Reece's Faith (78 page)

"You're in my chair."

"I am," Reece nodded and dropped her foot to the floor. She leaned her elbows on the desk and grinned.

Jayme stood up in a huff. If there was one thing she hated, it's being patronized and, boy, was Reece doing that. "Okay, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"You fucked with Faith and I'm not pleased."

"Look, Reece, I tried to talk to them..."

"Save it," Reece held up a hand. "You're a writer and the producer. You're lucky that you're on that side of the desk right now, because if you were any closer, I'd rip your fucking throat out."

Jayme unconsciously stepped backwards and swallowed loudly.

"Used to be a time, when people caused me grief, directly or indirectly, I showed them my displeasure in a very different way. Do you know how satisfying the feeling of someone's facial structure collapsing under my fist is to me?"

The unbridled glee blaring from the woman in front of her with that statement frightened the producer to no end. She felt her heart beat irregularly and loudly.

"Oh, yeah," Reece purred. "The delicious crunching sound of breaking bones and the warm stickiness of their blood on my hands is
most
satisfying."

Reece looked away as if lost in a pleasant dream. Jayme was beginning to think that this woman was all-out crazy. She cleared her throat to remind Reece she had company.

"Especially when they hurt Faith. I'd kill for her." Reece shot Jayme a glare that spoke volumes of truth. "So, Jayme, aren't you glad I've found another way to show my displeasure nowadays?"

That would depend entirely on what this new way was.
The producer nodded and left her thoughts unspoken. "What do you want, Reece?" she asked as confidently as she could.

"Faith is finished. She quits. Do I make myself clear?"

"But I can't just..." Jayme protested.

"I don't care what the fuck you do, but Faith goes home with me the second I walk out that door."

"But her contract, the studio... I can't just..." Jayme stopped speaking as soon as Reece pulled out her checkbook.

"How much and who do I make it out to?"

"Uhh... I don't know, I have to ask the..."

Reece put away her checkbook, stood and handed Jayme a card instead. "You'll call me. Do we have a deal?"

"Okay. Uh, yeah, we have a deal, but what about today's shoot? It's halfway done!"

"Kill her. We're outta here," the tall woman walked towards the door.

"Reece?" The producer's frustration was evident.

"Pleasure doing business with you. You know, it doesn't feel half bad to do things this way," Reece grinned again and left the office.

 
*  *  *

Sandy, John and Ali barely had time to scatter as Reece blew through the door, wearing the cocky smirk that always turned Faith's knees to jelly. The actress ran to catch up to her tall lover and wrapped her arms around Reece's waist. She closed her eyes and hummed in pleasure as one strong arm wound around her shoulder as they walked towards the dressing rooms.

Once behind the closed door, Reece exploded with laughter.

Faith stepped back to admire her lover in her current state of hysterics. "It was that good, huh?" Faith asked, catching Reece's mirth, a broad smile lighting up her face.

The tall woman nodded, slowing down to a small chuckle. "You should have seen Jayme's face!"

"I would have tried, but John already had his big fat head attached to the keyhole. He didn't see anything, though."

Reece sat down on the chair and beckoned to Faith by pursing her lips and tilting her head back. Accepting the silent invitation, the actress curled up on her lover's lap and kissed her. The lip lock ended far too early for Reece and she sighed when Faith pulled away.

"Hey, I'm not done with you yet, sweetie, I need to lock the door," the actress winked and backed up to the door, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Know what? I don't want to stay here any more, let's say we pack up your stuff and go," the club owner stood and suggested.

"You have a point. Besides, we already christened that chair," Faith snickered.

 
*  *  *

Reece was more than ready to leave, but Faith was still saying her goodbyes. She waited patiently, holding her lover's belongings when she heard a strange foghorn sound coming from outside. Rushing to the window, she found that she wasn't the only one who'd heard it and she had to squeeze between a few people to see the source of the disturbance. What she saw caused a deep groan of discomfort to escape her already impatiently clenched teeth. "Uh, babe? You might wanna see this," she called to Faith and made room for the actress to see the commotion.

"Oh yeah, John mentioned something about that. Jeez, there are a lot of people!"

"You're okay with that? Do you want to leave another way?"

"No, Reece, I want to do this. It's important to a lot of people. Am I comfortable? No, but I have you to protect me," Faith squeezed her lover's hand and received a kiss on her forehead in return.

Sandy opened the window in order to hear what the crowd was yelling about and a dozen or so people poked their heads outside. They were indeed yelling 'We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!' John puffed up proudly and chanted along with them.

"Faith, what's this all about!?" Jayme was suddenly at her side tapping her foot and pointing towards the window wildly. "Is this your idea? Well, I think it was just plain stupid."

Reece bristled and was about to interfere when she felt Faith's hand press against her stomach.

"Oh?" Faith challenged.

"Stupid is as stupid does."

