Stereo by Trevion Burns Read Free Book Online

away, leaving Shaun to look down at her black sweat suit and wonder why she hadn’t taken the time to make herself a little more presentable.   Adam couldn’t have mentioned to her that his driver was bringing her to a video shoot?  She wished she’d at least done something more to her hair, which was thrown up into a sloppy bun.  She looked up into the sky and wondered if she’d even washed her face today.  Angry at him and feeling set up, Shaun looked back to where Adam was performing and was stunned when she found him looking right back at her.
    The man behind the camera, sitting in a high folding stool, fussed at Adam.
    “CUT,” He cried. “Ay, Adam!  Focus, please!”
    Adam was already making a beeline for Shaun, pushing past workers and extras until he was face the face with her, his green eyes intense.  Without saying a word he took her hand and began pulling her onto the set.  All eyes were on Adam and, in extension, now on her.
    The panic was back.  Shaun resisted Adam as he tugged her along, trying to reclaim her arm so she could run for her life.   Every person she and Adam blew past seemed to be sizing her up, one by one.  She could almost hear their heinous, mean spirited thoughts.  She made eye contact with nearly every person that she passed, none of them friendly.  As she and Adam came closer to the director, who was now standing from his chair and staring at her as well, she resisted him more.
    Adam turned back to her, giving her a look of death. “What is wrong with you? Come here.”
    The director, a balding man with a handsome face and bright eyes, removed his large headpiece and looked Shaun up and down before turning to Adam. “‘Dis is ‘jour model?”  The director asked in a deep Colombian accent, motioning to Shaun with a raised eyebrow and curled lip.
    Adam put an arm around Shaun’s shoulder until she was by his side, shaking her like she was a football buddy and not his stand-in girlfriend.  He gazed into her eyes as he spoke.  “This is her, yep.  Shaun this is Zizo Perez.  He’s one of the most famous directors in the world.”  Adam and Zizo waited for any reaction, but all they were met with was Shaun’s stunned face.
    Adam couldn’t make sense of the naked distress he read in her eyes, and brought his voice down to a whisper when he realized she couldn’t even bring herself to look at Zizo, let alone speak to him.  He began speaking exclusively to her. “The model who was supposed to star in the video backed out at the last minute…”
    Shaun’s mouth went dry as her eyes searched Adams.
    Adam nodded, attempting to relax her. “You’re the star now.  This is gonna be epic.  You’ll be on a runway in no time after this…”  He waited for her ecstatic response and when it never came, he shook his head.  This girl was something else.  She was sharp, but at the same time so incredibly green.  She was hard to figure out. “Be excited.”
    Shaun wondered if she could throw up right there without anyone noticing, and though she wasn’t looking around, she’d already mapped out at least five different ways to escape this nightmare the second Adam turned his back.  Looking up at him in that moment, as much as she hated the things she’d learned about him the night before and as terrified as she was, she couldn’t help but feel warm.  Sure, she wasn’t really a model, and though the thought of being the female lead in a music video made her physically ill, she couldn’t help but feel a little touched that Adam had thought of her.  Plus if she stood any chance of pulling off this whole ordeal, she couldn’t make him suspicious in any way.
    “I am excited,” she said, attempting to smile.
    “Yeah?  Because you look…”  He tilted his head. “Kinda sick.”
    Shaun waved a nonchalant hand, and quickly hid it behind her back when she saw it was shaking wildly.  “No, I’m good.  Just a little surprised that I was the first one you