Chapter Twenty-One
Just before rolling time, Adrian phoned.
That he was phoning at all, and not simply texting, told Kate she had to take the call. She looked at her A.D. “Sorry. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Harry look startled. “I…er…okay.”
She jog-trotted toward the make-up tent, which would be deserted now and would give her a bit of privacy from eavesdroppers. She connected the call as she went.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“It’s fine, nothing’s wrong,” Adrian assured her. “I knew phoning you would scare the crap out of you, but text wasn’t going to do it.”
“Do what?”
He sighed heavily into the phone. “Christ, I’m fucking sorry, Kate. About dumping all over you, and telling you to fix it. All the way back to the camp, I sat there kicking myself, thinking about ways I could have handled it better. You do need me for exactly the way you used me last night, but my ego got in the way.”
Kate clutched the phone, her fingers cramping. “Oh, Jesus, Adrian…” Her stomach churned sickly.
“Who am I fooling?” he said, his voice low, vibrating into her ear. “It wasn’t my ego in the way at all. Something to the left and just a little higher. I’m wading in neck deep waters with you, Kate, and I think I’m about to drown.”
She was back to breathing hard. “We need to talk.” She had to force every word from her. It was like hammering nails into a coffin. She thought she might throw up, or faint.
Silence.
Tears blurred her vision. She fought not to sob aloud, to keep it from him.
“Kate, did you take my advice?” he asked softly. “Did you try and fix it by going and fucking someone?”
She clutched at her chest. It felt like her heart might explode. Or her head. She didn’t know which.
“Yes,” she whispered and held her breath.
Adrian chuckled. “Ah…that’s my girl. Massive action to solve the problem and not a moment’s delay. I hope he was good for you. We’ll talk when you get home. You can give me the dirty details if you want.”
She disconnected and let out her breath. And another. She shoved her cellphone back into her pocket and stood and recovered, breathing hard. Then she wiped her cheeks surreptitiously so none of the crew, who were standing around waiting for her, would see.
With each inhalation, a bit more tension lifted from her and fluttered away.
She walked back to the set and by the time she arrived, she felt cleansed, airy and energetic.
And ridiculously happy. She glanced at Garrett, who was back sitting at the end of the row of chairs. She shot him a smile.
“Let’s roll,” she declared to the set in general.
* * * * *
“It was the best filming I’ve ever done. In my whole career, I think,” Kate admitted. “Everything was working just right. Everyone was getting it. Everything came together. It was beautiful.”
She lay on her stomach on the bed, picking at a tray of finger foods. She was naked and Adrian lay naked next to her, his hand running in lazy lines and circles over her back and buttocks as she talked.
They had made love as soon as she had walked into the trailer. Only this time, neither of them had waited long enough to walk to the bedroom. Adrian had taken her up against the office wall, literally tearing her clothes from her body and kissing her from head to toe before spreading her legs and arms and spearing her with his cock.
The salad had arrived later, brought to the trailer by Brittany. And now Kate lay on the bed, eating, while she got her promised talk as the sun rose, making golden stripes of both their bodies.
“So fixing it worked, then,” Adrian said.
She nodded. “It seems that might have been the problem.” She glanced at him. “Sorry.”
A smile tugged the corner of his mouth. “For what? For liking sex? I knew that about you before I met you, Kate. I’d be a fucking hypocrite if I got upset about it now.”
“But now it’s a bit different, isn’t it? You say you…care about me.”
His smile didn’t move. “I do. I care about all of you, the whole package. And that includes your adorable need to cool your artistic fervour with a man or two in the middle of a shoot. It’s like running an ice cube over your forehead to chill off when the sun is overhead. I don’t get worked up over a hot day. Why should I blow a gasket over a quick tumble or two if it helps you get your work done? And clearly, this is working for you.”
She looked him in the eye. “It was Garrett.”
He held her gaze for maybe thirty seconds. She could see him thinking it through. The ramifications.
Then he sat up.
Her heart sinking, Kate sat up, too. She put the salad on the side table. Her appetite had fled, anyway.
“That’s why he phoned,” he said. “Something had already happened between you. You were fighting it and that’s why you were wound up tighter than a kettle-drum. He wanted me to come and sort it out for you. But I didn’t. I…” He closed his eyes. “I shoved you into his arms, instead.”
