Turn for Home

by Lara Zielinsky

  Her second son's appearance forestalled Brenna's response to his question. "What are you doing sleeping in your clothes?"

  He looked down at himself. "I, uh, fell asleep as soon as I got home."

  "What time was that?" She saw him cast a look at Thomas. "What's going on?"

  "Come on." Thomas shoved James down the hall in front of him. "We'll make our own breakfast, Mom. You'd better get ready for the set. See you around."

  Brenna grasped his shoulder. "Stop. What's going on? What time did you get home last night?"

  "About eleven-thirty," Thomas answered. James said nothing.

  "James?"

  "Eleven-thirty."

  She had the distinct impression he was lying. "I told you we were going out to the playhouse. Knowing I wouldn't be home, did you go somewhere?"

  It was Thomas who answered. "We made it in before curfew."

  "That wasn't what I asked." She pointedly directed her gaze "James?"

  "I hung out with some friends."

  Cassidy appeared in her bedroom doorway, and Brenna watched both Thomas and James eye the blonde woman then quickly push past.

  "Gotta go."

  Brenna leaned against the door jamb. "Well, I guess I wasn't going to get any more out of them anyway."

  "Problem?"

  "I think Thomas and or James broke curfew last night," Brenna said, "but I don't have any proof."

  "And my appearance ended the interrogation. I'm sorry."

  "Don't be. Come on. We'll get dressed. Maybe I can try again over breakfast."

  "When do you have to report to the set?" Cassidy asked, stroking Brenna's arm as she embraced her on her trailer sofa. They had dropped Ryan at the childcare trailer and retreated here for some private time.

  Looking at the small digital clock on Cassidy's desk, Brenna settled a hand atop Cassidy's arm on her stomach. "Not until eight."

  "We have a whole hour together?" Cassidy asked. "No demands, no kids, no colleagues, no reporters?" She sighed happily and bent to inhale the scent of Brenna's hair. "Alone at last."

  Brenna kissed their laced fingers. "I love spending quiet time with you," she said. "It's amazing."

  Cassidy's hand slipped away from Brenna's arm and down her side to her hip, stroking suggestively close to Brenna's crotch. "And here I was thinking we were in the same bed this morning and I completely missed out on some serious groping because someone had to get up and see why her sons missed curfew."

  Laughing, Brenna turned slightly and Cassidy eagerly kissed the offered lips. "Mmmmm....oh," Brenna murmured. "So you really want to make love now?"

  "I never thought I'd be randy enough to do something like this, but I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather be the first I do it with. I have been wanting to get into your pants for hours." Cassidy's words sounded dramatic but they were a true expression of her desire, nearly constant, for her lover.

  "Ah, I get to be your first." Brenna chuckled, lifting herself up over Cassidy and straddling her thighs. Cassidy rested her hands against Brenna's hips, holding her easily as they fanned each other's arousal with deep, long kisses, tasting lips and tongues. Between kisses, they bared each other's skin and indulged in heated exploration.

  Cassidy lay nude but warm under a blanket, and dazedly happy on the couch in her trailer. Brenna had just left to go to the set for her call. Cassidy's call wasn't until later, and they decided she should stay and relax until she was officially due on the set.

  Initially there to change from the borrowed clothes to the spare things she kept in her trailer, Cassidy had finished what she had barely started the night before. She curled her knuckles against her lips, still able to smell Brenna's scent on them.

  The next time she saw Brenna they would both have to be in character, but the interlude had been sustaining and thoroughly fulfilling.

  She was surprised at their creativity. The trailer couch was narrow. It should have been impossible to pleasure each other, but they had found a way. Shared oral sex had been the most intoxicating experience. They were both so new to their intimacy, it was as much an exploration of the tastes as it was of touches that would please. Even as Brenna requested a particular touch, she ushered Cassidy toward climax as well. Brenna's way of making love had Cassidy feeling, for the first time, the difference between being someone's prize and being a treasure.

  She could still feel Brenna's breath, hands, and tongue moving over her skin. As she had shuddered in release, crying out that she was falling apart, Brenna's strong, soft embrace held Cassidy together, and the rich husky voice whispered over and over again how much she was cherished, showing her a mutual lovemaking unlike the possessive, forceful way every man had ever touched her.

