This is exactly what Erik wanted. He wanted to ruin our night, maybe even our future if the charges stick. He wanted to fester under my skin like a boil, making it impossible to forget him. Just like a child, if he couldn’t get positive attention from me, he made sure he still had my focus, even if it’s because he’s the focus of my hatred.
Well, he might think he still knows me. He might think he still controls me. But I’m not the naive girl he once dated. And I’m not his doormat.
Fuck that guy.
I turn on my heel and march inside, flicking away my tears and slamming my front door behind me with a wall shaking boom. I immediately grab my phone from the coffee table and swipe my thumb over it, pressing Fiona’s contact and listen to it ring.
“Vanessa? Okay, I just heard about the blow-out today. I was just gonna call you. Now, I don’t know if you’re wallowing in regret or popping champagne, but either way I’m here to help you. Also, and I think you’re going to like this, you’ve got another part being offered to you.”
“Fiona,” my voice is like cold, hard steel, “I do need your help.”
“Okay, tell me what you need, this is my time to shine for you doll. Want your part back on the Fifty Shades knock off? I’ll see if I can smooth it over…”
“No!” I don’t mean to yell at her. No part of this churning lava burning up my stomach is about her. “Sorry, it’s just that the police just paid us a visit at my place,” my lip quivers for a second but I take deep breath and push it back down. Crying won’t fix this. Now is the time for action.
“What? Why? What am I missing?” I can hear Fiona breathe out her puff of smoke over the receiver.
“Before I walked off the set, Erik was being a douche and Gabe punched him. He totally deserved it,” I try to explain.
“Of course,” she agrees.
“But the cops just arrested Gabe for assault. Apparently he’s pressing charges, the fucking coward,” I clutch the phone tighter in my hand wishing I could circle it around Erik’s neck.
“Okay, breathe, those charges won’t stick. It’s bullshit, right? No judge is going to throw Gabe in jail over a little scuffle,” Fiona snorts.
“This is LA, if it means hype, it can happen. I’m guessing the director is loving all the free publicity he’s getting out of this, not to mention Erik. There’s no such thing as bad coverage, right? Besides, he did it in the middle of the set. I’m sure someone has cell footage and there was a ton of witnesses. I’m not so sure it’ll be an open and shut thing,” I rub my hand over my leg like I’m trying to smooth out invisible wrinkles. “This is all my fault,” my voice creaks as my words feel like they’re getting stuck in my throat again. “I don’t know what to do. This feels like a fucking stupid dream, what am I going to do?” The tears I’d managed to swallow for this long, resurface like a pick ax hit into an underground spring. I can’t hold them back this time. They slide down my face and drip off my chin.
“Listen, Vanessa, listen to me. I’m gonna help you with this, okay? I have an idea,” Fiona coaches me through my breakdown.
“I’m listening.” I try not to sob in her ear and pay attention.
“Good, so, by any chance do you still have the stupid dick pics that Erik sent you?”
I don’t answer. I don’t say “what the fuck” out loud because I’m in stunned silence. Is this a real conversation? Am I dreaming? I stare down at the phone in my hand. How can she be asking me about dick pics at a time like this?
“Vanessa? Vanessa!” I hear Fiona’s muffled voice calling me and I bring the phone back to my ear.
“Seriously, are you fucking with me right now?” I manage to answer her through grit teeth. “Gabe just got fucking arrested Fiona, and you’re asking me that?”
“Hear me out, just calm down and listen to me,” she steamrolls over me nonchalantly, “do you have the pictures?”
“I think so, yeah,” I don’t remember deleting them, so they’re still on my phone somewhere.
“Great!”
“Are you kidding me?” I can’t tell if she’s messing with me right now.
“Listen! You told me he has a tattoo just above his cock, right?”
“Yeah, some old Red Hot Chilli Peppers thing, it says Blood Sugar Sex Magik,’” I rub my fingers over my forehead and wonder where this is going.
“Really,” she giggles.
“Fiona!”
