The Silver Screen Wars

6 - Premier

 "No, you can keep the underwear," Kodi told him. "I'll wear everything else."

He looked at her as if he had just opened a dumpster lid to find her staring out at him.

"I'm not putting on a lace bra in the passenger seat of your car, sir."

With a long-suffering and maybe even pitying sigh, Bishop turned his attention back to the long, winding road that had led them out of Los Angeles. They had pissed the city limits a while ago, but he showed no signs of stopping as they continued to cruise down the road at a surprisingly respectable speed.

Weird. Kodi was glad for it, but it was still weird. How many twenty-something year old men bought a Bugatti just to go the speed limit? She had been fully expecting to crash into every boulder and cactus that lined the road while he cursed and swore in the driver's seat, stewing in road rage potent enough to turn the car into a fermenting pot. But would wonders never cease - this was actually the calmest and least wound-up she had seen him yet.

"You're really going to wear that ugly s**t underneath the halfway decent clothes I bought you," he said, and he slapped his hand lightly against the steering wheel. "Basic white cotton s**t -"

"It does what it needs to, sir. Sorry if I don't think paying hundreds of dollars for a little strip of fabric is worth it when no one else is seeing it anyway."

Kodi should have known that wouldn't be the end of their conversation, but she hadn't quite been prepared for the electric glare he shot her way. Angry? Maybe, but something in his glower gave her the impression that she had said something personally offensive to him. Oh, of course. He was a one-percenter, so of course he would take it as an unimaginable affront when someone scorned the wastefulness of a wealthy lifestyle.

Bishop Cassius. The so-called premier director of Hollywood, the gem of the film industry. So what? He'd been born into money, hadn't he? Something about a wealthy father who'd passed on and left all his inheritance to an estranged son and made him one of the youngest billionaires in the world overnight. Kodi didn't know the details, being relatively new to the scene and also utterly disinterested in gossip, but she could imagine how easy it would be for someone with that much money to get whatever reputation they wanted.

Premier director, her ass. She wasn't going to let him lead her by the nose just because he could wipe his ass with hundred dollar bills and think nothing of it.

"Don't think that I'm going to keep babying you and picking out your clothes, Kodiak Clyde. But one thing you do need to know is that I don't accept half-assed work. You can wear your ugly basics underneath, but on my set, you work from the bottom up. Everything, full effort. And I will know if you're giving anything less."

"My clothes aren't a reflection of my work ethic."

"No?" Bishop jerked his head slightly to indicate the thin gray sweatshirt and jeans she had left folded between them. "So what you choose to wear in the morning knowing it's the first impression anyone will have of you, it has nothing to do with the effort you're prepared to put into everything else?"

Kodi had amused herself earlier, driving this man to the very fringes of his patience, but now it was she who was grinding her teeth at the dismissive pompousness of his words. What the f**k did this guy know? Growing up on Gucci and Louis Vuitton and whatever else people like him couldn't get by without, what did he know about effort?

"So why am I here?" she snapped. "Because I know the price tag on my clothes had s**t to do with the reason you picked me out of - what, fifty people that were standing in that auditorium with me? So yeah, I didn't calculate the net worth of whatever I put on this morning before I walked out. Because when I walk into an audition, the only thing I expect anyone to respect are results, not my brand,  Bishop."

She raised her chin when he turned his eyes away from the road to look at her. A staring match? Sure. She was down. If he thought she was going to back down and let him keep talking out the side of his neck, she was only too happy to prove otherwise. And if he continued to have a problem with what she said and wore, then she wasn't afraid to get out of his car and walk all the way back to the city.

But he didn't say anything, just watched her through those stupid aviators that Kodi was half-tempted to rip off his face and throw out the window. Instead, she locked gazes with him, daring him to keep the argument going. She could go all day if he wanted, she thought venomously. One thing was for certain, she didn't have a shortage of opinions on either him or his clothes.

They glared wordlessly at each other for what was undoubtedly a dangerous amount of time, but thankfully they were on a deserted stretch of straightaway road with nothing to crash into. Even so, Kodi wouldn't have blinked an eye if the man had really driven them right over a desert canyon. Some things were worth dying for, and this grudge match was easily one of them.

It would be the easiest decision she'd ever made in her life, hands down.

But eventually, Bishop returned his attention to the road and left Kodi staring at the side of his face instead. They continued on, speeding past cacti and desert rocks and endless dirt.

"You know," he said, "I liked it better when you called me 'sir.'"

