Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ezra
After we had finished shooting our scene, I headed to the shower in my trailer after I made sure Hannah got to hers without being bothered. She told me that she felt a little awkward after our shoot. She said that she felt the guys staring at her and she just wanted to get to her trailer and relax in quietness for a while. After she had gotten there safely, I headed for mine, but Leonard stopped me before I could make it.
“Ezra. Just the man I was looking for,” he said. “Where are you headed?”
“My trailer.”
“Excellent. Do you mind if I accompany you?”
“Nah, that’s cool.”
He walked with his hands tucked behind his back and a strong, resoundingly brute fragrance floating away from his body. “So, I know I have told you this before, but you are doing a knockout job. And that sex scene with Hannah,” he said, glaring at me. “Heaven’s sake, everything felt so real. I mean, I know this is a movie, but I guarantee you that nobody in that room thought you two were acting. I know I had you two spend time together before the shooting began, but my goodness. That chemistry from the very first time you two met has definitely transformed into something that I wish I could quantify. I wish I could bottle that and have it ready for other actors and actresses I work with that lack that certain element that you two have.”
I smiled. I was happy that he saw that there was more between us than just an acting chemistry, and hopefully, every other guy in that room could see the same thing. “Yeah, I guess it is just something we built over time, you know? We wanted to make sure that we brought this thing home because we know that it can lead to more opportunities down the road.”
“Oh, absolutely. No doubt about that. Well, Ezra,” he said as we approached my trailer. “I just wanted to let you know that we will be leaving for New Zealand next Friday and I know that you have little ones that you need to inform, so I just wanted to give you that reminder.”
“Yes, I have it marked on my calendar. I’m ready to go. I’m excited about this trip. I’ve never been out of the country.”
“Never? Oh, you’re going to love New Zealand. It is an absolutely marvelous place to go and visit. I reveled at the opportunity to shoot a movie there, and once it came, I leaped on it,” he said, laughing. “Much like you leaped onto Hannah in that last scene. Pounced. Yes, that is the word. I pounced on the opportunity just like you pounced on her.” He nudged my arm, hoping that I would laugh with him. Once he realized I wasn’t, his laughter simmered to a chuckle before he completely stifled it. “Well, I am going to let you get cleaned up. Oh,” he said before he walked away. “Will you let Hannah know that you two have the weekend off? You two have done such a great job, and we are well ahead of schedule. So, yes, enjoy your weekend, and I will see you Monday morning at 10 am.”
“All right, Leonard. Thank you.”
“Oh, and call me Leo. That will do.”
“Sounds good, Leo.”
He winked at me and headed towards a group of cameramen. “Henry! Henry, what the hell was that on the last scene? I told you I wanted a close-up and that shit you gave me was one of the most horrid angles I’ve ever seen! Bring your ass here!” he snapped as he headed towards the man.
After I had got out the shower, I headed to my car, where Hannah was waiting for me. She smiled bashfully as I approached her, but she didn’t say a word to me. It felt like we were in high school. The shyness. The playfulness. The way we said so much to each other without saying a word. I opened her door and let her inside. Once I got in, she exhaled and leaned her head back on the headrest. “So,” I said as I started the engine. “How was it?”
“My God,” she said as I drove away. “That was… that was amazing. I mean, everything about it was amazing. The way you held me and how you slowed down in the middle of it all. Shit, Ezra,” she said, sliding her hand between her legs, “that was… I can’t even find the words. I want that feeling over and over again. I don’t know if it was because people were watching, or if it was because of you…” she looked at me, “made love to me this time. I felt like you made love to me.”
I smiled, thinking about the slow strokes I gave her as I swirled my tongue around inside of her mouth and she wrapped her legs around me like a boa. “Yeah,” I said, looking through my rearview mirror. “I did. I made love to you.”
She sunk into her seat with her eyes closed, “It felt like I was on drugs. Like I was floating through the sky and shit. Damn.” She licked her lips and gyrated in her seat as if she were on top of me. I could barely keep my eyes on the road as she moved seductively in her seat. Suddenly, she opened her eyes as if she realized what she was doing. “My goodness,” she said, smiling. “What the hell was I doing?” She looked down at her pants. Her top button was unsnapped, and she quickly buttoned it back up as I fixed my eyes on the road.
“Yeah,” I said with a smirk, “I felt something different, too. In a good way, though. A good way.”