“Alright, don’t bite my head off. Now, please, please, puh-leeze, tell me you didn’t exaggerate how small he is,” I can hear the glee in her voice.
“Trust me, I was probably being generous,” I answer flatly and try to push the image of Erik’s nub-like cock from my mind.
“Vanessa, I hope you’re ready for me to be your hero here. I mean, don’t throw me a parade or anything, but a nice bottle of wine will do just fine,” Fiona laughs.
“What are you talking about?”
“Erik is going to drop all charges, I can guarantee it. Plus, you’re gonna get the upper hand in all this. Can you taste that? It’s fucking winning Vanessa. Here’s what you’re going to do,” she continues.
I listen closely and finally the boulder in my throat shatters and disappears as a smile crawls over my lips. I’ve got to hand it to her, Fiona has a great plan. And she’s right, I’m going to enjoy playing this out.
36|Gabe
I pace back and forth past the huge, black, stencilled number seven on the white brick wall in my holding cell. I’m trying to tell myself to stay calm. That this won’t matter. No judge in his right mind is going to keep me detained over this shit.
But I’m fucking pissed.
I want to show that cock-blocking Hollywood pretty boy what a real assault looks like. I want to smash his Botoxed face until it looks like a Sloppy Joe. I can just see his stupid smirk, the satisfaction he got from knowing he had me arrested. Anger rolls like a tidal wave just beneath the surface of my skin, splashing inside me like churning acid, burning me from the inside out.
My shoes squeal each time I turn on my heel and walk the four paces until I hit the cell wall and turn and walk again.
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Squeak!
Repeat.
Repeat again.
And again.
You’d think I would be dizzy from turning so much. Maybe the cyclone of rage swirling in my head is balancing it out somehow. I know I need to calm the fuck down, that I should sit my ass on the glorified ironing board they call a bunk and chill out, but I can’t get there yet. My fists unclench and ball back up tight, as I pace.
And pace.
Still pacing.
Suddenly I hear a buzz and stop in my tracks, staring out the glass window on my door into the hall. I can see a woman who looks like she should be playing an officer on television, not doing real cell duty in a LA jail. Her bleached hair is swept up into a bun with tiny strands that don’t look like they accidentally fell out, framing her face. Her makeup is heavy, especially around the eyes and her shirt looks like it may have been assigned to her before she grew her generous breasts.
Is she pretty? Yeah.
Do I give a fuck? Nope.
All I care about is getting out of here and getting back to the one woman whose beauty eclipses the superficial looks of every other woman I’ve ever met. I close my eyes and see Vanessa’s face, her sparkling brown eyes filled with genuine kindness that this town hasn’t taken from her. I see her full lips, swollen with desire. I see her tousled brown hair as she lies against my chest after we’ve fucked for hours.
For the first time since I was put in here, calmness washes over me. She is my escape from this anger. She is my freedom.
The officer stops in front of my door, swipes her card in the electronic keypad, and punches in a code. The door buzzes loudly and clicks as she opens it. “Alright, Mr. Keenan, you’ll be happy to know the charges have all been dropped and you are free to go,” she holds the door open for me as I stand in stunned silence.
�
��Wait, what?” I tilt my head, my eyes scan her name tag: Summers. My eyes quickly dart back up to her face, searching it as part of me wonders if she is fucking with me.
“I’m sorry, do you need another few hours in here to think it over? Or do you want to come with me right now and get processed out of here,” she looks at me from the side of her eyes and I snap out of my disbelief.
“No, I’m good. Sorry Officer,” I march out through the open cell door and follow her down the hall.
What kind of game is Erik playing? He goes out of his way to get me arrested just to drop the charges before the day is over? Knowing him and knowing this town it’s all probably some kind of publicity stunt. I wouldn’t put it past him.
As I follow Summers through the labyrinth of hallways out to the front a million scenarios pass through my mind and not even one of them is because he feels any kind of remorse, or wrongdoing. Finally, the blonde in blue opens the last door to the processing area and I see a sight for sore eyes.