  Rubbing her thigh where Brenna had nipped her when she orgasmed, Cassidy recalled experiencing the moment when Brenna let go, and her orgasm washed over Cassidy's fingers. Brenna's nails had pricked into Cassidy's legs and her mouth had closed over Cassidy's thigh to muffle the sounds of her ecstasy. In the aftermath ensconced on the sofa, wine-red lips soothed over the faint marks, but Cassidy relished their presence. The tenderness of her breasts and the wetness renewing itself between her thighs just at the thought of Brenna's touch felt wonderful.

  Finally sitting up and going to the bathroom to clean up, Cassidy delighted in the flavors on her lips as she licked them.

  Combing her fingers through her hair to smooth it, she studied herself in the mirror with bemusement. A satisfaction that had been missing for too long curled her lips; color accentuated her cheeks; and barely submerged passion still had her pupils wide. She lifted her fingers to her nose, again inhaling the scent of Brenna's sweat and sex.

  She sighed. She wouldn't see Brenna again until after she had lunch with Ryan and reported to the set for a short filming session.

  The phone rang. She checked the Caller ID and recognized it as an on-set number. It had to be Brenna calling from a set phone. They'd had such a hard time parting. Invitingly, she answered, "Hello."

  "Love that whisper of want there, Cass."

  Her blood instantly turned to ice. "Mitch?" Why is he calling now? "What do you want?"

  "Seems you're a mighty popular person. Made the news lately."

  "What do you want?"

  "Been interesting reading. Seems you're done with that writer fellow. Moved on to someone else."

  "I've made some friends in the cast," she replied.

  "Your friend," he said snidely, "what's her name? Brenna Lanigan, right?"

  "The papers are wrong, Mitch. She's just a friend."

  "You've been staying at her house. You weren't home the other night. She's a lesbian. I won't have my son raised by lesbians."

  She wasn't going to get into a discussion with Mitch. He didn't need to know Brenna's reorientation was a new thing. "The custody has already been decided, Mitch. That won't change. This is California."

  "I came here to talk to you about that."

  "You're here at the studio?" she said. "Come by the house later."

  "I don't want to wait. I went by Gwen and Lou's place and they said you started bringing Ryan here with you, so I thought I'd come for a visit."

  "It's not your visitation time. You don't have that choice." Cassidy's knees quivered, but she was proud of herself.

  "Damn you've gotten pushy. Certainly not the good girl I trained you up to be. Why don't you come to where I am with Ryan, and I'll tell you all about it before I take him away from all the fancy Hollywood queers."

  Flabbergasted at his words and his cool threats, her breath rasped harshly through the phone. "You are not taking Ryan anywhere."

  "Oh, but I've already got Ryan. How about we pick you up and have a nice family lunch?"

  "You can't have Ryan," she insisted, panic chasing the calm from her voice. "I'll call the cops, Mitch. That's kidnapping."

  "Why don't you come and say goodbye? We'll be leaving in a few minutes."

  "Don't move!" Cassidy shouted into the phone and slam
med it down on its cradle, shaking and angry. God, he's got Ryan. No! No. She tried to think. He has to be bluffing. Ryan is safe with Mrs. Grinaldi. She picked up the phone and dialed the extension in the tutor's trailer. It rang three times then a fourth without an answer. Her heart raced when the number of rings reached ten. Oh God! She burst out of her trailer and hurried toward trailer 14.

  Chapter 9

  Mitch Hyland grinned as he hung up at the pay phone just outside of the Time Trails soundstage. You are a genius, my man, he congratulated himself as he turned around and saw his ex-wife exit one of the trailers. Run scared, sweetheart. It'll all be over soon. With care for the distance between them and remaining out of sight, he followed Cassidy, knowing full well that she would go directly to wherever she had Ryan, to assure herself of his safety. Then, and only then would she draw others into a search for him.

  He had planned on that.

