The Director (Hollywood Nights) (5 page)

           
She lifted off of him and moved back
to her spot in the bed. He removed the condom and tossed it in a waste basket
on the other side of his nightstand. He rolled to face her. He looked at her
for a long time. Not a word between them. She yawned.

           
A moment later, he slicked the back
of two of his fingers down the front of her mons and asked, “Does it hurt when
they wax it?”

           
“Not anymore,” Shay admitted. A
hairy guy like Jed had probably never had a tweezer taken to an eyebrow, much
less hot wax poured on to strip hair off. “I’m starting to wonder if it will
even grow back. I just tweeze it because so little grows in now. I mean I have
been getting waxed since before I was a teenager. Hair on my arms, legs, my
cha-cha, you name it, if it was not hair on my head, it came off. They have
lasers now that are supposed to make it less painful, but like I said, I don’t
really need to have it professionally done anymore.”

           
The fingers had moved from the light
touch of her pussy to her hip where the front of his fingers traced patterns of
his own creation on her flesh. “Didn’t your mother notice?”

           
“Who do you think took me?” Shay
scoffed. She didn’t want to think about it. She was trying to help him avoid
his nightmares not delve into hers.

           
He frowned. He looked at her and
asked, “Do you think I should shave?”

           
“Why?”

           
“Look at what I’m doing to you.” He
touched a few red patches that had formed on her thigh from his ministrations
earlier.

           
“I don’t mind. It’s different. Yeah,
it can be a bit prickly when you move one way, but it’s kinda nice when you
move another.” She winked at him. To set them both on solid ground she reminded
him, “Besides, this is just tonight, right? So who am I to tell you what to do
with your facial hair?”

           
“Hmmmm,” he hummed. “Just tonight.
What if I want more than just tonight?”

           
“You said you were not interested in
having coffee with me, remember? No bridesmaids to hit on so you found me, and
here we are.” Shay put her hand on his and lifted it until it was back on the
bed between them and not on her body. “I don’t think I can give more than this.
I’ve just gotten back into Frankie’s good graces and I…”

           
“Who gives a shit about Frankie?” he
frowned. “This is about you.”

           
“Well,” she said and then gulped. “I
give a shit about Frankie. I am pretty sure your little brother gives a shit
about Frankie. I don’t want to cause problems for you. I shouldn’t have come
here to begin with, but I couldn’t resist the way you were looking at me. Now
that I’m here, I’m trying to remember this was a fling, a one night stand, and
that I can’t tell anyone about it no matter how fucking amazing you are.”

           
“What if I changed my mind?” he
asked innocently enough.

           
“About what?”

           
“About what I want.”

           
“What do you want?” She tried not to
let her pulse run wild throughout her body. She tried not to get her hopes up.
She desperately needed to get out of there and away from him. This was all bad
and getting worse. Nevertheless, it felt so good, and right, it scared her.

           
“More than just tonight.” He slid
his hand across the bed again and tugged at the end of her braid. She closed
her eyes instead of telling him no. She was thinking, but not fast enough. He
took the lack of rejection as a sign of acceptance. When her eyes opened he was
already moving his face in to kiss her, his body over her to push her back and
under him. He wasn’t even hard. He wasn’t tying to fuck her. He just wanted her
trapped there beneath him. “Stay with me. Tell me why you’re worried about
Frankie. Tell me why it would cause problems. I need to know, because I don’t
want you to go.”

           
“You don’t want to know all of this,
Jed. I’m really not worth…” She looked away from him.

           
“Were you going to say worth it?” he
whispered in her ear. He was close, not looking her in the eye anymore. She
nodded. She could feel the slight movement against the side of his face. “What
if I said you were? Would you believe me?”

           
“No.”

           
He pushed up to his elbows and
looked at her again. He studied her for a long uncomfortable moment. She wasn’t
looking at him. She was looking at the lamp on the nightstand on his side of
the bed. It didn’t make her awareness of his scrutiny any less.

           
“Who did this to you?” he asked.

           
She let out a breathy laugh. She
looked at him and said, “Did what?”

           
“Made you feel so…I don’t know. I
don’t know how you feel. I just know that you are the most beautiful…”

           
“Don’t,” she said as she moved her
hands to his chest and pushed. He didn’t budge.

           
“Don’t tell you you’re beautiful?”
He looked her square in the eye.

           
“No. Don’t tell me I am beautiful.”
She frowned at him. Her brows drew tight and she let him have it. He wanted to
know, so she told him. “I don’t need you to tell me what I look like. It’s all
anyone ever says to me. I know what I look like. I know that on the outside I
am beautiful. Does that mean you should risk conflict with your family and I
should risk losing the only real friend I ever had, again, because you think
I’m pretty?”

           
She pushed at his chest again and
this time he moved. He rolled to his back and looked at the ceiling.

           
She stood up and started for the
door.

           
“Where are you going?” He sat up
suddenly.

           
“Home,” she said. “I’ll call a cab.”

           
“But…”

           
She held a hand up and he stopped.
He looked wounded, confused.

           
“It was great meeting you, Jed. I just…gotta
go.” Shay made her feet move. She made her body leave him in that room alone as
she started for the stairs and her clothes in the kitchen.

           
She had just pulled the dress on and
pulled her phone out when he appeared in the doorway, fully dressed.

           
“Here,” he said and offered her a hoodie
with the words InkBlot on it. “I’ll take you home.”

