by Naomi Niles
“It’s the last number.”
He called and put the phone to his ear, glaring at the wall in the process. I wanted Brian to pick up his phone. I wanted this shit to end right now, and I knew Ezra would at least be able to scare him out of contacting me anymore. Ezra hung up and dialed again. “It keeps ringing,” he said, looking at me. I shook my head and tucked my knees to my chest as Ezra sat down next to me. I could hear the dial tone in the midst of our silence, buzzing over and over like a dream that would never come true. After a few minutes had passed, he hung up the phone again. “What do you want to do now?” he asked, tossing my phone onto the mattress.
“I don’t know, Ezra. I just want him to stop. He said that he knew we were shooting a special scene today. Like, he knows our schedule or something. What if he finds a way to come on set? What if he knows where I am at?” My eyes widened at the number of possibilities that were in our near future. Anxiety paced through my veins like heroin as I sat on the bed, not knowing what to do next.
Ezra slid his hand on my leg. “Baby, if he is dumb enough to show up to our set, I will beat him senseless. I will make it so he can never stalk you or anybody else for the rest of his life or at best, make him think twice if he ever decides to do it again.” I believed that Ezra would protect me, but it didn’t change the fact that he could still show up on the set at any moment. “Baby?” he said as my mind drifted to a time where I would have to meet Brain face to face. “Hannah?”
He finally snatched my attention. I looked at him, lifelessly, as lonely tears rolled down my cheeks. He took his thumb and wiped them away. “I got you, all right? Don’t worry about that. I will be with you from now until forever if I have to. I don’t want you to think about that, though. I know it is hard to do, but we have to get your mind off of it. OK? Come on,” he said, grabbing me by my hand. “Let’s go get something to eat. We can go somewhere far from here.”
“No, no,” I said, pulling back. “I don’t want to go out anywhere. I don’t want to take a chance that he will be there somehow. I just want to make it through this day first, and then we can go from there. I just want to get through this scene. Can we… just stay here and eat? Please?”
He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. I could taste the salty residue that my tears left as they traveled around my mouth. “That’s fine,” he said. “We can eat here. I’ll go to the kitchen and cook something for you. What do you want?”
“No,” I said. “I’ll cook. I want to cook. It will help me get my mind off of it.” I grabbed my phone and handed it to him. “Can you just hold on to this, though? That way, if he calls, you can just answer it right there.”
He took the phone out of my hand and shoved it in his pocket. “It is done. If he calls back, that will be the last time he calls. I will promise you that.”
I smiled and wiped my cheeks dry, then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you, Ezra. Thank you for coming out here at the drop of a dime like that. It really means a lot.”
“Don’t mention it. I will be there for you each and every time you need me.”
He stayed by the bathroom as I took a shower and cleaned myself up. I felt comfortable knowing that he was standing by the door like a security guard, ready to kick anyone’s ass that tried to come through and harm me in any way. “Ezra? You still there?” I asked as I got out of the shower.
“Yup, baby. I’m still here. I’m not leaving until you get out.”
We both thought it was best that he stayed out of the bathroom just to be sure that we didn’t have sex with each other. We wanted to save all of our passion for the scene in the movie so we could be sure that everything looked real between us. After I had brushed my teeth, I wrapped my towel around my body and stepped outside. He sat on the floor with my phone beside him as his eyes were glued on his screen. “So, I found a story about the movie we are shooting,” he said as he pushed himself up. He handed me his phone, and on the screen, I saw a news article that covered the movie Satin Sheets.
“Wow. I’ve never seen this before. How long has this story been out?”
“I don’t know. I think it was published last week, judging by the date on there. I wanted to see if there was any anticipation about the movie and that popped up first.” He pressed the Back button on his browser. “There are more below it. A lot more.” I scrolled through the articles, and there were two pages full of information and small stories about the upcoming movie.
“This… this is awesome,” I responded with a smile. “I guess this just proves that we are now with the big boys. Look at the publications. What’s Now? Hollywood Film? Starzz? These are major movie magazines.” I clicked on one of the links, and our pictures flashed on the front page. “Oh, my God! Look! There we are!” I showed him the phone as the smile widened on my face like elastic being stretched to its limits.
“Look at you,” he said, grinning ear to ear. “You look amazing. I can see why you have a stalker. Shit, I would stalk you, too, if I didn’t know you.”
It felt good to see me and Ezra together like that. I daydreamed of the moment that we would headline other news channels and magazine pages as the power couple I felt that we could become. I handed him his phone and grabbed his hand to lead him to the kitchen. “We are on our way,” I said with our future in mind. “We are on our way.”
After we had finished breakfast, we headed to the mansion in Bel-Air. I didn’t say a word during our whole ride. Various thoughts about my stalker, the magazine articles, and the shoot kept floating in and out of my mind like a revolving door. As he pulled down the long, winding driveway of the house, he put his hand on my leg. “Baby,” he said, “here we are. Now, I don’t want you to get nervous. Any time you get nervous, just look at me. Black everything and everyone out and just focus on me. I will take it from there, OK?”
I took a deep breath. “OK. I got it. I’ll be all right.”
He kissed me on my lips again, then we both exited the car. I didn’t see him again until it was time to shoot the scene. I walked into the room in a velour white robe that pressed softly against my skin. Leonard smiled wide as soon as he saw me. “Ah, there is my beauty queen! My star! How are we today?” he said, approaching me.
“Um, I’m fine.”
“Fine? Just fine? No, you are grand! You are a million bucks! You, my dear, are a star in the making! No? Yes!” He twirled on his tiptoes, and after he had come to a stop, he clapped his hands together like a seal. “All right, you go ahead and take your position on the bed.” I walked towards my spot as I felt everyone’s eyes on me. I felt that at any moment, my legs were going to buckle under the weight of my body. When I got to the bed, I sat down before I fell to the ground. It’s going to be fine, Hannah. Everything is going to be fine. Just then, the bedroom door opened. Ezra walked in, confidently, as the director kissed him on each cheek. Afterward, he winked towards me, prompting a smile to appear on my face.
For that moment, I was calm. Everything going on around me settled, and for once, I could see things for what they really were. This was a movie. I was a professional. This was acting. And I was in love with my co-star. I chuckled to myself as Ezra took his position on the other side of the room. The director positioned himself in his chair and grabbed his loudspeaker. “All right,” he barked, “Action!”
I gulped and stood as Ezra made his way towards me. The scene was silent. Passionate. The only form of communication came in the shape of body language. Ezra’s robe was open halfway. Part of his dick was exposed. I could see it swing back and forth like a pendulum as he came closer to me. My vagina pulsated, but my body tensed up as soon as he put his hand on the back of my neck. “Sssssssh,” he said, softly. “Just look at me.” His words were barely audible. His lips hardly moved, but I heard him. I closed my eyes as his lips connected with mine. He led me backward towards the bed, and when he mounted me, he slipped my bare breast into his mouth while I dipped my head back. At that moment, nothing else mattered. Nothing o
r no one else was in that room besides me and him, and in the darkness of my mind, we made love. Alone, passionate, and without a care in the world.
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.