Breaking Free (11 page)

Claire flinched and started weeping in her hands.

"Is the money good?" Sophie was on a roll, livid and broken. "Do you enjoy being the neighborhood whore?" She fumed, and Tennyson watched—entranced—as she closed the distance and grabbed on to Claire's shoulder and shook her. It wasn’t in the script, but it was fucking perfect, and Claire reacted just as perfectly. "Answer me!" Sophie looked murderous, while Claire's eyes were filled with fear and shame. "Do you get off on being a homewrecker?"

"Please, Anna!" Claire wailed.

"You don’t care," Sophie spat out and eased away. "As long as you can afford to buy more booze, you don't give a flying fuck."

Shaking her head, she closed off her emotions and rubbed at her eyes.

"I can't turn into you guys," she whispered to herself. "It makes me sick."

Chris sat to the side, watching stoically. He'd already given up.

"We have to find her," Sophie said, sniffling. "Mom…Dad…if you ever loved me and Jo, you'll help me with this."

Claire was there in an instant. "Anything, baby. We'll find her—"

"Stop touching me, damn it!" Sophie screamed.

"Okay, okay—I'm sorry." Claire backed off, shaky in her movements.

They were brilliant together.

"Dad?" Sophie spat out.

Chris simply stood up from his chair and walked over to grab his car keys. "I'll go file a missing person's report." He remained a shell of a man, as if he had a view of the future and knew his life had already been wasted.

"We should try to find Jo's boyfriend." Claire still held out hope that her daughters would forgive her. "We'll look for clues, okay? We'll find her."

The emotional arc of the scene had passed, so Tennyson chose to cut it there. Next up were retakes from different angles, but he knew he had the best footage already.

Sophie had raised the bar with her performance, and Tennyson was incredibly proud of her. Fuck, he wanted to go over to her and hug her tightly, praise her, but that would have to wait.

Instead, he watched her and Claire hug. They beamed at each other, both happy with the scene. And when Sophie glanced over at Tennyson, he sent her a warm smile, one she returned.

Chapter 14

In the middle of the night, Sophie stepped out of her trailer and plopped down right on the pavement.

She would've loved to say it was peaceful and dark around her, but the crew was working through the night to prepare the motel room they'd use in several upcoming scenes. Some fifty feet away, spotlights shone from the entrance to the set. She could hear drilling, walls tumbling down, and orders being yelled.

The fresh night air helped though, and her trailer was outside the reach of the nearest streetlamp. Wearing only a pair of panties and Tennyson's T-shirt, she drew the fabric over her legs and rested her cheek on her knee. Her eyes closed, and she hugged her legs closer to her body as she tried to let go of today.

She was completely raw, turned inside out. After they'd wrapped today…God, she'd been triumphant and thrilled. She was
so
happy it had gone well, and she'd felt it in her bones. She'd nailed it, but it hadn't come without an emotional setback. The script hit too close to home, and she'd been unable to stay away from drawing parallels between fiction and her own life.

Soon, she would be telling her dad to fuck off. He'd hurt her too much, and she wouldn’t be some puppet anymore. But despite the hurt he'd inflicted, it still saddened her.

Sophie had already lost her mom. She had a new family in the Valley now, and after Sophie's partying, Mom had told her not to come around anymore.

Sophie had never really processed that fully. It was what alcohol and more partying had been for—blocking that hurt. She'd kept busy, constantly being on the move.

The aftershocks of the scene today had caused Sophie to burst into tears as soon as she'd been in the comfort of her trailer. Daniel had given her privacy; Tennyson hadn't. He'd insisted on being there for her, though he hadn't questioned her about anything. He'd let her weep while holding her silently, stroking her hair, and kissing away her tears.

He was asleep in her bed right now, and part of Sophie wanted to snuggle close and tell him every little thing.

The other part held her back because her feelings were already too strong. Besides, Tennyson knew the gist of her issues already. He knew she was starting over and trying to get away from her old life.

"Fuck." She released a breath, wondering if she'd ever felt this conflicted and uprooted before. Same went for the odd combination of relief and loss.

For once in her life, she had her priorities in order, and there were no ifs or buts. She didn’t even care that much about luxury anymore, as long as she'd be independent and have her own place.

Just thinking about that brought her a sense of ease, particularly after acing today's scene. But then there was the loss. No family. Barely any friends. She'd be starting over almost from scratch. Tennyson—saying goodbye to him would fucking suck. She could already feel it tearing at her.

