FIVE MILES

Miles doesn"t think he"s ever been this nervous in his entire life.

Okay, maybe being trapped in Dr. Grace"s little murder room is up there, too, but that was a totally different kind of nerves.

This whole thing feels insane, and Miles thinks if his heart beats any faster, he"ll probably be able to see it pounding in his chest. Kieran is sitting at the conference table right next to fucking Isabella Illane, and Octavia Chambers is welcoming Miles into the room with a wide smile.

He"s immediately starstruck.

Miles hardly manages to squeak out a greeting, smiling nervously.

"Miles, dear, it"s so good to finally meet you," Octavia says, shaking Miles" hand after closing the door behind them.

Her handshake is firm, and Miles hopes he isn"t quite as limp-wristed as he feels.

"Miss Chambers, it"s an honor."

His voice is breathy, and he feels embarrassed and out of his depth. He nearly passes out in shock when Isabella stands and steps closer, wrapping her arms around Miles in a warm hug. She doesn"t hold him there long, just a quick squeeze before pulling back to beam at him, her hands on his shoulders.

"I"m so excited to work with you!" she says, which is just an absolutely insane thing for Isabella Illane to say to Miles. "I"m Isabella."

Miles laughs, kind of shocked, but manages to offer her an excited smile. The idea of her introducing herself is kind of crazy, right? Who the hell doesn"t know who she is? She"s a superstar. He does his best not to think about her saying she"s excited to work with him, because that"s just way too much to process right now.

"Miles," he introduces, trying to act casual.

He"s just so insanely out of his league here. Sure, he knew Kieran was famous and all, but there"s something different about growing up with someone and seeing them eat ramen on the couch. Isabella and Octavia are still foreign to him; drop-dead gorgeous and crazy talented. They"re both so sweet and welcoming, too, and Miles just has no idea how to handle any of it.

"Alright, sit, sit," Octavia says, rounding the table. "Let"s get into the script, we can all get cozy with each other later."

Isabella laughs, finally releasing Miles, and he takes a deep breath to center himself. As he steps toward the table, intending to take a seat by Isabella, Kieran pulls out the chair next to him, patting it. He smiles up at Miles, kind of sheepishly, and Miles feels his heart stutter in his chest.

Fuck, his nerves are so shot.

He has no idea how he"s going to handle all of this at once. The mission, the script, Kieran. He hasn"t even seen the script yet at all, since they had to make some pretty major changes to add him in. He knows there"s a love triangle aspect to it, but that"s about it. Hell, he hasn"t even seen the first movie.

He"s nervous about playing a straight guy, but Isabella is the most beautiful woman he"s ever seen in real life, and even if he"s not attracted to her, he can certainly admire beauty when he sees it. He"ll probably have to use his own jealousy about her and Kieran, no matter how guilty he feels about it—it"s not like he has anything going on with Kieran, he just has a stupid crush that he can"t seem to get rid of. But pulling from real-life feelings is something actors do, isn"t it?

Method acting, or something.

"Hi," Kieran says as Miles settles in beside him.

He"s smiling at Miles, warm and welcoming. He seems genuinely happy to see him, hell, it almost looks like Kieran missed him.

"Hey," Miles answers, doing his best not to smile like an absolute idiot.

He could see more of Miles if he"d just respond to his texts with more than one word, but whatever. Miles shakes himself out of his thoughts as Octavia leafs through a stack of papers in front of her.

"So obviously, we all know the script has changed a bit to include our lovely Miles here," Octavia says, sliding copies of the script to each of them.

Miles pulls his own closer to him, marveling at the way his name is highlighted in blue at the top corner of the script. He has his very own role in a movie. He doesn"t think he"ll ever get used to that thought.

"We actually decided to shift the love triangle around a bit," Octavia continues, leaning back in her seat and grinning at the three of them. "Isabella, the pressure is off of you for this one. Kieran, you get to choose between our two lovely supporting roles here."

Miles" brows shoot up toward his hairline, his mouth dropping open slightly as panic floods him. He and Kieran share a brief glance, but he doesn"t get a good enough look at Kieran"s face to tell what he"s actually thinking. Miles is terrified. It was hard enough not to give himself away at Ethan"s, but to pull it off a second time is almost unthinkable. He should have never agreed to this.

Trying to act like he"s not in love with Kieran while acting like he"s in love with Kieran? This is going to be so much harder than pretending to be straight.

