Heller’s Decision (6 page)

Annoyed and uncomfortable, I broke free from
him. “I have to go or I’ll be late.”

With a quick but obvious glance at
Farrell, Heller pulled me towards him, his hand clasping the back
of my neck in a grip I couldn’t escape. He pressed his lips down on
mine, blocking the stairs and forcing Farrell to wait and watch the
embrace.

When Heller released my lips, I stared
into the icy depths of his eyes, trying to understand the reasons
why he felt the need to do that to Farrell. But his emotions were
impenetrable. He smirked and I broke away from him again, peeved
with his behaviour.

“Bye, Hugh,” I said quietly, scurrying down
the stairs.

“
Bye, Chalmers,”
Farrell replied, equally quiet. “Have a nice
day.”

I stopped and turned, meeting his
glance, my eyes flicking
quickly to Heller. “You too,” I said, lowering my eyes and
continuing on my way.

I hurried to work.

Chapter 4

Trent
showed great interest in interviewing the two adult
entertainment stars, his eyes lighting up at the thought of snaring
guests such as them, virtually guaranteed to stir up controversy.
Across the desk from him, I sipped on my extra-large, triple shot
cafe latte and promised to see if I could locate a contact number
for them. Most people didn’t turn down the chance to appear on his
show when it was offered – especially people trying to sell
something, even if that something was themselves.

Just as I
gathered my things to return to my desk, Brady
stormed into Trent’s office and threw a small stack of messages on
his desk.

“
Complaints about the show last night,” he
growled, pointing an accusing finger in my direction. “All because
of her
big fat
arse.”

“
Hey!” I protested, now feeling guilty
about the two doughnuts I’d scoffed earlier for morning tea and
pushing my gigantic coffee behind the pot plant on Trent’s desk to
hide it. “No need to be so personal. It wasn’t like I wanted to be
swinging around the studio, showing off my undies to the country. I
was trying to rescue the monkey.”

Trent picked up the messages and flicked
through them. He looked up at me, his face serious. I swallowed
nervously.
Oh
great
, I thought,
this was probably
going to be it. He was finally going to fire me
. I suppose I had it coming. I suppose I
shouldn’t be too surprised. I could hardly boast the most stable
work history in the world.

A smile curved his lips upwards.
“Excellent. If all the old biddies are stirred up about the show
that means everyone else in the country enjoyed it and thought it
was a hoot. That’s a timeslot win in the ratings.”

Brady threw his hands in the air in
exasperation. “Is there nothing this woman can do that you won’t
defend? She’s a walking disaster zone and you know it. Why don’t
you ask her why the monkey went berserk in the first place?”

“
You’re out
of line, Brady,” said Trent, his voice heated.
“You’re the one who made the call about changing the story. I was
perfectly happy to keep going with the animal activism angle. As
Tilly said, it wasn’t her choice to be in that story. It was
probably highly embarrassing for her.”

I nodded my agreement. “It was truly
horrible,” I said
as
plaintively as I could. “People laughed at me.” I didn’t see any
need to add that it wasn’t the first time my butt had been featured
on TV; not even the first time it had made a guest appearance
on
People’s
Pulse
.

“
Oh, for God’s sake!” Brady
spat, stalking to the door.
“Why do I even bother?” He slammed the door shut.

“
Stop being such a
damn drama queen!” Trent yelled after him.
“Seriously, that man needs a good screw.”

“Don’t we all?”

He rolled his eyes. “Right. And this from
the woman who’s getting a good screw more frequently than anyone
ever recorded in history.”

I smiled. “Stop peeking in my windows, you
pervert.”

He
smiled too. “I don’t have to. I’ve never known anyone
before who comes to work with that silly exhausted expression on
her face every single day.”

“I don’t have an ‘expression’.”

“
Yes, you do. You look like this.” And he
pulled such a silly lovesick face, that I burst into laughter and
smacked him lightly on the arm.

“You’re a goose.”

“
And you’re a pile of trouble. No wonder
Heller wanted me to take you off his hands for a year.” His jollity
melted away, his glance resting thoughtfully on me. “So Tilly, why
exactly
did
the monkey
go berserk?”

“
I have absolutely no idea. I don’t know
what Brady was referring to,” I lied brazenly, steadily meeting his
eyes. We exchanged a long look.

He leaned back in his leather executive
chair and laced his fingers together behind his head.
“Somehow I doubt that. But
what’s done is done and that’s the end of it as far as I’m
concerned. Let’s talk some more about these porno
stars.”

“Adult entertainment actors,” I
corrected.

“Whatever. Why are they here?”

“Heller said they were here for an
exhibition.”

“
Seductively
Sextravagant
? It starts
in a couple of days.”

“
I guess that’s it. It’s hard to imagine
two sex exhibitions on at the same time. I better do some research
on this couple and the exhibition.”

He grinned in
the cute way he had that won him over a million
fans. “Hmm, I might do some, um . . . research . . . on their
movies.”

I smiled back. “I might too.”

His grin grew wider. “We could, ah . . .
research . . . together at my place tonight.”

I laughed. “I don’t think Heller would
appreciate that. He prefers me to only, um . . . research . . .
with him.”

“He’s a lucky man.”

“
And you’re a cheeky one,” I volleyed,
reluctantly standing to head back to my desk.

I really enjoyed working for Trent. He
was
a great boss,
playful, flirty and he stuck up for me time and time again. I did
worry that he’d get tired of doing that one day and he’d fire my
sorry arse, but decided to worry about that when and if it ever
happened.

I spent the rest of the day researching
the adult movie industry on the internet,
jotting down lots of notes and earning myself many
sharp, curious glances from the coworkers who passed by my
workstation.

