Chapter 15
JACK
The party lost its spice after Alison had to haul Sarah home, but already I could feel the winds shifting in my life. She saw the real me. She saw what was underneath all the bullshit and the rumors and saw the real Jack Steele.
And she didn’t run away.
I did a small, very private victory dance on the roof after she left.
Downstairs, I planned to say goodbye to Lena and Denver and a few others who made the experience awesome, and then book it home. I had big plans for Alison tomorrow and was anxious to get the ball rolling. I was stopped by Josh, though, just before I could cut through the crowd.
“Hey man.” He handed me a beer. “Listen, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
I cocked an eyebrow and looked at the cup. “Is this shit poisoned?”
He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. “Nah, man. I just realized all the shit you were giving me only pushed me to work harder. I know we’re all just trying to make the best film we can. You owned Eddie Bowser in a way I don’t think anyone else could. And I… well, I kinda acted like a little bitch over the whole thing.”
I clinked his cup with mine. “You know, you’re a shit, but you’re all right.”
He cracked an equally awkward smile. “I could say the same about you.”
That made me laugh, heartily. Holly slunk up next to us and threw her arms around our necks.
“I’m going to miss you boys!”
“Holly!” I high-fived her. “Where’s your drink?”
“I’m sixteen,” she said, completely deadpan. Then she laughed. “I had a few drinks with Edna and Bridget, but I hit my limit. I’m trying to avoid that whole ‘She’s a teenage celebrity mess’ bit and go for something more mature, so the roles will follow.”
“Smart business sense. Shit, I wish I had half of that when I was your age.” I shook my head and blinked hard, the room suddenly going a little fuzzy. I didn’t think I drank enough to hit this level, but with the stress from work and the margaritas from earlier, I guess it caught up with me.
“You all right, man?” Josh asked.
“Um, I’m going to go lie down for a minute. Been a long few weeks, you know.”
“Bummer. Well, my ride is here, so I’m going to go. I can’t wait to see you guys again on the promo tour!” Holly said, but her voice sort of warped in my mind.
Josh may have also said something about leaving, but the words came in one ear and out the other as I stumbled through the warehouse, looking for the bathrooms. I felt like shit, like up was down, and all I wanted was to piss and sleep for one hundred years.
At some point, I ended up in the parking lot. I remembered bumping into a car and pissing on the tire. I was just so goddamn tired. I had no idea where I was. Stumbled. Tumbled. Fell a few times. Where the fuck was my bed? Where the fuck was I?
“There you are!” a voice said in my ear.
I grinned, even though my head was heavy and I couldn’t make out who was speaking. “Alison?” I mumbled.
“Come here.” Someone pulled down my pants and I chuckled.
“Now is not a great time, baby girl,” I slurred. “Captain is out of commission.”
This made me laugh a lot. There was a bright flash of light and then total darkness.
***
I woke up the next morning with a blinding headache, passed out in my trailer. How did I even get here? The sun was painfully bright, streaming in through an open window. I needed water and a five-minute-long piss. Memories from last night were completely blank and I had no idea where my phone or my keys were. Awesome.
I couldn’t exactly say I was a stranger to this sort of fuckery, but it had been a long time since I’d been this fucked up. The last thing I could remember was talking to Alison on the roof. I really hoped I didn’t make an ass out of myself after all that. The biggest downside to having no memories was not knowing if I needed to clean up my shit the next day. I usually did, but not having my phone on me meant I couldn’t start the apology process right away. Shit.
I stumbled back towards my bed, hoping to sleep off the rest of this shit so I could go look for my things later and clear out of here. The door of my former trailer burst open and one of the lot security guards I’d seen around here stared at me, face twisted.
“Shit, sorry.” I rubbed my eyes. “Wrap party last night got a little crazy. I’ll clear out soon, but can I nap this shit off first? I won’t take anything. I’ve already cleared all my stuff out.”
The guard yelled over his shoulder, “He’s in here.”
Two police officers replaced him in the doorway. My chest seized up. Ever since I was arrested for protecting Brianna, cops and I did not jive.
“Look, I just passed out in here and I didn’t think it’d be trespassing. We just wrapped yesterday, you know? I’ll get my shit and go. I don’t want any trouble.”
“Jack Steele?” One of them with a thick mustache reached around to the back of his belt. “You’re under arrest for sexual assault of a minor.”
“What?” There was no way I heard this guy right. “No, no. There has to be some mistake. I was just at a wrap party last night for the party. There weren’t any minors anywhere. I was at the party and got my ass over here to pass out. There’s been a serious mistake.”
They didn’t seem to give a shit. Mustache slapped a pair of handcuffs on me while the other one read off my Miranda rights. It was horrifically déjà-vu-inducing. My mind raced faster than my heart and my brain frantically tried to retrace steps from last night, but all I hit were dead ends.
Getting put in the back of that cop car was infuriating. I knew to keep my mouth shut, to keep my head down, and accept that fucking cameras were going to be all over this like flies on shit.
I didn’t do fucking anything wrong. Blackout drunk, sure. But who the fuck was at the party that would be a minor? No one. Who the fuck would I assault? NO ONE. I had Alison!
Alison. Shit. She was going to see this and never talk to me again. She was going to see this after hearing my confession about beating the fuck out of some guy, and see me as nothing more than a piece of shit who couldn’t get his act together.
My whole life had been on the verge of moving up, no longer being stuck in a shit pit. I’d landed a great role, I had an amazing girlfriend who believed in me, I was proving I wasn’t a goddamn liability to a set… and then this shit.
It wasn’t until I was sitting down with a detective that I got some pieces to the puzzle, and even then they didn’t fucking make sense.
“Does this look familiar?” Detective Rambo slid over a photo of something that took me almost a full minute to break down just because I couldn’t believe I was seeing what I was seeing.
“This…that…”
I didn’t have words. He set down three more photos that all looked like I was taking advantage of Holly. Sixteen-year-old Holly. I didn’t even remember seeing her at the party. But I also didn’t remember shit.
Cold dread exploded in my stomach and I began to sweat. I didn’t do this. I knew in my gut I didn’t do this… I just didn’t have a goddamn thing to say to explain it, either.
“She filed a report this morning, saying she was drunk and you took advantage of her.”
My fists tightened in my lap. I would never, not ever, do some shit like this. I went to fucking prison because I beat the fuck out of a pedophile who tried to molest someone close to me. I didn’t take any of this shit lightly. I may have sometimes fucked around, put my dick where it didn’t necessarily belong, but never would I ever do this.
Detective Rambo Wannabe slid a pad of paper over in front of me. “Let’s make this clean and simple, Jack. We have evidence, we all know your demeanor. Just admit to this so we can make it tidy, okay? She’s sixteen, Jack. Even if she is an actress and plays someone older and you guys spent all that time together getting cozy on set…”
What the fuck was this guy talking about? I narrowed my eyes and studied him. He was fucking with me. He was enjoying this shit.
“Just tell us you did it and let’s get this ball rolling, okay?”
My entire life, everything I worked so hard for, flashed before my eyes. How was I supposed to prove my innocence against all this?
I set my jaw. “I’m going to need to call my lawyer.”