Unforgettable (17 page)

“
Yes. You?”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, as long as we’re
clear.”

“
I do appreciate all of
this.”

We moved onto the dance floor and Jack
leaned on me, wrapping his arms around me.

“
You’ll have to do most of
the moving. I don’t care about dancing, I just want you in my arms.
I feel like you’re slipping away from me.”

I put my head on his chest.

“
I don’t even know what to
say because I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. I spend most
of my time stressed about the three of you. Confused. Not having a
clue what to do.”

“
Things are going to change.
I can feel it. And…it’s not good.”

He held me tighter. I closed my eyes,
not wanting to let him go.

We didn’t talk for a long
time.

“
Lisa’s coming. Kiss
me.”

I kissed him. He devoured
me.

“
I ache for you,” I was
fighting the tears.

“
Baby, I love you.” He
kissed my eyes and left me.

He walked over to three men in black
suits who quickly made room for him on the couch.

I watched him as he pointed at me,
telling them something, and then they all laughed. I hated
this.

Someone hugged me from behind and
massaged my crotch. I turned; it was Lisa right on
schedule.

She kissed me.

“
You’re scared, I can feel
it.”

“
Yeah.”

She played with my breasts. I kissed
her lips and face.

“
Smile. You look like you
have gas. This is supposed to feel good.”

We kissed again. I was surprised at how
aroused I was getting.

“
Let’s head for the door,
Jack’s coming.”

Jack limped onto the dance floor and we
all inched our way to the doors. As soon as the paparazzi saw us
the cameras were flashing.

“
Sam! I told you to stay
away from that bitch!”

“
Jack, leave her alone!”
raged Lisa. “She’s going home with me. I love her.”

“
Sam,” Jack screamed, “let
go of her and come with me, we’re leaving!”

Lisa dragged me out the door. There was
a hush in the crowd. “Jack, you have to face the fact…she’s mine,
my sweet little pussy…”

Jack lunged at Lisa, his toe catching
on the sidewalk, crashing to the ground. He screamed in pain and
pulled his knee up to his chest.

Fritz was right there, signaling me and
Lisa to leave.

“
He’s hurt,” I whispered to
Lisa. “I’ve got to go.”

“
They’ll take care of him,
sweetie, come on. If you go back to him this whole act is ruined.
You’ll be on your way to protective custody.”

“
I know, can’t help it.
Damn. The cast is cracked in two. He could have really done some
damage. I can’t, I just can’t. I’m not leaving him.”

Lisa came back and kissed me on top of
the head.

“
I’m sorry, honey,” she
whispered. “Don’t you worry. He’ll be okay.”

“
I’ll see you soon, love,”
she shouted for the press’s ears and swaggered to the car waiting
for her.

Fritz drove behind the ambulance. I
rode inside with Jack.

“
Dammit, Sam, why didn’t you
go with Lisa?”

“
Because I’m honorary and
stubborn and hard to get along with.”

He smiled at me as the pain medicine
kicked in.

It was a busy Saturday night in the
emergency room but Fritz had been on the phone with Dr. Taylor
right away. As soon as we got in the hospital we were whisked into
a room in the back.

They x-rayed his ankle and a doctor
came in.

“
Good news. All of the
hardware is as it should be and there are no new fractures. And,
everything is healing very well. I was on the phone to Dr Taylor.
We’ll just put a new cast on and you’ll be on your way.”

Jack slept on the way back and it took
Luis and Fritz to get him into the den. They wrestled his shirt off
him and he never woke up.

Fritz and I wandered to the kitchen. He
made tea.

“
Let’s go back to my place
and watch some telly. It’s been a wild, fucking night.”

I followed him out a side door and we
walked to the east of the compound. The house was a white cube
flanked in the back by a huge round building.

“
Your house is
amazing.”

“
Thanks. Did it myself. The
design that is.”

The foyer interior resembled,
surprisingly, the foyer of a hobbit hole, with extraordinary arched
beams and natural stone on the walls and floor. To the right was an
open kitchen, brick hearth, and modern appliances. And straight
ahead was the round room, with two-story glass on the left and
right, an antique fireplace, and two-story bookshelves, complete
with a rolling ladder. To the left was a grand piano with scattered
groupings of comfortable sofas and oversized chairs.

We sat down on a red sofa and stared
out at the lights of the city.

“
You came back for Jack. You
should have gone with Lisa.”

“
I’ve been thinking all
night…”

“
I know. You didn’t speak a
word.”

“
When my parents died, after
the funeral, I ran away. I just got in my car and drove. For three
days. I just drove and once in a while I slept. I ended up in south
Texas somewhere and then I had a shiver. This really weird shiver.
And it kind of brought me back to reality. I had no idea where I
was going or what I was going to do. So I went home, broke off my
engagement with my boyfriend, and worked two jobs to get me through
college.

“
When I was raped I wanted
to run. Every night I would think about it, but I had friends and
my work, and Welsh was in prison. But when he escaped that was it.
I had to run.

“
Tonight I realized that I
was just running again. Hiding. And I’m not doing that anymore. For
all we know Welsh doesn’t read the tabloids. For all we know I’ll
be just as safe here as anywhere else. Maybe safer. And, if it gets
dicey then I’ll do something.”

He stared at me for a long
time.