She reached across and connected her hand with mine. I still felt the warmth from her body that transferred to mine during our sex scene. Maybe I should put a camera in the room the next time we fuck; I said to myself as I drove to her home. She still wanted me to stay with her until I spoke with her stalker, especially since Carrie was still away on her photo shoot. When we got to her place, I held her by the hand as we took the elevator to her loft. “Baby, I think I’m going to go into the room and lay down for a while. Is that OK?”
“Yeah,” she said as she placed her bag on the ground. “That’s fine. You go ahead and get some rest. I’ll cook something for you and have it ready by the time you wake up.” She leaned in and kissed me slowly, and it wasn’t until then that I felt like we had connected on a completely new level. One that went beyond a normal boyfriend and girlfriend relationship. I touched a part of her soul as our lips embraced each other. Afterward, she pecked me once more and then headed into the kitchen. I walked down the long hallway and went into her room, then flopped onto the bed.
Before I could get comfortable, my phone rang. “What, Tanya?”
“Is that how you answer all of your phone calls?”
“It is whenever you call. What do you want? I am tired. I’ve been shooting all day, and I just need to get some rest.”
“This is about the boys.”
“Come on, Tanya, not now.”
“Yes, now. Since you want to play like a hard ass, I contacted my lawyer about you having our boys around restricted material during your porno shoots.”
“Tanya!” I said, leaping to an upright position in Hannah’s bed. “Why the fuck did you tell them that?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
“Don’t act surprised. I told you I was going to do it. If you thought I was joking, that is not my fault. Anyways, you can expect another court date real soon. Oh, and good luck with your movie. Buh-bye.”
“Tanya! Tanya!”
She hung up before I could say anything else to her, and when I called back, she sent me to voicemail each time. I gripped my phone tightly in my hand, and I was seconds away from sending it full speed into a wall. I stood up, balled my fist, and swung at the air as if she were standing right in front of me. I didn’t want to make too much noise because I didn’t want Hannah to come back here in the middle of my fit. After a few minutes of air boxing, I plopped down on her bed and cried quietly. I knew this wasn’t going to turn out the way I wanted it to. Tanya was in a position to have everything go in her favor, especially since I was slated to fly to New Zealand soon. I wiped my eyes and laid back on her bed, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep next to a tear-soaked pillow.
When I woke up, Hannah’s loft was silent. The dark night sky sat peacefully outside her bedroom window as stars twinkled in the distance right beside an illustrious, glowing moon. I grabbed my phone to look at the time; 9:44 pm. I had slept for almost three hours. I pulled off my shirt and threw it on the bed, then quietly opened the door and headed down the hallway, sliding my feet against the cool, wooden floor. I rubbed my eyes as I heard the sounds of the television bouncing off the walls. When I got to the front room, my eyebrows wrinkled together. Hannah sat on the couch with a nervous glare in her eyes as a man stood in front of her. I looked down at the front room table, and a chrome pistol was laid down, aimed right at her.
She avoided eye contact with me as the man spoke in front of her. “Well, I’m sorry it had to go down like this, Hannah, but you were just too rude for me. I sent you flowers; I called to check on you. I tried to make sure you were safe, you know? I did all of these things for you, and all you did was,” he counted on his fingers, “hang up in my face, throw my flowers out, and basically tell me to fuck off. Now, I am a nice guy, and I am plum sick of finishing last. So, all that is about to change right now!”
Rage swirled around in my chest. The anger I felt with Tanya crept back into my fist, and at the same time, it was now mingled with the thought that this man had just snuck into Hannah’s house with the intention of raping her. He unbuckled his pants as tears rolled down her face. Her mouth was gagged, and her hands were tied behind her back as she sat on the couch with her shirt unbuttoned down the middle. How much have I missed?
Suddenly, I charged forward and tackled him into an end table, knocking a lamp to the ground and shattering the glass case that the bulb was enclosed in. We fell to the ground as Hannah screamed, her voice muffled because of the gag. “What? What is going on!?” he yelled, “Who is this?! Get off me!” I balled my fist and sent a crashing blow right to his cheek. The loud crack echoed throughout the apartment as he screamed, “Stop!” I sent another fist barreling into his cheek again, hoping to break every bone in his face. He squirmed, trying to get away from me as his hand grabbed hold of one piece of the shattered glass.
