What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (20 page)

I knew it wasn’t nice to do, but I loved leaving him wanting more of me. I felt empowered by the effect I had on Jack, who seemed so unaffected by everything else in his life.

An hour into our performance, I spotted Lyle come into the club. He waited until the end of our first set and then huddled us together whispering as if he were about to let us in on classified government secrets. “There have been some reports of a rat being in the club today. We are closing down two hours early for the exterminators to treat the entire floor.” I immediately started scanning the room to look for the creature and suddenly had the urge to get back up on the raised stage. Lyle went on that the patrons would be offered free drinks to move to the lobby bar at closing, but that we were free to go early and would be paid for the full night.

Although the thought of a rat in the same room as me made my head spin, the early evening was a welcome surprise, and I decided to take a cab over to Jack’s to surprise him. But when I went out front to hail a cab, I found Mateo waiting for me. I walked to the car and, as usual, he jumped out to open my door. “Good evening, Ms. St. Claire.”

“Hi Mateo. How did you know I was getting out early?”

Mateo seemed confused by the question. “Jack called to tell me to pick you up at 10.”

I climbed in the car and sat thinking. How did Jack know that I was getting out early? I knew he owned the hotel, but did they really bother him with every little thing that went on in the hotel? It seemed odd for a man who owned a chain of hotels to be aware of a club closing a few hours early.

The doors opened to the penthouse and I found Jack standing in the kitchen pouring two glasses of wine. He handed me a glass in exchange for a kiss and I kicked off my shoes as I spoke. “How did Mateo know that I was getting off early tonight?”

Jack looked at me with a sheepish, but devilish grin. “You left with some unfinished business.” He sipped from his glass, his eyes watching me intently as he drank.

It took me a second to connect the dots, but then I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“I don’t know. What do you think I’m saying?” He smirked, actually smirked, at me!

“You had them close down the club just to get me home two hours early to have sex with you?”

Jack clanked his wine glass down on the counter and took mine from my hand as I was about to take a sip. “You have no fucking idea what lengths I would go to have sex with you.” Then he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder caveman style and carried me to the bedroom.

A
lmost a week went by before Jack asked me if wanted to come to his
other
office. I was starting to think that he had forgotten, and a strange part of me almost hoped that he had. I wanted to pretend that the other part of him didn’t exist. I was blissfully happy with my Jack, the hot hotelier that I had become inseparable from. The thought of seeing another side to him, one that had the potential to change who he was to me, was physically painful to me.

I was surprised when we pulled up at a nondescript building that I had passed many times but never actually noticed. I’m not sure what I had expected, but flashing neon signs with a large XXX would have fit what my wild imagination had envisioned better.

The lobby was typical office-building-gray and there was a central desk with a security guard who greeted Jack by name when we entered. I still hadn’t said a word as we entered the elevator and Jack pushed the button for the third floor.

“Is just your office on the third floor or do you share space with other companies?” I was forcing myself to make small talk to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest.

“I own the building. Cole Productions occupies the entire space.”

Cole Productions, it sounds so businesslike; definitely better than Jerkoff Jack’s I suppose.
And his business occupies the entire building?
If there were no other companies in the building then I would have expected there to be half naked girls making out in the hallway or something.

We approached a door and I started to panic. My heart raced and I was sure Jack could feel the sweat in my palms. Jack stopped at the door and turned to me. I must have looked as bad as I felt, because I saw the panic written on his face. “Are you okay, babe?”

“Yes,” I lied.

“Are you sure you want to do this? I’ve been sick the last week thinking of bringing you here. You are so good and sweet and everything I’m not, and I don’t want to taint you with my disgusting life.” He held my face in his hands and wiped away a stray piece of hair.

I put my hands on his and didn’t expect what I said next to come rolling off my tongue. “I don’t want to come, but I have to. I need to know who you are and this is a big part of you. I can’t let myself fall in love with a man who has another side that I’ve never seen.”

“Fuck, babe. That’s what I love about you: pure and honest, no games.” He kissed my lips gently and pulled me close to whisper in my ear. “I’m falling in love with you too, babe.”

Holy. Shit. We picked a fine place for a heart to heart. The door we were standing in front of abruptly opened and the momentary swell of love in my heart was pierced by a silver bullet as I stared into the face of the woman who Jack had brought to the conference what seemed like a long time ago.

“Jack, baby, it’s about time. We have two live shoots today, a cover to pick, and the writers want approval on the final script in the
Candy
series.” She put her long red fingernails on his arm and I immediately wanted to scratch out her eyes.

“Jenna, this is Sydney. Give us about fifteen minutes to settle in and I’ll start with the cover.”

Jenna gave me a fake smile and I gave her one back. I’d seen the woman twice and heard her speak once, and I was damn certain that she wanted Jack. Or worse, had already had him.

Jenna walked off and Jack took my hand and squeezed it tightly before leading the way to his office. The walk down the halls to his office gave the first glimpse that the office was anything more than a typical office. There were framed posters and awards, much of which would have seemed normal in a movie production company—if the people in the posters had been wearing clothes. I tried not to gawk as we walked, but I couldn’t help myself.

