by Twyla Turner
Excitement filled her veins, and she wished that she could bound out of the car and skip up the sandstone walkway. But her battered body wouldn’t allow it. She’d have to wait till later she guessed, for now she just smiled so hard her cheeks hurt.
Gabe got out of the car and helped her out before getting their bags out of the trunk. He thanked the driver and then he backed out of the driveway, leaving them completely alone for the first time in what felt like forever. All of a sudden Sunny was filled with nervous flutters. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship in four years and had never lived with a man before. She hoped that she was good at it. Being nearly thirty-five years old, she was a little set in her ways.
“Come on, let’s go inside and get your things sorted out.” Gabe said, clutching her hand and leading her in the house.
They spent the next couple of hours going through her boxes that the delivery men had dropped off. Mostly Gabe did it for her, since she couldn’t do much and tired easily.
Gabe had cleared out half of the walk-in closet for her. The space was huge, so much so that all of her clothes didn’t even fill it. There were also built-in drawers, and he put away her under-things and she blushed the whole time. He only made matters worse by lingering over them, telling her which panties and bras were his favorite, obviously taking pleasure in her embarrassment. That’s when he came across the one thing that made her want to die on the spot.
“What’s this? You been cheating on me?” He asked with a raised brow as he held up her pink rabbit vibrator that had gotten her through tough times.
“Oh my God, I forgot about that! OH NO! The movers had to have seen it! I think I’m going to die of embarrassment!” Sunny covered her face with her good hand.
“I’m sure they’ve seen worse. So I didn’t know you were into toys.” Gabe continued curiously.
“I haven’t really tried a lot. I just have this one that I got at a toy party my friend had back home in Chicago. It’s gotten me through tough times and dry spells…though it’s been collecting dust since I met you.” Sunny explained bashfully.
“Good. But this really is a turn-on, thinking about you pleasuring yourself. Once you feel better, I’d love to watch you.” Gabe’s blue eyes were filled with lust. This is going to be a long few weeks till I’m healed. Ugh! Fuck my life!
“Oh Lord! Living with you is going to be detrimental to my health, isn’t it?”
“If by that, you mean I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you and that I’m going to make love to you so often you won’t know which way is up? Then yes, I just might be harmful to your health. But we’ll have fun while we’re doing it.”
Gabe walked up to her, leaned down and planted a warm kiss on her lips, his tongue sweeping in just once to tease her. Then he stood back up and sauntered over to the few boxes they had left to go through, like that quick kiss hadn’t just totally turned them both on.
“You suck!” Sunny growled at his back.
He just turned around and gave her a sexy smirk. Oh…so you plan to torture me the next couple of weeks. Well two can play that game buddy!
Chapter 4
Gabe woke up the next morning, again wrapped around Sunny like a burrito. He couldn’t get enough of her, even in sleep. He smiled at the memories of their first night living together.
After they were done going through her things she took a nap while he read scripts for films he was interested in working on and later Gabe cooked dinner for her. She kept him company in the kitchen, making him laugh in her silly way. After eating his cheese enchiladas, which she raved over, they settled in to watch television. When he noticed she was starting to get sleepy, he had taken her upstairs and gotten in the shower with her. Bathing her like the previous night. He was incredibly turned-on again, but they restrained themselves that time. After he had dried her off, she’d asked if he would help her put lotion on. The last time he’d watched her put lotion on, he’d jumped her bones. Now she was asking him to do it? It had taken all the strength he possessed to stay in control, as he rubbed the moisturizer on her smooth skin. And finally they had settled into bed, snuggling close as they fell asleep.
It had turned out to be a relatively mundane evening, nothing particularly special. But it was their first night living together. His first time living with someone he was dating, and it was one of the best nights of his life.
Eventually he unwrapped himself from Sunny and laid his head on his actual pillow, instead of her, and watched her as she slept for a moment. He couldn’t believe that she was here, in his bed, in his house. Correction…our bed, our house. She looked so beautiful and peaceful. Her eyelids flickered from a dream she was having. Her ‘Afro Puff’ was cocked to one side by the pillow. Her lips were slack from sleep and so soft and inviting. Her golden brown skin had already started to get back its glow. Gabe liked to believe he was the cause of it returning. Unable to resist any longer, he leaned in and softly kissed her plump lips. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and then opened, revealing her beautiful honey brown eyes. She instantly smiled and stretched, groaning a little at the pain. Gabe’s heart melted.
“Good morning, Sweet Girl.” He leaned in and gave her another kiss on the lips.
“Good morning, Mr. Wolf. Isn’t it a little early?” She buried her head under the covers.
He flipped back the covers, revealing her Puff and warm sleepy eyes. “Yes it is, but I have to go in today. I know it’s early, but would you like to join me on the set today? I know there are some people that would be really happy to see you.” Gabe smiled down at her.
“Mmm…okay.” She yawned and snuggled deeper into the covers.
“And if you start feeling tired or in pain, you can just rest in my trailer, okay?” Gabe continued to talk to the lump under the covers.
“Okay”, was her muffled reply.
