CHAPTER TWENTY
JESSIE
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“Jessie Rogers?”
I leap up. “Yes,”
“Come on through.” The woman says, giving me a bland smile.
I don’t blame her. There are over thirty girls in the waiting area, practicing lines and checking their hair and make-up. I just sat there reading the lines.
I’m too freaked out after seeing Frank and his demands to think clearly. Though I did meet Melanie and Sarah, who recognized me from the chat with Savannah, and Briar apparently.
“We’d love to have you move in with us.”
Melanie is around my age with more curves and dark skin. She’s stunning. Sarah is the polar opposite. She’s as white as a vampire with blonde hair and dark brown eyes, and yet there’s something ethereal about her. And sweet.
“Yes, please tell me you’re interested. It’s a small room, but the closet is big.”
I laughed. “I’m interested.”
They shared their address, the monthly rent costs, and we connected on Instagram. I promised to visit tomorrow and check out the room.
It’s likely I’ll take it given Liam’s aloof response to any comment I make about our living situation.
The reality is, I know he’s loyal to Jayden, so I’m fully expecting he’ll break my heart. I wouldn’t change anything though. Being the girl on his arm and in his arms, even for this short period of time, has been worth it.
Right now, I just want to get this audition over with and home safe.
Safe and far away from Frank Bonito as possible.
It’s clear I need therapy. I can’t keep freaking out every time he is near...something that’s likely to happen from time to time if I want to keep working in this industry.
I smile at the casting director and try to calm my nerves. My nervous system is on fire after my run in with Frank and having to do this audition is making it worse.
“You’ve come highly recommended,” she says.
“Thank you for this, I honestly appreciate it.” I do mean it, although in this very moment, I’d rather be curled up in bed.
I won’t let that asshole destroy my future.
“Let’s see what you got. Maggie, read her in.”
I do the best I can under the circumstances and only mess up once. It actually distracts me and I start to bounce back.
By the time I leave and promise Sarah, who’s still waiting for her audition, that I’ll see her tomorrow, I’m feeling a little brighter.
I never have to see Frank again. I’m certainly not going to his fucking hotel room.
I need to tell Liam everything and get some help. Hopefully, he will keep my secret if he knows I’m going to file a report and go see a therapist.
And maybe if I open up about this, we can discuss what happens between us. At least I can move on when he says we can’t be together because of Jayden.
There’s a chance he won’t.
Surely, after his reaction to Noah, Liam will see he feels more for me than just lust and a lifetime of growing up together? I know he’s deeper than that.
I saw him the day he fell off his bike and shredded his knee, how he tried not to cry, but really wanted to. He sat on our doorstep when my mom rang his mother, holding his leg.
I scrunched up beside him and gently leaned my head against his shoulder. Somehow I knew he didn’t want me to make a fuss.
“You ’k Lim?”
“Yeah,” he sniffed.
When Jayden came around the corner and started teasing him, telling him to get back on his bike, I stood up and propped my hands on my hips.
“I am magically healing him. Go away.”
“Oh my god, Jessie, that magic dust doesn’t work. It’s sand. It’s fake magic.” Jayden dropped his bike and came over.
Fortunately, I had said magic dust and my wand in my pocket. Tugging them out, I waved them around in the air. “It does, and if you don’t stop being mean, I’ll scream and Mom will tell you off.”
Jayden rolled his eyes. “I’m going to get a soda. Want one?”
“Sure,” Liam nodded, pain in his eyes and holding back his tears.
After Jayden ran into the house, I sat down really close to my favorite person in the universe.
“Jess,”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks,” Liam whispered.
I was silent for a while, then I said. “It’s okay, the magic will take a little while to work, but it will.”
He leaned over and kissed my head.
It wasn’t the first time he’d done that, but it was the first time I’d closed my eyes and wished that he would be my husband one day. Without knowing what that meant.
Years later, when I was twelve and we were all camping, Liam brought it up again.
“Remember the magic dust?” he asked, looking very handsome now that he was sixteen, as we sat around the fire.
I had the biggest crush by then. I felt he did too, the way he watched me in ways no other boy did.
“Yup. I know, it was silly.” I let out a laugh.
The fire flickered high, sparking in the air as our half-drunk parents danced and laughed nearby. Jayden was playing cards with some kids from another campsite, yelling because he won.
“It worked. You healed me, Squirt.” Liam nudged my shoulder.
