Catch A Falling Superstar: A New Adult Erotic Romance (2 page)

“I'll tell the ocelot guild all about this,” Archer said with mock seriousness. “I'll make sure you're never promoted to full leopard. You'll only be offered kitten roles, as long as I have any say in it. And you can just forget being typecast as a lion, like I know you want.”

I giggled a little, and he briefly glanced at me with a joking glint in his eye, then did a double take.

“Oh my gosh, did he scratch you?”

I looked down. And sure enough, I had two parallel scratches down my right forearm, and they were bleeding.

“I guess he did. I didn't even feel it.”

“Let me see.”

I held out my arm, and he gingerly took it and inspected the scratch.

“Well, you need a tetanus shot. Like, right away. I know just the place.”

“I can't go anywhere, I'm working!”

He looked me in the eye from very close. Those were some green eyes... and I could almost feel the heat from him. I almost swooned for a second. It was too unreal.

“Surely you have a shift supervisor or something?”

“Yes... but she may not see the point...”

He gently let go of my arm.

“Oh, she'll see the point. You just had a work-related accident. She has no choice. Don't worry, I'll talk to her. Go get her, please. I'll wait here. Better keep an eye on this here jungle monster.”

He had a point. I went inside to find Mabel. I actually liked her, and I wouldn't want to give her any trouble. I found her in the produce section, heaping a huge crate of kale onto a large, green pyramid of the same things. They were on sale.

“Mabel, I have to go get a tetanus shot.” I show her my arm.

She put the now empty crate down and looked at it.

“Damn, girl, what happened to you?”

“I was clawed by an ocelot.”

She looked at me with big, empty eyes. I could almost see the little gears churning in her mind. She'd probably also had a bad morning.

“You were...
clawed
? By a... a
what
?”

I suddenly saw the hopelessness of trying to explain.

“Look, you better come outside. You should see this.”

I led her towards the back door at the back of the store.

“What is it? Oh no, don't tell me it's another drunk passed out back there! I hate dealing with them.”

“It's not a drunk. Don't worry.”

When we got out into the alley, Archer stood there, and this time he looked more like a movie star than before. He'd taken his baseball hat off, and just as we came through the door he was pulling his hand through his dark blond hair in a gesture that was almost iconic and impossible to mistake. He also had his trademark smirk on his face. In spite of his unflattering clothes and the makeup he was still wearing, he looked a little more like you'd expect to see him on a poster. He held the leash behind his back, so that Alfredo was partly obscured behind his legs.

Mabel must have a better talent for recognizing faces than I do, because she froze in the doorway, and both her hands went up to her mouth reflexively with a sharp intake of breath.

“Hi,” Archer said, making absolutely sure to eradicate any doubt that he was exactly who she thought he was. That voice is hard to replicate, and it goes with the face.

“Oh my goooooooood!” Mabel gasped.

“Good morning, Mabel,” Archer said, reading her name tag and making it sound as if she was as well known to him as he was to her. He gave her a friendly smile, baring very white teeth that contrasted wonderfully with his lightly tanned skin.

Mabel looked at me and him alternately, drawing her breath in as if getting ready to scream.

“Is that... is that...?!”

“I'm Archer Stratton. Nice to meet you, Mabel. I'd come closer and shake your hand, but I think it's wiser if Alfredo stays at paw's length from both of you.”

He pointed to the ocelot, which was showing no interest in either Mabel or me.

Mabel's mouth was just one big O, as she looked at the little leopard-like animal and the super famous movie star in the alley behind her ordinary LuckyStop convenience store on a cool Thursday morning. I thought she might faint there and then. Thankfully she didn't. That would have given me all kinds of trouble.

“You can see that he gave your friend Blue Eyes a little sign of his... appreciation, I guess. She's not the only one.”

He pulled back the sleeve on his left arm and revealed a tanned and wiry forearm with a number of both old and fresh scratch marks on it. He took a little step closer to us and held it out to give us a good look.

