Stunt Doubled: A Movie Star Standalone

“She has an active life,” Ford supplied. “She’s taken martial arts classes. And hell, even with yoga, sometimes you end up falling on your face.”

I nodded gingerly. “And I climbed trees as a kid.” And fell out of them, too.

Tanner still looked concerned. “Do you want me to drive you home?”

“No, thanks.” I was learning to use as few words as possible.

“She’ll be fine,” Ford said.

“She’ll be fine if you don’t kick her in the face anymore,” Tanner said, his voice harsher than usual.

“It was an accident,” I said, but my speech was slurring because it hurt more to enunciate everything clearly.

Ford looked at his old friend. “Look, this happens. You know it as well as I do. She’s not concussed, she just needs ice and rest.”

“Painkiller,” I added.

“If you need to rest, you can take a nap in Aiden’s trailer,” Tanner said. “Or Sierra’s if you’re more comfortable with that.”

“She doesn’t need you babying her,” Ford insisted.

“And she doesn’t need you being a dick because you feel guilty,” Tanner snapped.

Their unforgiving attitudes toward each other hurt me more than my face did. Since I didn’t have the ability to tell them to knock it off, I stood up. Tanner immediately stopped glaring at Ford and jumped to his feet to help me.

“Need rest,” I said. Ford nodded and Tanner put his arm around me and slowly led me away.

The next day when I went to the office, Tina took one look at me and shook her head. “Ford got you good.”

“Guess I need a little more practice on learning how to duck.” I’d spent most of last night with ice on my face and Tanner pampering me. Ford was still crabby, but he’d checked on me a number of times, as had Aiden.

Tina made me stand under the light so she could see the bruise under my eye. “Oh yeah, that’s going to be purple and yellow in another day. The ladies over in hair and makeup can give you something to put on it if you’d like. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time, but the stunt men usually don’t care if they have bruises.”

I didn’t particularly care either now that it only ached a little, but I’d think about her suggestion. Purple and yellow weren’t my colors.

The pain diminished so much that I didn’t even think about the bruise until after lunch when Mac barged into the office.

“Let me see,” he demanded. I was getting a bit tired of people saying that to me. He grasped my chin between his thumb and forefinger and angled my head this way and that as he examined my black eye. By the time he was done, I was ready for another painkiller. Why did people always move the head of the injured person instead of moving their own damn head to examine them?

I turned to Tina. “Did you tell him about this?”

Mac scowled. “I’m the stunt coordinator. I hear about everything that goes on in my department.” Over his shoulder, Tina nodded that yes, she’d told him about it. That made sense. I hadn’t figured Ford would be eager to volunteer this information to Mac. And as it turned out, with good reason.

“I don’t want you working on stunts with Ford anymore.”

That shocked me. “But everyone says he’s the best.”

“He is. I don’t want you working on stunts at all.”

“Why not?”

“In the first place, there isn’t much need for stunt women. And even when there is, they almost never do fight scenes, so there’s no point in you working with Ford on that.”

“I enjoy it, and it’s good exercise. I don’t see the harm in training as long as it doesn’t interfere with my other work.” I didn’t have much other work, but he didn’t know that.

He gestured toward my cheek. “You don’t see the harm? Have you looked in a mirror?”

“Yes,” I said, though truthfully, I hadn’t wanted to look very hard. “It wasn’t Ford’s fault.” I knew that was the truth, but I didn’t know if I could convince Mac of it. I couldn't very well tell him that I’d been distracted by Ford’s hot-as-sin body.

“He’s the trainer. You’re the student—that makes it his fault. But you’re not going to be his student anymore. I spoke to some other department heads, and they’ve got work for you to do.”

Ugh. I was torn. On the one hand, the studio had hired me, so of course I should work for my paycheck. But I had a feeling that the tasks Mac’s friends came up with would basically be busywork.

I bit my lip as I tried to figure out how to get through to Mac. “I’ll help out however I can. But fitness is a big part of my life, and that means that sometimes, I’m going to get injured.”

“If you pull a muscle while stretching in a leotard, that’s one thing. But if someone’s training you, it’s his job to make sure you’re safe.”