At times—when he was being all sweet and doting—it would be so easy to ask for more. Something lasting, something real. But how would she ever be able to stand on her own two feet, then? She'd never learn how to be her own person if she went from one man's clutches to another's.

Sophie doubted Tennyson would control her even in the slightest, but it was important to her that she grew up on her own.

As it was…she could order drinks and vote, but she didn’t know how to pay a bill online or cook her own dinner.

"Useless," she whispered to herself. But she would get better, she vowed. She'd fucking learn.

Behind her, she heard the door open, and she looked up to see Tennyson stepping out.
Unf
. He looked to die for in only a pair of jeans. His zipper was drawn up, but the button wasn’t closed.

"There's my little T-shirt thief." He quirked half a smile and sat down on the step to her trailer. "You okay, sweetie?"

She nodded and wordlessly got up to sit on his lap. If anyone saw, fuck it. She couldn’t bring herself to care right now.

Call me sweetie some more, please.

"Hey," Tennyson murmured and wrapped his arms around her. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

"Yeah." Sophie sighed contentedly, too relaxed to question how much easier it was to breathe when she was with Tennyson. "I'm fine, though." She pecked his bearded jaw. She'd grown weirdly fond of his facial hair. "We should make plans for this weekend."

It was the Fourth of July, and you could take the American out of America, but you couldn’t take America out of the American.

"Like, we could all go to the beach or have a barbecue or something." She lifted her head to gauge Tennyson's reaction. "I know Daniel and Tyler are going home for the weekend, but Noah, Steph, and Brooklyn are staying."

Sophie had a feeling Brooklyn could use the distraction, too. She had a ten-year-old daughter at home—staying with her grandmother—and if Maliah hadn't left for a summer camp yesterday, Brooklyn would've gone home to see her.

Tennyson smiled and touched her cheek. "The beach sounds good to me. I should probably warn you, though. My brother and parents are flying up."

Oh, joy.

Sophie had heard enough to want to meet Asher, but their parents—rather, their mom—seemed extremely intent on setting up her sons with women they could marry.

She would
not
like Sophie.

"They usually do their own thing," Tennyson went on, "but my mother sent me a very elaborate email tonight on why everyone should be together this weekend. Apparently we don’t
bond
often enough." He smirked wryly. "Ash and I can't wait."

Sophie giggled sleepily and shrugged. "The more, the merrier, I guess." She was looking forward to meeting Tennyson's brother, though.

Thanks to Daniel, who'd spoken directly to Asher about Fight for Fighters, Sophie would get a visitor tomorrow. She couldn’t even describe how excited she was, and it'd be fun to see Tennyson's expression, too.

"Wanna go back to bed?" Sophie asked softly.

"If you come with me." He leaned in and brushed a kiss to her mouth.

*

Sophie woke up the next morning, sensing something was different. The sun was shining outside, which meant… Oh shit, she remembered now she had kind of abused Tennyson's phone when the alarm had gone off at four.

Blinking against the sleep that still clung to her, she reached down to the floor and found his phone. Thankfully, it was still intact. But it was a good thing she'd woken up now because she knew Tennyson had work starting at nine.

As far as she knew, there were no scenes today. The set was still being built, but there were meetings and phone conferences, according to Tennyson—although it didn’t involve her. Sophie had the day off.

"Tennyson," she mumbled around a yawn. "I wanna sleepy fuck." She wiggled her butt against his semi, not caring if those words made sense or not. He'd understand.

Tennyson shifted, waking up way too slowly.

Taking the matter into her own hands, literally, she slipped a hand behind her back and stroked him teasingly.

After a while, he let out a quiet groan and moved a hand up her body. "What time is it?"

"Eight thirty." She lifted her leg and brought his smooth, heavy cock between her thighs. "Sleepy fuck, Tennyson."

He hummed and cupped her pussy lazily, still half-asleep. "You're insatiable."

"No," she giggled and pushed her ass against him again. "You're just old."

"You little shit," he chuckled. "I've had no problems keeping up with you so far, have I?"

God, no. If anything, he pounced on her as often as she did, but it was fun to tease him.

"No," she agreed. "So can you give me what I want now?"

"And what's that?" He fingered her slowly, deeply, and brought wetness up to circle her clit. It was maddening. "Tell me."

"Your cock." She sighed in pleasure. "I sorta have a crush on it."

That wasn’t a lie, either. Tennyson was
so
good in bed, aggressive but attentive, and he didn’t blow his load in two minutes.

Hooking his arm under Sophie's leg, Tennyson positioned himself before pushing deep inside her in one thrust. And that was it. It was all Sophie wanted right now. Fuck, he felt amazing in her.

