White Diamonds (12 page)

Nash walked past the open door of the bathroom and noticed the silhouette of the woman whose naked body he had touched earlier.  She was breathtakingly beautiful and so very vulnerable.  Determined to make up for his own harsh words, he stepped inside.  Stripping off his shirt and stepping out of his jeans until he, too, was naked, he opened the shower door and took the wetted cloth from Analeigh’s hand.  “Please, allow me,” he said as he knelt down on the shower floor and looked up at her.  Her eyes were filled with tears and shame showed in her youthful eyes.  Nash wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her belly.  “I’m sorry, Analeigh.”  A tear ran down her cheek as he stood.  He kissed her parted lips and she opened her mouth to receive him.  Nash was gentle, something she had never experienced before, as the prophet had taken her only to satisfy his own needs.  As the water washed over them, Nash kissed Analeigh’s breasts, taking each hard nipple into his mouth as he held her close.  He kissed along her inner thighs, smoothing his hands along her butt.  When he kissed her mound, she pulled away, and Nash stood to his feet.  “Let me love you,” he said.  She nodded and he took her by the hand and led her to his bed.

Lifting her into his arms and laying her down, he lay over her, his hardness easing between her legs.  He took his time, kissing her and caressing her, until he knew she was ready for him.  Easing a finger inside of her, he caused her body to respond to its own pleasures and brought her to orgasm, the first she had ever experienced.  “Nash,” she whispered as she opened her legs for him.  He entered her slowly, allowing her time to adjust to his girth and length.  She moaned softly as he made love to her, the first time a man had given himself to her instead of taking her for his own pleasure.  She pulled him into her, wrapping her legs around him.  She felt his seed enter her and afterward he lay with her instead of leaving immediately as the prophet had.

He kissed her and wrapped himself around her.  “I love you, Analeigh.”

“How can you?  I’m used.”

Nash leaned up on his elbows.  “What happened before us doesn’t matter.  It’s you and me now and that’s all that matters.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“But it happened.”

“I know it did, Analeigh, but it doesn’t make you less deserving of love.”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

“Tonight and every night from now on if you will have me.”

The chilly night air surrounded them and Nash pulled a cover over them.  He had an early morning, but now when he came home Analeigh would be waiting for him.  Still, he wondered about Michael and what he was up to.  Sooner or later, he would show up on the set and Nash would be waiting for him.

When Nash left the following morning, he made Analeigh promise to keep the door locked and to not answer the telephone.

“I doubt that anyone will call, but let it ring if it does.”

“I will.”

Nash loved acting, but he worried about Analeigh whenever he wasn’t with her.  She was unaware of the evils that existed in the world, and he wondered if she was looking for answers to her own life in the performance of the actors as she helped him with his lines every evening.

By the end of the week, Nash was exhausted, and when he returned to the trailer, Analeigh had made a special dinner for the two of them.

“I don’t expect you to do that,” he protested.

“I want to do this.”

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her.

“I made a pie,” she said proudly.

“Let’s save it for later,” he suggested, and led her to the bedroom.

When he touched her belly, she asked sincerely, “You don’t think I’m getting fat, do you?”

“Never.”

As he kissed his way down her body the way he did every night, he noticed that her breasts were a little fuller and her hips a little rounder, but she had been very thin when they met.  “You’re perfect, Analeigh.”

As the week went by, Nash heard nothing from Michael and he began to let his guard down.  He no longer made certain that the door was locked when he left for work, and most mornings Analeigh was still sound asleep when he left.

On one fateful day, a stranger’s lips met Analeigh’s and she moaned the name, ‘Nash’, welcoming him into his arms.

“Time to go, Lana,” the gruff voice stated firmly.

Analeigh opened her eyes to see Michael hovering over her and she opened her mouth to scream but a thick cloth was shoved into her mouth and tied tightly around her head.

