Merrick: Harlequins MC (12 page)

“Like what?”

She waved her hand. “Nothing. Just him always dragging me into photos with him for the set photographer, asking me to dinner, that sort of thing. I thought he was just being nice, but now I see. That’s the problem with all this shit,” she said, her voice hard.

“What?”

She waved him off again. “Nothing.”

He could see she was closing down again, though he wasn’t sure why. “Okay. I just wanted to let you know you were safe. I’ve brought in a couple more guys, and we’re walking the area, watching for people who look out of place. If that’s what’s bugging you, don’t let it. You worry about doing your job, and let us worry about making it safe.”

She softened slightly. “Okay,” she said quietly, then smiled. A genuine smile that lit up her face. “Thank you for stopping and talking to me.”

“You’re welcome.” He gathered his trash, then paused as he began to move away. He turned back to her and watched her a moment. “Sometimes, first impressions are wrong,” he said before he turned and walked away.

She watched him as he dumped his trash, then walked toward the barricades. “Yes, sometimes they are,” she said softly.

***

“Mr. Capra. Will you come with me please?”

“Leslie, isn’t it?” Merrick asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. But let’s get one thing straight. Mr. Capra was my dad. I’m Merrick. And stop
yes sir
-ing me. It makes me feel old.”

Leslie’s face split into a big grin. “Okay, Merrick, if you will please follow me.”

“What have I done now?” he asked as they walked.

Poppy’s PA giggled. “Nothing bad. Poppy has asked you stay with the crew. She cleared it with Will and Taylor.”

“Why?”

Leslie took his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Because she’s nervous after what happened yesterday. She said she wanted you close because you made her feel safe.” Leslie looked into his eyes. “I think we all feel safer when you and your men are close.”

“That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you.”

They started walking again. “I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and this is the first time anything like this has happened on any shoot I’ve been on.”

“What do you mean?”

“The crowds, the shooting, everything. Normally the crowds are cooperative, but these people...” She shook her head. “I guess they don’t like people from out of town.”

Merrick felt a pang of guilt. He’d created the crowd problem and given his town a black eye. “I think they were just excited a movie was being shot in town. We don’t get out much,” he said, trying to cover.

Leslie giggled. “They’re much better now that you’re here, and I guess there are bad apples everywhere.”

“That’s probably it.”

“If you’ll just stand somewhere by Will, you’ll never have to worry about being in frame or in the way,” Leslie said. “Would you like me to get you a chair?”

“I’m good, Leslie, thank you.”

Leslie gave him a nod and grin then moved away. When Poppy saw him standing there she gave him a smile and a little wave before taking an umbrella from Leslie to block the sun. Merrick ginned as Will looked at him and chuckled.

“I don’t know what you said to her, but whatever it was, it worked,” Will said as they waited for the airplane flying over to pass.

“What do you mean?”

“She nailed the last two takes. Now, if you could talk to Blake and help him stop blowing his lines, that would be great.”

Merrick chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“No, Señor Abana. The container was delayed after leaving the source and missed the ship it was scheduled to leave on. We have confirmation it is actually on the water now and will arrive in about a week. This isn’t the first time this has happened. You normally don’t see the delays because we build in time to allow for it when we give you a delivery date.”

“I must say, this all makes me very nervous. I lose my previous merchandise, you tell me you have made no progress on finding out who took it from me, and now you tell me of this delay,” Abana said quietly. He didn’t have be loud to make his threat clear.

“I understand, Señor Abana. We were caught as much off guard as you. Our paperwork said it was on the water and it wasn’t until it didn’t arrive that we knew there was a problem. We’re doing all we can to get your merchandise to you as soon as possible. We even looked into chartering a plane, but the merchandise had already left the supplier. The delay came between the supplier and the port, when the container was on the train. We don’t want to open the container any more than we have to, for obvious reasons. As far as the rest, we have so little to go on that we haven’t been able to uncover anything. We’re continuing to look, though.”

“Get me my merchandise, or I’ll find someone else who will.”

“Yes, Señor—” Merrick stopped when his phone chirped, signaling the end of the call. He gripped the phone tightly, resisting the urge to throw it. It wasn’t their fucking fault Abana lost his guns, but they we’re the ones taking it in ass.

