Frozen Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 3) (10 page)

“Tell me more about your family’s animal refuge.”

Jonathan spent the next ten minutes talking all about the coyotes they helped rescue and the work that went into the refuge keeping the animals happy and healthy. Kina thought Jonathan was lucky to have such great parents and such a great legacy in his family.

After a moment’s silence Jonathan asked, “Would you rather have a perfect sense of direction or a perfect sense of time?”

After laughing and having a thorough debate on which would be better, Kina said, “I don’t know if I’ve told you this or not, Jonathan, but I like you.”

Jonathan gave her a squeeze. “Good. You know, I like you too.”

As Kina fell asleep in his arms, she thought it was one of the best days she’d had in a long time.

The next few days were crazy for the camera crew. Eddie suddenly decided he wanted the four men who were left on the show to be filmed practically all day, every day, which was ridiculous because they weren’
t
doin
g
anything at the production house. A schedule was worked out between the five camera operators so that two of them would be at the house at all times. That meant long hours of work for all of them. Long
,
borin
g
hours.

Kina tried not to be upset at not being able to sleep in Jonathan’s arms. It was ridiculous. She’d been sleeping by herself for a long time now and she wasn’t the type of person who needed to sleep in a man’s arms in order to get a good night’s rest. And while she was sleeping well at night because she was exhausted, a part of her, deep down, admitted to likebeing in Jonathan’s arms at night. She worried about him. Was he still having nightmares? Wa
s
h
e
sleeping all right? Gah. It was crazy. Of course, he was just fine. He was a guy. Guys slept with different women all the time. Right?

Kina tried to convince herself that was true of Jonathan as well, but she knew he was different. She wasn’t sure how she knew, just that she did. They’d seen each other briefly in passing, one morning that week. Jonathan was coming back from his shift at the house, just as Kina was headed out. He’d walked right up to her and clasped the back of her neck and brought her head to rest on his chest. He always did that. Hauled her against him with a hand behind her neck or head. She should hate it. She should protest it. But she didn’t and couldn’t feel the need to. She wound her arms around his waist and held on.

Jonathan hadn’t said much, but she could feel every muscle in his body relax once she was in his arms.

“Are you okay?” she’d asked him quietly. “Are you sleeping all right? Any more nightmares?”

“I’d sleep better with you in my arms. No more nightmares. Thank you for being concerned about me. I don’t think anyone I’ve ever dated wanted to know about my well-being before. It means a lot to me, hon.”

He kissed the daylights out of her, backed her up, kissed her forehead briefly, then said as a goodbye endearment, “Would you rather never get enough sleep, or sleep so much you’re only awake for a few hours each day?”

Kina smiled. God, he was cute. “Get some sleep, Jonathan,” she murmured, letting go of him and stepping back. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Be safe.”

Those two words stayed with Kina the entire time it took to get to the house. Jonathan  had begun to tell her that when they separated. He didn’t say, “Have a good day”, or “I’ll miss you,” it was always, “Be safe.” She figured it had something to do with Becky, but that wasn’t all of it. He truly wanted her to be safe when he wasn’t there with her, when he couldn’t be there to protect her himself.

Today’s shift promised to be another boring day. Unfortunately, Jeff was her camera wing-man for the day. To be fair, he’d been behaving himself recently, but Kina had worked with him long enough to know there was no way he’d be able to control himself much longer. She knew he was bursting to say something snide and/or sexist to her.

Their shift in the house started out with the men sitting around eating breakfast. It was quite boring. Even the contestants themselves seemed bored out of their skulls.

It was Darius who came up with the bright idea of sneaking out of the house, which was surprising, since he was the stereotypical, serious chemist. Kina wouldn’t have thought he had it in him to be such a rebel. But she supposed the “Alaskan sickness” that sometimes came over the residents of Alaska in the winter didn’t discriminate against those who were only visiting.

Knowing they had to take the cameras with them, the men decided to take the fifteen passenger van, instead of the small rental car Shannel and Eddie traveled in.

Kina rolled her eyes at the men. They were acting more like teenagers who didn’t want to get caught sneaking out after curfew than grown men.