Jack’s office was nothing like the hall and nothing like I expected. If was big and clean and there were no signs of either porn or his personal life. “Did you clean out your office for my visit, or does it always look so empty and sterile?”

Jack laughed. “Nope, this is how it always is. I take it you expected something different?”

I shook my head, embarrassed.

“Like I told you, Syd. This started out as nothing more than something to embarrass my father. Then it turned into a profitable business. It’s a business to me. One I actually like running, unlike the hotels which scream of my father at every turn. I don’t keep pictures on the wall or films all over, because I keep it strictly business in here. And you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to look at while I was working, so I guess I’ll have to break the sterility and get a framed picture of you for my desk soon.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but the thought of him only having a picture of me in his stark office did warm my heart. “So am I going to get a day in the life of Jack Cole Heston view today?”

“We should talk about that before I start the day, babe. There are shoots going on here and I usually go check them out. I can go check in and you can hang out in here if that makes you feel more comfortable.”

His offer was thoughtful, but I wanted to see it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly. “I want the full tour, you don’t need to leave me behind.”

Jack eyed me tentatively and I could tell he was considering his response carefully. His eyes caught mine, searching for something. He blew out a deep breath. “Okay.”

Our first business of the day was script approval. We met with the two men and a woman who were the writing team for the multi-partner movies. I was surprised to find a woman writer and even more surprised at how businesslike and professional the meeting was. They skipped over the sex scenes and just spoke about the storyline. I wasn’t a virgin to X-rated movies, but I must have watched the wrong ones, because none of the movies that I’d watched seemed to have had an actual realistic story like the ones we reviewed that day.

After script approval we moved onto covers. We met with a photographer, who showed Jack and I a bunch of glossy photos for a movie called Triple Double, which apparently referred to triplets who starred in movies together and all had double D breasts. The photographer was a nice older man, maybe in his late sixties. It was odd to hear the man talk about his grandchildren while they were looking at glossies of women holding themselves open with one hand and inserting a vibrator with the other. But it really did seem like a business and not the wild orgy I had imagined.

Our last stop of the morning was a visit to the set to check in on the progress of two movies. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I was when we’d first arrived, after seeing how professionally things were run. Jack’s assistant came by and took our lunch order and then we headed down to what Jack called “the hanger.” The hanger was the entire basement of the building that was split into two extremely large spaces, each set up to accommodate many sets.

Jenna met us at the door and I cringed when she put her hand on Jack’s arm as she spoke.

“Set 2 is vanilla. It might be the better one for you to take your friend on her tour.”

God, I hated that woman. She needed to get her fucking hands off of Jack and stop speaking about me as if I wasn’t standing right there. I didn’t want to come across as a jealous crazy person, but I couldn’t let her get away with it. “Since we had vanilla at home this morning, why don’t we try Set 1, honey?”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up, and then I saw a glimmer of a smirk. He looked proud of my response. Before Jack could respond, the door to Set 1 opened and a man walked out.

“Hey, Mr. Cole, I’m glad you made it. We’re just taking a ten minute break while they change into leathers. I have a few chairs set up to the left of my cameras whenever you are ready.”

“Perfect, I actually need five minutes to make a call, so I’ll see you inside in a few, Frank.” Jack turned to face me. “I’m going to run upstairs for a few minutes to make a quick call. We can’t get service down here. You want to come or wait down here, babe?”

“Actually, I saw a ladies room down the hall. Why don’t I meet you back here after your call?”

Jack nodded and planted a quick kiss on my lips before disappearing down the hall.

I didn’t give any thought to the sound of the door opening in the ladies room. I used the bathroom and exited the stall to find Jenna leaning with her back against the sinks, waiting for me. I pretended her presence didn’t faze me and stood next to her in silence as I washed my hands, looking at her back in the mirror.

“A word of advice, woman to woman. Don’t get too attached, Jack will get bored of you soon. He always does. He’ll wine you and dine you and take you to his love nest in that fancy hotel of his for a week or two, then he’ll move on to the next plaything.”

I felt bile burning my throat. I had suspected that Jenna wanted something from Jack, I just hadn’t been sure if it was business or personal. Her words confirmed that she wanted more from him than he had given her, but the thought of her being in Jack’s love nest room made me physically sick. I had to grip the sides of the sink to hold myself steady. It took everything I had to plaster a smile on my face, but I knew I needed to deliver my message strong.
Ready, aim, fire!

“He told me he used to take his concubines to a room on the 153
^th
floor. I’ve never seen it, though, we spend most nights in his penthouse or my apartment.” Score! I watched her vicious smile fade and went in for the kill. “And, by the way, he’s giving his
girlfriend
a tour, not his friend.” I stressed the word girlfriend to get my point across. Then I dried my hands and held my head high as I walked out of the bathroom, leaving the bitch no chance to respond.