The Director (Hollywood Nights) (20 page)

           
She tried to sneak the lube out as
best she could. He was doing his best to hint that he wanted her to make him
come without actually saying it or moving his hands to help her as he often did
in some of the more visible situations.

           
No matter how far gone he seemed to
have been, his attention came back with a snap the moment she pressed a finger
across the bud of his anus. He breathed out the words, “I trust you.”

           
She didn’t tell him that after he
had mentioned the intern and his thorough examination, Shay had actually been
curious enough to look it up.
 
She made
quick work of the warming lubricant she had selected from the box. She began near
his testicles, the perineum, and then the rest of the area surrounding his
anus.

She always kept her nails short,
clean, and snag free. It was necessary for this move, though that was never her
rationale for maintaining them in that state. It was easier to manipulate
fabric and sew with short nails. This event was just a perk for all of her time
maintaining them. She enveloped his cock with her mouth as she pressed into
him. Slowly, until she found the prostate. When she touched it he moaned out
loud. His body shivered.

           
Her confidence fueled by the
reaction, she began caressing it gently. He mumbled incoherent words. She began
pressing slightly against it, quicker, firmer, until he erupted. She knew they
called it milking the prostate because it released more seminal fluid than a
normal orgasm, but she was totally unprepared for just how much. Normally able
to swallow it down, she had to let go and watch the rest of it spill out and
over her hand.

           
He took a breath and said, “I’m
dizzy.”

           
She could feel the complete
satisfaction of what she had done to him wash over her. She let her finger
slide gently from his body. The sheets were a rumpled mess around him. He was
sweating, breathing as though he just crossed a finish line at the Olympics,
and smiling lazily with a glazed, satisfied expression.

           
“I might have to examine you more
often.” She quipped.

           
He shook his head no. She frowned.
He said, “I’m useless to you now. Look at me. You still have on all of your
clothes.”

           
“I’ll be right back.” She bounded
off the bed and headed to the bathroom. She made quick business of cleaning her
hands up and then returning to the sated man half asleep in the bed. “Hey.”

           
He grunted as he looked at her
through lidded eyes. There had never been a sexier man than Jed Gunner. “Do you
want to give me a hand or just watch?”

           
His eyes opened fully. He bit his
lower lip and said, “I’ll watch. And give you directions.”

           
“I hear you’re a good director,” she
quipped.

           
“I’m the best.”

Chapter 15

           
She knew Jed had been acting a bit stressed.
He worked hard and still made time for her. She knew he had stopped smoking,
but he still “craved” a cigarette now and again. She didn’t mind. Easing Jed’s
cravings in the afternoon meant he would last longer and demand more from her
that night. He hadn’t had a craving in at least a week. Not since she asked
Frankie and Jonas to stay with them when they came to visit.

Shay looked at
the box and realized she hadn’t brought it out in a while for them to play.
After thinking about it a moment she decided they hadn’t been intimate at all
in a while. She worried that he might think she was taking advantage of the
situation. After all, he paid for everything. She would start rehearsals soon
for her role in the play. They were almost finished with the casting. She
didn’t make a fraction of his income, though she wasn’t sure how much he made,
she knew it was considerably more than her.
 

Against her
will, Jed had insisted on increasing Bailey’s salary and adding Shay to the
roster. Bailey had proven invaluable. Once the girl had accepted her place in
his life, she quickly moved on to dating the manager at a posh hotel. She
didn’t think she needed any help. Of course, as work picked up on all fronts
for both of them, she was glad he had been so considerate. She was sure when
the bras became available that her income would be respectable. In the
meantime, she didn’t want him to think she was just freeloading.

“Jed.” She
looked at the man standing in front of the stove. He grunted; it was his normal
response. “When are you going to let me contribute?”

He looked up
from the masterpiece he was working on and briefly around the open space before
returning his focus to the food. “I think you contribute quite a bit.”

“That’s not what
I’m talking about and you know it.” She had spiced the place up a bit. She hung
photos and art in different places, added pillows and throws to the couch, she
even painted a few walls.

“Ugh.” Was his
response.

“I’ve lived here
for months now and I still don’t pay for anything,” she said and crossed her
arms.

“That’s not
true.” He kept perfecting whatever he was working on as he talked.

“What have I
paid for?” She stood there defiantly. He spoiled her. She was getting used to
it and didn’t want him to think she was ungrateful for it.

“You paid for
all of the paint, those pillows, you pick up groceries sometimes, and take-out.
Nothing about you being here has changed my expenses.”

“You paid for
Bailey,” she reminded him.

He glanced at
her and then his attention went back to the stove.

“No response?”

“My brother, his
wife, and an infant will be arriving within the hour. They are staying here, at
your invitation and not a hotel, and now is the time you want to get into
this?”

Her gut
clenched. She just wanted to contribute, but she had pissed him off. In all the
time they had been together she had not seen Jed Gunner truly angry. She
suspected his temper was at a simmer along with the sauce he seemed to be
struggling with.

“Damn it!” He
pushed the concoction aside and began turning off the stove. He reached for
something and somehow his arm touched the side of one of the hot dishes and he
pulled it back with a, “Shit!”

Shay moved
closer to him. He took a step back and then moved to the sink to put the burn
under cold water. She said, “Let me see it.”

“I’m fine.”

“You are not
fine. What is it? You’re mad about something more than our conversation. I’ve
never seen you like this before.” She touched his elbow and he pulled away from
her again. Now her feelings were genuinely hurt. “Jed?”

“You don’t want
to do this now,” he said simply.