She didn’t particularly like the fact they were leaving the house, but what choice did she have? She’d just have to roll with the punches. Kina tried once to convince the men they shouldn’t leave, but she was quickly overridden. They were on a mission. Even Jeff got in on the act and told her she was being a kill-joy and she should just go with it.

Benedict was voted to be the driver, Jeff sat in the front seat filming the men while Kina sat in the back, off to the side, so she wouldn’t be in Jeff’s shot when he turned his camera around. They were driving around aimlessly. The guys had no idea where they were or what they wanted to do, they only knew they were “free” for the moment.

Because Benedict was driving, he saw the strip club first. Of course the others enthusiastically agreed, it was the best idea to stop in for a while. Kina rolled her eyes again. Jeez. Could they really want this little visit to be on national television for all to see? She knew Eddie would be pissed they’d left the house, but he’d still use the footage, especially if they did something dumb. And this was as dumb as they could get.

Benedict parked the monstrous van and everyone climbed out. It was ten in the morning, not exactly prime time for this type of establishment, but it was still open. Kina laughed to herself, knowing the types of women who would be dancing this early wouldn’t be the best the place had to offer. Those women worked the night shift, where they could make more money when there were more customers.

The first issue materialized as soon as they walked inside. The manager came storming over, demanding the cameras be turned off. Kina couldn’t blame him. The place was horrible. Even in the dim light in the room she could see the tattered curtains, the worn and stained carpets, and the sad little stage where the strippers would dance. It smelled of stale cigarette and cigar smoke and something funky Kina couldn’t place. One of the only good things about the venture was the fact that there were only two other customers in the place.

Jeff actually stepped up for once and calmed the manager down. He explained they were not from a documentary, or anything that would show his esteemed establishment in a negative light, but rather they were filming a reality show. He agreed they wouldn’t film any of the women dancing, but only the men on the reality show. Kina saw Jeff slip the sleazy manager a hundred dollar bill, which seemed to be what the guy was waiting for. Jerk.

              The men got a table and enthusiastically ordered beers. Kina was disgusted. Beer wasn’t her alcoholic drink of choice at any time, and certainly not so early in the morning. She tried to turn off the logical side of her brain and turn on her camera side. She had to get the men in the best light so the shots would be usable on TV. She couldn’t use the light on her camera, that would ruin the ambiance of the shot.

For the next hour she and Jeff rotated around the table, filming the guys getting hammered and hitting on the waitresses. They hooted and hollered at the two strippers who occasionally took the stage for short, rather uninspired, pole dances. Finally, figuring she had enough shots of the men being idiots, she motioned to Jeff, that she was going to go outside for a break.

Being smart, she left the camera inside with Jeff. She wasn’t going to risk bringing the expensive electronic equipment outside, in the rather questionable area of town, but she needed to get outside into the fresh air.

It was still cold, but it felt great after the stifling atmosphere of the strip club. The cloying smell of perfume mixed with all the other disgusting smells was nauseating. Kina looked around. She knew Alaska was beautiful. She’d seen it firsthand on her outings with Jonathan and during the filming of the show, but this street was not beautiful at all.

There was trash all around, as if no one cared about actually trying to put it in a garbage bin. There were plenty of used cigarettes strewn everywhere on the ground. She could just imagine the employees and customers alike stepping outside, smoking their cigarette down to the nub to get that last bit of nicotine before throwing it on the ground, stepping on it briefly, then disappearing back inside the dark building.

Kina looked up and down the street. There were a few other businesses, but they were all currently closed, except for the liquor store at the end of the road. There weren’t many people around, but those that were had their heads down and were rushing from one place to another. There was a bus stop across from the strip club that had one rather unsavory looking character waiting for the next bus, at least that was what Kina assumed he was doing.

She was startled to see the man was watching her. He was wearing black cargo pants and black boots, the kind she imagined soldiers wore. She couldn’t see what type of shirt he was wearing as he had on a long black coat which was buttoned up to his chin. Kina shivered. She was a pretty worldly woman, and she’d lived in some pretty scary places growing up as a child, so she could tell this guy was bad news. Break-time was over. Kina slipped back inside the rundown building regretfully. Even with the creepy bus stop guy, she’d much rather be outside in the fresh air than in there.