Standing next to the window with a halo of sunlight casting in on her, Vanessa truly looks like an angel. Her smile eases the last of my nagging thoughts and releases my tension. I close the floor between us and wrap my arms around her tight, lifting her from the ground as I kiss her soft lips.
“Sir? I need you to sign some paperwork and collect your things,” Officer Summers rolls her eyes at me. I guess I can see where she’s coming from. I’ve only been locked up for six hours, not sixty years, but my heart doesn’t seem to know the difference. Time away from her, especially time shrouded in uncertainty, is painful. I gently place her feet back down on the ground and kiss the tip of her nose.
“Go on, get your stuff,” Vanessa smiles up at me, “I’ll be waiting right here,” she reassures me.
“Okay,” I reluctantly walk over to the processing desk and sit in the seat as my skin crawls with impatience. Luckily, Summers looks like she’s as eager to get rid of me as I am to go. She pushes a stack of paperwork across the table at me and a small box holding my wallet, loose change and my gum. I sign on all the dotted lines without reading a word. I could be signing away my kidneys right now with this fine print and I don’t even care. Finally, I scrawl my name across the last sheet of paper and the officer lifts them all up and tosses them in a folder.
Summers turns to her computer and begins typing, “You’re free to go,” she tells me flatly without looking away from her screen. I almost make a joke about not turning this into a long goodbye, but think better of it and bite down on my smart-ass tongue, grab my stuff and practically lunge at Vanessa.
We walk out of the air-conditioned station into the roasting oven that is LA at three in the afternoon, and make our way over to her car wordlessly. I’m waiting for her to fill me in on what happened. To explain how this all happened so fast and then, almost as quickly went away, but she’s silent.
As we sit inside her car and she turns the key in the ignition, I look over at her. She’s biting her lip and not looking at me. What the hell is going on?
“You wanna tell me what happened? How did you know the charges were dropped? Did Erik talk to you?”
Vanessa’s eyes flit over to me and just as quickly look away, she puts the car in gear and pulls out onto the road frowning, like she’s thinking of what to say.
“Vanessa?” My eyes narrow as I try to pry the truth from her.
“Okay, so, you’re probably not going to, like, love this,” she begins.
“Always a great start,” I click my seat belt in place and look at her. She’s got her eyes completely focused on the road.
“Yeah, so, the thing is, back when we first started shooting the movie, Erik sent me some, well, pictures.” She licks her lips nervously.
“Okay,” I wait for any of this to mean something because right now she’s not making much sense. “What kind of pictures?”
She looks at me and shrugs. “You know,” she blushes and it hits me like a ton of bricks.
“Ohhh.” I’m not sure how I feel about this. “You mean dick pics.”
“Yeah.”
“So? What does that have to do with all of this?” I’m sure there’s a larger picture all these puzzle pieces fit together and make, but I’m not seeing it.
“Yeah, well, the thing is, Erik’s dick is tiny. It’s embarrassingly small,” she hits her signal and turns down another street, “and I still had those pictures on my phone. Not because I ever looked at them,” she begins to overexplain and her eyes grow wide with horror as she looks over at me for my reaction, “I swear, I just forgot they were on there.”
“Fine, whatever,” I hold up my hand. I wish she’d spare me the details and just tell me what happened.
“So, I called Fiona and she suggested I barter with Erik.”
“Barter?”
“Yeah, like, I don’t leak his teeny dick pictures to the paparazzi and he drops the charges,” she breathes in sharply and glances over at me.
“Really?”
“Really,” she searches my face.
Laughter erupts up from inside me forcefully like lava exploding from a volcano. “His dick is that small? It’s so small you could use it for blackmail? Seriously?” I manage to speak through my laughing.
“Yeah, for him that little eggplant emoji is just about life-sized,” she breaks out into a giggle and turns down her street. “No, that’s not fair,” she shakes her head, “it’s much too generous,” she snorts and it makes me laugh even harder.
