CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DEVILISH LAUGH

The photoshoot in the subway was pretty fun. After the previous photoshoot, Christina didn’t believe Trevor could have more poses up his sleeve, but miraculously, he did. He did these crazy shots with Christina standing on one platform while Mark stood on the opposite one and the train sped between them. At least, that was what Trevor said they would look like once he was finished with them.

Christina and Mark spoke briefly before Trevor started taking pictures.

“How are you feeling?” Mark asked gently.

Christina looked him up and down. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn for the shoot the day before. So was she. He still looked absolutely mouth-watering and Christina was positive she was right to do what she could to try to win Mark even though her shoulders ached. Essentially, she’d worked from early morning and all day to try to make herself ready—not for the photoshoot—for him. He couldn't even see everything she'd done since she was wearing the wig. Some of it was visible anyway, but it didn't seem like he noticed. Well, he would notice.

She pouted her lips and glanced at his face again before returning to her water. “It’s a little cold down here,” she said, touching her bare shoulder with her fingertips.

“Do you want a coat?” he asked considerately.

“No,” she said, even though she had goosebumps. “We have to get to work. Are you ready?” The playful look she gave him wasn’t lost on him as he joined her in front of the camera lens.

For these shots, they weren’t posed so closely together and very few of the shots required Mark and Christina to touch each other. She had to use every ounce of her charisma to make herself blush like she was the luckiest girl in the world when she wanted to stare Mark down like a stalker.

By the end of the shoot, Trevor was congratulating both of them on a hard day’s work. He took fewer shots than he had the day before. “I’m pretty sure I got what I wanted,” he said lightly, but Christina could tell he was about to fall on his face from sheer exhaustion.

She bit her lip to make it look plumper and touched Trevor on the shoulder. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked in her most delicate little-girl voice.

“Yeah,” he said, forcing himself to perk up. “I just had a long meeting with Collin this afternoon and I’m fried.”

“He didn’t get out of it until it was time to start setting up here,” Mark said between tight lips. “So, we’re finished?”

“We’re finished,” Trevor yawned. “You two can get changed.”

Christina took Mark’s hand and led him up the escalator. Their trailer was above ground. She slid her arm around his waist and, by doing so, practically got into his coat with him.

“So, we didn’t break up this afternoon?” Mark asked, sounding like something was still wrong.

“Did you think we had?” she asked, looking deeply into his eyes.

“Well, I made you sad… or mad… or…” Mark stuttered. He couldn’t help it; Christina was playing with his hair and intentionally blowing in his ear.

“Bad?” she asked quietly. Then she stepped off the escalator. She couldn’t believe it when he stumbled. “Come on,” she said, pulling on his hand. “I want to get changed.”

When they got into the trailer, Christina got behind the Chinese screen and started stripping. She was very uncomfortable, but she pulled it off as best she could. She draped her shirt over the edge and started talking.

“Mark, we may have argued this morning, but that’s all in the past now. I thought about what you said and I think you have a good point.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah,” she said, while she zipped up a pair of Mindy’s black pants. “A girl wants to be treated like a princess, so why shouldn’t she look like one if that’s what she wants?" Christina slipped a shiny black tank top over her head. “You know?” she said as she came out from behind the screen.

Mark reached for her, but she walked right past him to her dressing table. “I want to take off my wig,” she said.

“Ah, but of course,” Mark said, like at least something she said was starting to make sense. He started unlacing his boots.

Christina had to be very careful as she took off her wig. She didn’t want to upset what was underneath. Of all the things Christina had done that afternoon to try to get ready to be Tina all the time, one of them had been the hardest. She had gotten extensions. When she took off her wig, she had long straight honey-colored strands that were really attached to her head. Mark liked long hair, so she was giving him long hair. She picked up a brush and started smoothing it.

“Is that another wig?” Mark asked. He had gotten up and was standing beside her.

“No. This is my hair now. What do you think?”

“It looks good,” Mark said, twirling a strand between his fingers. His eyebrows were pulled together and he was clearly confused.

Christina shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care what he thought and started putting on her jewelry. She put on two silver hoop earrings, thick silver rings, and three hoop bracelets. Then she grabbed a little red cardigan and put it on to cover her shoulders.

“Are you going to get changed?” she asked looking at his clothes. “Mindy left already, so I was hoping you could give me a ride home.”

“What are you playing at?” he asked, looking at her like he was more worried about her than enchanted.

