Page 38 of Jason
Jason tucked her hair behind her ear, then let his hand fall to her shoulder.“You have to trust me on this, Mallory.Cass and I know what we are doing.”
She supposed that meant she did not know what she was doing.She supposed that meant that while he would tolerate her suggestions, he wasn’t open to taking them.And there it was again—the overwhelming urge she always had in his presence—to punch him in the mouth and then kiss him silly.
But Mallory climbed into the vehicle and pulled out her phone to call the head writer.
Chapter Eleven
The warehouse smelled worsethan the first time Jason had stepped foot into it with Cass.It was freezing inside, and something was dripping from the ceiling.He noticed dark stains on the floor that he and Cass had decided was rust, but neither of them wanted to examine too closely to be sure.
“Gross,” Mallory said.
“Told you,” Jason said, poking her in the side.
“But it’s perfect.How can you and Cass not think this is perfect?”
Jason looked at her sidelong.“Just curious—do you think this is perfect because Cass doesn’t think it’s perfect?”
“My opinion has nothing to do with Cass,” she said primly.Then shrugged.“Not 100 percent, anyway.Hey, look at this!”she said, and walked into the middle of the space.She held up her hands, forming a frame.“See that shaft of light coming in from the window?It’s dark and creepy, and that light gives us just enough to see.So imagine the camera pans over this gross place, and the viewer thinks it is empty, but then you see something, like a foot or a hand, in the narrow shaft of light—and the camera shows us three women huddled together in the corner looking terrified.”She dropped her hands.“This place is perfect.”
Jason looked at the shaft of light.
Mallory walked back to where he stood and made a frame with her hands again, just in front of him.She slowly moved them around to the corner.
Jason had to admit, it was pretty good.It was creepy.And it wasn’t a big pit, which, he had to agree, would be a filming nightmare.He’d said as much to Cass, and Cass said Jason had no balls.Sometimes he suspected that Cass didn’t respect him, that he threw things at him to see how he would handle them.He suspected the pit was one of those things.
Mallory dropped her hands and turned to look at him with a hopeful expression.“So you know the scene when the killer comes in,” she said, and began walking through it, talking through every step of the scene, pointing out the camera angles.Jason was impressed—she’d definitely done her homework.She had a clear vision.As she talked, he thought of all the times she’d suggested things and he’d essentially patted her on the head and sent her on her way because he was too busy to hear them.Jason could really be a moron sometimes.
She was looking at him with so much hope and eagerness that he couldn’t look away from her.He knew how that felt.How important it was to find someone who heard your ideas and liked them.But he also had Cass to consider, a world-class director with a short temper, legally contracted to him to direct these episodes.The location really was his call.
“Well?”Mallory asked.
“I will ask Cass to reconsider,” he offered.“That’s all I can do.”
“Yes!” Mallory cried, and pumped both fists into the air.
Jason had a strong urge to kiss her right now.But he didn’t want her to think he was offering to speak to Cass because he was attracted to her.“It’s his call, Mallory.I can’t make any promises.”
“I know, I know, and I would never expect you to,” she interjected eagerly.“Just that you’re willing to ask him, it means…well, it means a lot, Jason.”She beamed a smile at him.
Damn, but that smile could inspire a guy to do all kinds of things that were probably not advised.He wanted to make her happy, he did, but he knew without asking that Cass would say no.Cass never bowed to the opinions of others.He was very much a my-way-or-the-highway sort of man.He wanted to tell her that Cass probably wouldn’t consider it, but she looked so excited he couldn’t do it.So he held out his hand to her.“Let’s go.There is a cove I want to check out.”
Mallory was still grinning as she slipped her hand into his.
The cove Jason had in mind was a good thirty minutes outside of King Harbor on a strip of coastline that was too rocky and steep in places for most tourists and beach walkers.As they drove along the coast, Mallory chatted how she would direct that scene in the warehouse if it were her.How she thought she could wring more emotion out of the actors than the script portrayed.Listening to her, Jason was a somewhat astounded that she knew so much about the details of the shoot.When he looked at her, he saw an assistant.Someone to find his phone and get his coffee.He hadn’t considered her own ambitions, and how she had thought so much about how the show was being guided and shot.
They reached a small inlet on the edge of a promontory.Just around that point was the cove.At the entrance to the inlet was a weathered wooden cabin painted blue.The wordsDead Man’s Covewas painted in faded white letters over the door.On the outside walls hung a line of boat fenders, fishing nets and lobster pots, and a plastic shark.
“This looks ocean-y,” Mallory said.“What are we doing here?”
“I’m going to hire a boat,” Jason said.“Then we’re going around that promontory,” he said, pointing, “and take a look at Dead Man’s Cove.”
“Great,” she said, sounding less than enthused.
They walked up to the porch of the building.A sign proclaimed the sea shop was open from ten until four.When Jason opened the door a little bell tingled overhead.He and Mallory stepped inside the crowded room and waited for someone to appear.A few minutes later, a man who looked to be in his fifties with a scraggly gray beard, wearing a thick, cable-knit sweater, stepped up behind the counter.
“How can I help you folks?”
“We’d like to hire a boat to go and have a look at the cove,” Jason said, and glanced at Mallory.“They say bootleggers used to run out of the cove.”