I glanced at him, waiting for the punchline.
“Think that might’ve been the doctor who bandaged you up.”
Liam lifted his soda and shook his head. “You were protecting me from your brother.”
I snorted. “Hardly.”
“I wanted to bawl my eyes out. You knew that. Didn’t you?”
I chewed the side of my mouth and hitched my shoulder. “I guess.”
“The wand might’ve needed some tuning, but when you rested your head against my arm, I felt better,” Liam confessed.
My heart swelled in that moment, and I’d never felt so important or happy in my life. This was it, I thought, he’s going to tell me he has feelings for me.
“I tuned it pretty well.” I smiled at him, ready for his kiss or confession.
Or both.
Liam chuckled, ruffled my hair, and then climbed to his feet and joined Jay and the other boys playing cards.
I’d been disappointed.
But as I sat staring into the flames until Mom sent me to bed I imagined that he was biding his time until I got older.
With the audition done, I use the bathroom before heading out the door.
When I step out into the daylight, scrolling my phone to check the bus timetable again, I wonder if I should catch an Uber.
Today rattled me, and I don’t feel like catching public transport.
Then again, I don’t have a lot of cash and will need to pay a security bond if I move in with Sarah and Melanie.
It’s only five, so I decide to catch the bus, which will still get me home in time to greet Liam when he finishes work.
Pinching the screen, I recheck the bus number as I’m walking through the lot and am almost near the gate when a dark shadow makes me stop dead.
“Oh, sorry—” I start, then gasp.
“I had a feeling you might not be able to find your way to my hotel.” Frank Bonito sneers. “Get in and I’ll give you a ride.”
No, no, no, no, no.
“I, ah, I, can’t. I have someone picking me up.” I clamber and try to get around him.
He nods and a big security looking guy opens the door to a large Maybeck, and I’m shoved inside the vehicle.
“What are you doing?” I cry, kicking as the door closes. I try the handle, but it’s locked.
“Just do as you're told.” Frank looks calm as hell, powerful and unruffled as he sits with his legs wide. “If you make a scene, do you really think they’re going to hire you?”
“Me? You’re the one who is in the wrong here!” I say, trying the locked handle again and again.
“Start flapping your lips about the Me-Too movement, and trust me, no one is even going to ask you to take out the trash here at Warners.” He laughs.
Is he right?
I have no reputation to prop me up.
Anyone who’s been in the industry for more than a day knows how things work around here. There might’ve been some progress after the Me-Too movement, but the control factor due to wealth and power is well entrenched.
As a newcomer in this town, I’d be shut down and tarnished if I got out of the car and started screaming.
But I will not let him rape me.
I grapple with my bag to get my phone, and Frank rips it out of my hand and slaps me.
“You are not touching me again, you fucking asshole. Let me out. This is kidnapping.” The vehicle starts moving and panic completely consumes me. “Let me out!”
I kick him, but he grabs my leg and plunges his hand between them, cupping my sex.
I freeze.
“Stop. I can make this very painful, or you can behave.”
I spit in his face.
He slaps me again, much harder. I see stars, my head spinning as pain slices through my skull.
The speed of the vehicle increases as my panties are shoved aside and I feel my body lifted. Frank leans down and his mouth is on me. I keep fighting, smacking his head and thrusting my legs about.
“Little bitch!” He hisses. “Drive faster!”
I grab my head because the pain is intense, and Frank rips off his tie and loops it around my wrists. “No more fighting me.”
Panting, I stare at the monster before me.
How dare he think he can do this to me?
Liam would kill him if he were here. That thought empowers me. I need to calm down. If I can get to my phone or find a way to escape, that would be better. Fighting him is just going to keep restricting my options.
He notices my change immediately and smiles.
“Good. Perhaps we can start enjoying this now.”
Motherfucker.
“Spread your legs and keep your mouth closed.”
While the vehicle cruises along the street, Frank slides his hand back between my legs and caresses me. “Such a sweet, juicy cunt. Let’s get you ready for my cock.”
Closing my eyes, I pretend I’m on the beach with Liam, watching the waves crash on the sand. I imagine him telling me he loves me, getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him.
I pretend all of this is different.
But it’s not the wet of the ocean sliding down my face, its tears. Liam can’t save me right now. And it’s unlikely he’s going to want me now he knows I’ve put myself in this position a second time.
He’ll blame me.
God, even I blame myself.