A/N: I'm shooting for weekly updates right now, maybe more than once a week. With Thanksgiving break coming up for me in less than a week, I'm hoping to get a lot done for NaNoWriMo and make some good progress on this book.

Since I'm focusing on meeting my word count, this is just a rough draft but I hope you guys enjoy it!

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Chapter 7

I reluctantly followed them into the room and heard Lea say to Sophia, "You'll do fine. Just relax. I'm pretty sure Nora loves you already."

I narrowed my eyes at the back of their heads. Why would Nora love her already? All she had done was insult me and make my life difficult since I met her.

The room Sophia was auditioning in was mostly empty, save for a few plants, a large camera in the corner, and a long, white table at the front of the room. There were papers strewn around on top of the table and a man sitting at the table. There was another man walking around. I had probably seen them before, but I had seen too many crew members to recognize everyone.

Nora and the other two women sat down with the man at the table. Sophia walked over and handed them her folder, which I assumed contained her resume and maybe some headshots.

Lea stood beside Nora at the table and I awkwardly followed. I wasn't sure why I was even here. I watched from afar as the women had a quiet conversation – probably talking shit about us – and then the audition started.

The casting director, Rachel Collins – the one other name I had managed to remember – told Sophia that the audition would be taped and asked her to slate herself. That just meant she had to state her name and state which role she was auditioning for.

"My name is Sophia Hastings, and I'm auditioning for the part of Natalie."

I hadn't read the script, but I did know the female lead's name was Emma, not Natalie. At least Sophia was smart enough to go for a smaller role. She knew her role here, at least, even if she didn't know her role when it came to dealing with people like me.

"Christian will read the lines of William Knight," Nora said without even looking at me to see if I was okay with it. I knew this was why she had asked me to come in here. This wasn't necessary. Someone else could read his lines. Why did it have to be me? She wasn't even auditioning for a major role.

I looked over at Sophia, waiting for her to protest, but she didn't say anything, most likely to avoid screwing this audition up even further.

Fine. If she wasn't going to say anything, I had no problem doing so. "There must be someone else who could read the lines."

"Christian, this is why I called you in here," Nora said. "You were already here and I thought it would be perfect."

"I'm not even auditioning for this movie." No, no, no, no. She was not going to pin this movie on me when I had explicitly told her why I wasn't interested in this particular role when it was brought to me. "Like you said, I'm just here for Blake."

"You don't have to audition, Christian," Rachel pointed out. "Just read a few lines, okay?"

I sighed. "Okay."

Well, there probably wouldn't be any harm in just reading a few lines with my 'Mystery Girl.' I reluctantly accepted a copy of the audition scene when Rachel held it out to me from across the table.

"Alright, let's start," Rachel said.

I moved towards the center of the room and stood in front of Sophia.

"I have to go, babe," I began. I had to remind myself I was just reading a line and I wasn't about to get punched for calling her "babe."

"What? Can't you stay a little longer?" Sophia had taken on the tone of her character and was even more annoying than usual, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.

"No. I'm sorry, baby. I really wish I could. I'll call you sometime, okay?" Again, I felt like I was about to get punched for calling her "baby."

"Sometime?" she asked in disbelief. "Willy Bear, I am tired of hearing 'sometime' and 'maybe!' I want something real. I want to hear some sort of commitment from you!"

I didn't say anything. My character stayed quiet, as I would have done in that situation. This chick sounded fucking psycho.

"Are you even listening to me?" she went on.

"Listen, Natasha –"

"Natasha? My name is Natalie!"

That was why you always used pet names, my man. That way, if you did forget a girl's name, you wouldn't get kicked in the jewels for it. "Shi—sorry. Sorry, Natalie," I said. "Listen, I don't think we should hang out anymore."

Yeah, "hang out." Uh-huh.

"Is that what you think this is?" She let out a loud breath. "'Hanging out?'"

"I thought I was clear with you front the start... Natalie, I just... I need space. Yeah, space. Sorry. Besides, you deserve a real relationship."

"No, I will wait for you, Willy-Bear," she said. Her face was dead serious. It was pretty impressive considering how ridiculous her character was. I kind of felt bad for her. "We could have a real relationship one day! I'll wait as long as I need to."

"I don't think you want to wait that long. Besides, you'll probably be ugly and wrinkled by then, and I wouldn't want you, anyway."

She scowled at me. I was glad this was just an audition, because in the actual scene, Natalie tries to come at Will with a softball bat.

"Uh, this has been fun, but it's over and I'm leaving. Bye."

And that was the end of the scene. When we were finished, Rachel smiled and said, "That was really good, guys. Sophia, I felt like you were actually a clingy, psychopathic wannabe-girlfriend."

Sophia beamed at the compliment, the first genuine smile I had ever seen on her face. I was surprised to see it, but I guess talking to me didn't make her the happiest. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see it elsewhere. Regardless of her terrible personality, she did have a nice smile.

"Although..." Nora paused. "Sophia, could you do another scene?"

"I wasn't aware Natalie was in another scene," she said. "Do you want me to do a monologue?"

"No, she's not. A monologue won't be necessary, either. I want you to read Emma van der Bilt's lines. Christian, would you keep reading Will's lines?"

Why would Nora want her to read the female lead's lines? She was here to audition for a small role. I didn't like where this was heading, but I went along with it anyway. I hadn't been the easiest person to work with at times when I worked with Nora. I figured I owed her one.

Rachel handed us each a new sheet of paper. We spent a minute or two looking the scene over to become acquainted with it before beginning. She had been able to prepare the first scene ahead of time, but this one was on the spot and probably more nerve wracking for her than the first. If she was nervous, though, she hid it well.