Kate sat silently. There was nothing she could say. The facts spoke for themselves.
Adrian took a deep breath and opened his eyes. His black gaze settled on her again. “Calum doesn’t indulge in casual affairs, Kate. He won’t be content with the sort of casual itch-scratching you need.”
Calum.
“You know him, don’t you? I mean, you’ve known him far longer than you pretend. Garrett said only—” She stopped, her mouth opening, as astonishing ideas, thoughts and possibilities occurred to her.
“Said what?” Adrian asked.
“He said that only those close enough to be considered family call him anything other than Garrett, but that hasn’t happened for a very long time. He knows you, and you know him.” She made herself shut up. Because the next thought that completed the logic leap was too tenuous and incredible. Garrett had spoken of having given up on love, years ago. Adrian and Garrett clearly knew each other, yet hadn’t been in contact for ages, perhaps years….
Adrian licked his lips. “Yes, I knew him once. But he lives in a different world than me, so our lives never connect. Until now.” His mouth turned down. “I do know him enough to know I’m right. He’s not a casual lover, Kate.”
She threaded her fingers together. “He told me that, too.”
He bent his knee and rested his elbow on it, then pressed his fingers to his temple. “But that’s not going to stop you from…what? What is this going to be? A second affair?”
“He’s my lucky charm, I think,” Kate replied. “Nothing has gone right on this shoot until Garrett let down his shield and I gave in. Then, magic! I have no intention of screwing with the formula while it’s working.”
“That’s superstitious bullshit and you know it.”
“You know very well that superstitions work to channel creative people into patterns of behaviour that increase their creativity. That’s why they work. It’s nothing to do with the supernatural. It’s all about behaviour. I don’t know what it is about Garrett and me that makes the production work, but something does. Maybe he just makes me happy. Or maybe I need you and Garrett to make me happy and that means I end up being a better director. I won’t jeopardise that.”
Adrian massaged his temple again. “And what about your grand plans for revenge?”
“For holding my movie hostage? Oh, he still gets what’s coming,” she said as calmly as she could.
Adrian shook his head. “You’re one ballsy woman. I don’t know if I could do what you’re going to do to him.” He picked up her salad and passed it to her. “I don’t know if I feel sorry for Garrett or not, either. Eat some more. You haven’t had enough.” He kissed her cheek and slid off the bed. “I’ll get you some ice tea.”
Kate put her salad back on the table. Her appetite was even further away than before.
She had forgotten all about the revenge she had planned for Garrett. But if she spared Garrett she would be openly declaring that her feelings for him had changed.
Adrian would want to know what she did feel for Garrett. Right now, Kate had no idea. She just wanted him on her set and within reaching distance. The rest she would figure out when she had time. If Adrian and the universe gave her that time.
* * * * *
It was a day of transition and packing, for the camp was dismantling and everyone was returning to L.A. It was also a day when the media personnel were given a free schedule: They could interview anyone they wanted. Just name the name and that person would be called to the media tent.
So media people buzzed around the disassembling camp like flies to the honey-pot, with bus, car and van-loads arriving hourly. They were fuelled by the still growing swell of publicity and word-of-mouth spreading on-line and an endless demand for more from readers and viewers. Mary-Anne and the L.A. publicity office had strung together early footage and graphics as teaser flash trailers that were going viral on the internet, adding more fuel to the demand.
Movie blogs were having a field day with speculation about the script, the storyline and Patrick Sauvage’s pay cut to take the role. Kate had ensured that snippets of footage of Patrick’s action scenes had “leaked,” showing only his best angles. They had been snapped up by the hungry viewers, too.
Suddenly, Constantinople was sexy.
Elizabeth Bentley arrived amidst a blaze of camera and video lights and flashes, looking glorious in khakis and sunglasses, her black hair piled on top of her head in an artless mess that had probably taken over an hour to arrange. She posed with Patrick and Kate and gracefully sat down for interview after photo session after podcast, showing no sign of impatience or weariness.
Kate found herself fortified by Adrian’s preparations. He had water and ice tea on standby for her, Mary-Anne and Brittany at her beck and call, plus spare batteries for her cellphone so she could yell for expert help whenever she needed it. He sent regular reports on the packing of her trailer, assuring her that all was well.