The Killers and Devils had been no help, and they were completely out of leads. He’d put some feelers out to the two outlaw clubs in Houston, but that had gone nowhere, as well, except to piss off two clubs that were two or three times the size of his.

The club had talked around the idea giving
Abana this load of guns, but they had decided that was setting a precedence they didn’t want. They had made delivery of the merchandise as agreed. If Abana couldn’t keep up with them after that, it wasn’t their problem…except he was making it their problem.

He glanced at the clock. “Shit,” he muttered as he rose from behind his desk and slipped into his colors. Being Poppy’s security blanket was damned inconvenient at times.

The production crew had settled into their groove and had gotten four good days of shooting under their belt. The crowds knew they were welcome to watch, if they behaved, and he’d been able to cut way back on the number of men on the set. They had ten brothers working security on First Unit, and only two on Second. He and Jason were rotating men in and out, but he had to be there every day, for Poppy.

She’d gotten over her nervousness, but he was still there every day. Yesterday, when they’d made up a full day of shooting, Taylor had given him a new pass to much cheering and laughter. It looked just like his previous one, the only difference was the job listed under his name. Security had been replaced with the words
Good Luck Charm.

***

“I didn’t think you were coming today,” Randy said as he checked Merrick through the lines.

“Abana was chewing my ass out.”

“What does he want from us? We’re busting our ass for him.”

Merrick nodded. “I know, but of all the times for the fucking container to miss the boat.”

“That’s not our fault either.”

“I know. He probably knows it, too. He’s just pissed off his merchandise went missing and we haven’t given him a target for him to express his displeasure with.”

Randy snorted. “Maybe I’ll tell him my ex-wife did it. That’d solve two problems at once.”

Merrick snorted out a laugh as he stepped past the barricade.

Today they were shooting three different dinner scenes in the kitchen and dining room of a house the production had rented. The house was small, befitting for Abigail’s humble upbringing, and was packed with cast, crew and equipment. The first scene was between Poppy and Danielle, as Abigail struggled with the veiled sexism and racism at work.

Merrick had learned if he stood two or three steps behind Will he could see everything he wanted to see and was still out of the way. “Hey, you good looking, good luck charm, you,” Danielle teased in her best Texas twang as he took his position out of the way.

“How are you today, Danielle?”

“Fine. Looking forward to getting these shots because then I’m done unless they need me to do any reshoots. The heat down here is killing me,” she grinned, reverting back to her native Minnesota cadence.

“You get used to it.”

“I don’t see how unless you were born on the sun.”

Merrick chuckled then stopped as Poppy entered the house. She was dressed in gym shorts, a cut off t-shirt, and running shoes. Her hair was a carefully arranged mess and her shirt was stained with sweat, but she wasn’t breathing hard and she didn’t glow as if she’d been working out. It was the first time he’d seen her in anything other than a police uniform, and she was fuckable as hell.

“Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close up now,” Poppy said with a grin as she entered the kitchen.

The crew chuckled as they made sure everything was ready for the first take. “About ten minutes, Poppy,” Will said as the crew worked.

“I wasn’t sure you were coming. Normally you’re here before I am,” Poppy said as she stepped beside Merrick.

“I was working on my other business.”

“Building houses, right?”

“Right. Do you mind?” he asked as he made to touch her shirt.

She grinned. “Go ahead. It’s not wet if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said as he brushed his fingers over her shirt. “It’s stained so it doesn’t dry and will provide continuity between takes.”

“I knew that. I just wanted to touch your boobs,” Merrick said with a grin.

Poppy grinned. “You’re awful.”

“I am, I really am,” he moaned as he shook his head sadly.

Will ignored Poppy and Merrick kidding around behind him, but he couldn’t believe the difference in Poppy. She was still high-strung and demanding, especially with herself, but she’d really bonded with Merrick, and that had spilled over into the way she treated the rest of the cast and crew, all except Blake. Something had happened there, and though she was a total professional in front of the camera, she seemed to be avoiding him behind the camera. Blake had noticed it too, the entire production had, and he’d cooled noticeably towards Merrick. That’s all they needed, having to deal with a love triangle, as if this production wasn’t fucked up enough.

“Will, we’re ready,” Porter, the key grip, said.

“Okay, Poppy, Danielle, we’re ready,” Will said, turning to look at his two female leads. He always knew where to find them. Find Merrick and you would find Poppy and Danielle.

