Nita nodded. “I’ll be glad to get to bed early, unless you’d like me to remain up to talk with you.”
The dark beauty smiled languidly. “Not tonight. I’ll come by and say goodnight before I go to bed. Just to be sure you are comfortable.”
“I’m sure I will be,” Nita said.
Nita went to her room, still stunned. She now had evidence that there were other things beside drink which could destroy a marriage. Here in Hollywood there were drugs, the race for power, and homosexuality. As she recalled Eric Gray’s performances in his films she realized that he had a carefully masked feminine side to him. In Richard Wright this peculiarity was more noticeable. But according to Barbara they were two of a kind. Nita knew little about homosexuals and was not anxious to know more. The incident had sickened her and even though she had much sympathy for Barbara she made up her mind not to accept any invitations to their beach house in future. This must have been what Phillip Watters was alluding to but had not wanted to say straight out.
Nita undressed and filled the tub with perfumed bath salts. She lingered in it for a good half-hour. Then she rose and dried herself before the mirror in the large bathroom. She could not help being grateful for her youth and the shapely, long legs, and firm, not-too-large breasts with which she had been kindly endowed.
Still nude, she was crossing into the bedroom to get some body lotion when the door to her room suddenly opened and her hostess, wearing a long golden dressing robe, came in. Nita felt herself blushing at being caught naked in this manner and stood awkwardly for a moment between the bathroom door and her bed.
“Don’t be embarrassed!” Barbara said with a smile. “You have a beautiful body. You should be proud of it.”
Nita managed a small smile. “New England Puritanism, the Irish variety.” she said. “One is only nude in the bathtub on Saturday nights!”
Barbara’s laugh was a musical tinkle. She said, “How dear you are! You should have been with me in the South of France. I spent some time with a group of women who walked about naked most of the day and night! Such wonderful freedom!”
Nita moved towards her bed where her nightgown was lying. She said, “I doubt if I would make a good nudist.”
“Nonsense! You have the body for it!” Barbara said. And she came close and with an outstretched hand restrained Nita from slipping on the nightgown.
“Thank you,” Nita said, a tremor in her voice, aware that there was something disturbing in the manner of her hostess. “I’ll put on my nightgown now.”
“Wait!” Barbara said, and with a quick gesture she opened her golden robe and let it drop to the floor. The lovely body of the exotic star was perfectly revealed — the curve of her luscious breasts, the firm stomach, the perfectly proportioned limbs.
“Please!” Nita’s cheeks continued to burn and she tried to move away.
“You mustn’t be so shy,” the other woman said, keeping that steel grip on her arm. “Sit down beside me,” she said softly and Nita found herself doing as she was bid, hoping that at any moment she might escape.
“We must get to know each other better,” Barbara said softly, and horrified Nita by leaning forward and greedily kissing her breasts. Then the lovely woman’s hand began to carress Nita’s most intimate parts.
Nita was frozen with horror for a moment. Then she lifted her free hand and slapped Barbara across her beautiful face so hard that it left a patch of red. Barbara released her grip and fell back a little. Nita jumped to her feet and held her nightgown in front of her.
“Leave my room!” she demanded.
Barbara’s hand covered the spot which Nita had slapped. She stood before her, cringing and pleading. “Please!”
“I only want you to leave!” Nita cried.
Barbara’s manner changed abruptly and the cringing look became one of hatred. She nonchalantly reached down and picked up her golden robe and put it on.
As she tied the cord, she sneered. “You little fool!”
“Go!”
The lovely star’s face was distorted with anger. She moved to the door and turned to tell her, “I’ll see you finished at the studio! Remember that!” She slammed the door behind her as she stalked out.
Nita hurried across the room and turned the key in the lock. Then she leaned weakly against it. Her experiences since coming to the beach house had been as shattering as anything she had ever known. She was sick and frightened. Most of all she wanted to get back to her own place in Gardenia Court, back to her little cottage and away from these depraved people!
She hastily dressed, then packed her bag and quietly made her way out to her roadster in the parking area. She got into it and was backing it up when she saw Barbara come to the window. Nita paid no attention as she wheeled the car around and started out to the road. All she wanted was to get away from the horrible house and its occupants.
As she drove towards Hollywood she began to feel desolate and alone. It was natural that she should think of Billy Bowers. She momentarily considered trying to reach Phillip Watters but remembered he’d spoken of going to San Francisco for the weekend. With Thelma gone to New York she had no one to turn to but Billy.
Nita changed the direction of the car and drove to Billy’s house. She was glad to see some lights in the windows indicating someone might be home. Murphy opened the front door to her.
He looked surprised. “Mrs. Nolan! What are you doing here?”
“I want to speak with Billy,” she said urgently.
The big man gave her a knowing glance. “He’s in his room. He’s been there most of the evening.”
Desperately, she forced herself to ask, “Is he — very drunk?”
“He’s been drinking.”
“Can I just see him for a few minutes? I need to talk to him,” she begged.
