Unforgettable (14 page)

“
Too expensive.”

Fritz moaned.

“
You could buy the whole
bloody shop and Jack wouldn’t blink.”

I grinned and chose a one piece that
looked more like scarves tied together than a swimsuit. It plunged
just low enough to allow nice cleavage but still cover my stomach,
and the back was open. Very open. It was perfect.

“
My God, woman.” Jack said
when we got to the car. “You’re going to make me drool.”

“
Men are absolutely
disgusting.”

Jack laughed again and we drove to the
pier.

“
You know, my old friend, in
all the years we’ve been together we’ve never fought over a woman,”
Jack said.

“
Hey, woman in the backseat
here.” They ignored me.

“
Right. But this woman, this
gorgeous woman…in the backseat… isn’t like any other we’ve ever
met.” Fritz smiled at me in the rearview mirror.

“
Right. Wonder why that is?
I mean there are beautiful women at the house every Saturday.
They’re on the sets, in the bars, everywhere. But why
Sam?”

Fritz shook his head. “The spell. Her
dead mum cast a spell on us. I hear she bunked with you last night.
Not fair.”

“
Do we have to discuss this?
Especially since I’m sitting right here?”

“
I thought I heard a little
squeak in the backseat,” Fritz grinned.

“
Not me. Nothing there.
Yeah, she joined me under the covers. We fucked…wild…all night.
What that woman did...you could get arrested for.” He laughed a
sleazy, horrible laugh.

“
You are such a horrible
liar. No sex. None.”

“
Tell him about the castles,
Sam. And the nursery.”

“
Castles and nurseries. What
the hell?”

“
It was a very attractive,
stimulating, loving offer. He told me that he could take me to
England. Buy me a castle—I love castles—and we could live there.
Fix up the castle, add a
nursery
.”

Fritz raised his eyebrows in triumph
and winked at Jack.

“
Nursery?”Jack made a
hrmphing sound.

“
Yes, mate.
Nursery.”

“
You rich enough to buy a
castle?”

“
Two, if I
wanted.”

“
Damn, I’ve been paying you
too much. You always were good with money, though. I could never
keep a dime... always blowing it on somethin...”

A long silence fell.

“
Nursery?” Jack
repeated.

Fritz smiled and saluted
him.

“
Beat that you old
bastard.”

“
I’ll beat that. Damn right
I will. Not sure how, but I sure as hell will.”

I laughed.

Fritz and Jack got out, Fritz bought
drinks, and the two of them sat on the decking while I ran down to
the sand and water.

I met a little girl. Her big, pink hat
almost hid her chocolate brown eyes and wispy hair.

She asked me to help her build a sand
castle next to the volleyball games. We played, she laughed an
outrageous belly laugh.

Her mother was a few feet away and very
pregnant. I said hello.

“
What’ your name?” the girl
asked.

“
Sam. What’s your
name?”

“
Amelia Maria Stevens and
I’m four years old. See I use ta be one, then I was two,” she
struggled to hold up the right number of fingers, “then I was
t’ree, then I was four.”

“
So that’s how it
works?”

She nodded, solemn, wise.

“
Now I’m gonna be a big
sister. Mommy’s goin’ to the hospital to get a new sister for me.
She says she hopes ta hell its soon. Me too.”

I laughed.

“
Amelia, time to go
sweetie!” her mother called her.

She gave me a hug and they left. She
was so powerfully fragile. I wanted to keep her.

Nurseries.

And castles.

And little girls with big pink
hats.

Maybe God was sending me a
message.

We walked to the restaurant, waving
Luis and Gloria to come in and sit. Jack, Fritz, and I sat at a
table by the windows, watching a storm roll in.

Fritz’ phone rang as the waiter brought
the crème broule.

“
Yes. Six. Okay. Yes she
is.”

He looked at Jack, puzzled, and handed
me the phone.

“
Yes?”

“
Hi Sam, its John Black. I
wanted to pass on my regards. I am looking forward to tomorrow
night. With great...anticipation. You strike me as a woman who
wants to please her partner. And others.”

“
Well... I am a people
pleaser I suppose."

"Yes. I am aware of this. Little one.
I’m very much looking forward to your presence. Excellent,
excellent.”

I handed Fritz the phone back. I
shivered. He gave me an inquisitive look. He told Jack, “that was
John. We’re going up to the ranch tomorrow. Rain or
shine.”

Jack moaned.

“
The ranch?” I asked,
avoiding Fritz’ stare.

“
It’s a big ranch the studio
owns. Where they have horses. And hills. And rocks. And snakes that
make horses fall down. This should be interesting. What did John
want with you, Miss Rose?”

“
He wanted to make sure I
was going to be there. Strange, but very intriguing.”

They looked at each other.

“
John’s a great director,”
Jack began. “But…he’s always in trouble, always in the tabloids. In
the courts. In and out of rehab and marriages. Trouble. You don't
understand people like John, Sam.”

“
Okay. I won’t marry
him.”

Jack laughed. “But you said
‘intriguing.’”

“
He is somewhat attractive.
Never know.”

“
Now hold on, you won’t
sleep with me, you won’t sleep with Fritz, but you ‘never know’
with John Black?”

“
I feel like I’m back in
high school.”

As we were leaving we were crowded by a
group of paparazzi, all armed with large cameras. They shot
pictures of us before Luis and Gloria could push them
back.