He took a swipe at me with it, but when he missed, I balled my fist and took another shot at him, connecting squarely with his nose. He yelped as he broke free from my grasp and pulled himself to his feet. I slipped on the glass as I lunged towards him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. In one swift motion, I lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the pile of shattered glass. He screamed out in pain as I crawled on top of him and punched him repeatedly in the face. Hannah yelled again as if something was wrong with her, and as I turned around to check, I felt a shard of glass rake me across my arm.
After that, I lost my balance and fell backward as he got up and ran for the door, leaving his gun behind him, along with a trail of blood. I ran to the front door to check for him, but he was gone. He seemed to vanish in midair, but the elevator 10 feet away had begun its descent to the first floor. As I started to go after him, I heard Hannah yelp again, halting my original intentions to follow him. I ran back inside and removed the gag from her mouth as I maneuvered past a river of tears. “He was here! He was here!” she yelled as I untied her hands.
“How did he get in?!”
“He posed as one of the security guards! He had his uniform on, and he kept his head to the side when he said he had a delivery for me! He said he would kill me if I screamed!”
I wrapped my arms around her as she shook uncontrollably in my arms. I held her head to my shoulder as I rocked her back and forth. I wanted to leave her and go finish the fight with her stalker, but I knew she wouldn’t want to be left alone. I looked at the table. His chrome revolver laid peacefully in the same spot, ready to be fired. “It’s OK, baby. It’s gonna be OK. Sssssh, it’s gonna be OK.” After she had settled down, we called the police.
They showed up with the security guards 10 minutes later to question her about the intruder. “He just came in here! He was dressed like one of the security guards, and as soon as I opened the door, he pushed his way in and told me to keep my mouth shut, or he would kill me!”
“How the fuck does something like this happen?” I asked, stepping up to the plate. “This is supposed to be a highly secure area. How can somebody get a fucking security guard outfit and walk up here like he fucking owns the building? Anybody could get up in here if it was that easy for him to do it!”
“I assure you, sir,” one of the security guards said, “it was a glitch, and we will make it our top priority for nothing like this to ever happen again. I am truly sorry about this, ma’am,” he said, shifting his attention to Hannah. She was distraught as she sat on the couch, staring into a sea of nothing. Her eyes were blank as she rocked back and forth on the edge of her couch.
“That is not good enough!” I snapped. “What if I wasn’t here?! Huh?! Then what?! Tell me what would have happened then?!” I said, stepping closer to the security guard with fury in my eyes.
The police officer stood between us. “Sir, I understand your anger. I do, but please, calm down. Please.” He put his hand on my chest to keep me away from the security guard that I was ready to pummel the same way I did her stalker. I inhaled and exhaled rapidly as I bit my bottom lip with my eyebrows scrunched together between my eyes. I wasn’t done, and I wanted somebody to pay for what just happened. “Now,” he said, still between me and the guard. “Ms. Black. Can you please give a description of the perp? We want to do all we can to track this guy down so that he can’t do anything like this again.”
“He was tall. White. A short haircut. Brown eyes, I think. I can’t remember, you know? Everything is kind of jumbled together right now. But, he worked with a casting company, and his name is Brian. The agency is,” she snapped her fingers to recollect, “The Right Cast. He is affiliated with them in some kind of way.”
“The Right Cast,” he said, writing in his notebook as I glared at the security guard. “All right. We will take it from here. And sir,” he said, looking towards me, “please do not take this into your own hands. Let us do our jobs and take care of this fellow the right way. We don’t need you doing anything and getting yourself hurt, or even worse, dead or in prison for hurting or killing somebody else. If that happens, he wins, and we do not want him to win. We want him to lose.”
Hannah reached for my hand and pulled me closer to her on the couch, but I didn’t budge. My fists were still tight, and my eyes didn’t remove from the security guards that kept their distance from me. After a few more yanks, she finally got me to sit down next to her. The scratch on my arm had lines of dried blood all around it, but I didn’t feel an ounce of pain. My adrenaline had blocked it all out of my mind. “We do, too,” Hannah said as she stood up. “Thank you, officer. I appreciate all you have done.”
“No problem, miss. It is our duty.”
I watched her walk the officer and the security guards to the door and lock it. Afterward, she walked down the hallway as I sat on the couch, my fists still balled and ready to strike like a cobra. I looked to my left and saw the shattered lamp still lying on the ground. I should’ve killed him, I said to myself. I should’ve killed him right then and there.