Saving Grace (Wild Rose Book 1)

by Scarlett Jade

  Feeling fresh again, she dressed and checked out of the hotel before getting back on the road. A quick stop at a gas station gave her more bad coffee and snacks to eat through the day. The cashier was kind enough to point out the best way to finish her trip to Phoenix on her map and she took off, ready to finish the drive. Knowing she wouldn't make it to Phoenix early enough to make a visit, she enjoyed the sights throughout her journey.

  Grace arrived in Phoenix a little bit after nine in the evening, and she checked into a little adobe colored motel. Flipping through the phone book in the room, she found Damien Kitson's number and she toyed with calling him. Instead, she ordered a pizza and devoured nearly the whole pie before falling into a deep sleep.

  When she woke up, she showered and dressed in some of her prettiest clothes before applying a little makeup to cover the fading bruise that still kissed her cheek. It was almost gone and she was grateful. Finally, she hurried to the front office and added another night to her stay. I can at least meet him today, and maybe stay a couple days to get to know him. Then I'll figure out what to do next. I will need to find a job soon, though. I'm eating through my savings. Maybe I'll stay here for a while?

  With her heart in her throat, she drove through Phoenix to Sunset Drive. The houses on this street were easily the size of mansions and Grace fought the urge to gape at the beautiful buildings. Forty-eight forty-three Sunset Drive...this is it. The huge house in front of her had a gate and high fence and Grace pulled in front of the gate and poked the call button on the speaker, standing in front of it.

  “May I help you?”

  “Um, I'm here for an appointment with Mr. Kitson,” she lied smoothly, praying that he would have an appointment for today and that the man who answered the speaker would believe her.

  “Sure, come on back, go to the front door. He will meet you there.”

  The wide, black gates opened slowly and Grace drove through. She couldn't believe her luck and her mouth finally did gape once she was inside the impressive gates. The house was a white stucco with bright orange tiles on the roof and a sweeping, perfectly manicured lawn. Grace blinked as she passed a garage full of fancy cars and drove up to a circle drive that led to wide, white marble steps. Parking the car, she shut off the ignition and stepped out, pulling her purse out and slipping it over her shoulder.

  Locking the doors of the little car, she pocketed the keys and nervously climbed the stairs up to the heavy, dark door. Closing her eyes and steadying herself, she knocked. The door swung wide and a man stood there. He was in his late thirties, early forties, with dark hair that grayed slightly at the temples, swarthy olive skin, broad shoulders, kind, dark eyes, and a bright smile. “Hi there. I'm pretty sure you're not here for the porn, so you must be here to interview to be my secretary, am I right, sweetheart?”

  “P-porn?” Grace stuttered out. “No, I'm not here for a porn.”

  “Just what I thought. Your face is too sweet for all that. I'm Damien, why don't we go back to my office and discuss your qualifications, okay? What was your name again, honey?” The man stepped back and Grace stared at him for a moment.

  “I-'m Grace.”

  “You know?” Damien started, his finger tapping his dark goatee. “You look really familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

  “No, you don't,” Grace told him as she stepped over the threshold and into the house.

  “Well, come on back and we'll discuss everything regarding the job and you can see if you want it. Did you bring your résumé?” Damien took off down the hall and Grace followed him silently, taking in the beautiful Spanish architecture and design of the house. “Grace?”

  She jumped and blushed. “I'm sorry, repeat the question?”

  A frown crossed his lips. “You'll have to listen. I won't repeat myself. Do you have your résumé?”

  “No, I'm sorry, I don't,” Grace admitted as they walked into his spacious office. It was decorated in shades of brown and caramel, and smelled faintly of smoke.

  “Hmmm. You sure you're here for the interview?” Damien sat down in his swiveling leather chair and Grace took the chair across the desk from him.

  “Honestly, no.”

