The Director (Hollywood Nights) (13 page)

           
His mom was next. He hugged her.
Then she surprised him because she looked at Shay and said, “My God, that dress
is amazing.”

           
“Thank you,” Shay beamed. “I made it
myself.”

           
“Hey,” he said as everyone else came
together. “Let’s get a family photo so it looks less obvious something unexpected
is happening over here.”

           
Jonas called to a photographer who
was followed by as many paparazzi that could get to the rail to take the
photograph. Shay started to tug away from him. He looked at her. “You want a
family photo with your parents and brother and sister. I can step off to the
side with Frankie and Buddy.”

           
“No.” He held her firm. He whispered
in her ear as different pho-togs snapped pictures and others tried to give them
direction to get the best group shot, “See, they are getting in here too. My
parents are standing with their dates. If you left me, I’d be here alone.”
 

           
“Shay, that dress makes me feel a
little lesbian,” Frankie whispered.

           
Jed quirked a brow at her.

Jonas said, “I’m really
uncomfortable with that.”

           
Frankie laughed.

Shay admitted, “It’s an inside
joke.”

           
The family disbanded and they began
the walk in the proper direction this time. He could hear people say, “That’s
Jed Gunner.” And “Who is he with?”

           
They stopped in front of press
outlets he was comfortable talking to and Shay gripped his hand tight. She was
nervous. To look at her no one would know, but the grip on his fingers told him
she was scared to death. He remembered those days.

           
By the time they made it inside she
was a wreck. He had talked her up, told them she designed the dress herself,
she would be a star for one reason or another, but he wanted it to be for
something she did and not because her presence got a rare shot of him. She took
her seat and asked, “Did I do okay? They asked a lot of things I wasn’t
prepared for.”

           
“You did great,” he smiled. She
would make the Harvey Agency proud. “Now tell me the inside joke.”

           
She smiled a real smile at him and
leaned in to whisper, “Frankie and I went to high school together. We were best
friends and we…practiced. We never made it past first base so don’t look at me
like that. From then on if one of us looked really good, had a cute shirt,
haircut, you get the idea, we would say that.”

           
“Well,” he winked. “I’m glad she’s
not that bright.”

           
“She’s actually really smart,” Shay
whispered.

           
“Not if she had you and only felt a
little
lesbian.” He leaned in and placed
a brief kiss on her full lips.

His brother-in-law and sister
were sitting directly in the row behind them. Frankie and Jonas were to the
left of Shay. His mother and her date sat next to Janice behind them. He wasn’t
making out with her, but his brother-in-law, Buddy, took the opportunity to
bust his balls anyways.

Buddy cleared his throat and
said, “AhGeeze, Jed. Get a room.”

           
Jed laughed. He placed another kiss
on her cheek and held her hand in his. He understood how much nicer these
events were with someone there beside him. He wasn’t nearly as aggravated as he
typically would have been. He was also proud that he only smoked one of the
cigarettes before she arrived. He was a mess. He hadn’t seen his own face since
he was eighteen. He was shocked to see the man looking back at him. He was
relieved to see that she was pleased, but not so much that he couldn’t grow his
beard back.

***

           
The pictures of her and Jed were
everywhere. Shay was nervous, but she was happy. Excited, but anxious as the
pressure to do everything she said she always wanted to do became real. She
looked at the man lying in bed next to her and stroked his soft cheek. The
stubble was already growing back. He rolled to his back and looked up at her.

           
“I have to go.” She leaned over and
kissed him. She didn’t have to leave right away, but she was anxious and she
was trying to avoid shopping. If she waited any longer there would have been
shops open between where she was and where she needed to be. At this hour she
only had to fear the add-ons at the coffee shop. “I’ll call as soon as I can.”

