Hearts' Desires (23 page)

             
For the rest of the ride, Vance didn’t speak a word. At the Ai
r
port, he acted cheerful in front of the staff and everyone
else, i
n
cluding Alison – but it was only a performance, and not a very co
n
vincing one. With that sort of acting, Vance could only fool people who did not know him – not someone like Jake
Bertoni
. He tried to talk to him again, but Vance eluded him and vanished in the lounge for some cigarettes. Jake d
e
cided to have a drink, or two, and ponder a bit about life’s u
n
predictable courses.

It was already late at night, when the film team arrived at the de
s
tination in the
Mapungubwe
National Park near the border to Zimbabwe. Everyone was tired. After a few basic arrang
e
ments, they had quickly fallen asleep in the tent-like acco
m
modations of the game lodge.
             
The next day passed with inspecting the locations, pr
e
paring the sets and discussing the upcoming scenes. More harsh words were exchanged. Everyone was under stress and close to the edge. More so after the producer had called again to remind them of the absolute necessity of finishing the project in time.

             
Alison was annoyed. For the first time in her career, she had expressed this annoyance in her conversation with the producer.
Yerikov
was not very amused – and she had hung up. Couldn’t they have filmed these scenes elsewhere? The Karoo had wonderful spots! But no,
Yerikov
wanted a specific rock formation as background, and for these damned ten m
i
nutes, everyone had to be put in danger! This had nothing to do with striving for perfection an
y
more; it was just stupidity, in her opinion.

On the second day filming began again. After only a few m
i
nutes, Alison had an argument with Nora and Lauren was ye
l
ling at a guy from the sound crew. It was as if a dark cloud had settled over all of them, ironically just now, when they were about to shoot the r
o
mantic final sequence with Luis' and Camilla's betrothal! Even Vance, who always looked at his work as an opportunity to escape – at least for a little while
- found it draining this time. The fact he had to stay so close to Alison for so many hours and pretend ever
y
thing was normal took its toll on him. He tried to convince himself that he did not need, want, or love her anymore, but it just did not work! Every time he thought he had reached some mental di
s
tance, there was a word from her, or a movement of her body, which ripped open the wounds again.

             
When they had to stop early afternoon, because one of the camera filters did not function correctly, Vance used the opport
u
nity to sneak away to the nearby river. He didn’t want to see or hear anyone from the crew right now. He didn’t want to think about anything!  If he could only switch off his thoug
h
ts!

             
The river lay quiet in the afternoon heat and glimmered in the sunlight. Vance sat down on a rock near the shore and lit a cig
a
rette. He had stopped counting how many he already had today. But the package was almost empty. Closing his eyes, he inhaled and pressed the smoke out through clenched teeth. It made a his
s
ing sound, like some predator cat.
             
“Hey,
old man!”
With a groan, Jake
Bertoni
lifted himself up on the rock next to Vance. “Let me tell you something - you don’t look good.”
             
“Well, I’ll save Chang’s team some work then.” It was supposed to be a joke, but the words came out bitter and irr
i
tated.
             
“I’m worried about you, Vance,” Jake continued. “You’ve been living on cigarettes and black coffee the last two days.”
             
“Maybe I should follow your example and try some Bou
r
bon instead.”

             
He recognized the dig, but it needed more than that to chase Jake away! He had thick skin!

             
Vance sighed in frustration and dropped his head into his left palm. “I don’t know if I can pull this off,” he confessed after
a m
o
ment. “It’s only four more days, but… it seems like an eternity! I can’t get her out of my head, or out of my heart… I just CAN’T, damn it!”
             
“You survived on the set with that asshole
Harker
!” Jake re
p
lied, trying to steer his thoughts into another direction, if only to stir up his pride!

             
Vance snorted. “I could punch
Harker
, when he pissed me off! I can’t – Ah, forget it!”
             
Jake indulged a silent sigh. “You should come back with me. We’ll have a campfire. Meredith is going to sing some country songs. You know how good she is!”
             
“I’d rather stay here. Thanks, Jake.”
             
“But you have to eat something.”
             
“I’m not hungry. Just leave me alone.”
             
“It would be better, if you swallowed your pride and talked to Alison, trust me, old man!”
             
“Don’t you think I tried that?!” Vance tossed the cigarette butt on the sandy ground below the rocks. “I am not going to make a fool of myself again!”

             
“Vance!”

             
“Just drop it! I don’t get in your business and tell you to stay away from strippers who later sue you for your last couple of bucks, do I? It’
s my life! I don
’
t need anyone
’
s a
d
vice!
”
             
Jake stood up. He opened his mouth to answer, but thought better of it and only patted his friend’s back and left. Maybe, what Vance needed was a decent kick in the ass, and Alison too for that matter!
Jake looked back twice, to see if Vance would join him a
f
ter all. But the silhouette on the huge boulder was not moving.
 

