down the details. A few minutes later the two scooters from the night before arrived. He was beginning to regret putting the bug in the kitchen, because all he was getting was static. The passenger door suddenly swung open. Jack resisted the urge to put a hand over his racing heart.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Andy said as he climbed in.
“You are so lucky that UK police don’t carry guns. You can’t just sneak up on a guy like that.”
“One, you’re not police anymore. Two, I didn’t sneak, I walked. Three, you’re the one sneaking around.”
Andy smacked him in the chest with a paper bag.
“Food.”
Jack ripped it open.
“I take it back. Good to see you, Andy.”
“Yeah, right.”
Jack ate the burger in four mouthfuls, while Andy stared into the darkness and clenched his jaw. As much as he appreciated the food, he wasn’t so cheered about the fact that it likely came with a side order of ‘get your act together, Jack.’
“Look, Jack,” Andy started, before he’d even finished the fries.
Jack held up a hand to stop him.
“Wait, they’re talking.”
He put the monitor on speaker mode. Andy’s eyes were wide.
“You bugged her?”
“No, I bugged my own house. I don’t see any laws against that.”
Andy shook his head.
“You, my friend, are on thin ice.”
Jack shushed him and ignored the glare he got in return.
“This is quite a set-up you have here. You’re full of surprises, Davina. Makes a man wonder what else you’re capable of.” It was a male voice he didn’t recognise, a bit high-pitched and slightly whiny. Jack disliked him instantly.
“I’m trying to keep it professional. This project is important to me; I don’t want to waste a minute.” Davina sounded strained.
“I can see why you need me though, this place is full of amateurs.”
“Yes,” Davina said. “I know. I appreciate your help. We’ll get everything done a lot faster with you on board.”
“Two weeks, you said, then you have to clear out?”
Jack cast a glance at Andy. Now he had his full attention.
“No, I said two weeks until I have to clear all the equipment out. I can’t have it around when my landlord comes to inspect the place, so that has defined the schedule.”
Jack’s heart sped up. He knew it. She was up to something.
“I suppose I can manage two weeks,” said the whiny guy.
“Super,” Davina said. It sounded like she was making a huge effort to be upbeat.
“But, what do I get out of this?”
There was a pause. Jack clenched his jaw. He didn’t like this guy’s tone.
“We went over this, Derek. You will get a cut of all profits. That’s all I can offer. I don’t have any cash right now, but you will get a percentage. And of course it will help you to make more of a name for yourself. Open up doors.”
“Well, that’s only going to happen if this is a success. If this whole thing bombs, I won’t get anything and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Nothing is going to bomb. I’ve put a lot of hard work into this. It will be a success.”
“Whatever you say. But it seems to me that you need me more than I need you.”
He heard shuffling people moving around.
“I think we should spend some time together, over dinner, nutting out the details of my share of the action.”
Jack scowled into the darkness. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew one thing: Davy shouldn’t go anywhere with this guy.
“I don’t think we need to do that,” she said. Jack smiled thinly. “I think we’ve gone over everything.”
There was silence. Jack thought they’d left the room for a minute.
“You know,” the guy said. “You should be a little friendlier towards me. After all, without me your project is going nowhere.” There was a pause. “If I’m unhappy there is no knowing what I would do. One phone call, Davina, and your dream would be over. Why don’t you think about that,” the guy said, “while I go whip the amateurs into shape?”
A door closed. The talking ended. Even after everything he’d heard he had to fight the urge to run back to the house and rescue Davy. It was that magnetic field again. Pulling him in. Jack peeled his white knuckles from the steering wheel, took a deep steadying breath and looked at Andy.
“Still think I’m imagining all this?”
Andy looked grim.
“You recording this?”
“Yep.”
Andy flicked open his phone.
“Hey Sue, you know that background search I asked you to do, but said there wasn’t any hurry.” Pause. “Yeah, well it’s a rush job now.”
He flicked his phone shut. Jack tried not to look smug.
“Seems you were right, Jackie boy,” Andy said.
Jack knew there were unsaid words at the end of that sentence. He meant – you were right this time.
“I need to find out who that guy was,” he told Andy.
“Yeah, sounds like he’s connected to a bigger operation.”