Two weeks later…

Shay didn’t care if it didn’t technically
look right with what she was wearing. She hadn’t seen him in person in over a
week. She put the bracelet on her wrist and looked at herself in the mirror.
She was tempted to put the diamond earrings on too, but decided against it. She
was wearing a fitted t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Jed didn’t dress up without
a good reason, and they were only going to Jonas and Frankie’s house. Just
family, no one else, she had learned to ask from the last time.

           
The doorbell chimed and she bounced
down the stairs with the bracelet on her wrist and the hoodie he had given her
in her hand. She swung the door open and jumped onto him. He had a beard again,
but not a full one, it was shorter, made him look younger. He was still sexy as
sin. His lips still the softest she had ever kissed. His arms still the
strongest she had known around her.

           
He looked deep into her eyes and kissed
her again.

As he sat her to her feet she
said, “I missed you.”

“We don’t have to go,” he said as
he stepped her backwards into the house and shut the door. “They will
understand.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. She
didn’t want his family to think badly of her. She was sure they were happy she
was in his life, but if she started taking his time away from scheduled
gatherings they might not remain happy about it. Frankie definitely would not
be happy since this was the first time Shay had been invited to their house.

The moment he locked the door, she
knew he was sure.

***

Shay made a compromise, she took
the edge off his lust with a blow job and then they headed to dinner at Jonas
and Frankie’s house. He liked spending time with his family, just not as much
as he liked spending time with Shay.

Frankie pulled Shay away from him
the moment they entered the house. He walked with his brother to the kitchen
where his brother-in-law was just pulling out a beer from the refrigerator.
Buddy asked, “Want one?”

Jed nodded and caught the bottle
as it sailed through the air at him. The two of them looked at him expectantly.
Jed opened the beer and took a sip. “What? Why are you both gawking at me like
I have a dick growing out of my forehead?”

Buddy laughed and said, “Well,
you may as well have. I mean I’ve know you for years and I have never seen you
this…social.”

“It was her idea to come. I tried
to talk her out of it, but she didn’t want you guys to think she was the reason
I wasn’t here,” he admitted. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her she is the
reason I have showed up to the past two events.”

“Hey,” Jonas said. “One of those
events was my wedding.”

Jed smiled, “And she was there
like I was hoping she would be. You invited everyone from the movie and that
included her. I didn’t know then that she and Frankie were a little lesbian,
and knew each other, did you?”

Buddy choked on the beer he had
just taken a swig of.

Jonas blushed and grumbled, “Yes.
I knew. Frankie doesn’t keep secrets from me.”

Jed watched his little brother
work up the nerve to say it. Once he knew Frankie and Shay were as close as
they had been he suspected Frankie knew about the video Shay had made. If
Frankie knew, Jonas knew. If Jonas knew, it was possible Buddy knew. It didn’t
matter to him who knew. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and even if she had
fucked everyone on the set, he wouldn’t let it stop him, he loved her.

Jonas took a sip of his beer and
asked, “How well do you know her? I mean I know you are fucking her. Frankie’s
worried that Shay might actually have feelings for you. I don’t know a whole
lot about her other than what Frankie has told me. She wasn’t to be trusted.
This is the first time she’s been to our house.”

Buddy looked awkwardly from Jonas
to Jed and back again before saying, “Jonas, what the fuck man? I thought we
were having a nice family dinner.”

“I want to have a nice family
dinner. You don’t know what it was like when…”

“Don’t say it,” Jed warned. When
they were kids and he scared them. He had enough guilt over that.

“You are really in over your head
aren’t you? God, this is worse than I thought. Jed, I’m not the only one
worried here.” Jonas sat his drink on the counter and huffed as he crossed his
arms. He was still such a spoiled little brat sometimes. Jed smiled at his
little brother knowing that he was part of the reason Jonas had turned out to
be such a brat in the first place. Jonas softened and said, “We don’t want to
lose you.”

So there it was. The fear that if
he loved Shay and she broke his heart he would do what he didn’t do when Dana
died. Jed sighed and said, “I know you don’t understand what happened then.
Imagine if something happened to Frankie, Jonas. Now imagine those feeling you
have now, at the age of seventeen. Imagine the devastation of it. I loved Dana.
I didn’t have the luxury of age and wisdom to help me deal with it.”