           
“You don’t…”

           
“I’m taking you home,” he said it
with such finality she didn’t argue. She pulled the sweatshirt on over her gown
and searched without success for her underwear. She followed him out the front
door and to the car where he opened the door for her.

Chapter
4

           
Jed drove her home. It was difficult
to open the door and let her out of the car. He extended a hand and she took
it. She had no idea how the touch sent electricity through his veins. He was
alive around her. The feeling at once so comforting and frightening, he barely
knew how to manage it. He helped her out and said, “Can I at least get your
number?”

           
“No.” She smiled. “I think it’s best
we just go on like this never happened.” She must have seen the hurt in his
expression though he tried to mask it the best he could. He wasn’t an actor
anymore. His emotions were as real and raw as they came. She explained, “I mean…I
will never forget it, Jed. I just don’t want to ruin anything for either of us.”

           
“You are hideous,” he said as his
hand stroked her cheek longingly. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. “You told
me not to call you beautiful. I was hoping if I called you something else you
would reconsider giving me your number.”

           
She snickered. Her face leaned into
his palm and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He could not explain how
desperately he wanted to remain near her. It was just a basic instinct. She was
a broken soul, much like him. She had no idea how badly he wanted to know her.
She kissed his palm and said, “Goodbye, Jed.”

           
She walked towards the building. He
closed and then leaned on the car door to watch her as she walked away. He
called out, “I’m not giving up that easy, just so you know.”

           
She was almost at her door when she
stopped, turned, and said, “Maybe next time you should just ask for coffee.”

           
He could not express the relief in
his lungs, the lightness of his heart, or the joy suddenly building inside of
him. She stepped into the door and looked at him through the glass. She lifted
a hand and waved. He held up his hand and then let it fall as she smiled and
turned away. He knew where she lived. He knew who had her phone number, and he
was going to get a proper date out of her. He was going to make it clear to his
family he didn’t need anyone’s approval, least of all his little brother’s new
bride.

***

Shay didn’t bother to shower, she
simply landed on her bed and pulled the hoodie he had given her up to her nose
to inhale the warm scent of him. How could she let this happen? She was bound
and determined to make a clean break, but once he called her hideous while
caressing her in such a way that let her know he thought she was anything but,
she couldn’t help it. He had her sick humor. He had that darkness in him. He
wasn’t going to give up. She wasn’t sure she was ready to bare her soul to
anyone. She had only recently uncovered it for herself.

She looked at the picture of her
grandparents hanging on the wall and said, “You would like him. He doesn’t care
what I’m made of.”

           
The next morning she called Alex.
She needed to meet with him. She dressed in a conservative, yet professional
outfit and waited at the coffee shop rather than meeting him at his office.

           
“I’d like to audition for Sleepers,”
Shay said and passed him the script.

           
“Why?” He didn’t bother to look at
it. He motioned for the waitress. She arrived before Shay could get another
word out. “I’ll have the usual. What are you having?”

           
It was a test. This whole meeting
was another Alex Harvey test. She was auditioning for him to prove she was
ready to audition for anything he could book for her. Shay smiled at the
waitress and said, “I’ll have a cup of tea please.”

           
The woman walked away and Harvey
said, “Good choice. I’m glad you stopped ordering water. You don’t like
coffee?”

           
“I do,” Shay said confidently. “But
ordering coffee in a coffee shop won’t plant a little seed of difference.
Ordering tea might make someone remember I ordered tea when they ordered
coffee.”

           
“Interesting,” Alex looked at his
cell phone.

           
“I think I am a good fit for the
part.”

           
“Desperation,” Alex said and then
made a tisking sound while waiving his finger.

           
She took a deep breath. He was
right. He knew what they were there for. He ordered something to drink and was
sitting down. That meant she had some time to get to business. There is an
entire courting process people have to go through when they are in her position.
There are a ton of desperate people aiming to get face time with anyone who
might have a moment to hear them. The challenge was to get them to listen.

           
He asked, “What is the difference
between listening and hearing?”

           
“Anyone can hear me talk. I can hear
everything going on in this coffee shop, but I am not listening. My attention
is on this conversation. And your attention was on the phone when I said that,
so you couldn’t listen to me when I mentioned it.” She tried not to sigh
audibly. In all the years her parents had carted her off to auditions and to
casting calls they never invested any time or money into the business aspect of
Hollywood. They thought she looked good so she should naturally be successful.
There was a considerable amount of work to be done behind the scenes.

           
He was pleased with her answer. “I
already set up the appointment. You read for them tomorrow. I also believe this
would be a good role for you. More importantly, my father is out of town and
cannot talk me out of it. He doesn’t like the brothers, says they have just as
many hits as they have disasters.”

           
“I’ve never known them to have a bad
movie,” Shay said as the drinks arrived.

           
Alex made a grunting noise then
sipped his coffee. He sat the cup down and said, “Well, my dear that is because
those don’t make it to production. They are brilliant. No one is arguing there.
When they are on the same page it works well. When they get their heads butting
it is disastrous.”

           
“Don’t they know if they agree or
disagree before getting to the set?” Shay didn’t understand.

           
“No,” Alex said with a laugh. “They
direct it together. Until the directions don’t match up, they have no idea they
are not aiming for the same goal. It’s tragic really. Fortunately, they know
rather quickly if it will work or not. It’s why they like working with the same
people.”