The Silver Screen Wars

16 - Boundaries

"I'm Kodi."

"Kodiak Clyde," Bishop corrected from he stood behind the island counter.

"I know my own name."

"And now, so does everyone else."

She turned to sweep her gaze over the others with a dead-eyed stare. "Don't ever call me that," she said flatly. "My name's Kodi."

Bishop chuckled and leaned over the counter on his forearms. "You, cue-ball. You're next."

The bald woman didn't miss a beat, although she did rub her hand over the top of her bare head with a small smile as she spoke. "Alexis Dewitt," she said. "Twenty seven. I eat a lot, I sleep a lot. Less is more, except for food. That's it." She reached over to pick up one of the finger sandwiches - three, actually - and popped them into her mouth.

"And I'm Drake Barnes -"

Oh, him. Kodi knew enough about this guys, poorly bleached hair, pale skin, and all too willing to get physical with people he didn't even know. Skinny, ratty looking thing; he barely looked to be out of adolescence with maybe a few dozen strands of opossum DNA mixed in with his genes. He even had the beady black eyes, too, that looked like they belonged on a stuffed and mounted rodent.

" - I'm nineteen, I love sunsets, the beach, surfing, animals -"

...Was this a group date or was this an icebreaker? Kodi shifted back into her seat with a barely repressed sigh. Her problem wasn't with talkative people; she just didn't like this one in particular. Too socially confident with nothing to back it up. If he had already felt comfortable enough to act so familiar with her just as she had come in the door with his hand on her shoulder, she could only imagine how bad it would be when he inevitably got the mistaken impression that they were getting closer.

Which she was not going to allow at any point during these next three months. Overly sociable, energetic types - one moment of weakness, and they would be latched on like leeches. s**t, let him attach himself to Alexis Dewitt or Bishop or the other young man who had yet to introduce himself. Not her. Anyone but her.

"Taylor Grant," muttered the last member of the group, the one sitting next to Kodi. He wasn't looking up. Whatever he was staring at through the glass table in front of him was clearly far more interesting than the conversation. That, or he was criminally shy, which could end badly for him since this was, in fact, an acting gig that he had signed up for. Didn't leave a great deal of room for shyness, especially since they were all living in this...communal home together for some reason.

Kodi did wonder at his appearance. Perfectly trimmed and swept brown hair, an ironed blue polo shirt with an unfamiliar black logo stitched over the breast pocket, and a pair of stiff khakis that whispered every time he shifted. He looked tall but not too tall, a little filled out in the shoulders, perhaps. But it was hard to tell from the way he appeared to be trying to sink into himself: he kept his knees together and back straight as a rod with his hands balled into fists on either side of his lap; eyebrows furrowed and face still as stone. She noticed his knuckles were digging slightly into the seat cushion.

Was he really so nervous? He stood out like a sore thumb. To come dressed so professionally when everyone else was dressed down - was it deliberate or accidental?

"How old, Taylor Grant."

Kodi's eyes flickered over to the director when he spoke before she could stop herself. He was returning now, towel hanging even more precariously from his hips and with his misted, half-glass of water in one hand.

"...Twenty four."

"Same as Kodiak Clyde here, isn't that right?"

She gave Bishop an answering glare as he continued to approach. Was he doling out her personal information too, was that part of the deal? She juggled with the idea of asking why the great and fearsome Bishop Cassius was going on about age and other irrelevant details instead of focusing on the job, but she soon realized that was exactly what he was waiting for. He was baiting her, needling her as he came closer with every step.

So she didn't rise to it, even though she knew that meant he was still winning either way. When things were safer, when she could look him in the eye without immediately thinking of the money he had paid her just yesterday, more money than she had ever thought she would see in her bank account...then she would start picking her battles a little more loosely. For now, she would have to settle for giving him the ugliest look she could summon on her face to let him know exactly what she was thinking of him.

But all he did was match her glower with an easy smile, and it wasn't until it was too late that she realized she was about to taste his payback regardless: Taylor pulled his legs in, straining to give the other man enough room to pass when Bishop edged around the table and then turned to sit on the wide armrest of Kodi's couch.

She could see out of the corner of her eye the cut, defined planes of his body that he flaunted so blatantly. To her great chagrin, she also noticed both Alexis and Drake admiring the sight (completely indiscreetly), and Kodi's eyes rolled up into the back of her head for a solid two seconds while Bishop made himself comfortable two inches away from her arm.

Was this his modus operandi? Blind people with surface beauty first, and then shout them into submission later when they finally saw past it and tried to argue a point? Tactics of the Rich and Beautiful, could make a magazine out of that. Kodi turned her head and looked out through the crescent window again, face twisted into a scowling grimace at the thought.

Bishop, for his part, carried on as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

"None of you are veterans, so let me say this once even though I shouldn't have to," he said, and his voice was suddenly serious instead of sneering, cold instead of careless. She looked up at him in surprise and followed the movement of his lips as he began to rattle off instructions as if he weren't sitting almost naked in between them all.

"There will be no bringing friends or family over, and you'll also refrain from visiting elsewhere without my express permission. At all times, I know where all of you are. Always. If you're sleeping, if you're eating, if you're stepping out into the lawn for a quick toke, I know about it. Groceries will be brought here for us, and if there's anything else you need, you tell me, and I'll have it handled. Under no circumstances do any of you step outside of this place without telling me. Understand?"