“I told you already. You said you liked the way I looked when I dressed up, so I’m trying it out, okay? Does it make you like me better to see me dressed like this?”

“So, this is for my benefit?”

“It’s for mine,” she said briefly. She was about to say more when Mark suddenly bent down and kissed her. His hands were all over her and his lips and breath were so hot. It was everything she wanted. She needed him to feel the same way about her that she felt about him. His hands were on her back and he crushed the fabric of her shirt in his fists. Her knees were buckling. She felt so weak; like she might faint or fall on the floor. The trailer around them was becoming dark.

In the end, she had to pull away from him before she blacked out.

“What’s wrong?”

Christina didn’t know what to say, so she stumbled over to her bag and took out her shoes. “You’re really hot,” she said. “It’s sort of too much for me right now. I think I need to get some air. We can pick up here after I’ve got control of myself.”

“That’s supposed to be my line after I do something uncalled for and you shove me off,” Mark said as he reached for her again.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she said, evading him.

“Wait,” Mark begged as she slipped out of the trailer and stood on the empty city street.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Just two breaths,” she promised. Then she closed the door between them. It delighted her that he looked disappointed.

Christina took two heavy breaths, but she didn’t feel refreshed. What was she going to do? She wasn’t confident she could keep herself conscious and if she couldn’t even kiss him for thirty seconds, how was she going to fare when they got further along? And he was so intense. She'd had better control of the situation on New Year's Eve.

She lazily made her way down the three steps that led to the trailer, thinking.

“Tina, is that you?” a voice suddenly came out of the darkness.

Christina’s head swung around. “Who’s there?”

“Nothing to fear,” the smooth voice continued as Dominic stepped into the light of the trailer. “It’s just me.”

“What do you want?” she asked crossly.

“I wanted to thank you for your help. My sister is all set up now, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“She's not with Mark… or Trevor,” Christina squeaked.

“If only either of those guys had anything to do with the real plan,” he drawled as he took a slow drag from his cigarette. He looked ghastly in the weird yellow light from the trailer. His hair and skin were so pale and his eyes shone out through his red glasses. “She was only trying to get Collin to the altar and so now that she’s won him, I’m finally free.”

“Goody for you,” Christina said sarcastically. She didn’t care two straws if Dominic owed Laura favors. “When’s the wedding?”

“It was yesterday. I think they’ll announce it at your wrap-up party.”

“Oh? Really? And why are you here now? Is Alexander bummed about missing out on the shoot?”

“Why would he be bummed about that? Like he cares if he blows off Capier! In his mind, he was only doing it as a favor to Laura.”

“And in your mind?” Christina asked, thinking of Dominic’s face when Alexander walked off the set.

“They were important clients,” he admitted wearily. “Any paycheck is better than none, which is where he’s headed.”

“And you?” Christina asked suspiciously. “Did you decide to blow him off?”

“Soon, Tina, soon. It won’t be long now before he isn’t offered anything new. He ran off the set. News gets around fast, and it’s very bad business to walk out because of a temper tantrum. He already has a bad reputation and now I suppose it’s going to get worse. I won’t have anything to book if he keeps this up. So, whether I drop him or not is unimportant.”

“So, what about your career? Alexander acted like he was your full-time job. If you don’t have him, what do you plan to do?” Christina asked suspiciously.

Dominic seemed to slither as he moved toward her. “I’ll have to scout new talent of course.”

“So, you want to be my agent?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“I really think you have potential.”

“Do you?”

“I want to make you an offer.”

“What sort of offer?” Christina asked skeptically.

“I have a job for you working as a fashion model. It’ll last about four months and then we’ll see if we can find you something new after that.”

“Where is it?”

“London,” he said and the word seemed to hang in the air like a glowing moon between them.

“Oh crap,” Christina said out loud. She couldn’t help thinking about what Mark had told her that afternoon about moving to London for a job in public relations. Christina put her hand to her forehead. If the job offer wasn’t just some lame trick of Dominic’s then it was her way to go with Mark to London legitimately. Mark could take his great job offer and she could take hers. They could still see each other while not being in anyone’s way. She was sorely tempted. She really didn’t want to let Mark go, but she didn’t know what she could offer him that would make him want to stay.

“Are you tempted just because of the location?” Dominic asked coyly. “How curious!”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Christina said quietly.

“That’s all? You just need to move to London? You don’t care what the pay is, or what the job will be like, what hours you’ll work, what clothes you’ll wear, or anything? All that matters to you is that you’ll live in London.”