-------

Kodi opened her door before the car even stopped rolling. Every second spent in a confined space with Bishop Cassius was one too much, and even standing out in searing ninety degree heat in the middle of nowhere was better than breathing in his egotistic fumes. Bishop, for his part, exited the vehicle with far more grace, but she wasn't about to admire his poise as she tugged down her denim shorts with a fury.

"This thing is riding up my ass," she snapped when he came around the front of the Bugatti to join her. "Next time you can wear it yourself."

"You really need to learn how to exercise your God-given right to stay quiet." He looked her up and down with a critical eye, inspecting the half-sheer quality of the fine cotton that comprised her loose top. "You'll be fine in this. Lot of dust out here, make sure you don't choke on it. Water's in the car."

Yeah, right. First of all, he was the one who had churned up the dust with the wheels of his car to begin with. Secondly - as if she was going to take a single sip of his pure artisan glacier water bullshit. She would rather cough out her lungs and die on the spot, giving him the middle finger all the while. He could take his overpriced magic water and slide it up his own ass. Maybe then he'd be able to relate to the discomfort of these too-short shorts she had put on.

To his credit, at least he had stayed true to his insults and not glanced her way as far as she could tell while she had been changing next to him. Not that she was exceptionally shy, but she had been expecting him to reveal an even nastier temperament with a groping hand on her bare thigh or buttock. And then she would have used that excuse to sink her fingers into his face and inflict a perfectly justified, brutal mauling.

But even now, his eyes didn't linger on her body, and if anything all she saw was unadulterated distaste on his face as he looked her over.

"Don't embarrass yourself," he said. "Stay quiet and listen. And learn. Over here!"

Kodi stepped back when Bishop suddenly raised his arm in a sharp wave at an unseen person behind her. There was someone here? She hadn't seen anyone when he pulled off the road and parked in the dirt, but then again, she had been more preoccupied with just getting out of the car than with paying attention to her surroundings. And indeed, when she turned around to follow Bishop's gaze, she saw a man climb out of his own vehicle and approach them through the light cloud of dust swirling around her. Now this guy had certainly dressed sensibly - in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and beige cargo shorts. Holy hell, Kodi thought with glee. For one thing, if her clothing choices had pissed Bishop off, was she going to get to see him blow his top when it came to this guy? She was looking unspeakably forward to it.

But more importantly, she would recognize that lazy, good-natured smile anywhere after her last encounter with it only a month ago. Yes, that lanky, bald man with soft gray eyes in his early thirties, famous for wielding an easy charisma that had managed to charm even her despite her initial doubts about A-lister actors -

"Mr. Monlavia!"

Kodi saw Bishop whip his head around to stare at her from the edge of her peripheral vision, but she was long past caring about anything he did (if she ever had). She began moving forward to meet the men halfway, her pace quickening unconsciously with each step. By the time she came to a stop, her arm was already extended to receive the man's handshake.

"Damn good to see you, Kodi. How've you been."

There it was, his easy, low tenor voice that never rose or fell with full inflections. She couldn't believe there had ever been a time when she had thought he was shady for it.

"Doing what I can, that's all," she replied with a grin. "I was just talking about you with a couple guys not three hours ago. I had no idea..."

"Neither did I, but glad we made good on our promise a lot earlier than we were expecting. So are you officially on board with us...?"

"She is," Bishop cut in, having caught up just in time to catch the question. He ignored the unkind glance Kodi shot his way and all but elbowed past her. "How do you two know each oth -"

"Actually, I'm not," Kodi said loudly. She caught Monlavia's gaze flickering over at her interruption, but if that was a shade of shock in his gray eyes that she saw - well, she didn't care. If Bishop was going to disrespect her so blatantly, then she had every reason to dish back exactly what he gave. "No contract, no service," she added. "As far as papers go, I guess I'm just here for the view."

She could almost hear Bishop's teeth grinding against each other. Good. f*****g good.

"The contract," he grit out, "will come."

"When?"

"...Today."

"Today when."

"f*****g hell -"

"No, how about you go to he -"

"Hang on, Kodi," Monlavia said gently, and as suddenly as if he had shouted, she found herself abruptly falling quiet and turning to look at him. He flashed her a small half-smile and a nod. "He'll take care of it, I can vouch for him. Why don't we check out the site first? If you came for the view, might as well, right?"

She looked back at Bishop, who was staring at the other man as if he couldn't quite believe that he had butted his way in between them . Hm, she thought. Now that was a look she could really get used to. Seeing it a second time would make sticking around worth it, even.

"Sure."