“Yes,” she
demanded. “I do. You need to tell me now. You’re mad at me for something and I
need to know what it is. I don’t want to be worried about what I say or do when
they get here.”

“Here,” he said.
“When they get here. Specifically, in this house. My sanctuary, the place where
I still have work to do. A place I could escape to if I was tired and not
feeling like taking in a movie or listening to one more story about the color
of my niece’s shit.”

Well that about
summed up why he was mad. She hadn’t considered any of it. She didn’t even
hesitate to tell them they could stay there. They were his family, and unlike
her family, he really enjoyed being around them. It seemed odd to her for them
to stay in a hotel when he had the room. “I…”

“I can’t believe
you insisted they stay here without even asking me how I felt about it. You
know how stressed out I’ve been trying to get this project off the ground. Now,
everyone is going to know how stressed out I am because I won’t be able to
enjoy time with them and then come home and deal with it privately.”

She had no idea
he was this worried about the recent job he had taken. “I don’t understand. I
thought you were really enjoying this…”

“I am, Shay. You
just don’t get it. Every one of these films has the potential to be a disaster.
I haven’t had a flop, ever. That means the expectation for me to turn out
brilliance each time is increasing. The hope that it fails increases with
people who wanted this job.” He exhaled, shook his head and said, “I know I
shouldn’t be mad at you for telling my little brother he can stay here. You
haven’t been in this family long enough to know we always say yes if someone
asks to stay, but we are never the one to ask them to.”

All she could
here was “in this family” over and over again in her mind. She was suddenly
aware that her status as girlfriend had somehow reached its limits. Living with
him was the same as marrying him. At least in Jed’s eyes. She realized that a
little too late. If her feeling had been hurt by his withdraw, surely he was
feeling a few stings over her decisions and requests.

“I’m sorry,” she
said and took a fortifying breath. “I was a little too excited that they were
coming to town. I had no idea you felt this way about the project. You always
seem to take everything in stride. I knew the extra time you spent working on
it meant you were a bit stressed out, but I thought that was due to the
deadline not the work itself.”

He looked at the
small red line on his arm and not at her.

She continued,
“I won’t say anything about contributing again either. I didn’t mean to insult
you.”

“You didn’t
insult me,” he said quietly. “It hurt. I want so much for you to realize
everything I have is yours too, and you…”

 
She stepped closer and looked at the mark on
his arm. It would leave a faint scar. She didn’t miss the symbolism of the
situation. Their first real fight and he was the one left with scars. She said
gently, “I just want you to know that I am here for the right reasons. I don’t
want you to ever, for one second, think I am here for anything other than you.”

“It never
crossed my mind,” he said as he allowed her to pull his arm up to her lips to
kiss the red welt.

“Well,” she
smiled as she looked up at him. “I’m also here for the sex.”

His lips moved
to a partial smile.

“And the food.”

He wrapped her
in a hug and she melted against him. She said, “I’m sorry.”

“I should have
told you, but I know you have a lot on your own plate right now. I’m proud of
everything you are doing. I want you to be able to do what you want with what
you earn. I know you’ve had to worry about finances in the past. I don’t want
you worried about that now.” He kissed the top of her head. “I need to start
over on that sauce. It’s terrible.”

Just like that
it was over. He had made his point and said his piece. Shay decided when her
money started coming in she would find things to do with it that would continue
to make him proud of her decisions. There are a lot of struggling actors out
there. Maybe she could find a way to help some of them.

***

           
When Frankie and Jonas arrived, Shay
knew instantly that they probably needed a hotel rather than the condo. They
looked exhausted and within ten minutes of being there, it was already time for
the baby to eat. That meant Frankie, a first time mother, had to stop eating to
feed her.

           
“She eats every two hours,” Jonas
said. “No matter what. She has not slept for longer than two hours at a time. They
said it will get better, but I don’t think it will. It was supposed to already
be better by now.”

           
“She takes after you,” Jed said
before his next bite.

           
“Me?” Jonas looked offended. “I was
a good baby. Mom said so.”

           
“Janice,” Jed corrected. “Janice was
a good baby. You were adorable, but a hellion. I was there. I remember.”

           
“I’ve tried everything to get her to
sleep longer,” Frankie said. She cleared her throat and added, “Your mom
mentioned you had a way with Jonas…I was hoping you would tell me what you
did.”

           
“I held him.” Jed said.

           
Shay looked at him. He was just a
kid himself. Taking care of other people seemed as much a part of Jed’s DNA as
his eye color.

           
“For how long?” Frankie asked. “I
mean I hold her a lot.”

           
Jed shrugged.

           
Shay suspected there was more to it
than that.

           
It wasn’t long before she found out.
Frankie and Jonas had arrived in the evening and after dinner they had both
practically passed out on the couch watching television. The baby woke up and
Jed moved to get her. He carried the child around while he heated up the bottle
and then he fed her. After she was done eating, he didn’t put her down.

           
“I’m going to go do some work.” He
headed off to the office with baby Justine. Shay had to admit, they sure had a
thing for alliteration.

           
She finished the movie, left the
sleeping parents in their respective places, and went to the office. She
smiled. He was reading to her. Not a kid’s story, it was another article
related to the homeless issue in New York. This documentary was proving to be
especially difficult for Jed because it wasn’t another country, another place
where people might not have resources or know any better. It was in his front
yard and he was struggling with it.

Justine wasn’t
struggling with the complex issues of America’s homeless at all. She was
asleep, her little head on his chest, over his heart, and he was reading. Surely
a little Jed was reading simple books back then, but since it was the voice,
the rumble, the heartbeat that soothed, Shay realized the content didn’t
matter.