"Just do the same thing you did for the first video," Rachel said. "Except this time... let's try adding some of the blocking. You don't have to do everything motion for motion, just the basics. Improvise if you want. This is totally casual. We're just seeing what happens. Let's start."

Seeing what happens? What was that supposed to mean?

I shoved that thought to the back of my head when I realized Sophia was staring at me, expecting me to start.

I took a few step towards Sophia, stopping when I was a few feet away from her. "Is it true?" I asked. "Or was Taylor lying?"

She glanced away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I took another step towards her. "Yes, you do. Don't lie to me, Emma."

"But I don't. I—"

I closed the distance between us and pressed her against me. I wasn't completely opposed to the feeling of her body against mine. "I know you. You can't fool me."

I thought the scene was going well until she squirmed out of my grip and stepped away from me. "Okay, this is not going to work," she said, making a scene with her outrageous coughing.

"What is it now?" I asked incredulously. It was always something with her. I always did something wrong by her count.

"The smell of Axe is okay," she said. She started fanning around her nose for good measure. She was a bona fide drama queen. No wonder she turned to acting. "Spraying the whole can onto yourself isn't."

Chuckles reverberated around the room as everyone besides me found enjoyment in her little spectacle.

"I don't use Axe. I use a personalized cologne." I guess that didn't really help my case, but I didn't want to be accused of wearing Axe. What would happen if word of that got out? I'd never heard the end of it. I'd be expected to be Axe's spokesperson for the rest of my life. Oh, god. The horror. The horror...

"One spray, Christian. Not ten."

I narrowed my eyes at her and was about to reply when I was interrupted by Rachel. "You know, I think I have a scene in mind that you two might be able to do..." she said. She and Nora shared a knowing look. What were they looking at each other for? "Actually, there are several scenes that I think you guys could do, but we'll try this one for today."

The words they were using yelled "commitment" to me and I didn't like the sound of them. I wasn't going to be in this movie. I refused to, actually. There wasn't a chance in hell.

Rachel gave us both yet another sheet and gave us a couple minutes to look over it again. It was much more hostile than the first, which was probably why she chose it. I could already tell that this scene would feel much more natural for us than the first.

Nora asked the cameraman if he was ready to go as we were glancing over the new scene and we found out he had never stopped recording. Everything we had done so far had been caught on tape.

Sophia looked even more nervous when the cameraman said that. She still looked worried when we got back into position, but she managed to shake off the nerves and return to normalcy when it was time to start the scene.

The scene started with Sophia's line. "What the hell—"

"Good morning, sunshine," I said. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

She looked over at me with an alarmed look on her face. The alarmed look was replaced by one of amusement. "I'd say good morning, but judging by the boner on your face, I'd say you weren't having such a good morning."

My character had apparently been hit at some point, probably by Sophia's character because what would be more fitting than that? I wasn't completely sure what was going on because I wasn't familiar with the script, but I was going with it.

"Actually, I'm having a pretty good morning. My luck's about to change. You wanna know why?"

She stayed quiet.

"You know what? I'll tell you why. I've just successfully kidnapped the daughter of one of the richest men in the country. So face boner or not, I'd say I'm having a pretty damn good day."

"Don't start counting your lucky stars just yet. This isn't over yet," she snapped.

"Isn't it, though?" I raised my eyebrows at her. "I'm not the one who's naked and tied up in a stranger's back seat."

She looked down at herself in alarm before regaining her composure and shooting back yet another savage statement. "Twelve hours ago, you were the one who was naked, beaten, and lying on the side of the road. I can assure you, if your tiny brain managed to figure out how to turn this around in your favor, I can do the same, and it will go ten times smoother."

Damn. That explained the face boner.

"You're a bit over-confident, don't you think?"

She smirked at me. "Worried?"

"No. I can handle you."

"If you could handle me, you wouldn't have gone to these extremes. Is there any part of me you didn't tie up or duct tape?"

"Yeah, your mouth. Clearly that was a mistake."

We skipped over a few lines that were spoken by two other characters until we got back to our lines.

"Welcome home," I said. This time, it was my character's turn to smirk.

A disgusted look crossed her face before she screamed at the top of her lungs. I winced at the sound. She didn't play around when it came to auditions. The part where I put my hand over her mouth to make her stop came naturally. All I wanted was for that awful noise to stop.

And then she bit me. She. Fucking. Bit. Me.

I had read the part that said her character bit mine, but I didn't think she would actually fucking do it. Who the fuck does that? Who actually bites people during a simple read through? I knew we were including blocking, but Rachel even said we didn't have to include everything. This seemed like something that could have been omitted.

When she bit me, I was the one who started screaming. "What the fuck, Sophia? Stop! Ow!"

She finally freed my hand, and I waved it around, rubbing it on my shirt to get her spit off of it. I mumbled incoherently under my breath. All she did was stand there and laugh at me.

I shot her a dirty look. "You weren't supposed to actually bite me."

She smiled, feigning innocence, but I wasn't buying it. She was evil. I'd said it before and I would say it again. She was five feet and a hundred-whatever pounds of pure, girly evil. "Whoops," she said. "Must have slipped my mind."

"What kind of an actress are you? For Christ's sake." I held my hand against my chest. My poor hand. My hands were actually pretty nice, I thought. I could have been a hand model if I wanted. Hell, I could have been any kind of model if I wanted. That was practically my second job. Photographers loved me.

"The kind that gets deep into character, of course."

I didn't say anything. I just kept shaking out my hand while I glared at her. While we stood there and glared at each other, Nora and Rachel quietly talked at the table. They seemed pretty satisfied with what they had orchestrated. I, on the other hand, was not so satisfied. In fact, I kind of wished I could have pressed charges on her or something for the damage done to my hand. Even I knew I would get laughed straight out of court for that one.