Stunt Doubled: A Movie Star Standalone

“She was only there for a couple of hours, and you nearly ran her over. What do you think she thinks?” Aiden said.

“I can speak for myself,” I snapped.

“Sure you can. That’s why you’ve been silent for the past forty-five minutes.”

What an ass. “Is that why you went into acting? So no one would know what a rotten personality you have?” I countered.

There was a moment of silence and then all three men laughed. “Good one,” Ford said.

I shook my head, exasperated. I hadn’t said it for their amusement.

“Come on, I’d like to know,” Tanner said. “I’ve worked on movie sets my entire adult life. I’d like to know how it looks from an outsider’s perspective.”

“Dusty. Dirty. And red rocks as far as the eye can see.”

“That pretty much sums up desert shoots,” Ford said. “Did anyone give you one of Aiden’s cowboy hats? They really do help with the sun. It gets so strong at noon that it’s like it’s able to wiggle its way around your sunglasses.”

My hat was probably still in Mac’s truck. I shouldn’t still want it now that I knew it came from Aiden—or to be more precise, now that I knew Aiden was a jerk—but Ford had a good point about the sun. Plus, I kind of wondered how it might look on me.

“Princesses don’t wear cowboy hats,” Aiden said.

That was already getting old. “Exactly what about me reminds you of a princess? The dress I’m not wearing? The heels that aren’t on my feet? The tiara that’s not tangled up in my hair?”

“It’s how Mac always described you,” Aiden said.

“He doesn’t even know me.”

“He used to,” Tanner said. “He’d talk about you sometimes, and he always described you as kind of a girlie girl. Pretty dresses. Pretend tea parties. I know it’s a sensitive subject, but well, he did. He missed you.”

“Not enough to stay in my life.”

“People change,” Aiden said. “I’m betting you don’t still have tea parties.”

“I’m sure he did change,” I said. “He became a better person and a better father—for you guys. Not for me.”

Silence met my bitter words, and it lasted for a minute or two until Aiden turned the car into a driveway and the headlights illuminated a two-story house.

“That’s a pretty depressing note to end on, but we’re here,” Tanner said.

Aiden shut off the engine and hit the button to unlock the doors. “Just a second,” Ford said. “Ronnie, I know that nothing can make up for the past, but please keep in mind that no one in this car is responsible for that. Aiden and Tanner were only eleven or twelve when Mac started dating their mom. None of us had a father, and we didn’t know we were getting one at your expense.”

“We?” I said quietly.

“Ford’s like a brother to us. That makes Mac his stepfather too,” Aiden said. “So you might want to stop treating him well while treating us like shit.”

“Maybe she treats me better because I don’t antagonize her,” Ford said.

“Plus he saved her life,” Tanner added.

“Fine,” Aiden said. “The Princess has met her Prince. Can we get out of the car now?”

It was the first time I agreed with Aiden. I wanted to get out and breathe in the night air—and I needed to get as far away from Aiden Hunt as possible. As far as I was concerned, he was a huge jerk—like stepfather, like stepson.

After the day I’d had, I slept like a rock. The guys had been speaking the truth at dinner—the living arrangement did give me privacy—probably more than a shared hotel room would. My bedroom was on the second floor and had a double bed. Ford told me that the owners of the house had regularly rented out this room and the other on the second floor—which was his—before they rented the whole place to the studio for the duration of the desert shoot. Therefore, my room had everything I needed. Soaps, towels, sheets, and extra pillows and blankets. It was actually quite comfortable. Of course, I was so tired I probably would’ve been able to fall asleep in a tent in the backyard with a scorpion for a pillow.

I woke up at seven, not sure what time we’d be driving to the set. Since the house was quiet, I figured the others weren’t ready yet. The shower was great, and I washed my hair, trying to rid it of the bits of dust and dirt I hadn’t been able to brush out after my fall yesterday. While I dried off, I checked out the cuts on my legs. None of them looked too bad, and I left the bandages off, all except the biggest one. I had a bruise on my knee where I thought I’d hit it against a rock, but all in all, I felt good. Refreshed, even. Ready—mostly—to face the day.