  He had been surprised to hear the news about Cassidy's new choice in lovers, but then again, she had always been too adventurous for her own good. It had attracted him at first, and after years of molding her, he had thought her completely his, bound to him by their son.

  She stupidly clung to her acting, though, first taking up a guest role on some limited series. He should have put a stop to that. However, she had sweetly made love to him, just as he liked, and addled his brain. From there, these Time Trails people had seen her and enticed her away from him. If I had only followed her here in the beginning. When she told him about the open-ended offer these people made, he had punished her for even considering leaving their son.

  Mitch had underestimated the writer. He frowned, trying to recall the name. Palassis. He wondered briefly if the man was around somewhere. They certainly had a score to settle for taking his family from him.

  Mitch considered the woman he had seen on the set. Brenna Lanigan. That lowly, tiny woman now stood in his way too. With her lesbian seduction of his wife, she had disrupted his plans to pull Cassidy back when the series was over and she was out of work and desperately in need of protection again.

  Getting on the lot had been surprisingly easy. He had thought the restraining order Palassis had taken out might still be in effect; he had even planned for that contingency. However, the guards had let him pass without even noting his name. Not surprising, considering the hundreds of people they must check through every day.

  The tour forming up had readily taken him in, and the group Passed through many areas of the lot. When he saw the first sign for the Time Trails soundstages, he waited, then broke from the group, wending his way through unfamiliar equipment and corridors. What a mess, he had thought derisively. His wife deserved to not work in such squalor.

  Ahead, on the path, Cassidy reappeared from a small trailer. Since no one had come outside with her, he suspected where she had led him. Now that she had brought him to Ryan, it was time for him to make his move, and he stepped out from the bushes whistling "Dixie."

  "Mitch!"

  ."Hi, sweetheart," he drawled, hands tucked in his pockets, presenting the nonthreatening posture that so often made her drop her guard. He kept his eyes on her hands, watching the cell phone attached to her hip.

  "Stay back!" She circled just out of reach of an easy lunge.

  Come on, baby. Trust me like I know you can. Her body moved fluidly, despite the fear he could see widening her eyes.

  "Where's Ryan?" Cassidy growled.

  So Ryan isn't in the trailer? Interesting. He could use that information to his advantage. "In the car. I came back to get you. Let's 'do lunch'. Isn't that how these Hollywood types say it?"

  She shook her head. "No!"

  Her rejection of his invitation infuriated him.

  "Really?" He lunged, catching her off guard with a feint and able to get around behind her, grabbing both shoulders and pulling them tightly toward her back. "You want to see Ryan again, you'll cooperate."

  He started dragging her toward the trailer nearby, but she screamed and surprised him by tripping him up. When she wrenched from his grasp, he stumbled as he tried to regain his footing.

  "Bitch!"

  "I'm not going!" she screamed, and she surprised him, thrusting a fist into his throat.

  He grabbed her arm, but it slipped until he only had her wrist. He heard it crack as he twisted and wrenched hard. Her face turned white, and she screamed in pain.

  Pulling the wrist again he twisted harder. The agonized sound she made filled him with pleasure. "Now are you going to come quietly? I have to save you from the queers. You know I do," he cajoled.

  With a scream, she yanked herself free. As he reached for her again, she ducked away, but he tackled her and they fell against the paved walk with a thud. She grunted and rolled under him. Terror filled her eyes as he settled his weight on top of her.

  "Let's go," he ordered brusquely, standing up and grabbing her injured wrist. He didn't care if it was separated or broken; he dragged her up the steps and into the trailer.

  During a break in the filming with Max, Brenna looked over and saw Mrs. Grinaldi leading Ryan through the soundstages. Filled with concern, she asked, "What is it?"

  "When Ms. Hyland didn't come to pick up Ryan for lunch, I thought she must be here with you."

  "She isn't," Brenna offered, carefully keeping the alarm from her voice. Cassidy wouldn't leave the set without Ryan, her little voice told her emphatically. And she would feel terribly guilty if their tryst had made Cassidy miss lunch with her son. Brenna crouched at the edge of the soundstage and spoke to Ryan. "Why don't we go and see if your mom fell asleep in her trailer?"

  "Okay." She fluffed the top of his hair making him smile.