Every time she looked up into the serried rows of cameras and radio mikes, just off to the right she would see Garrett leaning against the tent pole, his arms crossed, watching. Her spirits would lift just at the sight of him.
After the third hour, there was movement at the open flap of the tent, as more media people entered. A new busload must have arrived, which meant a re-run of the same basic questions. Again. Patrick and Elizabeth were being grilled at the moment, which gave Kate a chance to catch her breath. She watched the new people unpacking their gear.
One tall one was carrying no gear at all. He moved around behind the orderly rows of cameras, heading for the far end of the row, which was the end Kate was sitting at.
There was something about his walk….
She frowned, trying to recall where she knew that slight swagger from. The big belly jutting from the breast bone down was unfamiliar to her. There was a gold ring on the hand….
Horror washed through her as she recognized the ring, coupled it up with the name and identified the man swinging around the end of the cameras to face her.
Billy Donnelly smirked at her, his now corpulent face ruddy with good cheer. “Hi, darlin’” he mouthed. His western shirt was too tight across the chest, the pants too low beneath the belly. The boots were expensive. Bought with her money, no doubt.
The water bottle in her hand cracked. Water spilled across the table top, heading for the microphones and leads and dripping onto the floor.
“Oh shit. Damn. Sorry,” Kate murmured, trying to mop up the mess with the promo flyers lying on the table. Brittany leapt in with tissues, then Mary-Ann was there with napkins from the hostess table.
“I need a break,” Kate whispered to Mary-Ann. “And I need to slip out the back way.”
“There’s a back way?” Mary-Ann asked, startled.
Kate rolled her eyes at her.
“Okay,” Mary-Ann said. “Just go. I’ll figure something out.”
Kate left the two women wiping up water and soggy paper. She walked behind the painted and stretched canvas backdrop that was being used as a background for the table. There was nothing behind it but empty tent and dirt floor. She rushed for the tent wall, dropped to her knees and picked up the bottom of the tent. It was shockingly heavy. She hauled on it and realized she was going to have to wriggle under it. She lifted it enough to get her head under and pushed through. Then she eased the rest of her body through, pulling herself along the dirt with her hands. She was going to look like nothing on earth when she picked herself up again, but it was better than staying in the same tent with Billy Donnelly.
She had to lift the tent again to get her feet free. She stood and tried to brush herself off, looking around for observers. A few crew members, carrying equipment and gear, glanced in her direction, but they were too busy to stop and stare.
Kate headed for her trailer and the safety that the trailer and, hopefully, Adrian would provide.
As she passed the catering truck, Billy stepped out and grabbed her arm, bringing her to a skidding halt. “I figured you’d do a bunk, you gutless worm.”
He may have put on nearly a hundred pounds, but he hadn’t lost any strength at all. She hung from his grip, feeling her muscles and tendons mash together under his squeezing fingers. Nothing had changed.
But she had to try. “What the fuck are you doing here, Billy? You aren’t supposed to come within a hundred feet of me.”
“Look around, sweet-cheeks. There isn’t a cop within spittin’ distance to stop me.” He grinned. “You went and got yourself all fancy, didn’t you?”
She swallowed. “Nothing I do is any of your business anymore, Billy. Let me go, get back on the bus you rode in on and get the fuck out of my life. You’ve done enough damage.”
His face darkened. “You really don’t want to talk to me that way, sweetums. I hold your future in my hands, remember?”
“I know you stole my first movie from me, but that’s all you’re ever going to get from me, asshole.”
She didn’t see the slap coming, but from past experience, she should have been braced for it. It smashed across the side of her face, catching her eye, her temple and her cheekbone. Her eye immediately started to swell and her cheekbone to throb. She stared at the ground, trying to get her vision to come together.
“That’s for being crude,” he told her. “And you’re wrong about me being out of your life, sugar. I’ve been chatting with a very good lawyer and he says I have a great case for claiming alimony, for all those years we were still married, while you were out there making all your block-buster movies.”
Coppery fear flooded her mouth. “I left you ten years ago!” she shouted. “Long before I made any of those movies!”
