Unforgettable (19 page)

“
Pardon me,” he stood and
gave me a little bow. I thought he might bump his head on the
ceiling. “Perhaps you’d allow me to buy you a drink.”

I smiled. Why not. That’s what wild
women did. Probably.

“
Okay.”

He went to the bar and brought two
beers and two shots.

“
Unusual to see a pretty,
young woman in here this early. I’m just getting’ off a work so
this is my evenin.’”

“
Where do you
work?”

“
The studio. I’m in
maintenance. Once in a while I get a few parts when they need a
big, tall guy. I was a Wookie. You know,
Star Wars
.”

“
No kidding?”

“
Not Chewie but I was a
Wookie. Hot! Man, those costumes were blazing hot. But it was fun.
What do you do?”

“
I work for one of the
actors over there. He broke his ankle. I give him some therapy,
help him a bit.”

“
Jack? You work for
Jack?”

“
You know Jack?”

“
Sure. I know Jack. I pulled
him and Fritz out of a bar brawl once.” He laughed. “Over some
woman. You know Jack.”

“
Yeah, I know Jack. Boy,
small world.”

“
What’s your name,
sweetheart?”

“
Sam.”

“
I’m John. John Paul, as in
Pope man, that is,” he threw his large head back and
laughed.

He rubbed his belly.

“
Tell me, Sam, what’s got
you so upset? I’d be willing to bet you’ve never been out drinking
like this…alone…before noon. You’re not the type. Something’s
wrong. Old John Paul’s a good listener.”

I took another drink, feeling warm and
relaxed, liking old John Paul more and more.

“
This man, this man also
named John but definitely not the Pope, he invited me to go to
Chicago with him.”

“
Okay.”

“
Whatever my
price.
Just like Jack
paid me.”

“
Oh.?”

“
It would appear people
think that I’m a high priced whore, John Paul.”

“
Now, now.”

I let one unexpected and uninvited sob
slip out.

“
Just because that’s what
this bastard said that doesn’t mean anything. Now, come here and
sit on my lap. Come on. Have a good cry. Get it all
out.”

I felt like I was five sitting on the
big man’s lap and I did cry, finishing my beer.

“
I don’t know what to
do.”

“
Al.”

“
Al?”

“
Yeah, that’s me, Al
Pacino.” He laughed louder this time. I laughed, too. “Who do you
want to be?”

“
Grace Kelly.”

“
Grace, you’ve got great
taste. Lord, she was beautiful. Now, you were saying you didn’t
know what to do. Larry, another round for me and Grace.”

“
I love three men. And one
man is trying to kill me.”

“
One of the three men is
trying to kill you? Why do you love him?”

I threw back the shot.

“
Wow! These are going down
so smooth, Al. The man who is trying to kill me isn’t one of the
three. There’s this really bad man who raped me. He cut me
up….thinks he’s a Satan worshiper. He went to prison. And then he
got out. He escaped. And now he’s here and he wants me back. See,”
I lifted my shirt and showed him my pentagram.

“
Larry, come here, you gotta
see this.”

The bartender looked at my
belly.

“
Lord have
mercy.”

“
So now he’s trying to catch
me…”

“
You shouldn’t be out on
your own, little lady,” said Larry. “Anybody we can call to come
and get you?”

“
No. Shhh. I’ll just sneak
back to the studio. Nobody will know I was gone with my good
friends Larry and Al Pacino.”

“
So, you said you love three
men.”

“
Yeah. Jack and David and
Fritz. And they’re driving me crazy.”

Larry pulled up a chair.

“
They all love me—which is
really nice to be loved—just like I love you guys…” I hugged them
both…”but Jack gets so pissed if I go out with David and Fritz
wants to buy me a castle and make babies…and David’s just being so
sweet and nice. I don’t know what to do, Al.”

“
Close your eyes. You’re
marrying Larry here. You’re at the altar. One of the three walks in
with a gorgeous blonde. Your heart’s breaking ‘cause you know you
really love…”

“
Jack,” I whispered and
closed my eyes, fading in and out.

Al wrapped me up in his arms, rocking
me.

“
Take her phone, there. What
numbers she got listed? Is Jack on there?”

“
Yeah. A detective, too.
Damn. Poor kid, get cut up like that. You want me to call
Jack?”

“
No!” I mumbled.

“
Yeah. Punch the number and
give me the phone. Better get a trashcan over here; you know this
girl’s gonna be pukin’.”

I could hear Jack’s voice.

“
Sam, where the hell are
you?”

“
Jack, it’s me, Doug Larsen.
I have Sam. We’re at the Lone Elk. She’s kind of sleepin’ peaceful
in my arms but I thought you’d want to send someone to get her. I’d
bring her to you but it’d look real bad. Especially since John
Black is…well…anyway. She’s safe.”

“
Why is she
sleeping?”

“
Shhh. Don’t tell Jack where
I am, Al.”

He laughed.

“
A woman her size downing
three boilermakers in oh, about an hour or so…you get the picture.
I’m hoping she starts puking pretty soon.”

“
Ah, fuck. Hey, thanks a
lot, man. Lord, she could’ve gotten snatched. I’ll send a guy named
Roger over. He’s about six two, Marine. Blonde. Wearing all black.
I can’t thank you enough. Want a part?”

“
Hell, yeah.”

“
Okay. I’ll take care of it.
Thanks.”

“
Jack? Just so you know, she
loves you. She told me. Ease up on her. She’s, wow, she’s
amazing.”

“
Take me home, Al. I love
you.” I patted his Wookie chest.

He laughed and gave a loud Wookie
howl.