Murphy gave a sigh. “I’ll see how he is and try and arrange it. Come inside.”
Nita waited in the shadowed reception hall while Murphy went to the rear of the house to check on Billy. She realized with dismay that she was trembling violently. After a brief time Murphy returned.
He said, “He’ll see you but you’ll have to go to him in his room.”
“All right,” she said.
“I’ll show you the way,” Murphy told her.
“Thank you,” Nita said, following him. Along the way, he asked her, “How’s the career shaping up?”
“I’ve been working hard. I’m not sure,” she faltered.
“No one in Hollywood ever is,” Murphy said dryly. He halted before an oaken door. “In there.”
She knocked on the door and a Billy’s weary voice invited her in. When Nita entered the room she was shocked by his appearance. He was slouched in a big leather chair, wearing a bathrobe and pajamas. He had a two-day stubble of beard, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
He managed a smile for her. “Don’t be afraid. Come in and sit down.”
The smell of bottleg whiskey filled the room. He poured her a drink from a bottle on the table beside him and held out the half-filled glass. Looking at her closely, he said, “You look as if you need this!”
“Thanks,” she said, and, taking the glass, sipped from it and gingerly perched on the chair facing him.
“To what do I owe this late and unexpected visit?” he asked.
“I’m so sorry to bother you,” she said.
In spite of his appearance Billy seemed relatively sober. “No apologies needed. Unless they be mine. I’m not quite — presentable, as you can see.”
“I need a friend tonight, Billy.”
“You look as if you’d witnessed a murder,” he said.
“I’ve seen enough,” she replied grimly. She swallowed some more of the burning liquid in the glass and as it trickled down her throat, it gradually warmed her. She said, “I decided to spend the weekend at Barbara and Eric’s beach house.”
Billy shook his head in disbelief. “Didn’t anyone warn you?”
“Several people ga
ve me guarded warnings,” she admitted. “But no one came right out and said what was wrong.”
“I thought I told you about them,” Billy said. “They’re one of the ‘twilight tandem’ couples. Several of Hollywood’s most vaunted marriages are in the same category.”
“Everyone knows this?”
“And no one talks about it, or at least not in public,” the comedian said. “Barbara was a well-known lesbian before she married Eric, and he is know to have been involved with both women and men, with a preference for men.”
“He went off with one of his friends for the night and left me alone with her. Then she came to my room and tried to seduce me!”
Billy smiled grimly. “I assume you fought her off!”
“I made her get out of the room and then I packed and left as swiftly as I could!”
Billy poured himself another drink. “I’m glad you passed the test. You were bound to face something like that sooner or later. Some girls have tried to play along with the likes of Barbara to further their careers. It’s a sad way to stay in show business.”
“As she left she told me she’d finish me at the studio,” Nita said.
“She’ll do what she can to hurt you,” Billy agreed. “But you have a legal contract with Lew Meyers, and I think he believes in your talent. So he’ll not likely let you go.”
“I don’t care,” she said unhappily. “I’d rather go back to vaudeville than get caught up in anything like that.”
Billy smiled. “You can always come back to two-reelers. I’ll see there’s a job for you.”
“What about you?” she worried. “I heard you’d been ill.”
He sighed. “I drank a little too much one night and they took me to the hospital.”
“They say you’ve been warned that you’re drinking yourself to death.”
“Let it be my road, then,” he said.
She went to his chair and knelt by him. “You mustn’t! It’s such a waste of talent! Of a fine human being!”
He smiled down at her. “Other talents will come along.”
“I need you!” Nita cried.
He raised an eyebrow. “Now there’s an excellent argument for sobriety.”
“I do need you, Billy!” she said tearfully, her head on his knees.
“But not enough to marry me.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t really want that. I know you’d be tired of married life in a few weeks.”
He stroked her hair. “You’re lovely and you’re smart! You’re right, I don’t want to marry, but if I did, it would be you.”
“Take care of yourself for me,” she begged him.
“I’ll try,” he said. “What about that doctor you’ve been out with so often?”
“He’s in San Francisco for a few days.”
“So I’m a surrogate doctor?”
“No!” she protested. “I would have come to you first anyway. I couldn’t have talked to him about that awful business.”
“I’m sure he knows more about it than you guess. Or than he’s told you.”
“Probably,” she agreed.
“Now go home and try to get a good night’s rest. I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon and we’ll drive somewhere and have a nice dinner. Somehow we must save your weekend.”
She reached up and touched her lips to his, ignoring the whiskey fumes and his stubble of beard. “You really are a darling,” she said.
It was late when she reached her cottage. Nita unpacked, took a sleeping tablet and went to bed. Since she rarely used sleeping aids the tablet did its work and she slept soundly. She felt better when she got up the next morning, so she decided to try to put the entire incident out of her mind.
She fixed breakfast and then read the Sunday paper for a while. Billy would not come by for her until later in the afternoon so she would have plenty of time to bath and dress later. She was still in her dressing gown she she heard a knock at her door. Thinking it might be one of the neighbors, she went to the door and opened it.