Christina rolled her eyes. “Don’t pick up on things so quickly,” she said wretchedly. “Or if you do, at least have the grace not to talk about them out loud. But now that you’re mentioning it, I do have one question.”

“And that question is?” Dominic asked as he flicked away his cigarette.

“What’s the catch?”

“What catch?”

“There has to be something you want me to do for you in exchange for this marvelous opportunity. You’d better tell me that part before we go any further.”

Dominic hesitated before he said sweetly, “It’s nothing really. A token.”

Christina waited for him to finish with her hands on her hips. She drummed her fingers on her hip bone.

“Oh, don’t be so grouchy!” Dominic accused as he came right in front of her so that her toes on the step above brushed his shins. He took off his sunglasses and showed her the purple circles under his eyes. “I just want to make up with you. You said those horrible things about me. I’ve been miserable ever since we weren’t friends.”

“Okay, then,” she said, feeling sorry for him. “I accept your apology.”

“I didn’t apologize,” he said, squinting. “Yet,” he said, and then without warning his hands were gripping her cheeks and his mouth was on hers.

Christina didn’t have a chance to do anything; not to push him off, not to bite him, not to scream, or do anything else before a harsh voice interrupted them.

“Tina!” Mark barked from the trailer door.

Dominic pulled off her but quickly maneuvered Christina into a sideways hug so that her arms were pinned to her sides.

“Let go of me!” she yelled, but Dominic did no such thing.

He simply answered Mark by saying, “You’re interrupting.”

“Am I?” Mark said with his eyebrows arched.

“Mark! Help me!” Christina screamed. Dominic wasn’t telling go.

Mark took a deep breath and came down the steps. “Let go of her, Dominic.”

“Or what?” Dominic asked, holding tight to Christina while she struggled.

“I hate you,” Mark said weakly, and Christina wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or Dominic.

Then Mark punched Dominic squarely on the jaw. He let go of Christina and fell back onto the pavement.

“Leave her alone,” Mark said, taking Christina’s hand and striding quickly away from the trailer.

“Not on your life,” Dominic yelled, still lying flat on his back. “She’s going to be my new model.”

Mark whipped around and looked Christina in the eye. “Is that what you two were talking about?”

Christina nodded. She was stuck, but if she lied it would be worse.

Mark looked incredulous, but he gripped her hand tighter and hurried her toward his car. He opened the door for her and even helped her inside.

He got behind the wheel and pushed the button so all the doors locked automatically. “He was attacking you, right?”

“Yes,” Christina said. “But he wasn’t lying about the job. He offered me one.”

“And you? Did you want to take it?”

Christina was about to answer when Mark interrupted her, “So, I take that P.R. job and move to London and you become Dominic’s new feature model, is that it? No hard feelings between us because we’ll break up for the sake of my job and then you can do whatever you want.”

“The job he offered me was in London. I listened to him because I want to be with you,” she squealed. She had to get the truth out before he exploded.

“And the only way you can think of to get us to be together is to whore yourself off to Dominic? Why not just ask me if you can come with me? You’re my assistant, whether we’re lovers or not. I’d still have asked you to come. You are a great assistant.”

“And that’s what you love about Christina? That she’s a great assistant?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what, Mark?” Christina yelled, as tears formed in her eyes. “Forget about me. You wanted me to be Tina, so I became her. If you take me to London, then you want me to be Christina, so you’ll have an assistant. Don’t you understand? I do not have the energy to be both people! I am either Tina or Christina. If I’m Christina, then you go to London by yourself because she would never go that far for a man who would never love her properly. She’d stay and work at Capier for a different P.R. officer.”

“And if you’re Tina?” Mark asked quickly.

“I don’t know,” Christina said thoughtfully. “She’s the kind of girl who makes big demands and gets what she wants. She won’t come just to be your girlfriend, and she’d make a mess of your office because she’d flirt with everyone. If you want her to come, you’ll have to make her a pretty impressive offer.”

“What kind of offer?”

Christina frowned and risking everything, she said, “It would have to be big. You’d have to promise to love her forever. You know, give her something worth giving up her boring self for and worth giving up her flirtatious self for. You have to make it worth her giving everything for you. Big.”

Mark started the engine and turned on the headlights. “And you’d come to London with me?”

Christina nodded her head in the darkness.

“What about Dominic?”

“I don’t think he’s going to be easy to get rid of. I never dreamed he would go that far for me.”

Mark smirked in the darkness and threw his car into reverse. “I told you,” he said sharply. “Tina makes guys want to do that."