“You owe me, bitch.  On your feet!”  Pulling a struggling Analeigh by the arm, Michael forced her into his car, looked around quickly, and told his wife to floor it.

When Nash returned home that night to a dark trailer, he assumed that Analeigh had gone to bed early.  He quietly walked to the bedroom but found his bed empty.  “Analeigh?”  Fear gripped him as he searched the small home and the area immediately surrounding the trailer.  “Analeigh!”  The door had been unlocked but she had no car nor did she know how to drive.  Frantic, he called Michael’s restaurant.

“Michael?”

“Why yes, Nash.  I’ve been expecting your call.”

“Where’s Analeigh?”

“She’s working.”

Nash slammed down the telephone and called his limo driver.  “Where to this late at night?”  Nash gave the address and poured himself a strong drink.  Instructing the driver to wait, he stormed into Michael’s restaurant demanding that the waiter locate him.

“I’m sorry, sir, but he has not been in today.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!  I called earlier and spoke to him over the phone.”

The waiter shrugged his shoulders and turned his back to Nash.  Patrons began to whisper and stare, and Nash stepped outside of the restaurant to control his temper.  Once outside, he noticed that he had a voice message from an unknown caller.  Curious, he clicked on the icon and listened.  “Are you missing Analeigh?  Tell your driver to come to Stanley Park.  Time is of the essence, and by that I mean that Analeigh’s time is of the essence.”

Nash ran down the street like a crazy person to where the limo was parked.  “Analeigh has been kidnapped!  Stanley Park, and step on it.”  The car began to move, but slowly.  Nash repeated, “Step on it!”  The car moved a little faster, but not much.  Then it stopped.  “Hey, what’s the deal?  Is there an accident or something?”

The driver turned his head to look at Nash.

“Michael?  What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m taking you to the park.”

“Where’s Joe, my driver?”

“He’s in a safe place.  Relax, we’ll get there.”

Nash looked around nervously, wondering what the twisted man had in mind.  Nearly an hour later they finally arrived at the park and Nash’s hand was on the door.  “Where is she?”  Michael snapped on a screen that revealed Analeigh’s location.  A woman and man were clearly having sex in a dark corner of the park, but their faces were unclear.  “That’s not her.”

“Isn’t it?  I would recognize that skinny scrawny body anywhere.  Perhaps I should have fed her better.”

Something clicked inside Nash’s brain.  He remembered the last time he and Analeigh had made love.  Her breasts were larger and her hips were curvier than when they first met.  “No, you’re wrong.  It’s not her.  What have you done with her?”  Nash grabbed Michael around his neck and began to press inward.

Michael struggled, but he was no match for Nash.  “She’s at the club.”

“The steam?  You’re pimping her out tonight?”  Nash bashed Michael’s head against the dash, knocking him out.

After pulling him into the back and tying his hands and legs, Nash put the limo into gear and headed for the club.  Leaving the car in the middle of the street, not caring if it and its cargo were towed, he burst into the club demanding to see Analeigh.

“We have no one here by that name, sir, but perhaps another of our ladies could satisfy your needs.”

“Tell me where she is…now!”

“Sir, there is no Analeigh here.”

“You listen to me, you…wait, is Lana here?”

“Lana is with a client, but perhaps another of our fine…”  His words trailed off as Nash ran through the lobby and up the stairs.

Opening the door to every room, he screamed the name Analeigh as loudly as he could.  When he reached the last room, he heard a man’s voice.  “I paid for you.  Take off your robe and get into the water or I will rip it off of you.”

“Analeigh!”

Through the thick steam she couldn’t see him, but she knew the voice of the man she loved.  “Nash!”  She ran up the stairs and into his arms.  Shaking, she threw her arms around him, causing the robe to fall to the floor.  He ran his hands along her fuller breasts and down along the curve of her hips.  “This is what I love…you are who I love.”  He wrapped the robe around her and lifted her into his arms.  “We need to get you out of here.  Where are your clothes?”