  “So you're here for the porn? Don't take this the wrong way, sweetheart, but you're a bit more rubenesque than what we were looking for. I'm not gonna waste your time going over your qualifications in that area. I mean, unless you'd be willing to take on two black guys at once or something, I can't really do much for you.” Damien shifted his glance down to a stack of manila folders in front of him and sighed. “If you're not willing to double team two black guys, you can go.”

  “I'm not here for the porn,” Grace whispered.

  “Then what are you here for, honey? I'm a busy man, I have at least five porns to record this month and I don’t have time for games.” Damien stared back at her and Grace gulped.

  “I'm here because I'm your daughter.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Grace watched the older man look at her in disbelief. “What? I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I had my knickers nipped when I was twenty-five. No kid needs to grow up in this business. So I think it's time for you to go.” He stood and pointed at the door.

  Grace stayed firmly planted in the chair, even as he came around to her and gripped her arm. “It was before then.”

  “You're crazy, young lady. I will call my bodyguard if you don't get out of here.” She winced as his fingers tightened around her arm.

  “Stop grabbing me and listen.” Grace pulled her arm out of his grasp and stood quickly. Staring up into his face, she clasped her hands in front of her. “You even said I look familiar. My mother was Mary.”

  He seemed to be affected by the name and he frowned, shaking his head. “Don't know a Mary.”

  “You're lying. Mary Evans, in New York, about nineteen years ago. I’m her daughter.” Grace squealed as he began pushing her out of the office. “You have to believe me! Mary said she didn't want you to know about the pregnancy because she wanted to save you! She said you could do something great with your life. Like well, shooting porns!” Grace screamed.

  Damien suddenly stopped pushing her toward the door and Grace stumbled forward, bumping into the wall. “You look just like her. How is she?”

  Tears filled her eyes and she wept, dropping her face into her palms. “Dead.”

  “What?” His voice cracked and Grace glanced up to see tears filling his eyes.

  “She died when I was three,” Grace whispered softly. “I don't remember her either.”

  “How did she die?”

  “Overdose,” Grace mumbled matter-of-factly.

  “Dammit, I knew I should've come back for her. I was supposed to be something big out here, I was set to work on some big movies in the early nineties, but there are some big wigs in Hollywood who wouldn't let me come up, so I started doing porns. I was too ashamed to get Mary then. I promised her I would.” Damien began shuffling back to his office. “Come back in here and sit. I apologize for being rough with you. Did I hurt you?”

  “No, you didn't hurt me,” Grace reassured him. “My mom told my grandparents, who raised me, your name and my mom, well my grandma looked you up online. She said Damien Kitson wasn't a real popular name.”

  “Why are you here, kid?” Damien asked, his voice suddenly seeming tired as he sat down in his chair again. “What do you want from me?”

  Grace sat down across the desk and shrugged. “To know you.”

  His eyebrow rose. “You don't want money?”

  “No. I want to know you. I just found out about all of this barely a week and a half ago. I just took off and started driving.” Grace sighed. “I came out here to find myself. I always knew something was missing, I just didn't know what.”

  “You drove from New York?”

  “New Haven, Connecticut. I was going to school at Yale.” Grace offered.

  “Seriously? Why did you quit, kid?” Damien leaned forward, genuine interest lighting his
eyes.

  “Ah, I got mixed up with a professor. I did the same thing my mom did with you. I gave him up and saved him. Like mother, like daughter.” A soft laugh escaped her lips and she wiped at the tears trickling down her face.

  “What happened to your face?”

  Grace jumped and blushed realizing that she had wiped off her concealer. “I, uh, ran into a door.”

  “Bullshit. Who popped you?” Damien growled and Grace shivered at the sheer anger she heard there.

  “Ah, my grandpa. He is a holy roller and well, we don't see eye to eye.” Grace tried to laugh it off.

  “He and Mary never saw eye to eye either. Hell, I didn't even know she was fifteen until a few months after we had been messing around. I told her we had to quit and she told me this story about how he would beat her with a belt until she bruised to keep her from going out and being a whore. God damn and he did the same thing to you, didn't he?” Damien stood suddenly and paced the room. “I never knew about you, kid.”

