"That won't work!"
"Bradley, where are you pulling your hands? Change your pose!"
"What is this?! Are you really a model or should I come up and teach you how to pose?!"
Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Someone, please, remove this person from the shooting area!
If he continues to comment on their every action, the shooting will drag on until midnight. She was sure that many shared this desire with her, but remained silent.
Well, almost everyone.
"Justin Evans, isn't there an urgent work waiting for you in the office?" Catherine smiled sweetly at her boss, but the smile came out like a grin. If the camera in her hands hadn't cost three thousand bucks, she would have tested how strong this man's skull is long ago.
"What? I am already working, actually," Evans lazily leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, "I'm watching the shooting. Any problems?"
"Yes! You are my problem!" the girl approached the man and hovered over him like death with a scythe, "Who is the photographer here, you or me? If I hear at least one more comment from your side - you can start looking for a new specialist."
"Hmm. What is it, blackmail?" the corners of his lips twitched upward as lazily. Like, come on, scare me.
Joyce grunted and leaned toward him, her hands were resting on the armrests of the chair, "No dear, this is a threat. I just thought, is this girl too good for you?" Kat glanced at Emily for a second. "I have been haunted by one thought for a couple of days. Do you remember six or seven years ago-"
"I got you. No need to carry on. Keep on working," Evans became tense and gave the blonde a stern look. "Enough of talking."
"Ho ho. Am I right? How cute." Joyce's sarcastic grin made the boss more and more nervous.
"You'd better look after your cute puppy. Let him know where he belongs," he snorted, glaring at the guy next to Emily with a displeased look.
"You should have thanked him, Jus. The guy did you such a favor."
Justin put his hands on his knee and crossed his fingers, "Don't worry, I did it last night. I hope your Bradley appreciated my "thank you" gesture."
Catherine felt a chill down her spine for a second. She hadn't seen a look like that on Justin Evans's face in a long time. No matter how a person changes, the past remains in him forever.
We should check if Bradley understood the boss's "gratitude" correctly. Otherwise, they will have to look for a new male model for the Pharaoh.
"Attention everyone! We continue shooting! Emily, you stay where you are. Bradley, sit closer," Catherine commanded, and the assistants turned the lights on.
By the scenario, Emily was a strict teacher, and Bradley was a naughty student. On the set, Joyce decided to use a concept that had generated a lot of response on her boss's Instagram a few days earlier.
Emily's tight skirt only looked modest. A long cut above mid-thigh revealed a couple of centimeters of fishnet elastic from the stockings. And the black leather straps attached to the sconces showed through the thin fabric of the white shirt.
Outwardly, the girl looked stern and restrained, almost puritanical. But if you look closely at the details... The perverse fantasies of the observer were limited only to what he would like to imagine at that moment.
Emily was holding a book in her hands and pretending to read. Bradley sat down next to her and threw his hand over the back of the couch behind the girl.
"Well, now happy with your little revenge?" he hissed through his teeth, but the words were heard only by the two of them. From the outside, it looked like the guy was interfering with the girl from doing her business.
"I don't understand what you mean," she answered indifferently.
What about him? For more than an hour, all that this Bradley has been doing is puffing in irritation and twisting his face as soon as he approaches her. He's a professional model! But because of him, the boss is not happy with the result and continues to nag.
Although after talking to Kat, the boss was quiet, Emily noted to herself.
"Don't you understand?" the guy grunted and put his hand on the book, blocking the view, "In front of Kat, you are an innocent lamb, and you still keep using the boss in the most insolent way. Do you want to sit on two chairs at once? Two-faced bitch. I hate women of your kind. Once again I am warning you, if you dare come closer to-"
Clap!
Emily closed the book and slowly turned her head. The man tensed, expecting a tantrum or a scandal.
"Are you on your period?"
"What?" he didn't understand her.
"It seems to me that your tampon has shifted and is itching somewhere there."
"What kind of crap are you talking about ?!" he almost exploded, but remembered that the shooting was in progress. The camera shutter kept clicking every second.
Emily put the book aside, picked up the hem of the man's shirt with her fingernail, and pulled him toward her.
His face was at the level of the girl's breasts, but Bradley was thinking about something completely different.
He was looking into Hayes's eyes, which were as come and still as water, but the fire was raging behind the pupils, ready to consume the man in case if he makes the wrong move.
Bradley felt a lump rise in his throat that he couldn't even swallow.
"So you are saying I'm talking crap? Hmm, you might be right. The two-faced bitch, pregnant by your boss, has quite a character, did you know?" the girl's voice was deceptively gentle.
She pulled the man's shirt, and he obediently bowed his head even lower, "Pray that the crap you said does not turn out to be true. Otherwise, I will not only deprive you of your job and get my grip on the whole Pharaoh. I will make it so that you have to use tampons for the rest of your pitiful little life. Modern plastic surgery tools work wonders. Boys who like to gossip a lot can easily turn into girls. Zap - and you ain't a boy anymore. Do you understand me?"