When I returned home after the show that
evening, f
ive DVDs were
neatly stacked on my kitchen bench with a note propped up against
them:
Enjoy
your research, Matilda. I will visit later to see if you’ve learnt
anything new
.

“Hmm, it’s not quite a bunch of flowers,” I
muttered to myself, picking up the first DVD, my eyes nearly
popping out at the X-rated cover. “But thank you, Heller.”

After a quick dinner, and with a very
large glass of wine on the table next to me, I started watching the
movies. I’d made it about one-third through the second one when
Daniel tapped lightly on my door, sticking his head around. I
gestured him over, my eyes glued to the TV screen.

“
Is Niq with you?” I asked,
frantically groping for the
remote to switch off the movie. He was far too young to be watching
anything as debauched as that.

“No. He’s raiding with his guild
tonight.”

I looked over the rim of my wineglass at
him. “I know you spoke in English then, but I have no idea what you
just said.”

He laughed. “He’s playing an online
game.”

“
Oh,” I said wisely, as if that explained
everything. “Can’t let your guild down.”

“
Suppose not,” Daniel said, amused. He
poured himself a glass of wine and topped up my glass.

“Thank you, darling Danny.”

“You’re welcome, terrible Tilly.”

I laughed. “That’s not very
nice.”

He reached over to kiss my cheek. “No, but
you are.”

I leaned my head on his shoulder and he
slipped an arm around mine.

“
How are you feeling today, Danny?” That
wasn’t just an idle question. He’d suffered from depression for
months, and it was only in the last fortnight the doctor had taken
him off anti-depressants. Consequently, we were all rather anxious
about his ongoing emotional state, including Heller, though he
never verbalised his concern to me, or anyone as far as I
knew.

“
I’m okay.”

“
Just okay?” I asked, dismayed.
I’d hoped for a
‘good’.

“Just okay.”

I guess I had to be satisfied with that.
At least, in what I willingly took as a small sign of success, I
managed to make him laugh again now and then. He also sometimes
shared his sweet, crooked smile with us, though it was hard to
ignore the tinge of melancholy it now carried. Daniel had been
brutally kicked by life one too many times to just ‘get over it’
again.

Heller, not one to
put his trust in pharmaceutical cures,
kept Daniel busy with work and a fairly demanding physical routine.
Heller had designed it himself to partly rehabilitate and
strengthen the muscles in Daniel’s back where he’d been shot, and
to partly further improve his self-defence skills. I’d sat in on
some of their training sessions and Heller had been patient and
gentle with his words, if not with his moves. He even entrusted
Daniel to Farrell’s experienced hands a few times when he’d been
otherwise occupied and couldn’t train Daniel himself. Apparently
Farrell could be trusted with Daniel, but not with me. I tried not
to let the bitter knowledge of that wash over me. And I didn’t know
what Farrell thought when I sat in on one of their training
sessions in the gym, but I was careful not to be alone with him at
any time.

“What are you watching?” Daniel asked.

“Porn,” I admitted.

“
Tilly! I’m shocked,” he proclaimed, not
looking even the slightest bit shocked. And I guess living in a
place with two guys who openly collected pornography as a hobby
would make you rather nonchalant about it.

“It’s for work,” I hastened to explain.
“Honestly.”

“Sure it is.”

I turned the movie back on.
“It’s not that great. The plot
is non-existent, the music is cheesy, the acting is abysmal and the
sex is terrifying. They’re at it for ages and ages without any
emotions at all. They don’t even look at each other most of the
time. It’s not normal. And the close-ups are absolutely revolting.
I feel like a gynaecologist. Also, the men are bloody huge. I’ve
had my legs crossed with trepidation the entire time.”

“
Now you’re just exaggerating. They can’t
be that big.” His eyes flew wide open as he stared at the TV
screen. “Holy shit! Look at the size of
him
! Oh man, that would hurt!” He snortled with
laughter. “Look at them going for it! That’s hilarious. Her boobs
are jiggling everywhere! Do you think they’re real?”

“
No
t a chance. They’re ridiculously gigantic.”

He shrank back suddenly as a glistening
image filled the screen. “Eww! What’s that?”

I shot him a withering glance. “That’s a
close-up of private girl bits.”

“
Yuck!
” Looking ill, he averted his eyes. “That’s
obscene. Tell me when it’s gone.”

“
It’s gone,” I lied, laughing when he
peeked back again, giving a small scream of horror at the
continuing vision.

“
You’re
so mean sometimes,” he grumbled.

“
I’m only thinking of you,” I said piously.
“It’s good for you, Danny. If you see one, then you won’t be afraid
of them anymore.”

“
What’s she doing to it?” he asked, his
face contorted with revulsion.

“She’s pleasuring herself.”

“
How? No, on second thoughts don’t tell me.
It’s so gross, I just don’t want to know. This hetero-porn is
disgusting. What’s he doing to her now?”

“
I don’t know. I think –
” We cringed in unison and slammed our
eyes shut.

“
Did he just
insert that huge . . .?”

“
I think so. I don’t know. I have my eyes
shut.”

“Me too.”

I opened one eye and immediately shut it
again. “Yep. Definitely the whole huge thing.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Why are you asking me for? I don’t know!” I
opened my eyes.

“What’s going on now?” he asked, his eyes
still firmly shut.

“
I told you – the plot is very minimal. I
mean, just look at him. He seems bored out of his brain by the
whole thing. All that mindless pumping. He must take
performance-enhancing drugs. No normal man can last that
long.”

We watche
d in silence for a few minutes.

“
Oh no, now there’s another woman as well.
Where did she come from? The plot’s ridiculous in this
movie.”