Unforgettable (8 page)

“
He also has two brothers:
Oscar is a computer geek, and Eddie is a major con artist. Robert
is trained in a variety of fire arms, close combat, and he worked
in demolitions so he’s skilled in explosives. The FBI wants him, of
course, because he escaped, and has now crossed state lines. We’re
working closely with them.”

He nodded at Roger and the two left the
room.

“
So your people have been
following me? And you’ve known? Why did you make me tell
you?”

“
You had to trust me. You
had to come to terms with this yourself. And the fact that you need
help. I wanted to tell you that we were following you—I almost did
last night--but I didn’t want to scare you more than you were. You
have a place here, Sam.”

He sat next to me on the bed and held
my hand.

“
We have seven bedrooms
upstairs, a full security staff, the police and the FBI involved.
Please stay. At least until he’s caught.”

All of the glue that had been holding
me together dissolved. I gave up and let the pain and fear finally
have their way. I curled up on the bed and cried.

“
He’s here.”

“
You’re not alone.” He lay
down next to me and I loved the feel of his breath on my
neck.

“
He’s here.”

“
You’re not alone. I’ll do
anything to keep you safe, I swear. I’ll post a guard outside your
room every night. I’ll even sacrifice myself and sleep with you.
Every night. Whatever it takes.” He kissed my hair and neck and
shoulders.

“
Alright, dammit, I’ll stay.
I’ll stay. But, Jack?”

“
Yes?”

“
This is hard to ask…but,
tell me the truth.”

“
Always.” He handed me
tissues.

“
If you were interested in
me…you know, romantically…sexually..”

“
Yes,
if
…” he laughed.

“
What you saw…the
scars…would they…?”

He reached over to my blouse and slowly
unbuttoned it, stroking my belly and breasts. Then he bent and
kissed them, moving up and down, slipping his hand in my
pants.

“
If I
were
interested in you, I would kiss
and lick and love every beautiful inch of you. Now, kiss me and
tell me what you want,” he whispered.

I kissed him, pulling him into me,
taking him deeper.

He smiled.

“
Sammy, I have never met
anyone like you. I am so glad you agreed to stay here. If
anything…if he… I’m starving,” he said. “Let’s find food…food,
food, food.”

I laughed. He always seemed to make me
laugh.

He took his phone out. I wasn't sure
who he called. He just said, "reschedule it" and hung
up.

He showed me the phones and told me how
to call security and Fritz. He talked me into watching a movie with
him.

Frank stood outside his
parents' house just listening. His dad was yelling. His dad always
yelled. It was his normal tone.

Chester came running out
and of course found him. His mom stood at the door.

"Chester? Come back
here...is someone there?"

He stepped into the light.
She walked to him and wrapped him into her arms.

He was home. Finally
home.

At seven someone knocked on the front
door.

Roger answered before Jack had time to
stand up.

It was Silverman. He introduced
himself.

“
Princess, you didn’t call
me. But I see you’re making a late call. Emergency therapy? Tucking
Mr. Nolan into bed I see. And you lost your job. News I thought, as
best friends, we would share. I’m hurt.”

“
Sam is staying with us.
‘Thought it would be safer this way,” Jack was giving him his
panther-in-the-bushes look.

“
All right. Now, Mr. Nolan,
you are aware that you are taking on security and the risks of
having Jack the Ripper after all of you
and
your staff, is that
understood?”

Roger nodded. “Got it covered,
sir.”

Silverman rubbed his head.

“
Testosterone just flowin’
in this room—which is a very beautiful thing, I must say. ‘Love the
Indian. Wow. And the chrome tree in the entry. I almost bought one
of those at a yard sale. Okay. Hopefully the next time I talk to
you it will be with good news. Ciao.”

He whistled as he walked to the
door.

Saturday

My room, known as the black and white
room, did not feel like home. Home, and the feeling of home, had
been elusive for so very long.

The smell of bacon drew me to the
kitchen but I did not find Sarah. Instead I found a smiling Fritz.
He poured me a cup of coffee.

“
Cream, right?”

“
Right.”

He handed me a plate with bacon and
toast.

“
Where’s Sarah?”

“
She just comes in on the
mornings on Saturdays. She handles this place…and all of us. I
handle the money, I handle Jack’s contracts, I handle the
arrangements. I handle all of our properties we own. You could say
I’m a handler, like in a circus.” He grinned watching
me.

“
I’m very glad you decided
to stay.”

He leaned on the counter.

“
You were gone last night.
Don’t you ever get any time off?”

“
I had a meeting. But, I
have lots of free time. If I’m traveling with Jack I’m working all
the time. But if it’s like now I can do whatever I want—all the
time--like take beautiful women named Sam out on dates.”

He kissed me. “You taste like bacon,”
he whispered, coiling tighter around me.

“
You are very extraordinary
at that,” I whispered.

“
Thank you. I practice on my
own.”

I laughed and buried my head in his
chest.

“
Where’s Jack?”

“
Working on his lines. He
hates working on his lines. You should avoid him…all day and night
and spend the whole time with me.”

I laughed. We went outside and walked
through a vegetable and flower garden.

“
I want you,” he pressed
against me. “I have never wanted a woman like I want you. Come back
to my place. I’ve fixed it up a bit…has a lovely, large bed with
your name on it.”