A contrite Eric Gray in white sweater and flannels stood in the doorway. He said, “Can I speak with you for a few minutes, Nita?”
She said icily, “I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”
“Please!” he said. “I know what happened with Barbara last night and I’ve come to say I’m sorry!”
“Don’t tell me your leaving with your boy friend wasn’t planned,” she said sharply.
He looked guilty. “Don’t judge me too hastily or too harshly. I beg you to listen to my side of it.”
There was something in his manner that forced her against her will to feel sorry for him. He gave all the evidence of being sincere.
With a sigh, she said, “Very well. Come in.”
Eric smiled his gratitude. He said, “It’s nice and cosy here.”
“Hardly an item for a Hollywood sightseeing tour,” she said grimly. “But I could skip some of the mansions that are.”
“I know what you mean,” he said, standing before her awkwardly.
“Would you like coffee?”
He nodded. “Yes. I would.”
“Sit down,” she said. “I’ll make some.”
He was glancing at the paper when she came back in. He said, “Wallace Reid is very ill in a sanitarium.”
She put the coffee tray down, shocked. “I didn’t hear anything about it.”
“It’s a front page story,” he said, showing her. “Pneumonia, they say. Actually, it was complicated by drug withdrawal.”
Nita was trembling again. “So he really is deep in drugs?”
“Has been for a long while. And there are others,” he said with a deep sigh. “He’s been treated before, so he may pull through.”
She poured their coffee and let him help himself to cream and sugar. Then she sat down near him. She was thinking of Thelma in New York and how the news would effect her. And she was worrying about the change in Thelma’s appearance and wondered if her new frailty might also be due to drugs.
She said, “What do you want to tell me?”
“I’m sorry your weekend was ruined.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have a friend coming to take me out later.”
“I’m glad,” Eric said. A frown crossed his handsome face. “I’m unhappy about what happened. That Barbara so forgot herself.”
“Didn’t you expect it?” she said. “I had the idea I was being set up.”
“Never!” he said vehemently. “I’d not be a party to that.”
“You went off with Richard Wright swiftly enough,” she said.
His cheeks crimsoned. “Yes.”
“It seems to me you and your wife are two of a kind. I don’t mind that as long as you don’t menace others. There must be many innocents like me.”
Eric sipped his coffee. “It’s very complicated, Nita. Let me say first that I really like you. I was attracted to you when we first met on the set.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” he said earnestly. “And I have known and loved many women in my time.”
“I understand that men are your preference.”
“Not so,” he retorted. “I have tried to fight that side of me, I really have. But it’s not easy. It’s worse than being a drunk like Billy Bowers. It’s something deep within me and often I let down my guard as I did last night.”
“What has this to do with me?”
“I want you to understand,” he said. “I married Barbara knowing she was a lesbian. I thought we could help each other. But she soon let me know she had no intention of changing her ways. And her shocking behavior drove me into seeking satisfaction with my men companions.”
“You’re telling me you’re an unwilling homosexual?”
“Believe it,” he insisted. “Had Barbara been the right sort of wife, I might have put that other life behind me.”
“I find that hard to accept,” she said.
“You have never been in my place,” he told her soberly. “You can
ask Lew Meyers if you like. He knows! I really wanted to lead a normal life. I still want to!”
“But you keep returning to friends like Richard Wright,” she pointed out.
“These things are not easy to break off.”
“If what you say is true, I’m sorry for you,” Nita said. “But I have problems enough of my own without yours.”
He put aside his empty coffee cup and leaned forward to her. “I think if I had married you instead, you might have helped me. I’m sure of it.”
She smiled thinly. “Your wife tried to seduce me last night, and now it’s your turn.”
“Nothing like that!” he argued. “I want a chance to prove myself to you. You could help me more than you realize. My liking for you had nothing to do with Barbara.”
“All right,” she said. “I’ll take your word for that.”
He offered her his hand. “Can we still remain friends?”
“Yes,” she said, shaking hands with him.
A shadow crossed his face. “You must be on guard against Barbara. She does not forgive easily. She’s going to be looking for a chance to harm you.”
“She made that clear.”
“I’ll do what I can to prevent it,” Eric said. “But she’s truly wicked and she acts on her own. So you must be wary.”
“I understand,” she said.
“Lew Meyers knows what she is and all about her tricks,” he went on. “He doesn’t approve of her, but sometimes she forces him to accede to her will because she is his single biggest box office draw. And she never hesitates to use that power.”
“I expect my option at Master won’t be picked up,” she said.
“I hope it will. You have talent. The studio can use you.”
“Thanks,” she said. “And thank you for coming to apologize.”
“I had to do that,” Eric said. Then he asked, “Are you still seeing Dr. Watters?”
“We’re friends,” she said.
“Nice fellow,” Eric said with a sign. “But not for anyone who loves our business. I think he’s only marking time until he can get away from show people and Hollywood.”
Vintage Love Page 224