Authors: Val Tobin
Injury (10 page)
Cope turned to Dani. “You expecting someone?”
“No, of course not. I’ll be right back.” Dani grabbed a robe
from the hook on the back of the bedroom door and hurried to the foyer. She
pressed the intercom button. “Hello?”
A belch and sniffling greeted her.
“Hello?”
“Dan—Dan—
ni
—” Henderson’s voice
hiccupped over the intercom.
“Greg?” Dani startled when Cope’s hand dropped to her
shoulder and his arm wrapped around her.
“Everything okay?” Cope’s voice was mild, conversational,
but Dani sensed the tension under it.
“Can I—”
Braaack
. “Can I come up?”
“Not a good time, Greg. Go home. You’re drunk, and we’ve got
an early shoot tomorrow.” The love scene tomorrow.
“I just want to talk, babe.”
Pressed against Dani’s body, Cope went rigid.
“I’m not letting you up, Greg. Go home.”
“You alone? I’ll come up there and fuck your brains out.
Hey? How about it? For old time’s sake.”
Cope released her, and she threw him a pleading look. He
scowled and went to the bedroom. Terrified Henderson was driving Cope away,
making him want to leave her, tears threatened, and Dani’s voice trembled when
she spoke. “Go sleep it off, Greg.”
Finger snapping away from the intercom, she choked off the
sounds from the lobby entrance. Buzzes from the speaker followed her into the
bedroom where Cope sat on the side of the bed, head in hands.
He met her gaze when she stepped into the room. “I walked
away so I wouldn’t be tempted to push you aside and say something regrettable.
Option two was to run down there and clean his clock, but I’m naked.”
Dani sat next to him on the bed. “I thought you’d gone to
get dressed and go home.” She hadn’t intended to admit that, but fear pushed it
out.
“My beauty, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
The persistent buzzing penetrated awareness, and both turned
to peer out the open bedroom door.
“Call security, Dani. They should have noticed by now he’s a
nuisance.”
Dani checked the time. “It’s not even nine o’clock, and he’s
drunk. Should I let him up?”
Cope’s face darkened. “Why?”
“What if he does something stupid?”
“He’s already done something stupid—he came here and
bothered us. Call security and tell them to get him into a cab. Give them his
home address, and they’ll escort him out of here. If you let him come up,
you’re just reinforcing his manipulative behavior, and trust me, he wouldn’t be
happy to see me.”
“But he’ll be upset and mad at me.”
Cope took Dani in his arms. “You’re not responsible for his
feelings or his reaction to you setting boundaries. Okay?”
Relieved, giving herself permission to refuse to let
Henderson guilt her into doing what he wanted, Dani kissed Cope on the cheek.
“You’re right. I’ll get him out of here, and we can carry on with our nice,
quiet evening.”
Dani called security and explained the situation to the
guard on duty, who assured her he’d remove Henderson from the premises. She
returned to the bedroom, heart skipping a beat when she saw Cope dressed.
At the sight of her expression, he strode to her and hugged
her tight. “Dani, I’m not going anywhere. Don’t look so scared. I’m not tired,
and I thought we could watch TV.”
“Mind if I stay in my robe?”
Instantly, Cope’s mouth pressed to hers. When he lifted his
head again, he said, in a low growl, “If you stay in that robe, we might not
end up watching TV.”
“I’ll risk it,” she gasped.
Cope’s laugh filled her with that happiness she’d
experienced earlier, and, taking his hand, Dani led him to the den. “I’ll put
the kettle on and make popcorn.”
“Let me help.” He followed her to the kitchen, and they fell
into an easy routine.
Dani kept staring at him, drinking him in. Cope’s presence
fed her, energized her, even as it comforted and offered peace she hadn’t had
before.
Later, after the movie, they settled back into bed and made
love again. Snuggled in the shelter of Cope’s arm, Dani wondered that she’d
never desired this companionate silence before. None of the other men she’d
slept with had wanted to just be with her. They’d always taken her out, showing
her off like a trophy, or they’d fucked her without affection.
The next day’s shooting schedule intruded then, and Dani’s
gut clenched with worry. Henderson had been drinking early in the evening and had
shown up at her door. Even if security ensured he left here in a cab, there was
no telling if he arrived home.
Knowing him as well as she did, Dani suspected he’d have
directed the driver to take him to a club. Best-case scenario tomorrow would be
if Henderson was too hung over to do the scene. Worst case? She could imagine
some awful ones, and gnawing at them kept her up half the night despite Cope’s
reassuring presence. The closer daybreak came, the tenser she became.
When Dani finally drifted into an uneasy sleep, it was close
to 3:00
am
, but that night, at
least, there were no nightmares.