Jack frowned. It took him a second to follow what Andy was saying.
“Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t like the way he was talking to Davina. Sounded like some sort of threat to me. She could be in danger.”
Andy stared at him for a minute before a slow grin lit up his face.
“Yeah, you’re right. She might need some protection.”
Jack nodded. He couldn’t see what was so funny.
“Exactly. I’ll keep an eye on her until we figure this out.”
“I bet you will,” Andy said with a shake of his head.
Davina sat down at the kitchen table with a thud. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She knew getting Disgusting Derek involved was a mistake but she’d gone and done it anyway. All she could think of was her precious movie and getting it finished on time. Now her problems had ballooned. She felt dirty just thinking about him. Her dad had always warned her about cutting corners to get her dream, he said some things weren’t worth what you had to pay for them. She was beginning to understand what he meant.
“You okay?” It was one of her adult students, a girl called Melanie. She had seventeen piercings in her face. Davina knew, she’d counted them during class one night.
“Yeah.” She tried to smile reassuringly but couldn’t pull it off. So much for her acting ability. Melanie was clearly unconvinced.
“They’re waiting for you downstairs.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Melanie hesitated before closing the door.
“You can do this,” Davina told herself when she was alone again. “You want this. It’s your big break. It’s only two weeks and then your life will change. You can do two weeks.”
The problem wasn’t the two weeks. The problem was the consequences of the two weeks. She had a horrible feeling that those would last a lot longer.
“There’s a problem,” Marianne said as she rushed into the room. “One of the boys has to go away this weekend.”
Davina pretended to pound her head on the table.
“Drama queen,” Marianne said with a grin.
“Seriously though, how am I supposed to keep to a schedule without him?” Davina’s brain was hurting. First blackmail. Now the crew were jumping ship.
Marianne made reassuring noises beside her. Together they headed out of the kitchen and down to the basement, where everyone else was rehearsing a scene.
“It’s too late to replace him,” she told Marianne. “I’m going to have to change everything. We’ll have to work during the day. Maybe we can get his part done before he goes away? Do you think he can skip school tomorrow?”
“He might for another plate of brownies.”
“I am sick to my back teeth making brownies. I wish I’d never started.”
Marianne pulled her into a hug.
“I know, honey. Just take a deep breath. It’ll be okay.”
“How am I going to shoot the outdoor scenes with the Terminator working in the garden all day? He made it crystal clear he’s going to stick to me like glue until the inspection deadline.”
“What we need is a plan. Something to get him out of our way for the day. There are plenty of capable people here now who can shoot the scenes. It frees you up a little,” Marianne said, with a twinkle in her eye. “You don’t know any way we could distract your landlord, do you?”
Davina’s shoulders slumped. She looked down at her strapless dress. Unfortunately she did, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go there.
CHAPTER FIVE
11 DAYS TO MAKE A MOVIE...
JACK WAS SERIOUSLY getting into this gardening thing. The more overgrowth he cleared away the more excited he became about his inheritance. He hadn’t really thought much about what he’d do with the place until Davy had brought the topic up, but now his head was full of ideas. He stopped piling up the stones that had fallen off the raised garden bed and looked around. The old house had serious potential. He thought about Davy’s idea for a B+B but dismissed it – he couldn’t see himself as a welcoming host.
Still, he couldn’t help think that the place should be shared with people – the way Millie had opened up her garden. He surveyed the outside of the house. Maybe once he’d renovated it he could run tours. Nope. That didn’t sit right with him either. It would come to him. He had time to figure out what to do with it. After all, as everyone kept pointing out, he was unemployed. In the meantime he had more than enough to keep him busy.
He walked over to the lawn mower he’d borrowed from a mate and yanked it to start the motor. It spluttered a few times before roaring into life. That was more like it. Jack grinned with satisfaction. Maybe, if he kept the property, he’d invest in one of those ride-on mowers. Now, they were cool.
He mowed one perfect strip along the side of the house, smiled at his work, turned to mow another strip and stopped dead when a plant pot missed his head by an inch and shattered in front of him.
Davina was leaning out of an upstairs window and she didn’t look happy. He turned off the mower. Folded his arms and waited for the latest tirade.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked. “It’s seven in the morning. I was asleep.”