“But we were still married. You didn’t bother filing for divorce for another seven years. You maybe shoulda got around to it sooner, huh?” He was smiling. Enjoying himself. “I figure you made all your top earners in that time, too. And they’re still earning, so I get a split on that, too.”
Kate moaned. She knew she was going to throw up. It was building up in her stomach, swirling in her head. “You fucking asshole, it’s not enough you cheated me of every last cent of my first movie? Now you’re going to gouge me for this, too? You’re a fucking leech! A bloodsucker.”
His fist hit her stomach and buried deep, throwing her across four feet of sand, to sprawl face down across the dirt.
As she tried to breath and not cough up vomit, she heard the sound of camera shutters and wanted to weep.
Billy’s hand gripped her hair.
“No….” she whispered, trying to warn him, to explain about the cameras, to give him a fast, self-preservation lesson about PR and the media, but she couldn’t lift her voice higher than the croak that emerged.
“Hey, asshole!” It was Adrian’s voice. He sounded angry.
Kate gingerly rolled over to look.
Adrian and Garrett were facing Billy. Garrett’s face was thunderous, but his arms hung loosely by his sides, non-threatening. Adrian advanced toward the man. Kate wanted to warn him. Billy was sneaky. And freaky strong.
Billy swung at Adrian, who ducked out of the way easily. It was as if Garrett had been waiting for that exact moment, for he leaned in, his arm swinging up, the fingers still spread, bending backward.
The heel of Garrett’s hand connected with Billy’s jaw and the full power of Garrett’s arm pistoning upwards drove Billy’s head snapping back. It was a wonder it didn’t break his neck in two. As it was, Billy was lifted clean off his feet. He landed flat on his back with an impact that sounded like a tree falling. He lay still.
Neither Garrett nor Adrian stayed to check the man. As one, they both turned and walked toward her.
Kate wondered if they had done that sort of thing together before. It had been almost…rehearsed.
Behind them, David, Patrick’s babysitter, and Terry, the computer guy, plus Patrick himself, were bundling up Billy, hauling him to his feet and marching him away.
All of it in front of probably sixty cameras, video phones, photographers and journalists.
Oh shit.
Garrett picked her up off the ground. “Come on.”
“Cameras,” she croaked.
“We know,” Adrian told her.
She could only take a few more steps of the jostling, before she clutched at Garrett’s shoulder. “Sick,” she muttered and slapped her hand over her mouth.
Adrian pointed to the server trailer. “Behind that.”
Garrett strode around the server trailer and put her on her knees. Kate bent over and vomited onto the dirt, holding onto her abused stomach as the muscles protested. Tears of pain collected in her eyes and as she sat back, they rolled down her cheeks.
Garrett kicked sand over the mess she had made, while Adrian wiped her cheeks with the hem of his shirt.
“It’ll be all over the news,” she said and covered her face.
She was picked up and she knew from the way she was held that it was Adrian. He tucked her into one arm and stroked her cheek and throat. “They got everything, Kate. Not just us. They got him hitting you, too. We’re going to look like good guys in comparison.”
Garrett sat on the sand next to them, his arms on his knees. “You called him Billy. Putting the dots together, I’m guessing he’s William H. Donnelly. You were married to him briefly, about ten years ago.”
She nodded.
Garrett’s blue eyes were direct and uncompromising. “He swindled you out of the profits for your first movie. Then you left him. Or it might have been the other way around.”
“How do you know that?” Adrian asked.
“I read Kate’s biographies. But neither of them said he was an abuser.” Garrett was still watching her closely. “Something you chose not to reveal to anyone, I suppose.”
“I had a restraining order against him. I thought it was enough.”
“Why did he come back, Kate?” Adrian asked.
She closed her eyes and told the rest. She had lost all her dignity now, so revealing Billy’s new demands cost her nothing.
Adrian wiped her cheeks again. “That’s got to be a cake walk for you, Garrett.”
Kate looked at Garrett, puzzled.
Garrett shrugged. “MacDonald deals with fleas like Donnelly every day. I can make Donnelly disappear from Kate’s life in thirty seconds. That is…if Kate wants me to.”
She couldn’t – wouldn’t – kiss him. So she burst into ragged, exhausted tears instead. Adrian chuckled. “That’s a yes.” He pulled her into his chest and held her tight.