Chapter 2
“Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.” Claire sank down in her chair as she listened to the blonde guest pretend to be enthralled with Arthur’s haphazard attempt at fuckin’ on a sink. “No wonder Carmen wanted to kill herself.” She made eye contact with the portrait on the wall. Carmen c. 1978, with her heavily eyelined brown eyes and straight, red hair returned Claire’s exasperated face. “You had a kid with him, huh?”
There was a baby picture of Jacob on Arthur’s desk. Some fat little boy who had pudding on his face and a diaper ten times the size of his head.
Claire plucked the photograph off the desk and studied the baby’s features. Behind her, Arthur wheezed through his thrusts, and the blond guest sounded like she was straight out of the worst porno Claire ever almost starred in.
Wonder what Jake’s plans are for tonight? Easy enough to ask when she was still crushing on him – and Arthur made the most godawful sound when he climaxed.
Time for her to get the hell out before anybody spotted them.
“Consider the part yours, honey.” That was the last thing Claire heard before she made herself scarce. “Not that there was any doubt that you were perfect for the role.”
Claire stole another candy on her way out. She popped it into her cheek as she sauntered back into the party and immediately began her search for Jake.
There he was. Chatting with Randy Guiver, one of Arthur’s fellow bigshot producers in the industry. From the looks on their faces, they were talking about business matters. Whatever. Claire had few fucks to give as she sauntered up to them and said, “Randy! So good to see you at my party! I see you know Jake.”
Randy swung his head toward her. “Ms. Finn,” he said with a professional tone. “Of course I know Jake. He and I go quite a way back.”
I bet. Who didn’t Arthur go back with? Certainly, half the women in Hollywood! “Would you mind if I stole Jake for a couple of minutes? There’s something he and I need to discuss.”
Jake’s eyes widened. While Claire expected Randy to express some level of confusion, he instead nodded as if Claire’s request were completely reasonable. Of course she had business with Jake! Why wouldn’t she? This was obviously a business manner! Claire was probably auditioning for one of Jake’s indie darling films. Wasn’t this marriage helping with that? C’mon, Claire, everyone is on to your gold-digging game. She felt even less like a loser when she insisted that they have a chat by the coat closet.
“Uh…” Jake followed her with heavy steps. The rest of the guests parted around them, not even one giving a crap that Claire and Jake were seen together. While that was strange in a lot of ways, Claire didn’t give a shit. She was ready to get what was hers. “What is this about? Have I done something to offend you?”
All Claire could think about was that terrible wheeze Arthur let out while he fucked that young actress in his bathroom. That was it. That was Claire’s future. She would spend at least the next few years pretending to give a fuck about sex with her “husband” while he also fucked whatever young woman would have him. Of course, he would get away with it. Nobody would care that a man constantly cheated on his wife. If she did it, though? Oh, hell would be paid. The price would be her career.
How much did she care?
“You said we would have a chat,” Claire said, leaning against the wall. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. There was no mistaking her cleavage now. “So, let’s have a chat, Jake.”
“You found out, huh?” He attempted one of those boyish grins from earlier, but something made him uneasy enough to falter. Instead, the corners of his mouth twitched until it looked like he wanted to spit somebody’s name onto the floor.
“Oh, yeah.” So everyone knew? Of course they did. Every man working under any subsidiary knew Arthur fucked every woman with blond hair and D-cup breasts. So what makes me so special? Why has he agreed to marry me? Must have been her connection to her grandfather. Money and prestige incited men to do stupid shit, like marrying random women when they already got all the pussy they wanted. Wasn’t that how arranged marriages worked in the modern day? “I found out, Jake. I found out the cold, hard truth.”
Jake wasn’t smiling. “Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”
She snorted. “Why would you tell me that? It’s business between me and Art, nothing more.”
Jake’s mouth continued to twitch. “I see. I always assumed those were his feelings on the matter.”
“Yeah, well, welcome to 2017. The world’s a mess, and men do as they please.”
“Tell me about it.”
Claire had to look away before her eyes lingered too long on that jawline and her nose took in too much of the scent of a man. A young man. A young, virile man who exuded such poise and southern Californian airs that Claire almost couldn’t help herself. Jake was exactly the kind of guy she would want to pick up at a night club or movie party… or her own engagement soiree.
It would be so satisfying, wouldn’t it? Picking up the first hot guy she found after discovering Arthur’s dalliances. Nothing would be better than getting some of her own on a day like today.
She was already about to throw her future away. What was truly stopping her from enjoying the moment? Jake saying no?
From the way he also avoided eye contact and shifted his posture so she couldn’t see his groin, Claire had a feeling he wouldn’t say no.
She wouldn’t know until she asked, huh?
“Do you wanna go somewhere private?”
Jake regained his composure at the sound of her voice. “Excuse me?”
“Somewhere private.” Claire pretended that she could barely hear him over the music and laughter ringing through the party. “Somewhere quiet. We really should talk.”
He nodded. “I suppose that’s a good idea. You must have a lot of questions for me, and it would be best to stay unfiltered as opposed to when we’re around my…”
Claire turned before he could finish his sentence. The closest room that offered any privacy was the empty coat closet.
Yeah. She really had no fucks to give.
“What the…” Jake only followed her so he could ask, “what are you doing?”
Once they were both in the closet, Claire closed and barred the door. Not that anyone would bother them in there. It was so far out of the way and out of use that not even the cleaning staff had anything to do with it. The rabble of the party outside was loud enough to drown out anything they said – or yelled.
The more Claire thought about it, the more she started fantasizing about unzipping this man’s pants and having her way with him. Just like Arthur had his way with his women.
She was going to enjoy this.
“Hey…”
Claire curled her hand around the back of Jake’s head and brought him down for their first kiss.
She wasn’t normally this aggressive – or foolish. Yet the feelings festering in her gut and making her heart explode in both anger and indifference begged her to find some sort of outlet. Any outlet. Preferably, a sexual one.
Jake really had nice lips, huh? Even when they were pulling away from hers and saying, “Whoa!”
Claire laughed. The narrow closet forced them together, but she remained pressed against the wall. Those two inches were the only thing separating their bodies. “Whoa, yeah.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Jake hissed.
“Are you kidding me? You’ve been flirting with me from the moment we first made eye contact. You trying to tell me that you don’t want me, Mr. Jake?”
“You’re… you’re his…”
“I’m not anybody’s woman.” That’s what Claire had to tell herself to make it through this farce of an engagement and subsequent marriage. “No woman belongs to any man.”
“But…”
Claire wrapped her arms around his shoulders. So sturdy. So strong. Just imagine what he could do to her in this closet! “Shut up and fuck me, Jake. Ain’t nobody gonna know what we do in here.”
It took him about two seconds to figure out what he wanted to do. Like a typical man, he chose sex over reason every time.