Dani lay on the bed, a sheet draped over her chest and belly
and tangled around her thighs. Since the scene involved shots of her breasts as
specified in her contract, she didn’t wear nude-toned pasties on her nipples. A
flesh-colored pad covered her crotch.
Greg Henderson lay in bed beside her, wearing a cock sock
over his penis, and he was stinking drunk. So far, Jake Ferguson had pumped him
full of water, shot two takes, and given him one bathroom break. Dani had been
grateful when Henderson returned from the bathroom smelling like mint and not
vomit, and he appeared to have sobered up enough not to puke on her.
“You’re so hot, babe.”
“Fuck off, Greg.” Dani kept her voice low, though the mics
were probably picking up every word. The set was closed, which meant minimal
crew and no other cast members present, but those present stood nearby.
“You turn me on. I can’t stop thinking about last time.
Let’s make this next take real. Come on. It’ll win you another Oscar.”
Henderson pressed up against Dani, his stiff, naked cock rubbing against her
butt cheeks, and, shocked, she jerked away.
“I swear to God I’ll have you fired if you don’t fuck off
right now. Put the sock back on, asshole.” Annoyed that her voice trembled,
Dani inhaled, held her breath, and then slowly exhaled.
“I know you want me, babe.” Henderson snugged up against
her. “He was in your apartment last night, wasn’t he? Driver boy—your new
boyfriend. Copeland isn’t the man I am. Let me show you what a real man can do
since you’ve obviously forgotten.”
“Ready on the set.” Ferguson’s voice cut into the
conversation, and Dani tried to settle her emotions to get the scene over with.
“Okay, lights.”
The slate showing the scene and take clapped, and Ferguson
counted down to action. Henderson’s lips covered hers, and Dani responded,
hands caressing his hair, the sheet sliding from her breasts.
His fingers pressed and squeezed her breasts. A knee slid
between her legs, shoved them open. The sheet fell away, and Dani glimpsed the
overhead camera getting the shot of Henderson’s ass as it rose and fell on top
of her.
Suddenly, his hand snaked between her legs and ripped away
the pad. Henderson’s cock poked between Dani’s legs, and she struggled,
desperate to get out from under him. She opened her mouth to scream, and he
pressed his mouth tight to hers, stifling the sound. He penetrated her. The
tears flowed as Dani wrenched her mouth free, scratched his face, and then
punched the side of his head.
“Get him off me. Help, please. Help me.”
“Grab Henderson,” Ferguson shouted.
Oh, thank God, he’s
stopping it.
The pressure on her body eased, and Henderson’s penis slid
from inside her.
Sobs wracked Dani’s body, and shouts, cries, bangs, and
struggles
hurricaned
around the bed. A woman from
wardrobe wrapped a robe around Dani and hugged her. “You’re okay, Miss Grayson.
He’s out of the room. Come with me.” The wardrobe woman, Trina, escorted Dani
to the dressing room.
Less than half-an-hour later, John Madden was at Dani’s
side. Dani had ceased sobbing by then and refused to see anyone other than
Trina or John. Trina had ordered tea, and by the time John burst into the room,
Dani was nursing a cup of hot chai.
“What happened, honey?” John’s gentle voice filtered through
the haze insulating Dani.
She looked up and met his gaze. “Greg.” Too difficult to say
more. Dani turned to Trina for help, and the wardrobe woman reached out a hand
to rub Dani’s back.
“Henderson raped Miss Grayson on camera, Mr. Madden.”
Dani winced when she heard the words and lowered her gaze to
the floor, unable to face John. How could she have not seen that coming? No one
would believe her story. Her face flushed, and the sobs rose again, escaping
her lips in hitching breaths.
John took the mug of tea from Dani’s shaking fingers and
crouched to hug her. “It’s okay, honey. I’m here, and I’ll help you. Has anyone
called the police?”
Loud sobs and a shake of Dani’s head were the only response.
“Where is Henderson?”
“We don’t know,” Trina said, and Dani was grateful the woman
was here to speak on her behalf.
“What does Jake say? What’s he doing about it?”
“No one’s come in here except me and you. Miss Grayson
wanted to be alone. They let me phone you, but that’s all. They told me not to
call anyone else.”
Cope. What will Cope
say?
Terrified at what her boyfriend might do if he found out, Dani
considered keeping it quiet. If she pressed charges, the news would leak to the
press, and the whole world would know. But if she kept it to herself, Henderson
would be free to do it again, and she couldn’t let that happen either. Dani
found her voice. “I want him fired.”