“
There is something to be
said for being brave, little one, another for being a fool. If
Welsh catches you he will not kill you quickly.”

“
You don’t think I should
stay?”

He took my hand and stared at it for a
long time.

“
I wish I had a crystal
ball, my love, but I don’t. I just want you to be safe.”

We watched
The Creature from the Black
Lagoon
, and cuddled on the
couch.

“
Stay,” he
whispered.

“
If I stay…it won’t be ‘no
sex,’ and we both know it.”

“
Sam, will you ever be mine?
Just tell me now.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“
It’s a distinct
possibility.”

“
But not an automatic
‘yes.’”

“
I have to work through
things with David. I have to see how Jack and I are going to do. I
have to.”

I stood up. He hugged me around the
waist, kissing my stomach, pulling my dress up, my panties
down.

“
Fritz! No…can’t…gotta
go.”

I ran out and back to the house. I was
panting and not from the run.

Jack was still asleep and the house was
deadly quiet.

The dress was becoming uncomfortable so
I took it off and picked up the shirt Jack had been wearing. It had
his scent on it; I hugged it before I slipped it on and climbed
into the other side of the bed. I had no idea what I was going to
do next.

Oscar yelled.

“
You are not going to
believe this shit. I picked up the
Morning
Sun
and look who’s on the front
page!”

Robert took it from
him.

“
Jack Nolan. Wow. Find his
house, Oscar. And find out how we can get to somebody on the inside
there. A cook, a maid, somebody. You get another steak dinner. Look
out Sam ‘cause here I come and come and come…”

Traffic was loud outside
Robert’s cracked bedroom window.

Gabrielle leaned over him,
placing her hands over his mouth and nose, just as he had done to
Sam.

He woke up gasping. She
smiled at him, pushing harder, then, just before he was about to
die she dissolved into a rain of ash.

Saturday

I woke knowing I was not
alone.

The sunbeam played across Tonto’s face.
I thought I saw him grin.

The sheet was being pulled off me. I
pulled back.

I rolled over and looked at Jack’s
smiling face.

“
Did you take advantage of
me while I was doped up? I want details.”

“
No. I just…I didn’t want to
be alone upstairs."

He cocooned me in his arms, pressing
hard against me.

“
I want to wake up like this
every morning.” He kissed me. “But I want you naked.”

He unbuttoned my shirt, caressing the
skin he uncovered, button by button.

Perhaps I was ready for Jack…perhaps
David was wrong.

He bent down to kiss my nipples and
slid my underwear off along the way. His hand moved gently,
expertly between my legs. It was the sharp edge of
ecstasy.

“
I love you with …” he
whispered. “But I’m wondering why you have grass on your
feet.”

He dove under the sheet and looked at
them.

“
I was at
Fritz’.”

He came back up and faced
me.

“
Did you?”

“
No.”

“
Why did you leave his
bed?”

“
Wasn’t in his
bed.”

“
Technicality. Why did you
leave him?”

“
David was right. I wasn’t
ready.”

I was naked in his arms now. I was
ready. He was so hot and I wanted him…his touch was like
magma…

Someone pounded on the front
door.

“
No!” Jack
bellowed.

I jumped up and pulled on my kimono
from last night.

“
Son of a bitch,” Jack
mumbled. He struggled, pulling his suit pants over his
cast.

“
Should I answer
that?”

“
Let’s see, if it’s the
psychopathic killer do you think we should just invite him in for
coffee? No. That’s what I pay security to do. How the hell did they
let anyone get up to the door?”

Then Silverman walked in.

“
Oh, it’s you. Come on back
in the kitchen. I need coffee. Don’t you ever sleep?” Jack was
grumbling.

Silverman didn’t smile which made me
uneasy.

“
Morning tabloids have
someone’s face all over them. And her name.”

He threw them on the
counter.

“
That was the plan,” said
Fritz, suddenly appearing.

“
Until she ‘rejected her
lesbian lover and returned to Jack Nolan.’ Now they know
exactly
where you
are.”

“
He fell,” I
explained.

“
I would have been fine,”
Jack said. “You should have gone with Lisa…”

“
Okay. It’s over now. But
I’ve talked it over with my people and we’ve decided to keep you
running loose.”

“
No protective custody?” I
asked.

“
Not right now. We feel
we’ve got a better advantage of trying to lure him out if we place
you in strategic places. Away from people.”

“
Away from
people?”

“
Right. Crowds.”

“
Where?”

“
We thought you and Fritz
could go back to the beach where you were first spotted. We’ll leak
something to the press. If Fritz is willing, of course.”

Fritz nodded. “I’ll try to suffer
through.”

“
What about me?” Jack
asked.

“
You’ve got to be at the
studio.” Fritz smirked. “The show must go on, old man.”

Jack glared at him.

“
It would be ideal if Sam
and Fritz could add to the scandal, if you know what I mean. Stir
the pot. Get more press. I know it’s asking a lot.”

“
Not at all,” Fritz put his
arm around me, re-buttoning my mismatched line of buttons, grinning
at Jack. “Anything for the cause.”

“
Leave at one. I’ll make
sure cameras are around. And here’s your tracking device. Place it
somewhere very hidden. After you bathe. Dry skin of
course.”

He handed me a tiny square.

“
This little
thing?”

“
We’ll activate it at one.
Call me if anything changes.”