An assenting, dull chorus of 'yes' trickled from them all, even Kodi before she realized what she was doing and quickly closed her mouth again.

"There will be times when I tell you to haul ass out of bed in the middle of the night. There will be days where we spend twenty hours straight on set. There will be days you need to skip a meal because we run overtime. Through all of that, I expect nothing but your full cooperation and utmost effort. I'm going to remind you now of your contractual commitments so that I don't have to do it later and waste my time or yours."

Okay, so at least it wasn't just Kodi who was screwed for the next ninety days in that respect. Maybe he had trapped them all with the same bait - an obscene amount of money - or maybe the others were actually just crazy enough to do it without such additional motivation. For example, the ratty looking one, Drake - she could believe that kid would it all for free: there was an unsettling expression of pure, unadulterated adoration shining out of those rodent eyes, and she promptly regretted looking his way.

"A final reminder, and this is the only time I will mention it. You already know the other terms of the contract. No scandals. That means no drugs, no drinking, and on second thought, don't even smoke. I don't want anything going on social media of any kind. No pictures, no videos, nothing. If you do anything to embarrass me, or worse, jeopardize the release of my work in any way whatsoever, so help me God I will f*****g bury you so deep that no one will even hire you as an extra in their high school film project. But you all know that already."

Kodi glanced around, taking in everyone's response. It was here again, that searing intensity in his voice that she had caught yesterday morning at the site. It took her off guard now just as it had then, the abrupt switch between self-absorbed pompousness and this...lacerating sharpness that made goosebumps rise on her arms.

She wasn't scared, she thought. But in this moment, she could easily believe he was capable of wrapping his hands around the throat of anyone in the room who disagreed and throttling them to death.

The part of her that didn't care urged her to test the theory anyway.

Kodi's mouth opened -

"Bishop," Alexis said suddenly before Kodi could impale herself on the sword. "Sorry, just wanted to let you know your towel's slipping off. I did hear you, though. Roger that."

Kodi had the misfortune of seeing him smirk at the other woman as he lifted one leg to place his ankle over the opposite knee, no doubt revealing at least a portion of his goods to public view. Luckily, Kodi was positioned behind him so that he couldn't inflict the sight upon her, but it was clear from Alexis's widening eyes that she wasn't so fortunate.

Or maybe she thought she was the lucky one after all, judging by the growing smile on her face as she stared down at what must have been a truly arresting vision.

"I don't mind," said Bishop, voice lofty yet flippant as he freely subjected himself to shameless scrutiny. "Do you?"

It was Alexis that he had directed the question to, but Kodi noticed Drake enthusiastically shaking his head as well. Great. A hormonal teenager on top of the budding flirtations between the other actress and their director. That was bound to end well. Kodi propped her elbow onto the armrest that Bishop wasn't occupying and leaned away, wishing she could press her face into the wall by her head until she broke through the plaster and became one with the void.

"We're all going to be getting a lot more comfortable with each other than you all realize right now, so if you're a prude, if you have self image issues, leave that at the door. Get used to each other and get used to having no personal boundaries. Got it?"

Some people in the room seemed to like that idea more than others. Kodi counted herself firmly in the second. She was not going to be part of an orgy if that was what Bishop was hinting at. She'd been exposed to that kind of "team building" activity on her second project and had walked out until it was over; she would do it again if she had to. Wasn't in the contract to start putting things in holes. That was way too close to cultish ritualizing than she was comfortable with, even for another hundred thousand dollars.

And if Bishop wanted to argue the point, she was happy to argue it right back. With fists.

"Get to your rooms, dump your s**t, find the papers on your desks, and give them a read. Then be back out here by three. The rooms are all identical, three on each side of the house, so don't waste time fighting over any."

He slid off Kodi's armrest and gave them all a sweeping glare.

"Go. Now."

The single command had everyone rising to their feet, even Kodi - but she lingered there, watching where everyone went with darting eyes first.

"What are you waiting for?"

She looked back at Bishop, who was watching her with undisguised irritation. Should she say it? Should she answer that she was waiting to see which side she ought to go so that she ended up on the opposite side of the house from him? If only, but she had no doubt he would thwart her efforts for no other reason than spite if she did. No. She wouldn't tell him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Taylor and Alexis head toward the right side of the house with their luggage bags, and she hurried to move around Bishop to follow them. Bingo. If she took the last room on that side, then that would force him to take one of the two vacant rooms on the other end of the house. Away from her.

"Kodiak Clyde. Other way."

She slowed to a stop and threw him a look over her shoulder. "I thought it didn't matter which room we took," she said stiffly.

"It doesn't, not to you all. I'm leaving one vacant on each side of the house so that Jason can choose which one he wants."

She clenched her teeth and slowly spun around to follow Drake in the opposite direction. Of course Bishop would find any chance, any excuse to grief her no matter what it was. Singling her out instead of anyone else - did he have to be so obvious about it?

Her only consolation was that Jason Monlavia was going to be staying with them after all. She'd been wondering if he was the exception, being who he was, but the universe had decided to gift her with a little mercy after all the bullshit she had had to wade through for the last two days.

Kodi passed the motionless Bishop again and missed the watchful glare he fixed on her as she did.

He narrowed his eyes.