He flipped back the covers again, making her squint her eyes and bury her face in his stomach.
“You’re not a morning person, are you?” Gabe chuckled at her.
“Unh uh.” She snuggled closer to him.
Gabe slid out from the bed and she groaned when he scooped her up and strode to the bathroom. He sat her on the counter, then grabbed a washcloth, wet it under the cold tap and placed it on her face.
“AH!” She shouted through the cloth on her face. “Unfair! That’s really cold.”
“But are you awake now?” Gabe said in a know-it-all tone.
“Meh.” Sunny mumbled.
“You’re adorable in the morning.” Gabe glanced at her in the mirror as he wet his toothbrush.
“And you’re mean.” Sunny pulled the cloth away from her face and admired his naked chest and abs.
She reached out and laid her palm on his chest and stroked his flat nipple with her thumb. He instantly jumped away from her, his ‘morning wood’, turning into regular wood.
“Stop it Sunny. I’m warning you.” Gabe gave as stern a look as he could.
“Or what?” Sunny taunted him.
He just growled at her. Dammit. He knew there was nothing he could do to her at the moment. He’d fuck her senseless, if he wasn’t worried about causing her pain.
“I may not be able to do anything now, but you won’t always be incapacitated.” He gave her a warning look.
She just crossed her arms and pouted, but kept quiet. Probably remembering him losing control on the rooftop of the W. Yeah, that’s right. There’s more where that came from.
They finished getting ready, Gabe surprised by how quickly Sunny was done. It wasn’t like she could do a whole lot, but he knew even if she was at hundred percent, she still wouldn’t take long. She was just sort of low-maintenance that way, and amazingly she was still just as beautiful as the women he knew that took hours to get ready.
“Are you ready to roll?” Gabe asked.
“Yep. Though some caffeine would be nice.” She grumbled, still not happy about the early hour.
“They have a ton of coffee on the set.
I’ll get you some as soon as we get there.” He smiled at her grumpiness.
“Thank you.” She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry I’m so grumpy. You’ve been wonderful and I’ve been a brat.”
“I’d be grumpy too, if I were you. I can’t imagine that you’re very comfortable right now.” Gabe frowned at her full-arm cast.
“Eh, I’ll live. Let’s get going before I make you late.” She swatted his tight butt, like he always did to her.
“Alright boss.” He led her to the garage. “I called a towncar to come pick us up today, but before I forget I wanted to put both gate keys in your car.”
Sunny stopped dead, when she noticed her old Honda in the garage.
“Wow! You are thorough. When did you get my car?”
“I had Alyssa drive it up and had a towncar take her back.”
“So Alyssa was in on all of this? I guess I should call and thank her for ignoring my stubbornness.” She smiled grudgingly.
“Yes you should.” Gabe grinned at her. “Oh and we can’t forget this.” Gabe reached into the truck bed of his old restored pickup and pulled out the director’s chair with her name on it, that he had given her. She was delighted by the surprise and hugged him tight.
“I thought you’d like that.” Gabe smiled at her.
“Hell yeah! I love my chair!” Sunny did a little happy dance, as much as her injuries would allow, making Gabe laugh as he locked up and they headed out to the awaiting towncar.
“Why aren’t you driving in?” Sunny asked curiously.
“Because I have a strong feeling that the paparazzi will be at the set waiting for us, since they can’t find us anywhere else.” Gabe answered tensely.
He opened the rear door for her to get in, put the chair in the trunk of the towncar and then made his way around to get in on the other side. The driver backed the car out of the driveway and headed towards Long Beach. He was ready to finish filming, so that he could spend more of his time with Sunny. Helping her get better and working with her on her screenplays.
~~~
As the towncar pulled up to the movie set that was located in downtown Long Beach, out front of the old elegant bank that they had been using; paparazzi swarmed the car. So they have been here waiting. Fuckers!
Sunny was not happy to see them again. And at first she started to panic, remembering the last encounter she’d had with them. Then she started up a mantra in her head. Don’t let them get to you. Don’t let them get to you.
The cameramen swarmed around the towncar in the hope that they were inside. She turned and looked at Gabe, who had grabbed her hand as soon as they were surrounded. His face was full of concern and fear that she’d freak out again.
She could vaguely make out the idiotic questions that were coming in through the closed windows:
“Did Gabe really cheat on you?”
“So you took him back even though there was proof that he cheated?”
“How are your injuries?”
“Are you still in pain?”
“Did you have a nervous breakdown at your job and that’s why they fired you?”
“Are you still living in your apartment in Long Beach?”
“What is your response to all of the nasty hateful things people are saying about you?”
“Will you continue to see Gabriel even though the majority of the country is against it?”
Sunny could tell that Gabe was getting more and more furious with each ridiculous question. His left hand was balled in a tight fist and his other squeezed her good hand tightly. He was probably on the verge of jumping out of the car and punching each and every one of them in the face. But finally the movie set security showed up and held back the media as the car drove into the closed off set.
“Are you okay?” Gabe immediately asked after the car was in park.