Vanessa pulls into her driveway and throws the car in park. I look over at her, the way her cheeks are flushed pink from laughing, they way her eyes dance with happiness, and wonder how I ever got so lucky. I practically rip off my seat belt and jump out of the car, quickly making my way to her door and opening it for her. “Get out Beauty,” I demand, my voice thick with desire.
She doesn’t argue, she slips out of her car and as soon as her feet hit the pavement I grab the keys from her hand, scoop her up and slam her car door shut with my foot as she squeals. “I’ve got plans for this ass,” I give her plump booty a firm slap and her squeal turns to a mewl as I walk her to the front door, “and this time, nothing is gonna interrupt us,” I promise her.
“If I’m your Beauty, then you’re my sexy Beast,” she giggles. “Now, open the door,” her breath is raspy with need, “we’re wasting entirely too much time wearing clothes. I want you to fuck me until I can’t walk straight,” she teases me, purring in my ear.
“Now that’s something we can both agree on,” I practically break down her door and walk with her over my shoulder inside.
37|Gabe
As soon as I step inside the house, Axle races over to me, his three legs scurrying beneath him with a happy hello.
“Hey buddy, I’m glad to see ya,” I smile at him and walk Vanessa over to the kitchen, plopping her bubble butt down on the counter. “Later, okay Axle? I need some privacy.”
He perks up his furry ears and then rushes back out of the area, racing down the hall out of sight.
“I don’t know how I feel about your dog understanding that command,” Vanessa’s lips tug down at the corners and she pouts.
“Yeah? Well, you’re gonna be grateful he does in about two seconds,” I slip my fingers under the edge of her tank top and tug it off her body, revealing her shiny blue bra underneath.
“Really?” She arches an eyebrow and shimmies forward on the counter so her pussy is flush against me. I can feel the heat of her desire blooming between her legs.
“Well, I am a man who just got out of jail you know,” I run my hands up her back and tug her bra strap open. “All that time on the inside made me crazy,” I tease her. “I don’t want to be too rough on ya, but after serving hard time I just can’t restrain myself,” I yank her bra off and drop it to the floor. It only takes seconds for me to peel off my own shirt and drop my pants to the ground. I step out of the pool of denim, my cock ready for her.
Vanessa’s brown eyes sparkle as she pushes her
tits into my face. I can’t help but surround my lips over them. Grabbing her breasts, I push them together and kiss her nipples, flicking my tongue over them as she grinds against me shamelessly.
“Well, maybe I want you to be rough with me,” she purrs and it’s all I need to hear. I pinch her nipple between my thumb and forefinger hard enough that she cries out and then kiss it better as her pouting turns to excitement. I lick a trail down over her ribs, across her belly and bite the waistband of her shorts as I unbutton them.
Vanessa lifts her hips from the counter as I peel them and her panties off of her together, and she kicks them both free from her leg, down onto the floor.
“Roll over onto your belly and put your knees up on the counter,” I demand, grabbing her hips and helping her get in the position I want, face down, ass up. I glide my flattened palm up over the back of her thigh and over her ample ass, just swaying in my face and give it a stinging slap.
“Mmm,” she moans, her head flat against the granite.
“There’s my bad girl,” I smack her other cheek and rub my hand over the red mark I leave behind.
“Bad for you,” she murmurs.
“Look at you,” I slide my finger over her soaking pussy, “you love this don’t you?”
“I do,” she whispers her confession and I grab her ass and give it a nibble. Just a love bite, nothing too painful. Vanessa lifts her head from the counter with surprise but I run my hand up her back and grab a fistful of her hair and guide it back down flat.
I hover over her, admiring her sexy ass and her slick juices coating her pussy for a second before I lean in and plunge my face into her mound. Vanessa cries out first with surprise and then with need as I press my face in and lick her clit, just teasing her, before dragging my tongue up her pussy and across her ass until I reach her tight asshole. I flicker the tip there for a moment while she squirms against me before pushing my tongue back down and inside her pussy. Vanessa’s cries grow louder, she bucks her hips against my face and I push it inside as far as it will go as she squeezes down against me.
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