Buddy stood quietly soaking it
all in. He wasn’t born into this mess, he was married into it. He knew about
Jed’s past, but from Janice and her spin on the whole thing.

“I’m worried,” Jonas said and
shrugged.

“Fair enough,” Jed said and
nodded. “I was worried about you and Frankie. I didn’t think you were making a
good decision. I didn’t want you to end up with heartache, or her end up hurt
by the public. I was worried about Janice and Buddy. I knew he was a good man,
he loves our sister, but I never wanted either of you to feel the pain of loss
like I felt. You have both been very lucky that the ones you love have returned
that love to you and have decided to stay and fight for their place beside you.
I didn’t have that.”

“But you do now,” Buddy said
quietly. “You can see it in her eyes when she looks at you.”

“You don’t know that,” Jonas said
to Buddy.

Buddy looked at Jonas and said,
“Yes, I do. Just like I knew about you and Frankie. The first time I saw you
two together I knew it was over before it ever began. Doesn’t mean it was going
to be easy. Hell, Janice wasn’t easy either, but I knew we were meant to be
together.”

“I’m glad to know my little sister
wasn’t easy,” Jed said as he heard her approaching with Buddy Junior.

“Awe,” she said to Buddy as his
son ran across the room towards him. “You guys are in here bonding and you
still protect my honor in front of my brothers. How sweet. I was so easy, Buddy
and you know it. I took one look at you and…”

“I don’t want to hear this,”
Jonas said.

“I agree,” Jed laughed.

They all looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” Janice said as she
slid into her husband’s extended arm. “I’m just so happy to see you happy, Jed.
I mean, you smile, you laugh, and you shaved, though by the looks of it I don’t
think you have since.”

“She likes it,” he said with
pride. “I don’t have to change anything about me for her. I am here because she
doesn’t want you all to hate her. I’m here because you need to know, no matter
what you think of her, I’m not letting go.” He looked at Jonas pointedly and
said, “So you need to get on board and deal with it.”
  

***

Shay barely had time to register
anything about Frankie’s home before she was secured in a room and asked one
question, “Does he know?”

           
“Know what?”

           
“About the…”

           
“Yes,” Shay nodded and gave her
practiced smile. “You didn’t watch it did you? You saw the first few moments
and then assumed the worst of me. Frankie, you don’t know what you think you
know.”

           
“Shay, I am very pregnant. I don’t
have the energy to sugar coat this. I am worried because my husband is freaking
out about his big brother and his relationship with you. He said that Jed is not
emotionally stable. He said that he almost killed himself when he was younger.
His whole family is worried about him, but I am worried about both of you. I’ve
never seen you like this before. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

           
“Frankie.” Shay stepped closer to
her and wrapped her arms around the very pregnant woman and said, “I love you.
I never deserved you as a friend. You have always been there for me and I
always let you down. I disappointed you with my words and actions. I know that.
I know you didn’t understand why I had to leave college, why I did any of the
things I did. I hated myself, Frankie. I wanted you to hate me too. But you
wouldn’t. You didn’t, until you finally did. Do you know what happened after
that day?”

           
“No,” Frankie said quietly.

           
Shay moved into the room and took a
seat. Frankie followed her. As she sat, Shay talked, “I walked past the place
the next day. I had called and vented about eight messages to your phone
including a sobbing plea at the end for you to call me back and forgive me. I got
about a block away before I stepped down a side street and vomited my guts out.
I was crying. I was a mess. I knew it was real. You hated me. The last person
to have any feeling for me was gone. And then this car stopped. An old man got
out and asked if I was okay. I told him I was never okay. I would never be
okay. He laughed and said, ‘I’ve seen worse than this, kid. Come on, I’m Milton
Harvey, of the Harvey Agency, and you doll face might just be my final
project.”