I felt like the ocean was sucking all
the oxygen out to sea. I stared at the cameras and knew this was
not good. This was really not good.

“
Where are you going?”
Eddie tried to stop Robert. “I want to go.”

“
The only clue I’ve got
about where Sam is probably is that old psychic woman. I seen Sam
go in there once. You stay here. Get some food.”

Eddie started to protest
but Robert shoved him down.

He walked to her building
and watched her for a while. It only took seconds for him to break
into the sliding door from the patio.

She was waiting, sitting at
her table, staring.

“
Where’s Sam?”

“
Where she should be. You
know you should listen to me. You’ll die if you keep after her. I
can see it. You should leave town now. South America would be best.
And go alone, traveling with your brothers will be too obvious.”
She closed her eyes and waited for the end… and the babies
…

We got back and David
called.

“
Have some time?”

“
Yes.” A buzz of excitement
zapped me.

“
I’ll send Edgar for
you.”

I didn’t tell Jack until the last
minute.

He was pissed but Edgar was at the
door.

David was out on the deck when I got
there, watching the sunset with a bottle of wine. I didn’t think it
was his first.

“
To bed,” he ordered,
pulling me along like a child in tow.

He stripped, lay on the bed and I
climbed on top of him and kissed him. I stripped very slowly, he
grinned.

“
Do you like it up
there?”

“
Yes.”

He rolled over on top of me.

“
How about here?”

“
Awful. Can’t
breathe.”

He rolled back and put me on
top.

“
Now?”

I sat up.

“
I like it on
top.”

He grinned.

“
You’re in control on top.
When he raped you, what was the position?”

“
His lower trunk was on top
of me,” suddenly the nightmare was engulfing me. “He was covered
with blood. He was so big I was pinned…I couldn’t move…I couldn’t
make him stop.

“
No matter what I did I
couldn’t make him stop!” I closed my eyes, falling so fast into
that familiar terror. “I wanted him to just kill me and I kept
screaming, begging him to kill me.”

I lay on the bed, curled in a
ball.

He didn’t touch me.

“
You’re doing fine,
Sam.”

I moved next to him.

“…
You couldn’t make him
stop.”

“
Right.”

“
We’re going to make love
and you’re going to make me stop. Whenever the anxiety gets to be
too much you tell me. Okay?”

“
And you’ll
stop.”

“
Yes.”

“
And you won’t get mad at
me.”

“
Not ever. You’re in charge.
What are you going to do?”

I was tentative.

He was incredibly hard. He quickly
slipped a condom on.

I wanted him like a dying plant wants a
monsoon. He rolled on top of me and slid in with a rough
push.

My panic was rising, breathing fast. It
was terrifying. I wanted to keep going. I closed my eyes and felt
the cuts, saw his eyes, the blood on his mouth, the teeth in my
wounds.

And I screamed, running to the living
room, then the kitchen where I hid in the pantry.

He was dressed when he sat next to me.
He held me. I couldn’t quit shaking.

He was quiet for a long
time.

He played with my nipple.

“
Did you grow these yourself
because they really are superb.”

I laughed and he held me
tighter.

“
Hang in there, Sam. It’s
going to work out. What happened…what did you see?”

I told him about the image if
Welsh.

“
Why didn’t you tell me to
stop?”

“
I wanted to work through
it.”

“
By yourself.”

“
I suppose.”

“
You have to trust me to
help you. You have to trust your lover.”

“
I was afraid to stop
you.”

“
Did it feel
good?”

“
No. What if it never feels
good?”

“
It will be wonderful. Very
soon. I promise you.”

I was home by ten. Jack was in the den,
Luis let me in and told me I'd received lots of new clothes,
upstairs in Jack's room. My room temporarily. I went upstairs
quietly and began trying them on.

The bedroom door opened as I was
in-between a skirt and some jeans. Jack walked in. I grabbed a
shirt and held it up to my chest.

“
Sorry, I should have
knocked.” Jack smiled.

“
How did you get up
here?”

“
I hopped. I am so sick of
that old bed downstairs that I thought I’d sleep in my own bed
tonight.”

“
Oh, great. I’ll gather my
stuff…I’m all spread out in the bathroom.”

He stood in front of the
door.

“
No need.”

He yanked the shirt away.

I covered my breasts with my
arms.

“
Jack, what are you doing?”
He was scaring me.

“
I would love to sketch
you,” he said in his low gravelly voice that made me instantly wet.
The scotch was directing him. He touched my breast
softly.

“
You did that one over the
fireplace?”

“
Yes. But that was years ago
and I’m much better with nudes now. Come sit on the bed with me.
I’m tired from all of that hopping.”

I pulled one of his shirts out of his
closet and put it on.

“
Do you know how
destroyingly sexy that is?”

“
No. Now what did you want
to say?”

He took my hand.

“
Be careful, Sammy. You’re
very vulnerable right now and there are so many wolves in this
town. Like John Black. I don’t want you hurt.” He held my hand to
his dangerous lips.

“
Marry me, Sam.” He took my
hair and rolled it in his fingers.

“
All I think about is you.
You went to David, I went insane. All day long I thought about
holding you last night. I need you, you need me. I loved last
night. I want you in my bed every night, not in David’s, not in
anyone else’s” he whispered.