Gabrielle
smiled.

“
Imagine our grandchildren,
Ted, if she married the Wookie. They’d be seven feet
tall.”

“
Who the hell wants
grandchildren seven feet tall? Where would she buy them
shoes?”

“
Still, he seems awfully
nice.”

“
He’s in a bar at ten in
the morning. Here comes Roger. Now Roger would make some fine
grandchildren…That man is built.”

He held me, rocking me, singing me a
sweet lullaby.

“
Listen to me Sam,” he
whispered, “if you don’t want Jack, or David or Fritz, you think
about old Doug, okay? I’d take care of you, sweetheart.”

“
Okay, Al. I think that
would be ever so nice.”

I heard the door swing open. My eyes
were still having a rest.

“
Sam! Okay, I’ll take her
now. ‘You get her drunk? If you touched her…”

“
Back off, boy. I’ve been
taking good care of Sam for Jack. Maybe I’ll just keep her here
until he comes a get her hisself.”

“
Sorry. You’re right. But I
think we need to wake her up and get her ready to roll, right? We
don’t want the press in here taking her picture, talking about
Jack.”

“
Amen. Larry, maybe a cold
towel, okay? Sammy, sweetheart, Jack’s lackey is here to pick you
up.”

I decided not to open my eyes. I knew
the grimace Roger had on his face and I did not want to play with
him at the moment.

“
The name’s
Roger.”

“
I’m Doug.”

“
Sorry. ‘Guess I just saw
her lying there…she’s in a lot of danger…”

“
We know. She showed us her
belly, God love her.”

“
She showed you her belly?
Woman cannot hold her liquor.”

Larry patted me with the wet towel. It
smelled a little funky. I opened my eyes.

“
Hi, Al. I don’t feel too
good.”

“
I’ll take her to the
bathroom.” He stood up and carried me to the back.

“
Hey, Doug, I can do
that.”

Doug didn’t turn around. I don’t know
how many times I threw up. I stopped counting at seven.

I walked out, trying to smile. Larry
gave Roger a Bloody Mary to help with my hangover. I hugged Doug
and Larry.

“
Maybe I’ll see you on the
set. Jack’s getting me a part.”

“
You know Jack?” Roger
asked.

Doug grinned.

“
And Fritz and
David.”

I hugged him again.

“
Thanks for everything,
Al.”

“
You bet, Grace. See you in
the funny papers.”

Roger checked the street before he
would let me walk out.

“
Damn, it’s so bright and
hot out here. Let’s go back and see Al.”

“
Get in the car,
Sam.”

“
Let’s just walk. It’s right
over there.”

“
You can hardly stand up and
you have puke in your hair, your eyebrows, your leg. You’re going
back home. Sam, listen. You ever leave like that again and I will
call Silverman and have you locked up for your own damn good! I
can’t believe you did that.”

“
I got mad at John
Black.”

“
What did he do? Did he hurt
you?”

We got in the car.

“
No. Are you going to take
me back to the studio today?”

“
No. I have strict orders to
keep you at the house. Tell me what John Black did. I’ll catch him
alone and beat the shit out of him.”

“
I’ll tell you on two
conditions.” I lay down on his lap finding it a much safer place
than the spinning I was discovering sitting up. And I liked Roger’s
lap, I decided. I rubbed his thigh.

“
Sam, I can’t drive like
this. Lord have mercy. I sure hope no one’s watching. What two
conditions?”

“
Number one, I go back to
the studio as fast as I can, number two, you don’t do anything to
John—‘cause I’m going to fix it myself—and you can’t tell anyone
what I tell you, and three…”

“
I thought there were
two?”

“
I thought of another one,
very important, you take me to the store before we go
back.”

“
You’re asking a
lot.”

“
You wanna know a lot, don’t
you Roger Dodger?”

I sat up. It was a bad idea so I lay
back down.

“
Deal?”

“
Okay. One condition,
though. If it’s really bad the deal’s off and I beat the shit out
of him.”

“
Okay.”

“
Drink your drink. Your
friend Larry made it for you.”

“
Weren’t they the sweetest
guys? I’ve got to go back and visit them. They were so
sweet!”

“
Oh, yeah. You just don’t
meet a stranger, do you? John Black—focus—what happened that got
you so damn upset?”

“
He wanted to pay me. For
sex.
Like Jack does
—his words. A trip to Chicago, preferably with another woman
because he heard I was bi. I could name my price. He would top
Jack’s price! Yeah, he knew all about the Leonardo thing. Then he
said he would
compensate
me…
like Jack
does
.”

The tears finally rushed out. I buried
my face in his leg.

“
Maybe that is what Jack’s
doing. I’m just a high paid hooker. Maybe I’m just naïve. A fool. A
damn fool.”

“
John Black is a world class
ass and everyone knows it. John’s wrong. And trust me, Jack’s just
not like that, honey. Honestly. He’s not that kind of
man.”

He stroked my hair, wiping tears away.
Thoughts of being naked, cool sheets, and Roger were seeping into
my altered brain.

“
My life is so screwed up,
Roger. I piss Jack off all the time.”

“
Quit dating David. You’re
scaring the shit out of him and men hate that.”

“
I can’t. I need to see
David.”

“
Why? Do you love
him?”

“
Yes, but that‘s not
why.”

“
Just tell me,
Sam.”

I took a big drink, the pounding in my
head starting to ease.

“
He’s helping me work things
out.”

“
Like fucking.”

“
Stop it.”

He was quiet.

“
That’s it isn’t it? He’s
helping you. Because you can’t have sex. That’s why nothing’s
happened with Fritz or Jack yet.”