Everyone turned to look at John who shrugged his shoulders. "I saw that in a movie. It seemed appropriate." He stepped in front of the producer and poked her in the chest. "This," he pointed to the ever-growing crowd, "was
my
idea. If anything is stupid, it's the way you treated Faith. You, my dear, are the stupid one because you not only lost the best actress on this whole cast, but the best make-up artist in all of New York." Jayme chuckled indifference and John became furious. "Oh, you think I'm funny? I'll show you funny. I'll throw you out that window to that crowd and tell them all that you're the one who wrote Faith into that horrible corner. Let me tell you something else, missy, if you ever call Faith stupid again, I'll let Reece at you and after she's done dismembering you, I'll show you what a size 11 snakeskin slip-on feels like upside your narrow-minded head!" The make-up artist drew everyone's attention from the window and the applause he received embarrassed him. He looked near to tears and Reece clamped a strong hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Easy, big guy, deep breath," she instructed him. Glancing at the smirking producer, who obviously thought John's threat held no water, Reece became angry. "Hey, Jayme," catching her attention she twisted her face into her most menacing smile, then lifted her hands and clenched the fists. With a small yet effective sound effect, she twisted her hands around and said, "Crunch." Jayme paled and turned on her heel. Reece smirked at a job well done, draped a possessive arm around Faith and John and the three walked outside to even more applause from the large crowd assembled in the lot.

 
*  *  *

That weekend saw the group of friends meeting at a restaurant in a victory celebration.

"Oh, my god, I'm all atremble!" John swooned. "When she said," John affected a deep dramatic voice, "warm stickiness of their blood..." the make up artist fanned himself.

"She is a pleasure to watch. Too bad you couldn't see it, it was probably even better than it sounded," Cori chuckled.

"Hey, is this a private party or can any old crackpot join?" Faith joked as she sat down, her lover standing right behind her.

"Any old crackpot already did," Reece gestured with her chin to John.

"Shuh-up, Spike."

"Hey, thanks for this celebration guys. You really didn't have to," Faith leaned across the table and hugged Violet.

"Hey, it's dinner time, we were hungry. You just landing a movie deal was simply good timing," Cori teased.

"Thanks for inviting me, Reece. I missed Louise," the make up artist wiped an imaginary tear.

"It's only been three days, you drama queen," Reece snorted.

"Don't go anywhere so quickly, John. I requested that you be my make-up artist for the movie. We're just waiting for the studio to give you a call."

"Hmmm, well... I don't know," John pretended to think. "I'd have to check my book for any other big important movie starts that want me to serve them." John bit his lip for a second before exploding in a very John-like fashion, "YAAAAHHHOOOO!!! Wheee!" He got up and danced a little victory dance, which turned into an all out conga line of one circling around the table.

"Siddown, Mary, people are staring!" Reece reprimanded playfully, though she was enjoying his display.

"I'm gonna work for Faith, yeah! I'm gonna work for Faith, yeah!"

The table and quite a few others were laughing out loud. This spectacle only caused people to start recognizing Faith and Reece saw that she was getting uncomfortable with the sideways glances and whispers. On his next pass by the tall woman, she pulled him onto her lap and glared at him. "Enough. We get the picture."

John scrambled off her lap like she was covered in spines. "Jesus, must you be so scary?" he wiped himself off and sat down in his chair with a loud huff.

"Anyone know what we're having?" Cori asked from behind a menu. "I can't decide. It all looks so good."

"I know, babe. Anyone ever eat here before?" Violet asked.

"Ooo! Ooo!" John raised his hand and waved it around.

"Yes, tall boy in the back row," Cori called on him.

"I did, Miss Cori, and it was yummy. I got the eggplant rolotine."

Reece rolled her eyes. If these were the people that Faith liked to surround herself with, well then, she would have to deal with it. Like it or not, they cared for her lover, they took care of Faith in her absence and she was grateful. Putting up with them in public places, however, was going to take some getting used to. As the chatter continued, the club owner put down her menu and glanced sideways at her lover. Faith's eyes were sparkling with mirth and Reece found it beautiful. Her lips curled up in a smile and she found herself kissing Faith's cheek without thought.

Startled by the spontaneous act, the actress turned to her lover with a look of confusion. Seeing Reece blush at her own actions was an eyebrow raiser. Faith almost said something, but at the last second chose to let Reece off the hook and entwined their fingers instead of drawing any more attention to her pinkish lover.

The waiter sidled up to recite the specials. When he noticed Faith, he became flustered and John giggled. Reece pointed a warning finger at him and he physically zipped and then buttoned his lips, drawing another eye roll from the club owner.

"I'm terribly sorry to be so rude, but aren't you Faith Ashford?" the waiter squatted down and asked the actress.

"Yes, I am. And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Paul, just another struggling actor. I just wanted to thank you for what you did," he said shyly.

"What I did?" Faith asked, puzzled.