  Coming up behind Max, Will noted the adults' looks of concern. "Something up?"

  "Cassidy didn't pick up Ryan for lunch."

  Will pursed his lips. "I saw Cameron earlier. Do you think they got into an argument?"

  "Maybe." Brenna stood up. "I'm going to go looking for her."

  "I'll be right behind you," Will said. "Just let me tell the director where we're going."

  "Right." Brenna grasped Ryan's hand and strode ahead of Max and Karen toward the row of trailers.

  Stumbling as her ex-husband pushed her, Cassidy tried to think past the pain radiating through her fingers and up into her left elbow. In an odd sort of disassociation, she tried to flex her wrist, able to ignore Mitch as the agony became her focus.

  "Fucking bitch! Ignore me? Damn you!"

  The epithet-filled outburst accompanied a backhanded hit that knocked Cassidy's head up and to the side. The blow made her jaw ache and her ear ring so badly she forgot about her wrist. She stumbled again, this time into a low desk and child-sized chair.

  Grabbing the chair as she fell, Cassidy thrust it into Mitch's body when he came after her. Quickly inhaling, she used her undamaged arm to haul herself a few feet away before trying to get her legs under her and stand.

  "Where did all this fight come from?" he asked, tossing the chair against the wall. "Do you have any idea how mad this makes me?"

  Cassidy lurched against a bookcase, unable to silence the agonized scream which bubbled up when her wrist struck the wood. "Mitch, leave me alone! You don't want to do this!"

  "What the hell do you know about what I want?" He smashed his body into hers. The force of his forearm against her chest knocked the wind from her lungs and she gagged and sagged, his weight the only thing holding her up as she fought for breath.

  "You are mine! Ryan is mine!" He punctuated each pronouncement with his fists.

  Gasping as she pushed, trying to force some space between them, she yelled at him, "Ryan will hate you!" As he pressed forward, she threw herself to the side and slammed her head into his face.

  "My boy loves me."

  "I'll tell him everything!"

  Heedless of the chairs, Mitch lunged through the debris, eyes wild. "The hell you will!"

  Oops, wrong thing to say. She got behind the tutor's large desk, circling it a
s he stalked around the other side.

  "Always hiding behind something, or someone, aren't you?" he sneered at her. "Do you hide behind your lesbian friend?"

  "No!" Cassidy did not want to let him get on the subject of Brenna. She could take him belittling her, even his physical attacks, but if he turned his venom on Brenna, Cassidy was not certain she wouldn't end up dead trying to make him regret the words. "She has nothing to do with this! Ryan's custody is between you and me!"

  "I told you I will not have a lesbian raising my son."

  He turned his back, as if to make for the door.

  His feint drew her out. Cassidy threw herself after him and caught his lower torso, and they went down in a tangle. His hands wrapped around her head and she struggled to remain conscious as he slammed it against the floor.

  Brenna! She conjured the woman in her mind's eye. Soft auburn hair curling around smooth tan features flushed with love, mouth whispering "I love you", blue eyes sparkling with desire. It kept the mental cobwebs at bay as she fought to get free.

  "Wait here, Ryan." Brenna let go of his hand and hurried up the steps to Cassidy's trailer door. Rapping twice, she called inside, "Cassidy, it's Brenna." She pressed her ear to the surface, listening for sound inside though she realized her heart was racing almost too hard to hear anything. She stepped back and knocked harder "Cass!"

  Sweeping the assembled group below with her gaze, she caught Will's eye. He frowned and nodded, and Brenna yanked open the door.

  The lights inside were off. She reached for the switch and illuminated the space. It was tidy. She looked into the open door of the bathroom at the back. "Cass?"

  She laid a worried hand against the sofa cushion. It was cool to the touch. Cassidy had not been there for some time. Where are you?

  She hurriedly exited the trailer, reporting, "She's not here."

  Terry, who had come along when Will caught up to the group, turned to Mrs. Grinaldi. "Maybe she went to pick up Ryan and just missed you?"

  "That's possible," the tutor considered, but no one felt reassured.

  "Let's go," Brenna ordered briskly.