For the first time since she’d arrived, Kina started to feel uncomfortable. She was truly on her own now. She saw Jeff had also put down his camera, and was doing shots with the guys. Unbelievable.

Kina marched over to the men. “What the hell, Jeff?”

He mocked her and responded, “What the hell, Kina?”

All the men thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard in their lives and erupted in laughter. Great. Just great.

She reached down and hauled Jeff up by the collar of his shirt. He wasn’t expecting it and his arms pin wheeled as he tried to regain his balance. As the other men continued to laugh, Kina yanked Jeff away from the table toward the door. When they’d gotten far enough away so that the others couldn’t hear them, she lit into him.

“Seriously? You know we aren’t supposed to hang out with the contestants! And drinking this early in the morning? We have to get them out of here and back to the house!”

“Shut up, Kina. Serioushly,” he slurred, “haf some fun for once. You’re alwaysh so uptight. Have a drink with ush. Maybe then you can schow us what you’re schowing Jon-boy.”

Kina shoved Jeff away from her as hard as she could. Jesus, he was an ass. She left him standing by the door and wandered over to the bar. She hauled herself up on one of the stools and refused to look back at the table of idiot men. The bartender came over to where she was sitting.

“Can I get you anything?”

“I’d love a bottle of water, if you have one,” Kina told her. She wasn’t going to drink anything out of a glass. Who knew what germs she’d get.

The bartender nodded and turned away to get the drink for her. When she returned, she asked Kina, “So, what’s the deal?” and motioned with her head toward the table of idiots Kina had come in with.

              Kina figured, at this point, she had nothing to lose. The bartender was surprisingly pretty. The woman didn’t seem as worn down as the other waitresses and dancers in the place. “Those idiots are on a reality show and busted loose from their leash today. As a part of the camera crew, I had no choice but to follow along. The other camera guy over there, is just an imbecile.”             

The bartender laughed. “Well, you just sit here as long as you need to. We’ll just let them have their fun.” She got serious and leaned over the bar toward Kina. “As long as they’re in here, they’ll be all right. They’ll be poorer for it, but safe. But don’t let them wander around outside when they leave. It’s not a safe area for a bunch of drunk men who think they’re invincible.”

Kina nodded. “Yeah, I kinda got that in the five minutes I was standing outside taking a break.” She thought about calling Eddie, but figured the men would soon get bored and they’d be heading back to the production house.

Unbelievably, the men hung out at the strip club all afternoon. Food was scrounged up from somewhere to feed them and to help keep the alcohol flowing and their buzz continuing. Kina didn’t bother filming anymore. It was pointless. When the place started getting more crowded, the bartender let Kina put both the cameras behind the bar to keep them safe.

Kina considered calling Jonathan, but talked herself out of it. This wasn’t his problem. She was an adult and a professional, she could handle it. All she had to do was get the drunks back to the van and back to the house. Easy.

Not so easy. First, the men didn’t want to leave. Kina supposed she couldn’t blame them. The strippers that had come in for the second shift were much better-looking than the ones who had been working when they’d arrived. Second, the guys were so drunk they couldn’t think clearly. And third, they knew what awaited them back on the set. Boredom, and most likely they’d be in trouble for sneaking out.

Finally after around seven hours in the bar, Kina had enough. They were leaving. She considered ditching them all there, but knew that wasn’t cool and they’d only get in more trouble if she left. She begged the new manager on duty to help her get all of the men to the van. Reluctantly he agreed, after all, they’d been spending a lot of money all day and he didn’t want to lose his best customers.

Kina had to stand and wait for each of the men to say goodbye to their waitresses and the dancers they’d been feeding money to all day. Kina rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She watched as they groped the women’s breasts and slapped their asses for good measure. Good God, they were pathetic. The waitresses just laughed, knowing they’d made a boatload of money off the group. “Extreme Alaskan,” Kina’s ass, more like “Pathetic Losers.”