Isabella, however, seems to adore the idea. She nods in excitement, slumping back in her seat and stretching her arms above her head.

"Oh, thank god," she laughs, nudging Kieran with her elbow. "Don"t get me wrong, Kiers, I love working with you. But I"ve been getting so tired of all these overworked tropes and the same plot lines over and over."

"Exactly," Octavia agrees, quite obviously pleased with herself. "It"s fresh, but still familiar. Between the two of you and the addition of Miles, the fans are going to love it."

Miles is just starting to come around to the idea when he looks over at Kieran again, and his heart drops into his stomach. Kieran is frowning down at the script, his brows furrowed.

"That"s…definitely a change," he says, not looking at Miles.

Octavia raises a brow at him.

"You don"t sound thrilled, Kieran."

Yeah, Miles has to agree on that one. His stomach twists itself into knots, and he just hopes that the hurt isn"t showing on his face.

"Just curious," Kieran says, shrugging.

"Do you have a problem playing a bisexual character?" she asks.

Miles feels like he wants to throw up. He both needs to hear Kieran"s answer and desperately wants to run out of the room and forget all about all of this.

"Of course not," Kieran says, brushing the idea of it off. "It"s just that it"s a sequel. Fans are expecting Isabella and I to wind up together. It"s a surprise, that"s all."

Miles is surprised at Kieran"s nonchalance. Straight guys usually make a whole big show out of it; puffing out their chests and starting the "love is love, but I"m not gay" speech. He tells himself very firmly not to read into it.

"Yes, Kieran, that"s called a plot twist," Octavia says with a good-natured grin. "We"re lucky you"re an actor and not a screenwriter."

Kieran snorts at that, raising his hands in submission and letting it go with an easy grin.

"Is there any problem with that on your end, Miles?"

Miles blinks several times before he fully processes the question, still half panicking at the thought of trying to keep his real feelings a secret.

"Uh, no, no," he stumbles out. "That"s fine with me. All good here!"

Kieran looks over at him, and Miles offers him a shaky smile. He hopes to hell that Kieran can"t tell why he"s panicking. Maybe he"ll just think it"s stage fright. That"s a reasonable thing to be nervous about, right?

People don"t usually get their first-ever acting role with two of the biggest stars in the world.

Miles flips open the script, just to have something to do with his hands, brimming with nervous energy. The first page he opens to is a sex scene between his character and Kieran"s, and a fiery blush flares on his cheeks. He closes the script immediately, pushing it a few inches away from him.

"Great," Octavia says. "Let"s see the chemistry between the two of you, then. A kiss should do, just to test the waters."

Kieran glances at Miles, eyes wide, then back at Octavia. She"s leaning back in her chair, thumb tapping against her bottom lip as she glances between the two of them. Miles feels like he"s about to pass out.

"Now?" Kieran asks, clearly thrown off center.

"No, next week," Octavia laughs, rolling her eyes. "Yes, now. I need to see what I"m working with here."

Kieran stumbles over his words for a second, and Miles feels his jaw clench. He didn"t think about how much it would suck to be constantly reminded of the fact that Kieran is straight and wants nothing to do with him.

"Should I kiss Isabella, too?"

Miles wants to throw up at the thought.

"How many times have you two worked together?" Octavia asks with an arched brow. "I think I"ve seen the chemistry between you two plenty of times. Stop stalling Callahan."

Kieran looks at Miles, clearly questioning if he"s ok with it. Miles just shrugs, shifting to face Kieran in his chair.

Honestly, he just wants to get this over with. He doesn"t need the constant proof that his crush is hopeless, but he"s still kind of annoyed at how hesitant Kieran is. He wasn"t this hesitant when he was pressing Miles against the wall and practically devouring him when they were at Ethan"s engagement party.

Miles tries to hold onto that annoyance, but as soon as Kieran faces him properly, it fades. Nerves settle in strongly, and his heartbeat skyrockets. He jumps a bit when Kieran cups his cheek, the brush of warm fingers against his skin making him blush.

He looks over at where Octavia is watching them, his blush flaring even brighter. This is so embarrassing, how the hell does Kieran do this all the time?

He and Kieran laugh at each other awkwardly when he meets Kieran"s eyes again, and then Kieran is leaning in. Miles freezes up, his whole body stiffening in panic. Kieran"s hand slides from his cheek to twine in the hairs at the nape of his neck, but Miles can hardly move.