"Perfect," she breathed out. Her eyes remained closed and she was in no rush.

"Yeah." Tennyson hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. "You are."

It was the sleepy fuck she'd asked for. Lazy, occasional thrusts, slow kisses, and a buildup that took time but got so fucking intense.

"Christ…" Tennyson repositioned them so she was lying on top of him, though not face-to-face. His chest hair tickled her back. "I wish I had more hands." He grinned into the kiss he placed on her shoulder.

Sophie hummed, loving her new Tennyson mattress. He was holding her hips tightly, all while pushing in and out of her pussy in shallow thrusts.

"Pinch your nipples," he told her, moving a little faster now.

Sophie obeyed and cupped her left breast, rolling the tight nipple between her fingers. Her other hand snuck lower, and she pressed her palm over her clit, the tips of her fingers teasing Tennyson's cock.

"How long do you need to get ready for work?" she asked breathily. "Oh my God, that feels amazing…"

"Five minutes," he grunted. "I love how wet and tight you are—
fuck
." He bit into her shoulder and muffled his sounds.

"That’s on you," she accused. "Before we started fucking, I never turned into a damn waterfall."

Tennyson both laughed and groaned. "That’s even sexier. Knowing it's me."

Sophie would've replied if her orgasm hadn't started taking over. A choked cry escaped her, and then she was lost in euphoria.

"Ah, fuck. Fuck, fuck." Tennyson growled and rammed into her before shuddering and growing still. "How—how the hell do you do it…"

Sophie didn’t know what he was talking about, and she was too busy holding on to the remnants of her climax. Her skin felt hot and flushed, but chilling goose bumps took over as Tennyson's large hands roamed up her front. He lazily cupped her breasts and kissed her neck between heavy breaths.

"
Ungh
." Sophie swallowed dryly, considering sleeping some more. But it wasn’t as fun when she was alone. "I killed your alarm earlier," she whispered. "Your phone survived without a scratch, but I'm afraid it's been demoted to stay on the floor."

She felt Tennyson's laughter more than heard it.

"You're too fucking cute, Sophie." He gently lifted her off him and brought her close for a cuddle. Sophie loved it, but she needed to go to the bathroom stat—unless they wanted a wet patch on the sheets. "What time is it now?"

Sophie looked over at the nightstand and checked her phone. "Uh-oh, you have three minutes."

He didn’t look too bothered, though. "All right. I'll sneak back to my trailer for a quick shower. Join me for lunch? Steph is ordering from that seafood place you like."

"Hell, yeah." She smiled and sat up, snatching up one of his discarded T-shirts. She had a handful of them here now, and he wasn’t getting all of them back. "So much Michigan for you." This one smelled delicious, like Tennyson's deodorant…fresh, manly musk… It was crazy soft, and it had the words "University of Michigan" printed on it.

"Go Blue or go home," Tennyson murmured. "My dad and brother went there, too."

She already knew about Asher, thanks to Wikipedia.

Getting off the bed, Tennyson grabbed his jeans and the closest T-shirt he could find, putting them on as he watched her pull the Michigan T-shirt over her head.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You look sinful in my clothes. See you later." He left after sliding on his shades and putting his ball cap on backward.

Maybe someone saw him exiting her trailer, maybe no one did, maybe there would be speculation, maybe nobody would care. Sophie didn’t, either. She was too happy, and the excitement only grew when she remembered that she'd be getting a dog today.

*

Two hours later, Sophie was sitting in a plastic lawn chair outside her trailer. The summer heat today rivaled LA's, and she was soaking up the sun with Brooklyn, a table with cold drinks between them.

"I love it when there're no scenes." Brooklyn stretched in her chair, pulling her curly black hair into a twist at the top of her head. She had some faint shimmer in her body lotion or powder, and it made her dark complexion look golden in the sun. "My crew was all, 'Let's go sightsee in Vancouver,' and I
could
not kick them outta here fast enough."

Sophie chuckled and took a sip from her Diet Coke. "I'm not leaving this spot until Daniel comes back." She had everything she needed here right now. Rock music was pouring out of the warehouse where the film crew was working on the new set, the weather was awesome, she had great company, and she could accomplish a lot on her phone.

With a few clicks, her old Twitter and Facebook accounts were erased. Through texts, she could chat with Noah—who was waiting out a rainstorm in Denver. On Amazon, she had put together a list of things she'd get as soon as she knew the gender of the dog. She'd click
buy
within the hour and have it overnighted.