“I’m fine. God, those guys are assholes!” Sunny scowled, looking back at the paparazzi being held back by a gate.
“Come on. Let’s just forget about them and start our day.”
They got out of the towncar and walked over to the group of cast and crew gathered around for the morning meeting, where the day’s schedule was gone over. As soon as they walked up and everyone noticed them, they group started to cheer. Sunny just blushed at the attention.
Kyle Higgins the director for the movie; walked over to them and gave Sunny a careful hug.
“I’m so glad you’re okay. I was there at the hospital that first day. And I have to say, I was worried.” Kyle looked at her with concern.
“Thanks Kyle. It means a lot that you were there for Gabe and me. And thank you.” Sunny paused and looked at everyone. “Thanks to all of you for sending me such lovely flowers when I was in the hospital.” Sunny smiled at everyone.
“Hey! Most of them were from me! I brought you flowers every day.” Gabe said indignantly.
Everyone on the set started laughing. Then each one came up to say a few words to Sunny, letting her know that they were happy that she was okay. And then everyone got down to business.
Sunny sat next to Kyle as usual, but this time he didn’t have her acting as gofer, since she wasn’t physically up to it. So the lack of things keeping her mind occupied, left room for her thoughts to wander down a dangerous path. One of the crew members had said something earlier, “Don’t worry about what everyone is saying. I think you and Gabe are perfect for each other.” Which reminded her of what the paparazzi had been yelling as the towncar drove past. What did the paparazzi mean when they said people were saying mean and hateful things about me? And that most people didn’t approve of our relationship?
Sunny opened Gabe’s tablet that he let her use if she ever got bored. She did the one thing she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do…for the first time in weeks she went online. And what she found made her stomach drop and her hands shake.
There were tons of stories about them. The smoking hot dance in Catalina. Gabe’s movie premiere. The audio sex-tape. The accident. And the response from the masses was brutal. They held nothing back. Every now and again, someone would say something sweet. But most of it was just cruel. There were probably more sweet comments than it seemed. But the analogy still held true: you could be in a room full of one hundred people, ninety-nine of them compliment you and just one says something negative and you’d remember that one bad thing versus the ninety-nine good.
There were comments that she was too fat to date Gabriel Wolf. Or how could he date someone black. Some even threw in the N-word for good measure. Some were saying that Sophia Morales his co-star in Clutch was a better fit, so no wonder he cheated on Sunny with her. Some even went on to say that they were glad she got hit by a truck. The list of imaginative harsh comments went on and on.
Looking at all of the different conversation threads, it appeared as if there was actually an all-out war going on. There were several people that had defended her, both of them. And the haters would then start to attack the defenders, calling them names as well. It was a mess. And Sunny was devastated. So without a word, she got up and placed the offending tablet on her chair and excused herself to Gabe’s trailer.
Gabe must have noticed that she was gone, because ten minutes later as she sobbed into the pillow on his bed, she felt strong arms wrap around her gently pulling her into him.
“Baby, it’s okay.” Gabe whispered as he stroked his nose up and down the sensitive skin behind her ear.
The softly spoken words, only made her sob harder.
“Why did you even look at that hateful shit? Who cares what the paparazzi say or anyone else. Do you love me? Do I make you happy?” She knew he had seen the stupid articles about them, that she must have left open on his tablet.
All she could do was hiccup and nod.
“Then that’s all that matters. Don’t go looking for mean hateful things to get you all upset. Not everyone is going to like it, but as long as we’re happy and your family and friends approve, who cares. And I know
what you’re thinking…and no, no one else is going to interest me. No one else is better for me. I love your curves. I love your chocolate brown skin. There is nothing wrong with you. You’re my idea of perfection.” He finished his speech with a kiss on the nape of her neck.
~~~
Gabe gripped her shoulders, making her turn to face him. Her face was red, swollen and puffy from crying so hard. He kissed her lips and even they felt swollen and softer from her tears. He would give anything to take her hurt and pain into himself. The way she was being treated through all of this was breaking his heart. And pissing me the fuck off!
Gabe had known something was wrong when Sunny had run off to his trailer with a distraught look on her face. Kyle had seen it too and had called a short break. Gabe had walked over to Sunny’s chair and picked up the tablet to see if something she saw on there was what had upset her. When he’d swiped the screen and saw the article and comments that he breezed over, he knew that was what had upset her.
And he realized that his silence was only making things worse. Yes, he had introduced her as his girlfriend to the world at the premiere of his last movie, but after the audio sex-tape was released he’d remained silent. Mainly because he hadn’t wanted to portray Sunny as a slut and then he had been so distraught over the accident, talking to anyone would’ve been a bad idea. He would’ve ended up looking like an escaped psyche patient, as crazy as he had felt.
But now he’d had enough. It was time to stand up for his girl. All she had done was chosen to love and open up her heart to a lost soul, and in return she was harassed, insulted and nearly killed. He had ignored his publicist’s phone calls for the last couple of weeks, thinking that he could handle it on his own. Now it was time to give her a call, so she could pick the perfect platform for him to make his feelings on all this chaos known.