Memories of the kisses they shared at Ethan"s flash through his mind, all heat and teasing desire, but this is nothing like that. It"s chaste, there"s no passion behind it.

Both of their eyes stay open the whole time.

Kieran finally pulls away, and Miles breathes a sigh of relief. He glances over at Octavia, but she"s staring at Kieran in confusion. Kieran is blushing a bit, his eyes staying firmly on the table in front of him. Finally, Octavia looks back at Miles, and she laughs softly.

"Alright, we"ll need to work on that for sure." She claps her hands just as the door to the conference room opens, and some of the tension bleeds from the air. "Just in time."

A few people bring in trays of food, setting them up at the end of the conference table. Miles hadn"t realized he was hungry in the first place, but the sight of finger sandwiches and fresh fruit have his stomach growling.

"Let"s eat for now," Octavia says, waving toward the trays. "You all can look through the script for a bit before we do our first read together, sound good?"

They all nod in agreement, and Isabella immediately grabs Kieran"s attention. The two of them huddle together, Isabella pointing to a line and asking Kieran something about movement, asking for his opinion.

Miles just kind of freezes again. He has no idea what he"s supposed to be doing, so he just looks down at the script in front of him blankly.

He"s irrationally jealous of Isabella, and he hates it. She and Kieran are just so comfortable together, and he can"t help but want to have that with Kieran, too. He feels awful for wishing that Isabella was just some shallow, vapid brat, a dumb bimbo he could brush off and ignore. But she has an air of class about her, and she"s been so kind to him. He"s honestly excited to work with her.

And he can see why Kieran would like her too. That only sucks more.

His attention is pulled away abruptly when Octavia plops down in the seat next to him, bowl of fruit in hand.

"How are you doing, Miles?" she asks.

Her eyes are kind, and Miles laughs, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

"Honestly, I"m nervous as hell," he tells her.

She grins widely, taking a bite of pineapple, and waves him off.

"You"ll get used to it, promise," she says. "Once we get you out of your shell, you"ll do just fine."

Miles has no idea how the hell he"s supposed to do that, but he just smiles awkwardly.

"Yeah, I hope so."

"So, look, I wanted to pick your mind about something," she says, and Miles straightens in his seat. "The crew will be small—location shoots are expensive—and we"ve already finalized a lot of plans, so I was wondering if you knew anyone you"d be comfortable bringing along as an assistant?" Miles hesitates for a second, confused, but she continues, "We can find you someone, of course, but it"ll be a scramble at this point, and I figure you might be a bit more at ease with someone you know."

It takes Miles a second to answer, but he finally manages to get words out.

"I, uh, do I really need an assistant?"

Just the sound of that is weird to him. Miles is just a guy, he doesn"t have assistants. Octavia laughs, though, and pats his shoulder kindly.

"You"re going to be running around like a chicken without a head, sweetheart," she says, "especially since this is your first movie. Someone needs to keep an eye on you, make sure you eat and drink and have sunscreen, do your laundry and the like."

Miles guesses that makes sense, actually. Everything with the movie is probably going to be crazy busy, not to mention trying to get into Blackwood"s good graces on top of it all. Having someone around to help would probably take a load off. The thought of having an assistant is still weird as hell to him, though.

"Uh, yeah, I"ll try to find someone," he says, smiling uncertainly.

"You"re a doll," Octavia tells him, clapping him on the shoulder again. "If you can"t find someone by next week, just let me know and we"ll find you someone, ok?"

Miles nods in agreement, and she rounds the table, snagging a sandwich on her way. He sinks into thought as she settles back in her seat, pulling out her laptop and typing away.

He can"t drag Chloe along, no matter how much he wants to. He wouldn"t be able to keep the mission secret from her, and he doesn"t want to drag her into any danger. Plus, she"s plenty busy with work and planning her wedding. He"s pretty sure she"ll actually be in Italy for at least some of the shoot. He"s kind of at a loss once he crosses Chloe off the list, honestly. He"s not close with very many people nowadays.

Just as he has that thought, someone crosses his mind, and he almost groans out loud.

There"s definitely one person he knows well enough to drag onto an island with zero warning. Someone who owes him a huge favor, who"s currently doing nothing with his life but taking up space on Miles" couch, jobless.

Fuck, this is really turning out to be way more trouble than it"s worth.