“Here we go,” Poppy grinned as she stepped in front of the camera. Someone stepped up and spritzed her face, arms and legs with something that made her shine as if she were soaked in sweat. She gave her head a hard shake, messing her hair even more, then wiped her face as she began to breathe hard. She trotted out the front door and shut it behind her.

“Lock it down!”

“Speed!”

“Action, Poppy!”

Poppy came in the door, her breasts heaving as if she’d just run a marathon. She walked into the kitchen, the camera pulling back to track her movement as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jug of water. “Hey, Mom,” she gasped as she twisted the lid open.

“Cut!” Will called. “Good job Poppy. Next setup!”

***

It took three hours to shoot the kitchen scene, Danielle and Poppy nailing every line of dialog and every movement. They had to do only one second take because the Giraffe operator let the mic get in frame as he moved with Danielle, Danielle reaching up and grabbing the mic when it dipped to croon a smoky love song into it as the crew burst into laughter.

“Would someone
please
find Blake!” Will ordered.

They’d paused while Poppy and Danielle were re-made up. Now Poppy was dressed in a pair of tight jeans with a white men’s shirt that clung to her like a second skin, the front of the shirt open at the throat to reveal plenty of breast. If anything, she was even more fuckable now than she was before.

“Sorry,” Blake said, stepping into the house, dressed in a blazer and slacks. It looked as if Poppy and Blake were going on a date, which is what this scene was, he supposed, even if Danielle’s character, Mary, was there.

Merrick stayed well back in the kitchen as the caterer loaded the table with food. He hadn’t had dinner yet, and the smells made his mouth water. They were going to shoot without a break tonight, to get all their scenes, and he decided now would be as good a time as any to grab a quick bite. He opened the garage door and the smell hit him like a wall.

“Everyone out!” he yelled, shutting the door. “There’s a gas leak! Move it! Everyone out!” He began herding people out of the house through the front door.

“I know what to do,” Blake said rising from the table as the cast and crew began to file out.

“No. I’ve got it. Get out,” Merrick replied as he continued to herd people toward the door.

“But I can—”

“Out!”

“Come on, Blake,” Will said. “Let’s get the people to safety.”

Now that everyone was moving, Merrick, turned back to the kitchen. He opened the door into the garage. The smell was stronger, but not immensely so, which meant it was a small leak. He stepped into the garage and closed the house door behind him. He moved to the workbench in the back of the garage and picked up a pair of adjustable pliers off the hook. He went first to the hot water heater, but the valve was on the wrong end of the pipe, in place to aid in the replacement of the water heater, not the connector pipe. He exited the garage through the side door, leaving it open, smiling as he spotted the gas meter. Ten seconds later, the gas was off to the entire house. He went back into the garage and pulled the disconnect on the door opener before raising the single garage door, moving slowly enough nothing would spark, just in case.

He stepped out onto the drive as the crew huddled on the other side. He glanced around then stepped across the yard and wheeled one of the large fans they had set up to help cool the crew onto the drive to blow air into the garage to dissipate the gas.

As the fan cleared the air, he stepped across the street to Will and Taylor. “The gas is off. Give the fan a few minutes to clear out the garage, then I’ll see what’s leaking. The only thing in there is the water heater, so that’s probably it.”

“We’ve called a plumber, but we had to leave a message,” Taylor growled. “I’m starting to think this production is cursed.”

“What do you think caused the leak?” Poppy asked as she stepped up beside Merrick.

“Won’t know until I look. It’s probably safe now. Taylor, have everyone wait here,” Merrick said as he strode across the street.

He left the fan running, for the breeze more than anything. There was still a hint of gas in the garage, but nothing to worry about. He went immediately to the water heater. It had a new electronic igniter, so the pilot couldn’t have gone out, so that meant it had to be the line. Finding an adjustable wrench on the bench, he quickly removed the line from the wall to the water heater and examined it. He couldn’t see a break in the dim light, but he carried the line out with him.

“I can’t see a problem, but it has to be this line. You can go back in and film now if you want. It’s safe.”

“We can’t. Our insurance won’t allow it, not until the line is repaired,” Taylor said.

Merrick rolled his eyes. “Have you heard from the plumber?”

“Not yet.”