“At the very least,” John replied. “Can I leave you with
Trina? I want to speak to Jake, and contact Danger Play. I’m going to suggest
they call the police. The longer they sit on it, the worse it’ll look. They
should act fast.”
“No. Greg can’t be arrested.”
“Honey, he raped you.” John’s gaze flicked to Trina and then
back to Dani. “Tell me what happened.”
Dani pressed her palms to her face for a moment, then told
John how she’d worried about the scene because Henderson had been drinking. Her
biggest fear at the time was Henderson puking on her. “But then Greg tried to
convince me to have sex with him. He had a hard-on, and had removed the sock he
was wearing. I should have made them stop the shoot right then.”
That’s what would burn her: she knew he’d been turned on,
and she hadn’t stopped the filming. A lawyer could exploit that. Henderson
would be free to carry on as if nothing had happened while she’d have this
degrading incident following her around.
Other actors might be afraid to do sex scenes with her,
fearing she’d accuse them of rape. If the studios thought she was lawsuit
happy, or made false accusations, they wouldn’t want her on their pictures.
This could end her career. “Call the lawyer, John. I need to understand my
options before we call the police.”
“Dani.” John said nothing else, but if she inferred
correctly, he wanted her to press charges.
“No.” For emphasis, she shook her head. “Not until I
understand the consequences. Greg was drunk, and he was out of his mind,
wanting to get back together with me. We have a history. I was aware he was
unstable, and I said nothing to Jake.”
“Did you tell Greg no?”
And there it was: the start of the questions everyone would
ask. What had the mics picked up, and who’d been listening? They must have
captured the conversation, but wouldn’t have recorded anything until Dani and
Greg began simulating sex.
“Yes.” Dani laughed, and it was bitter. “Greg argued with me
even though I’d told him to back off, and before I could say anything more,
Ferguson called action. The scene started, and Greg raped me. He’ll likely say
he thought I was okay with it because I did the scene. John, I want him fired,
but I doubt I can press charges.”
“Of course, you can.”
A knock on the door interrupted, and Ferguson poked his head
into the room. “Dani, angel, I’m so sorry. Tell me what happened.”
“You were there, Jake. Henderson raped me.” Dani tried to
keep her voice even, but it had gone shrill when she’d spoken of the rape.
“Are you sure?”
“Are you doubting me? You think I’m lying? You’ve got to be
fucking kidding. Or you think I’m confused?” Dani jumped up, knocking the chair
over. “What else does it mean when someone sticks his dick in you even though
you don’t want him to? And he fucking stuck his dick in me even though I didn’t
want him to.” She stifled a sob, but it was of rage now, not sorrow, fear, or
anything else.
John stood in front of her, a protective, shielding move,
and faced Ferguson. “You can’t be serious, Jake. She’s not making this up.”
“Sorry, Dani. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m asking if
maybe he got carried away in the moment and thought you were okay with it. You
two have done this once before. I’ll never forget what happened when you had
on-camera sex during
Injury
.”
Shame filled her then—at what she’d done before and at what
had happened now, which would be colored by what she’d done before. After
taking a deep breath, Dani looked Ferguson in the eyes, and said, “I want that
bastard fired, Jake. I won’t work with him. Write him out of the script. Kill
off his character. I haven’t decided to press charges. That’ll depend on what
my lawyer advises, but either Greg goes, or I do.”
Ferguson grimaced. “I’ll talk to Danger Play. They hold the
contracts. I’ve already left messages for them. I’m sure they’ll call soon.”
“Get it done, Jake,” John said. “My client won’t work under
these conditions any longer. And she’s done for today and tomorrow. When this
gets sorted out, she’ll return to work, but not before we’re guaranteed that
she doesn’t have to work with Greg Henderson any longer.”
Ferguson promised to deal with it and left the room.
John dismissed Trina, helped Dani right the chair she’d
knocked over, and put an arm around her. “Let’s go home. Get dressed, honey.
I’ll drive you.”
“Okay. Please don’t leave the room—I can’t face being alone
right now. Just turn your back.”
John obliged, and Dani dressed quickly, but with fumbling
fingers. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking. What if the studio made her
continue working with Henderson? She couldn’t do it. What if this ruined her
career as much as if she pressed charges? If Henderson were on a picture, she
might not be hired. If she couldn’t work with him again, and he continued to
get parts in large, commercial films, she’d be winnowed out of the business.
Tears threatened again, and she choked them down.
Stop it. You don’t know that’s how it’ll go.
But if history were any judge, it could. How many women had
had their careers stagnate because they’d refused to sleep with someone who had
power, authority, or influence? Dani grabbed her purse, took a deep breath, and
put an arm around John. “Please take me home. I can’t stand it here another
minute.”