I noticed something else, too. His famous tattoo with an intertwined A and S inside a heart was sort of there, but seemed much more faded and weak than in the pictures in the magazines. Had he had it removed?

“Yeah, he likes to... umm... to draw some lines on your skin. Only if he likes you. I think. It's a sort of body art.”

I gasped. “Oh my, he scratched you too?”

“No, no. Well, yes. He just wanted to get to know me. I actually got a tetanus shot
before
I met him, because the owner said that he was sure that Alfredo would scratch me sooner or later. As it turned out, it was sooner. Like six seconds into our first scene together. It made the scene much better and more believable, the director said. Me, I think he just likes to see me bleed.”

He looked down on Alfredo.

“Yes, you liked me from the start, didn't you? Just couldn't keep those claws away of me. Yeah, I do that to some people. But mostly girls.”

He smirked at us.

“So how about it, Mabel? Let Blue Eyes come with me for her shot?”

“Yes... I... of course... tetanus... with the claws... first scene...”

She started babbling, and I totally sympathized.

Archer didn't seem to notice.

“I know that you are responsible for the store and opening it on time and so on. But you have a list of people to call if you're short staffed, right?”

“Store?” Mabel seemed to have forgotten where she was, but then almost pulled herself together. “Yes... Staff. Could you... like... sign my arm, or something? No one is going to believe this,” she said.

“Of course. I don't have a pen, though...”

Mabel didn't move. She was still starstruck and seemed ready to swoon completely.

“Maybe you have a pen I can use?” he pressed.

Mabel was still processing the whole situation, giggling like a teen. I gave her a little jab in the side with my elbow. She just jabbed me right back. She was struck worse than me.

“Mabel,” Archer said decisively, “go inside and get a pen, and I'll sign your arm or forehead or whatever you want.”

With a gasp she finally got it and ran inside. Archer just looked at me, lifting his eyebrows in amusement. He had
very
green eyes. Have I mentioned that before?

“So what happened to the tattoo?”

Damn, did
I
say that? You know how it is. I was not being myself. It still felt as if I was standing beside myself, just looking at this from a little distance. And I just said the first thing that came to mind.

“The tattoo?”

“The famous one with the A and the J.”

“Oh, that,” he said disinterestedly. “Yeah, A did something that maybe wasn't so nice, so J left. Or maybe it was the other way around. I forget. No, you just stay put.” He looked down at Alfredo again, who was impatiently straining at the leash.

“I think he's confused by all the smells and things in this alley.”

Mabel came running out the door again, holding a ballpoint pen out to Archer, her eyes shining like a kid on Christmas.

Archer reached out and took the pen, popping off the cap.

“Where do you want it, Mabel?”

She looked quickly over at me and giggled happily.

“Oh, I know exactly where I
want
it. But I have to show it to other people, so I guess you better put it somewhere other than that.”

Okay, so I was not the only one saying the first things that comes into my head. He had that effect on everyone, it seems, even grounded and sensible Mabel. That's why he's a star, I suppose.

Mabel held out her hand, and Archer started signing his name in line with her index finger. Then she abruptly pulled it back.

“No, that will rub off when I put the gloves on.”

We had to wear rubber gloves when we stocked the produce section, and we sure wanted to wear them when we cleaned up the place in the evening.

Mabel pulled up her sleeve, and he signed a very tidy

––––––––

T
o Mabel from Archer Stratton XOXOXO

––––––––

a
long her forearm in large letters. I felt almost envious of her. That was the largest autograph I'd seen.

“Okay,” he said, giving the pen back. “We'll just go now. So nice to meet you, Mabel.”

He looked at me and winked mischievously.

“And don't expect Blue Eyes to be back today. Tetanus shots can really take it out of you. She'll be bedridden until tomorrow. At
least
.”

“Okay!” She was just beaming sheepishly at him. You could practically see the stars in her eyes.

“Have a nice day, Mabel.”

Archer started walking out of the alley, and Alfredo followed willingly. I went along a little behind. As I drew up by Archer, he looked over at me.

“How's your arm, Blue?”