The man nodded, and Emily could hardly resist grimacing in disgust.
She pushed him aside and got up from the couch.
She does not intend to endure such an attitude.
The girl did not notice how Catherine enthusiastically continued to take pictures, capturing Emily walking towards her and Bradley, who remained confused on the couch.
Nobody understood what they were talking about there, but it came out so hot! Better than a blonde could have imagined!
"Cut! Everybody's free! Emily, you are amazing! It will be a nuclear bomb, not just an ordinary issue!" Catherine jumped to Hayes and hugged her tightly.
"Ha? What?" Emily tried to figure out what was going on. Lost in thought again?
"I say, you were incomparable, dear! Such an expression! So many emotions! Have you taken an acting class by any chance? Your face in the frame is perfect for filming," Joyce persisted.
"My grandmother is an actress," Emily explained. She had heard Catherine's words from her grandmother more than once. But she decided to leave her childhood dream about the stage as a dream.
"Oh, then that explains a lot," the blonde nodded and handed the camera with the pictures to her assistant. "How about having lunch together? At the same time, you can tell me about your grandmother and about yourself. And I'll tell you what incidents we had on the set earlier."
Kat grabbed Emily by the elbow and pulled her to the exit, "Can you imagine, one day Evans-"
"Miss Joyce," a stern male voice, like a bucket of cold water, instantly cooled the photographer's hot ardor.
"Oh boss, are you still here? I thought you were already gone." Catherine twisted her face as if instead of Evans there was a load of... hmm, something unpleasant in front of her.
"Miss Joyce, I have not received a filming plan from you for the next two weeks."
"What kind of filming plan?" Catherine stared blankly at Evans.
"The plan. The filming plan. The filming plan for the next two weeks," he stared in response with a glance which was clearly saying figure-out-yourself-before-my-kindness-runs-off.
"Ah, that filming plan!" she held out, freeing Emily from her tenacious grip, "For which you promised me an additional seventy-five percent bonus, Mr. Evans? Well, it will take me about seven days to complete it."
Emily saw the boss's eyebrows go up for a moment.
"You mean twenty-five percent, Miss Joyce? Three days max is enough to deal with such a trivial task."
"Oh right, yes, silly me. You're right, boss. You were talking something about fifty percent. I always confuse numbers," she laughed, but it came out a little gloating.
About the mention of lunch, Emily's stomach began to rumble. Damn, I want to eat! How long will they bargain about God knows what?
She covered her belly with her palms. As she knew, a couple of minutes more, and the whole department would know about her hunger.
When Emily was a child, her grandmother said that a dragon settled inside Emily, which she still cares about to feed. The girl did not argue with that.
And the inner dragon too.
Out of the corner of his eye, Evans noticed Hayes's changed pose.
"Fifty percent. And it has to be on my desk the next day," rapped the man with a business face.
Catherine chuckled triumphantly and patted Emily on the shoulder, "Sorry, honey. As you can see, I've got urgent work. I can't have lunch with you. See you tomorrow," she shot a snide glance at Evans.
"Oh, I forgot! I have a day off tomorrow now! Bye then! I'll go and check out the nearest mall, where they just brought a new collection of handbags. My bonus should be enough," the blonde laughed and walked away, clattering her heels.
"I didn't think you were such a generous boss, Mr. Evans. That's commendable," Emily was surprised that additional work could get an extra bonus. Maybe she will get something?
I should ask Gregor Barkens if any help is needed. In the end, I still owe big for the broken Maybach headlight of one man (we will not point with a finger who we are talking about here).
"Yeah, devastatingly generous. Sometimes I think what is easier: kill or show gratitude," the man replied, staring into the corridor where the blonde disappeared.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Come on, Miss Hayes," the man ignored her question as always and gently nudged the girl in the back to follow him.
"Where are we going? The department is on the opposite side."
Heck! It looks like no lunch with free snacks at the office! And she has already found a good chocolate bar there!
"What do you mean, where? To have lunch, of course. Or do you want me to starve until dinner? We'll have dinner too, don't worry. The night is still far away," the man winked and hummed some melody under his breath, pressed the button of the elevator, in front of which they stopped.
"Please," he bowed and gestured for the girl to go inside.
The boss followed her into the elevator.
Emily didn't even know there was an elevator in this wing of the building. In addition, it goes all the way to the top floors. It was clearly rarely used, this is is number one. And number two - the elevator was damn small!
"Let me," the man reached forward with his hand. The girl twisted. "I have to choose a floor," the boss said deceptively softly.
"Uhm-Of course," Emily shifted a little to the side and found a panel of buttons behind her.
Why the hell did I follow him?! I could have refused!
Emily wanted to bump her head against the side of the elevator. And why is her brain not functioning normally with this man?
"Thank you," a velvet baritone blew through her hair on top of her head. There was a slight chuckle.
The elevator doors slammed shut.