Page 23 of Jace 4Ever
“My bed, with you.”
Oh.
“Unless you really want your own space? I have another bedroom all set up and ready if you’re not—”
“No, no,” I said. “I just… No, sharing your bed is fine. Good. I’m sure it’s a great bed.”
He moved to sit next to me on the love seat I was currently on. “Jace, I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to. I swear. I like you, and since we already crashed together, I didn’t think you’d mind. I’m more than happy to put you in your own room.”
“I’m not used to my partners seeking affection.” Where the hell that came from, I didn’t know—but it was the truth.
“Partners?” Nelson asked quietly.
“Fuck buddies,” I whispered the words. I didn’t really like to swear, or make it sound so…trite.
Pursing his lips, he took my hand. “I hope I’m more the partner type than the fuck buddy type. I don’t ever want you to think I’m taking advantage of you, Jace.”
“You’re not.” Blinking a few times, staring at our hands together, I swallowed. “I’ve learned to say no if it’s something I didn’t want. It just…surprises me how open you are with your affection.”
Turning and facing me, he had the signature grin on his face that was his hallmark in Hollywood. “We’re not all uptight cult-affiliated dickwads.”
The laugh escaped me. “Okay, fair enough.”
“So, you want to help me rewrite this trash?”
“Oh yes.” I nodded. “I do not want to see Xavier Renegade turned into a parody of himself. He needs to be the same strong guy—can we give him a secret daughter?”
He drew back a bit and looked shocked. “I was thinking son.”
Shaking my head, I grinned. “Too easy. He’d know what to do with a boy. But if he had a daughter who was just like him, it would totally throw him off.”
Slowly, Nelson canted his head, and the smirk grew on his face. “A daughter. Just like him, but Xander raised her.”
“Oh, you’re bad.” The laugh escaped me. “Do we want to make Xander redeemable or just straight up evil?”
“Zach says he likes playing irredeemably evil, so we should make him totally awful. We also shouldn’t kill him. We should save him for a second movie. But make his escape believable. Like he used a body double or pull anOcean’s Elevenon him. He’s long gone by the time they realize he’s not there.”
I cackled. “Yes! And he set the whole thing up because he knows Xavier so well. He pushes the daughter back to her father because she’s totally been betrayed. Like, maybe the whole setup was to show that Xander didn’t really care about anyone but his own ass.”
“Good! Awesome,” Nelson said.
Holding up a finger, I cleared my throat. “And her name should be Xanthippe.”
“Whoa, where’d that come from?”
“Well, it was that or Xena.”
“Is that a real name?Zan-tip-ee?”
“Yes.” I grinned. “She was Socrates’ wife.”
“Oh, damn…” Nelson laughed hard. “That’s amazing. Yes. Her name is Xanthippe.”
I looked at the script on the table. “Have you started working on it?”
“No.” He stood and walked over to grab his laptop. “I don’t know how to start it after the ending of the last one. Nothing was working.”
“Do you want him rogue or on payroll? He left rogue, right?”