“
I saw a psychic you
know.”

“
I don’t want to sleep with
her--she’d know all my cheap moves before I made them.” He nuzzled
my neck. “I just want to sleep with you.”

“
She told me that two men
loved me.”

“
She was bang on the money
there.”

“
And that I would have to
choose between the two. A very difficult choice, she
said.”

“
You can’t choose Jack. He’s
your boss. Can’t sleep with your boss. Those things never work.
Don’t you watch the soaps? Besides…what’s wrong?”

“
I hadn’t thought about Jack
being my boss.”

Fritz stopped. “Don’t take on too much
at once, love. Just give yourself time. Did I tell you the joke
about the pig in the road?”

I laughed as we held hands, strolling
back to the house.

“
I’ve got to go make some
calls…see you in a bit.” He winked and left.

I heard Jack bellowing my
name.

“
What, what? What’s wrong?”
I found him in the den.

“
I didn’t know where you
were.” He smiled.

“
For heaven’s sakes. I
thought you were hurt.”

“
We start shooting next
week.”

“
Shooting. Next
week.”

“
Right. Shooting. Next week.
I think I need help with my shower. There’s a spot I can’t
reach.”

“
Oh? You’ve been showering
all this time without me.”

“
Yes, but I need help
now.”

“
You are full of it, Jack
Nolan. Get up and get moving.”

He laughed a roaring laugh. I sat down
on the bed next to him and took his hand.

“
Seriously. Letting me stay
here…I never thought…when I would lay awake in that apartment,
hearing every sound, knowing I could die any minute…I never thought
it would change. I always felt so hollow so consumed by the
fear.”

He played with the curls of hair
escaping onto my neck.

“
Did you sleep
well?”

“
Yup. Not even a
nightmare.”

He rubbed my thigh.

“
Excellent.”

“
That’s sexual harassment
you know.”

“
What?”

“
You’re my boss
now.”

“
Not fair! And what if I did
this?” He kissed me, a long, hot kiss that made me want to climb
him like Kilimanjaro.

“
Yeah, that would definitely
be sexual harassment. I think I’m going to go do my yoga. Find some
inner peace.”

At four a woman singer with her back-up
band arrived and Fritz set them up by the pool. I sat back and
watched feeling that I should be up and working. I did notice more
security people and they all had pictures of Welsh on their
clipboards.

By seven the house was full of people.
I felt lost and stood by the back of the house, staring at the
pool.

“
Samantha Rose,” a voice
said behind me.

I turned to find David.

He opened my palm.

“
You washed your hand. My
phone number is gone. No wonder you didn’t call me. Let me have
your phone and I’ll program it in.”

He snatched it from my waistband and
looked at my numbers. “An LAPD detective? Top on your call
list?”

I nodded.

“
A bit of
trouble.”

“
My dear, an unpaid speeding
ticket is a bit of trouble. "

I was leaning against the wall. He
moved closer putting his hand behind me head.

“
Sam. Let me help. Whatever
it is we can handle it. I have lawyers.”

I suddenly realized that David was the
third.

“
I don’t need lawyers,
David. I need…I need machine guns and detectives
and…wizards.”

“
Let me help you.” He kissed
me, a slow deep kiss, and I found myself wrapping my arms around
him, pulling him closer, feeling him growing hard. I kissed him
back and he moaned. What was wrong with me? I hadn’t kissed this
many men in an entire year at home.

Ted laid in the grass,
peering down at Earth, through the crevice he’d created in the rose
garden. He smiled.

“
Yup, I like David. A mover
and a shaker. Gets things done. But don’t tell Mom.”

He threw a pinch more of
the dust.

“
Be careful, sweetheart,”
he whispered to his daughter.” The bastard’s close. He’s so
close…”

“
I just let you examine my
tonsils and I don’t know a thing about you.”

He smiled.

He walked me into the living room and
handed me a glass of wine. We sat on a soft deep blue
couch.

“
My name is David Abernathy.
I am, primarily, a producer. What I really do is connect the dots.
I put investors in touch with the creative people, I watch the
money, I make deals happen and I make sure what I start gets
completed.

“
It’s kind of like taking
preschoolers on a field trip. You tie them together, give them
buddies to hold hands with, clean up messes, and make sure we all
end up in the right places at the end of the day.”

I laughed. “Great analogy. My life,
right now, is like an abstract painting…”

“
Tell me…” He touched my
shoulder, running his fingers slowly up and down.

“
Kind of like a Picasso.
Lots of pieces missing and yet so many wonderful pieces…in odd
alignments. Like, I have no money, no home, no significant other,
no real job, and yet I’m living in a gorgeous mansion and meeting
the most fascinating people…like you…and it’s just kind of surreal.
All because a horse got spooked by something and broke Jack’s
ankle. It’s like chaos theory. “

“
Chaos theory.”

“
Remember in
Jurassic Park
Jeff
Goldblum has the drops of water running down his hand…the drops run
the same way until boom! one goes down the other?”

I took his hand and drew on it with my
finger. He scooted closer to me.

“
I’m talking to you because
a snake crawled this way instead of that and scared Jack’s horse
causing Jack to suffer this terrible injury.”

David smiled and kissed my
hand.

“
To hell with Jack I’m
rooting for the snake. Hear that? Music. I must dance with
you.”

He moved tables and chairs and held me
close.