I looked down. I had pretty much forgotten all about my scratches, but when he reminded me, I suddenly felt that they still stung a little.

“Not too bad. I don't think he really meant to scratch that deep.”

“Oh, he did. He always draws blood. He thinks he's being friendly. It's how he says hello, basically.”

Archer waved at a black SUV that was coming down the street.

“That's our ride,” he said. “You can get in the back.”

The car pulled up and Archer easily led Alfredo to the hatch at the back, and then Alfredo just jumped in there, two feet straight up in one easy leap, without even seeming to exert himself at all.

“He's used to being in there. It's his owner's car.”

I got in the back of the big car, and Archer got in the front passenger seat and closed the door with a reassuring thump. It was a very nice car.

“Yeah, so Alfredo scratched her arm,” he said to the driver, who was turning in his seat and looking quizzically at me. “He escaped and ran into the alley behind her place of work.”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” the driver said to me in a very British accent. “They do that, the ocelots, if they haven't had all the fight taken out of them. Alfredo is not neutered, because he's supposed to retain some wildness in him. Some scratches and marks are the price we pay.”

“So I guess we'll just get her one of those shots I got the first day,” Archer said, as the driver put the car in Drive and pulled away.

“Don't worry, the medics have a lot of those shots,” the driver said. “They know Alfredo.”

“This is Eric, by the way,” Archer said to me. “He is sort of Alfredo's trainer. If he can be trained at all. Seems dubious to me.”

“Oh, even ocelots can be trained,” Eric said. “It's just a matter of remembering that they are wild animals, even if they can seem very friendly and playful. Some people keep them as pets, but then they're usually neutered and living with a family from birth, essentially.”

“How did you know we needed a ride?” I manage.

“I called him while you were inside, getting Mabel,” Archer said. “It's getting close to eight o'clock. That's my call time. Well, today, anyway.”

“I don't get it. Call time? Are you shooting a movie
here
?”

“Here in town, sure. The producers liked some of the scenery here. And it's cheaper than some other places.”

I looked out the window at boring old Walco, my home town, its old familiar buildings gray in the morning dusk. Maybe this place was more glamorous than I had ever suspected.

I
t was a short ride, mainly because the town isn't that big. We turned into a huge industrial estate and drove over to a large building that had been there for many years. I had walked and driven past it many times before. It looked like a giant storage facility, just a square building with gray walls, a couple of stories tall. Nothing special. Now I saw that the huge parking area behind it was filled with unmarked trucks, vans and trailers. They could not be seen from the street.

We had to pass a security checkpoint, and the armed guard let us into the lot as soon as he saw Archer. But he gave me a strange glance.

“Yeah, this is the sound stage. They say it makes sense to have it close to where we're doing exterior shots, because it saves time,” Archer informed me.

“And now,” he continued as the car drew to a close, “it's time to find you a medic. Then I have to get to work.”

We exited the car and went inside the huge building. It was a little warmer in there, and much brighter than in the dusk outside. The reason was immediately obvious – there were many spotlights on tripods and four very tall masts with huge lights on them, almost impossible to look at without being blinded. And the whole roof had a section that could be slid aside to let in daylight.

I could easily spot the main set, which was the interior of a run-down living room with one wall missing. That was where all the lights were pointing, and I guessed that was where the filming of the day was going to happen.

Large reflective screens were positioned in mysterious ways, and the floor was a mess of black cables with colored labels every five yards or so. Two huge cameras were pointed right at the living room set, and there was one large microphone on a long boom hovering over it.

Immediately a whole bunch of people came up to us, carrying papers and water bottles and all kinds of things. They all started talking at the same time.

“Your call is at eight am. New sides are here. Not too many revisions for you, but some for Amadeo and lots more for Lisa.”

“You have six minutes for makeup retouch, starting at seven fifty.”

“Darren wants to know if the thermostat in your trailer is broken, too.”

“Amadeo is flying in, and is expected to land on set before nine.”

“They moved video village further away towards the AC unit. Your block is still about the same. Evie will show you.”