Finally, Vance jumped down with the intention of going back to the camp. But then he decided otherwise. He would take a
run along the shore; maybe the exercise would take his mind off these damned thoughts about Alison. He started jogging. About 10 m
i
nutes later, he stopped near a yellow-reddish rock formation, a bit more exhausted than he expected. Going ru
n
ning on a ‘diet’ of ci
g
arettes apparently was not a good idea. Catching his breath again, he leaned against the sun warmed stone. He could hear water gurgle, but not see anything. Some birds flying up above him and losing drops of water from their feathers indicated there had to be a font or a little pool inside this formation.

             
A little refreshment wouldn’t be a bad idea, he thought. And since the river was known to have crocodiles, it was not a good place to swim! He searched and finally found a narrow gap b
e
tween two stones. It was a fairly tiny opening, and for a minute Vance wondered if he would be able to get through. But he managed without problems and eventually found hi
m
self by a little natural pool that the water had worn out of the rocks in tens of thousands of years.
             
The sight was amazing. Water dripped down from above and gathered in a pond. Some plants were growing on the sides of the rocks and hung down like delicate green veils. The sun glinted on the water, where it left the rocks, while the bottom, where it splashed into the pool lay in twilight already.
             
Beautiful,
Vance thought, and immediately wished he had someone to share this gift of nature with … One heedless thought – and the wounds were bleeding again! His first rea
c
tion was to leave, now that the magic had been destroyed. But then he decided to take his ‘shower’ anyway. It would feel good after getting fried in the heat all day and running on top of it. Then he would walk back to the team’s game lodge and hopefully arrive after everyone else had retired into their rooms!
             
He undressed, waded into the pool and stepped under
the tiny waterfall. The water was a bit colder than expected at first, and he leaned back against the rock to adjust to the te
m
perature before exposing himself to the water pouring down. The moss covered stones felt like a carpet under his feet. And looking through the shimmering curtain of water before his eyes, the world seemed to change into something enchanted again. The water whispered …
…his name?!

             
The sound startled him. Vance took a step forward and almost lost his footing on the slippery ground. There in front of him, just emerging from the water and the shadows cast by the rocky walls, was Lauren. The water formed tiny ripples around her knees – she was standing in the deepest part now. And apparently she had d
e
cided that bathing in underwear would not be as much fun as ski
n
ny dipping.

             
“Uh, that was colder than expected!” she said, and pushed her dripping wet hair back from her face.

             
“What are you doing here?” Vance hoped for once he was sounding annoyed and grumpy. However the words came out r
a
ther shaky and haunted. Besides, it was a dumb question!
             
“I was worried about you. When I saw Jake returning alone, I went after you, just in case… Right before I got to your sightseeing spot,” She stepped closer, an incarnation of temptation, “you d
e
cided to have a little run.”

             
Lauren looked around with the seductive innocence she could bring on at will. “Were you going to keep this place all to yourself? It’s far too beautiful for that!” She took another step forward and stood right in front of him. “It’s a paradise. And we are… just like … Adam and Eve, don’t you think?”

             
Her breasts touched his chest, and her breath caressed his lips, when she whispered: “Everything is so wonderful, just for us!”
             
“Please, go.”

             
“You don’t really want me to go …” She caressed him
with practiced skill. “Inside you’re begging me to stay.”
The water formed little glittering pearls on her skin.

             
Vance closed his eyes, when Lauren’s hands started to explore more boldly. What did it matter? She offered distra
c
tion – a way to forget his troubles for a while. Maybe
I
should’ve done this right from the start, was his last conscious thought, before he pushed Lauren up against the stony wall and took what she was offering.

The sun had set and the cicadas chirped a noisy concert. La
u
ren slipped into her shoes, but did not turn around to face her recent lover. She felt uneasy. It had been fun and there was something about having sex submerged in the water! That added a special thrill... But she was aware that Vance hadn’t really been with her. He had gone through the motions, and the physical pleasure, and she had enjoyed his body as well, but his mind had been elsewhere. To her own surprise, this realization didn’t annoy her, but… rather worried her.

             
Lauren was far too calculating a person, and she had seen far too much in this area to believe in the one true love – or the idea that a spicy quickie could turn in the love of a lif
e
time. She had never given it any thought. Sex was a means to an end. And if it brought her hot pleasure like today, that was a bonus. Once her partner was ensnared enough to want more and she could start manipulating him bit by bit…then she had reached her goal.