  Grace held her hand out. “Dad—Grandpa never hit me except for when I left.”

  “Maybe his temper mellowed over the years. He was a mean drunk and Mary ran.” Damien ran his hand through his hair. “Grace. God damn, you look like her. You're such a pretty kid.”

  “Thanks.” Grace blushed hot.

  “Where are you staying?” Damien asked suddenly.

  “At a motel on the outskirts of town.”

  “You can stay here with me. I hope you understand I'm gonna want a DNA test run, but if you're my kid, my house is yours. I mean, you said you left school. Are you gonna go back?” Damien leaned against his desk and stared at her.

  “Yeah, one day.”

  “I'll pay for you to go. Mary would want that. It would pay her back a little since I never came back. Come stay here with me and go to school, whether you are biologically mine or not. I have this big old house to myself.”

  Grace shook her head. “No, I can't do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “You make pornos,” Grace muttered.

  “You'd never see anything going on. Just don't go to the basement, that's where we film. It's sound proofed. You wouldn't hear it either. I can't just let you go, not knowing if you'll be okay. Hell, I could even hire you as my secretary if you need a job. I mean, I haven't found a secretary who doesn't end up trying to bone me yet. I know you wouldn't try.” Damien smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. “I never thought I'd see Mary again, and here you are, her daughter. Please say you'll stay.”

  Grace's mouth fell open and she finally nodded. “All right, I'll stay. For now.”

  “For now.” Damien smiled. “It's all I can ask of you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Over the next few days Grace found herself relaxing in the big house with the man who was supposed to be her father. The first day she had arrived, he had called in a friend who was a doctor and they'd run a DNA test, with the results to be expedited. In the meantime, he treated her as though she was his. “What's mine is yours, kid.”

  He showed her the ropes of his phone system and she took calls, writing down names and numbers so he could return the calls later. They spent little time together. He was always jetting around doing things. Grace still enjoyed being in the big house and spending what time she could with the man her mother had loved.

  On the fourth day, he asked that Grace stay upstairs for a few hours, and Grace followed his rules, for a while, until she heard some noises that made her blush. Tiptoeing to the head of the stairs, she peeked over the railing and her mouth fell open at what she saw there. A girl was lying back on a blue chaise lounge with a tall, muscular man having sex with her.

  The sounds coming out of her mouth made Grace blush hotter. Did I make noises like that with Drake? Suddenly the man withdrew and her mouth gaped wider at the size of his penis.

  “I need a fluff!” he yelled and Grace gasped as a clean shaven young man stepped into view and began playing with his penis. Suddenly the girl on the chaise asked for lube, and she had a squirt of a clear substance shot on her vagina and then someone else yelled, “Action!”

  Grace stood mesmerized as the man's penis entered the woman's vagina again. They continued with the intercourse for a while, with the woman making loud, guttural noises that seemed really loud and dramatized, and the man pounding into her. What was playing out in front of her eyes didn't seem anything like what she had with Drake, and she was grateful for that. The couple before her didn't seem interested in each other in the least.

  “Grace!” Damien hissed.

  She jumped and squeaked, causing the Damien to yell, “Cut!”

  Grace stood with her cheeks scarlet as everyone turned to stare at her. No one even bothered to cover themselves and Grace whispered, “Sorry!” before hurrying back to her room.

  Sometime later Damien knocked on her door. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

  “Come in,” she replied. “I'm fine. I shouldn't have come down.”

  “Ah, it's okay. I mean, I'm sure you've erm...knocked boots, right?” Damien seemed to be blushing and Grace laughed.

  “Once.”

  “Ah. Well, what happens in the porns ain't what it's really like. I dunno how long you were watching? We filmed up here today because the lighting was great.” Damien shifted on his feet and leaned against the door.

  “I watched a while. And yeah, it looks like acting. No one seemed to be enjoying it.” Grace blushed hot at her words.