“In a room at the end of the hallway, but they will never let me out of here…not again.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

Nash led her to the room where her clothes had been stashed and helped her change.  Then he boldly walked her toward the front door of the club, only to be stopped by the owner.

“Lana is working tonight.  She has not fulfilled her duties.  I will contact my superior.”

“Look, buddy, your superior is tied up at the moment and I can prove it.”

A puzzling look came over the man’s face and he called another man over to take his place.  Holding the door open, he said sarcastically, “After you.”

A bold Nash opened the door to the illegally parked limo and provided the promised proof.

“Michael.”

Turning to Nash, he added, “Is he dead?”

“Unfortunately, no.  He’s unconscious.”

“What do you plan to do with him?”

“Drop him off with the authorities.”

Analeigh held her hand over her mouth.  She felt sick thinking how she had been duped.  I’m such a fool.  I should have stayed with the prophet.  “Nash, I need to go,” she begged.  But he wouldn’t dare let her leave now.  She would run, and who knew where she would end up?

After calling the authorities instead of making a delivery, Nash discovered his limo driver locked in the room above Michael’s restaurant, the same room Analeigh had recently called home.  “You okay, man?”

“Yeah, but the man’s wife has a mean right hook.”

Analeigh was quiet on the drive back to Nash’s trailer, but her mind was spinning out of control.  Once inside the trailer, Nash’s first item of business was to find out what the hell had happened.

“Michael isn’t the only man doing this sort of thing, Analeigh.  He and his cohorts wait for women like you to wander into the city, and then they and the local club owners are in business…big business.”

Sitting on the sofa with Nash kneeling on the floor, Analeigh felt ashamed for her lack of knowledge of the world.  “I should have stayed, Nash.  I don’t belong here.  Things are not controlled.”

“You’re right, Analeigh, things are not controlled, but neither are people.  Do you see the connection?  You will learn.  Give yourself time.  Up until now you have had every decision of your life made for you.”

She closed her eyes.  She was tired and hungry.  “I’m sorry, Nash.”

He kissed her sweetly on the lips.  “No, honey, don’t be sorry.  It’s not your fault.”

Analeigh lay down on the sofa.  “I don’t feel so well.”

“It’s no wonder.  You’ve been through a lot in one day; hell, in one lifetime.”  He brought her a sandwich and fed it to her bite by bite.  “Drink some juice, honey.”

Undressing her, he lay down beside her, their naked bodies warming each other, until exhausted, they slept.

***

After a much needed break, Nash was welcomed back to the set by his fellow actors as well as a few new ones who had joined the film.  A humble man, Nash had never been one to boast of his status as leading man, but the Nash that joined them today seemed more than humble.  It was as if he had realized a greater awareness of himself and his role in the movie.  Whatever had occurred, this new leading man was a dynamo.  As the closing scenes were filmed, Nash’s fellow actors seemed to feed off of his energy.

Analeigh was more and more amazed by the beautiful creature that had entered her life.  He was kind and loving, and she felt as if she were living a dream.  He didn’t say much about the film when he returned at night.  He wanted his time with Analeigh to be uninterrupted by the intrusions of the outside world.

When the last week of filming arrived, Analeigh began to wonder about her future.  Nash seemed distant, and she worried he would return to the States without her.  When he awoke in the mornings he slid out of bed as quietly as he could so as not to wake her.  But she was awake and one morning she grabbed his arm.

“What is it, Nash?”  He turned to her but he didn’t try to break her hold on him.  “The film is almost completed and you’ve been so quiet lately.  What have I done?”

Nash sat down on the bed, his naked form beckoning her as always, but she couldn’t think about that right now.  She had to know the truth.  He kissed her trembling lips and smoothed back her hair.  “You have done nothing, Analeigh.  I love you.  It’s what my character must do that troubles me.  Perhaps I have become too involved with my character.  I usually do.”