Her hair was tousled, her eyes were slanted with sleep and her cheeks were flushed. Mm. Jack felt his stomach rumble at the sight of her. Hungry. And not for food.
“Get out of here,” she ordered. “Let me sleep.”
“No.”
He was the owner. He had rights. And he was pretty sure that one of them was the right to maintain his property. Pretty sure. He’d have to look it up.
“I’m warning you,” she growled.
He shrugged. She didn’t scare him. Seriously – what could she do? He turned his back and started the motor again. The window slammed shut above him. Jack smiled smugly. Power. It was all about taking the power back.
He didn’t hear her come up behind him. And he didn’t see the scissors until it was too late. She didn’t hesitate before snipping the cord that started the motor. Then she leaned over and flicked the switch that stopped it. Without a word she stalked back into the house, slamming the door behind her.
Damn. Jack looked at the borrowed motor. He couldn’t start it now.
“I’m adding this to your rent,” he shouted at the house.
There was silence. Jack stood with hands on hips wondering what else he could do that was noisy enough to cheese her off. Nothing came to mind. With a sigh of frustration, he picked up his garden shears and set about trimming the shrubbery. All the while wishing he had an electric-powered hedge trimmer.
Jack was sitting on the porch steps drinking Ethiopian coffee from a flask and munching his way through a stack of sandwiches, when the back door opened. He glanced at this watch – nine o’clock. She’d stayed in bed until the middle of the morning. Slowly, he turned to deal with his tenant and his heart stopped dead.
“I’m running a few errands,” she told him as she slid a pair of over-sized sunglasses up her nose. “The door is alarmed. I’ll be gone most of the day. See you later.”
She tottered past him on spiked heels that were the colour of blood. Jack grabbed her lower arm, making her stop on the step beside him.
“What?” she demanded.
Unfortunately his tongue was welded to the roof of his mouth.
“Hey.” She clicked her fingers in front of him. “I’m in a hurry. I have people to see. What is it?”
He ran his eyes up the length of her. She was wedged into a figure-hugging red dress. It reminded him of something a vamp would wear in a 1940s film noir. It barely stayed on her shoulders before curving into the deep line of her cleavage. She pointed a red clutch bag at him.
“Hoi, you. Let go.”
Her auburn hair fell in waves over her shoulders, as deep red lips pouted at him.
There were words in his head, but he couldn’t get them out of his mouth. Davina rolled her eyes and yanked her arm from him. She sashayed down the steps towards her tiny car. Her keys were already in her hand. Any second now, she would be gone. Unless he stopped her. He dropped his sandwich and ran to stand in front of her.
“What’s the problem now?” She pouted up at him.
Jack said the first thing that popped into his mind.
“You can’t go out like that.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“Really?”
“It’s too revealing.”
“Revealing?”
She looked down at herself then back up at him. She clearly thought he was mad.
“It’s too sexy,” he said helpfully.
“Thank you.”
She tried to step around him. He moved to block her again.
“I’m not kidding,” he said. Although in the back of his mind there was a voice telling him he was seriously demented. “Put something else on. Maybe a baggy sweatshirt or something. Here.” he unzipped the old grey hoodie he was wearing and handed it to her. “Take this. It’s autumn. Wrap up.”
She didn’t take the sweatshirt.
“You have lost your tiny mind. What I wear, or don’t wear, has nothing to do with you. Now get out of the way. I’m busy.”
He shook his head. He couldn’t let her go out looking like that. She would attract too much attention. Men would drool over her. It wasn’t good.
“I can’t let you go out like that,” he told her.
“You can’t stop me.”
She had a point.
“Fine.” He ran a hand over his head. “You can go, but I’m coming with you.”
Davina stared at him for a moment.
“Have you been eating the mushrooms that grow in the garden? Because I don’t think they’re the edible kind.”
“We’ll take my car – it’s man-sized,” he told her. “But first you need to get a coat.”
“You don’t play with a full deck, do you?”
There was a rumbling noise in his chest – it matched the sound of rushing wind that was in his head.
“I’m sticking to you. In that get-up you’ll attract too much attention.”
“Oh.” Her face softened. “That’s sweet, but you don’t need to protect me. I can take care of myself. And, truthfully, I don’t need you hanging around all day.”