  “They don't, really. It's a job. The girls sometimes like it, but it's not often. We film for hours just to get say, thirty minutes of usable movie.”

  “Why did the guy yell that he needed a fluff?”

  Damien coughed and jammed his hands in his pocket. “Kid, I dunno how comfortable I am talking to you about this.”

  “Why not? It's just a job, right?” Grace sat up on the edge of her bed.

  “Saying you need a fluff is because he knew his penis was getting soft, and it wouldn't make a good movie. So, he watches someone touch themselves, the fluffer, and eventually gets it back up. Sometimes we have chick fluffers, sometimes guys. Depends on what the star wants,” Damien mumbled.

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. It's all smoke and mirrors.” Damien shrugged. “But it makes good money.”

  “Why did you start doing porns?”

  “I was working in Hollywood for a few years and I was blacklisted by some bigger directors and producers. They didn't like me. I guess I was a little shit, I rolled in there at nineteen thinking I was some big hot shot, and they had been doing this stuff for decades, you know? They knocked me back a few pegs, and I heard about a shoot in Phoenix needing a director, anyone would do, and I accepted the job. It was for my first porn. So I did it.” Damien sighed softly. “Then I realized that it was easy money, so I kept at it.”

  “And you were embarrassed.” Grace offered.

  “I was. I knew that if I tried to go back to Hollywood with porn taint on my résumé, I would be laughed out of town, so I kept doing what I did here.” Damien shrugged. “I figured it didn't hurt anyone.”

  “Oh boy, Annie and Archie would flip if they knew...” Grace laughed.

  “Do you care what they think?”

  Grace stood and rubbed her arm. “In a way, it's ingrained in me not to disappoint them, but I also don't care. I mean, it's just a movie, it's just a job. I'm not a porn star. I'm just the secretary to a porn director.”

  Damien laughed. “Who is your dad? We got the results in today.”

  “What?” Grace gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. “You're serious?”

  “Yeah, I am. You're mine and Mary's kid. I have something I want you to see, if you'll come with me.” Damien held out his hand and Grace stared at it for a moment.

  “It's done for the day?”

  “Yeah, it's done for the day. You'd never know anything went on down there. Come on, I have something I want to show you, okay?” Grace slipped her hand into her
father's and moved down the hallway with him. They came to a room and he opened the dark door. Inside was a library and another desk with a computer sitting on it.

  “This is your office as my secretary. But there's something else.” Damien released her hand and Grace stood still, staring at the big room. Moments later he handed her a glass picture frame. “Here.”

  “What's this?” Grace stared down at the photograph and tears filled her eyes at the two people she saw there. A much younger Damien was hugging a dark haired woman with big eyes and a bright smile. “Mom and you...”

  “I've kept that picture all these years, Grace. I loved your mom and I wish more than anything in this world that I hadn't been so embarrassed and I had called her, gone to see her. But she was a wonderful woman, just like you. She thought of others she loved before she thought of herself. I don't believe she would have purposefully overdosed and left you alone. I have no doubt in my mind she loved you, Grace. I bet it was an accident. You gotta understand that times were different then, and drugs were commonplace. Everyone was messing with stuff.” Damien touched her arm and Grace nodded.

  “Archie, my grandpa, told me that she didn't love me, but I didn't believe him. There's nothing that can replace a mother's love. But you know, Dad, can I call you that?” Grace stared up at the tall man, who smiled.

  “Of course, Grace.”

  “Dad, I know I wouldn't be who I am today if you had come back, and I'm grateful for Archie and Annie taking care of me all these years. They did the best they could by me.” Grace stroked her finger over the face of her mother in the photograph.

  “He still had no right hitting you.” Damien growled and Grace put a hand up to stop him.

  “No, he didn't. But I think I'm gonna call them now. I want to let them know what happened and that I'm staying, if I'm still welcome.” Grace waited with bated breath for his answer.

  “You're welcome. It would give us time to know each other.” Damien suddenly stepped forward and Grace smiled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I'm so glad you came here.”