Page 65 of To Hate Adam Connor

“Because we talked? He doesn’t hate me as much as he did when he first found me in your backyard. Can’t say for sure if he loves me or not, but at least he is engaging in conversation now. I even made him laugh a few times. We’re becoming friends, I think. I’m wearing him down.”

“When did you guys have time to talk this thoroughly?”

“When you sent him to the station with me. What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged my question off. “This one is about a brother and sister. They are con artists and work with this small group of people. My character is supposed to fall in love with his mark and then end up killing his sister when she goes after his love.”

“That sounds a bit more interesting,” I conceded.

He grunted and turned a few pages, handing the script to me when he was done. “The dialogue isn’t strong enough. The sister should be a stronger character if she is going after his love interest. She is made out to be this unstable person, which takes away from the character. Someone else has to go over it and change things around.”

I looked at it and couldn’t see anything jump at me. “Change what?”

He leaned closer to me and our legs touched.

Good Lord! He was practically abusing me at that point.

“Let’s do a read-through, you’ll see what I mean.”

“Read-through?”

“Read the lines to me, Lucy.”

“Who am I? Laurel?” I pointed at the name and looked at Adam.

“You’re Laurel, my sister. And I’m Damon.”

“Okay. You start.”

At the top of the script it said, Ext. The Cemetery – Night then said Laurel was walking over to Damon with a suspicious look on her face as he waited for her next to their father’s grave.

Suddenly he got up and offered me his hand. “Let’s stand up so you can get into your role.”

I snorted, but still took his outstretched hand to stand up. “I’m not going to be your costar. I don’t need to get into my role.”

“Come on, humor me.”

“You want me to do this because you think I’m unstable too, is that it? I’ll make the character more believable for you?”

“Don’t be so suspicious, Lucy. Just read the damn lines.”

The scene was just two siblings talking. What could be the harm, right? Who would skip the chance to read lines with freakin’ Adam Connor—especially lines that might very well end up on the silver screen.

“What are you going to read?” I asked, looking around to see if there was another copy.

“I already read through it twice. I’m good with that scene. Just start reading.”

The script in one hand, I smoothed down my shirt, shook out my shoulders, and read the damn lines.

“Why did you ask me to meet you here, Damon?”

Adam reached out and lifted my chin with his fingertips, short-circuiting my brain.

In the background Frank Sinatra was singing “Fly Me To The Moon”.

“You’re supposed to look at me when you’re speaking. And put a little more emotion into it. The scene is set; read through the lines to get a sense of what the script gives you.”

I willed my heart and a few lady parts to calm down then looked straight into his bottomless green eyes. “I’m not an actress…be happy with the amount of emotion you’re getting.”

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